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| March 19, 2006 News |
| EKN Trackside: Stars of Karting Race of the Americas - Sunday Report |
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 | Wesley Boswell starts out the 2006 season with a big victory in Norman
(Photo: David Cole - SKI) |
The cold and wet weather continued in Norman, Okla. today for the final day of this year’s Race of the Americas. All five main events were run in full wet conditions and the winners were able to rise above their competition in very trying conditions. MRP Birel-America’s Wesley Boswell came away with the ICC victory while British driver Alexander Sims powered his PLS Karting CRG to the triumph in ICA. The remaining three classes featured excellent racing with Jordan Musser (Spec Racer), Carlos Munoz (JICA) and Sebastien Ordonez (Cadet). The following are full reports from each class.
ICC
A stacked field that included some big name drivers took the green for the ICC Last Chance Qualifier. Jon Allen (Kosmic) got a great start from the outside of the third row to lead the early laps, pulling away to win the 10-lap run and the inside of the 16th row for the final. Chris Miller (CRG) leveraged his second row starting spot to finish in the runner-up position. Highly-ranked drivers David Jurca (Tonykart) and Lorenzo Mandarino (GP) saved their events by making it into the top six; Jurca improving from eighth and Mandarino attacking impressively from 16th. Chris Kuenning (Birel) came home fifth while Fritz Leeseman (GP) kept his event alive with a hard-fought win over Jan Velez (CRG) for the final transfer position. Along with Velez, other big name drivers not making the main included Keith Spicer, Matt Jaskol, Kyle Wiegand and rookie ICC driver David Carmendy, last year’s 80cc winner at the National Finals.
Boswell got the jump at the drop of the green of the ICC Final, leading into turn one to assume the point, a position he would not relinquish. A huge wreck in the opening corner ended the run of several drivers, putting many more out of the hunt for the podium. Zach Schiff (First Kart), Jonathan Vitolo (Birel), and Stuart Marsell (Arrow) all retired without ever completing a lap.
Once things got clear, Boswell pulled away to the victory, but not without getting chased hard by Philip Giebler over the final two laps. The Intrepid driver would come up just short to take second while Tad Funakoshi (Italkart) powered home to an impressive third. Alan Rudolph (RBI) came home fourth while Ryan Yop (Tony Kart) took finish after being advanced from sixth when Nick Halen (MS Kart) was DQ’d for a chassis homologation issue.
The drive of the race was put in by Fritz Leesman, who steered his Wunder Bar Racing GP from 36th to sixth in a thrilling display of car control. Leesman carved his way through the field, aggressively attacking in every corner, grabbing positions as soon as he reached a new target. The fast lap went to Leesman’s KLS teammate Lorenzo Mandarino (GP), however, as he led Leesman through the pack from 34th. Mandarino posted a 51.019 to complete a stunning recovery that saw him finish seventh.
Rookie ICC pilots Michael Vincec (CRG) and Daniel Morad (First Kart) finished eighth and ninth while David Jurca (Tonykart) completed the top ten.
 | PSLKarting.com's Alexander Sims came over from Great Britian and shut out the North American contingent in ICA
(Photo: David Cole - SKI) |
ICA
The ICA grid for the main event was completed with the morning’s Last Chance Qualifier, won by Juan Sanso (CRG). Italian Motors’ Colby Jenn (Italkart) came home second ahead of James Kennedy (Birel), Kyle Heckman (GT Kart) and Grant Hebner (Topkart). The fight for the sixth and final transfer position was won by Garrett Napier (Maranello), as he was able to hold back Pat Ianucci (Topkart) over the last few laps. A first corner wreck ended the chances of some big names, including Joel Miller (Tonykart), Tyler Dueck (Intrepid) and Xavier Coupal (Tonykart).
The opening turn of the ICA main event saw the much-expected carnage that often accompanies a wet race as two separate incidents put more than one driver on the sidelines, including row two starter Macie Wyly. British visitor Alexander Sims (CRG) grabbed the lead from his off-pole starting position and proceeded to extend a two-second lead over Jake Rosenzweig (CRG) and Lorenzo Mandarino (GP). Sims would continue to pull away as Mandarino was able to get around Rosenzweig for the second spot on the penultimate lap.
Colby Jenn (Italkart) put in the drive of the class in ICA. Finishing second in the Repechage to move on to the Final, Jenn drove from 32nd up to the top five and had a great battle with Cory Pollock for the fourth position in the final laps. Jenn overtook Pollock for the position on the final lap, but Pollock fought back to re-take the position in the final corner, a 180 right-hand hairpin. Pollock would take fourth while Jenn came home in the money with a fifth.
Chris Larsen (Gillard) took sixth ahead of Gustavo Yacaman (Topkart), who put in a fantastic run in his rookie ICA event. Chris Livengood (Mach 1), Joe Patterson (Kosmic) and Dominic Scheer (Birel) rounded out the top ten.
 | Former Rotax Max Grand National champion Jordan Musser will add the first ever Stars Spec Racer victory to his CV
(Photo: David Cole - SKI) |
SPEC RACER
With 26 drivers in the field, Spec Racer did not require a Last Chance Qualifier, which sent them straight to the main event to kick off the afternoon’s activities. Before the green flag dropped, polesitter Devon Sandeen (First Kart) stalled his engine entering the last turn of the warm-up lap and had to push his kart back to the pits, relinquishing his number one starting spot. Sandeen would make repairs and started the race from the pit lane, working his way up to 11th.
The battle for the win pit two Rotax Max national champions against each other in 3x US champ Jordan Musser (Birel) and Canadian title winner Eric Gerrits (First Kart). Both drivers are now on Parilla packages. Gerrits took the lead off the green until Musser assumed the point on lap 10 with a great move down the inside of Gerrits heading into turn one. From there, Musser would not be challenged, pulling away to a four-second win at the checkered flag.
The rest of the pack diced back and forth with Adam Johnson (TopKart) picking off drivers each lap, eventually working up to the rear bumper of Gerrits, eventually finding a way by on the final lap. Chris Giumarra (Biesse) and Nicholas Fairney (First Kart) rounded out the top five.
 | Michael Hogg and Carlos Munoz had a great battle during the JICA Final
(Photo: David Cole - SKI) |
JICA
With the first 15 rows of the JICA main event locked in yesterday, the final six spots were secured this morning in the LCQ, which was won Jose Zanella (CRG). Felice Snider worked his way forward to take second following a battle with Brendan Phinny (Birel). Thomas Silva (CRG) and Sergio Pena (Maranello) were alone in fourth and fifth while David Ostella (CRG) held off Mikael Grenier (CRG) all race to take sixth, grabbing the last invitation to the big dance.
When the race started, Prefinal winner Michael Hogg (Italkart) led from the green flag to pace a fast-starting Carlos Munoz (Birel), who advanced from ninth to second through the opening lap chaos. Outside pole Brett Smrz dropped back a few spots, but he would begin a charge back into the hunt. Munoz was the man on the move as he worked by Hogg in turn one on lap six, but Hogg did not go anywhere and remained on his rear bumper.
The battle behind the lead duo was exciting, as third place runner Timmy Bachman (TopKart) went off track in turn four on lap 12, which caught Victor Carbone (KRT) off-guard, allowing Smrz to slip through. Carbone went into the tires, ending his day as Smrz continued on.
Hogg made things interesting on the final lap, closing in hard on Munoz heading into turn one, but he came up short and was forced to settle for second behind Munoz. Smrz held on for a strong third while Bachman recovered to take fourth. Canadian Brendan Langlois (Maranello) rounded out the top five.
 | Cadet winner Sebastian Ordonez
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
CADET
In Cadet, this got started with Jaime Ortega (Nevoso) winning the LCQ to secure the 31st starting spot in the main event. Santino Ferrucci (Topkart) advanced steadily to finish second ahead of Nick Neri (Shockwave). The fight for the transfer spot was waged between six drivers, all separated by less than four seconds. Broc Yocum (Intrepid) took third to lead a train of qualifying drivers that included Tyler Thomas (Topkart) and Joshua Goshen (Topkart).
At the start of the Cadet Final, Dylan Nobile spun in turn one and, thankfully, no one else was collected as he sat in the middle of the corner right at the apex. Nobile was able to continue and worked his way back to 16th. When the action settled in, the front pack was composed of four drivers: Sebastian Ordonez (Nevoso), Sage Karam (TopKart), Remo Ruscitti (Italkart), and Gabriel Chaves (Nevoso).
Leading by a solid margin after re-taking the lead from Ruscitti in the early going, Ordonez saw his cushion shrink to a half-second over the final laps as Karam came calling after separating himself from Chaves. With two laps, Karam began putting on the heat and after taking a run at Ordonez in the first turn to begin the last lap, he went a little deep and lost his drive, allowing Ordonez to power away to the race win. Karam continued to take second, continuing his streak of Stars podium finishes. Chaves took third as Ruscitti settled into fourth. Ordonez was able to run the last two laps clean and go on to win. Oscar Tunjo (Nevoso) won the battle to round out the top five.
The next round of the Stars of Karting series will occur for the Western Division with the second round of the schedule on April 21-23 at P1 Karting Circuit in Tucson, AZ. The first Eastern Division race is set for May 19-21 at New Castle Motorsport Park in Indiana. |
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