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| June 02, 2006 News |
| EKN Trackside: Stars of Karting - West #3 - Preview |
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 | IM's Tad Funakoshi will look to extend his Western Division ICC points lead this weekend
(Photo: David Cole - SKI) |
The temperature and the racing action will be at its highest all year this weekend as the Stars of Karting Western Division makes its way to the Buffalo Bills Hotel & Casino for the Desert MINI Grand Prix. The third round of the scheduled four will be under the hot sun of Primm, Nevada where temperatures are forecast to reach well over 100 degree highs all three days.
The event was originally slated to run at the new Downtown Events Plaza and surrounding streets of Henderson, just miles for the Las Vegas Strip. Due to construction delays which compromised the planned layout of the track, the Stars crew was force to move the event to a new location.
The Henderson venue however will host a non-championship Snap-on Stars of Karting event in the completed Henderson Events Plaza on the weekend of October 20-22, 2006. The race will take the place of the previously scheduled North American Karting Championships in Norman, OK.
As of Tuesday, 24 ICC pilots and 19 ICA drivers are schedule to compete in the two headline divisions. Leading the ICC Western championship hunt is Italian Motors’ Tad Funakoshi. Funakoshi has had a stellar debut and will look to continue his success and earn his first victory of 2006. The Italkart/IM TM package is normally quick on temp circuits such as this weekend’s course, putting Funakoshi as one of the favorites for victory both Saturday and Sunday.
 | With three wins in the last four ICC races, Jordy Vorrath has a national title in his sights
(Photo: Sean Buur - GoRacing Magazine) |
Looking to continue his streak of victories is Champion Racing/Leading Edge driver Jordy Vorrath. After running the Skip Barber National series last year, Vorrath has made a colossal return to karting by winning three of his first four finals. The Canadian missed the Race of the Americas in March due to a broken wrist that had not healed yet. With only one drop toward the championship allowed, Vorrath will have to continue to keep his Intrepid/Champion TM running consistently up front to be in the hunt for the championship at the end of the year.
Gary Carlton took an emotional win Sunday in Tucson after learning of the sudden passing of Trackmagic’s leader Fausto Vitello. Carlton will look to continue to run strong in memory of the chassis manufacturer owner this weekend. Carlton was fast at the SuperNationals in November and should be atop the lap charts all weekend aboard his SwedeTech Maxter powered machine.
When speaking of temp circuits, one name always comes to mind, former King of the Streets Alan Rudolph. The shifter kart veteran won the inaugural Greely Grand Prix this past weekend in Colorado as a warm up for this weekend’s circuit. The RBI/SRA TM will be one to watch.
Other drivers to watch this weekend include David Jurca (Tony Kart/Vortex), Lorenzo Mandarino (GP/Barks TM) - who missed the Tucson event due to running the Italian Open Masters event, Team OVRP.com’s Matt Jaskol (TopKart/DDR TM) and Kyle Wiegand (TopKart/SwedeTech Maxter), and Fritz Leesmann (GP/TM)
 | Funakoshi's teammate Colby Jenn leads the ICA standings heading into this weekend
(Photo: David Cole - SKI) |
The ICA championship battle is lead by Funakoshi’s IM teammate Colby Jenn. Recording top five finishes in the first three Finals, Jenn will look to extend his points lead this weekend aboard his Italkart/IM TM. Tucson Sunday winner Nick Tonkin (Birel/TM) is out to prove the pole start at Race of the Americas was no fluke. Currently sitting second in the standings, Tonkin will look to add a second victory in ’06. Rebounding in Tucson after missing the Final at the Race of the Americas, Tyler Dueck is looking to stay in the championship hunt with two podiums finishes in Tucson - including a win on Saturday. The Intrepid/Champion TM driver struggle two weeks ago at New Castle but is looking to turn that bad luck around this weekend.
Other drivers to watch this weekend include Joel Miller (Tony Kart/Vortex), Juan Sanso (CRG/Maxter), Jess Peterson (Intrepid/Champion TM) and Cory Pollock (Birel/Parilla).
Things kick off today around 8am with the first warm-up sessions for a full day of practice for all five groups. We’ll have the results of the final two sessions posted later tonight along with some pit notes on what is expected to be a very hot day. Saturday will begin our full EKN Trackside Live coverage - finally with a full weekend of the gruesome twosome, EKN Publisher Rob Howden and EKN News Desk Manager David Cole. They will bring the EKN viewers up to the second results posted on the Official Discussion Thread in the forum, beginning with Qualifying Saturday morning, along with full results and a day’s end report Saturday evening with Sunday to copy Saturday’s format.
ICC Entry List
| No. | Driver | Chassis/Engine| 2 | Kyle Wiegand | TopKart/SwedeTech Maxter | | 7 | Tad Funakoshi | Italkart/Italian Motors TM | | 9 | Alan Rudolph | RBI/SRA TM | | 10 | David Jurca | Tony Kart/Vortex | | 102 | Joshua Lyon | Birel/Italian Motors TM | | 108 | Ryan Kinnear | Intrepid/SRA TM | | 110 | Keith Spicer | Tony Kart/Vortex | | 119 | Ryan Yop | Tony Kart/Vortex | | 130 | Jon Allen | Kosmic/Vortex | | 132 | Lorenzo Mandarino | GP/Barks TM | | 138 | Darren Peterson | NA/NA | | 145 | Nick Maddison | First Kart/SRA TM | | 147 | Jordy Vorrath | Intrepid/Champion TM | | 151 | Gary Carlton | Trackmagic/SwedeTech Maxter | | 154 | Fidencio Guzman | NA/NA | | 155 | Matt Jaskol | TopKart/DDR TM | | 161 | Fritz Leesmann | GP/TM | | 168 | Mike Abatte | NA/NA | | 175 | Chris Jennings | CRG/SRA TM | | 180 | Garrett Maxfield | Birel/SwedeTech TM | | 182 | Billy Goshen | TopKart/DDR TM | | 186 | Marc Elliott | RBI/Billet TM | | 195 | Jonathan Wright | NA/NA | | Mike Beeny | NA/NA | |
ICA Entry List
| No. | Driver | Chassis/Engine| 2 | Joel Miller | Tony Kart/Vortex | | 5 | Grant Hebner | TopKart/Vortex | | 7 | Tyler Dueck | Intrepid/Champion TM | | 200 | Tales Dias | KRT/Parilla | | 201 | Cory Pollock | Birel/High-Rev Parilla | | 202 | Aaron Neliton | NA/NA | | 210 | James Kennedy | Birel/SRA TM | | 214 | Garrett Napier | Maranello/SRS TM | | 218 | Pat Iannucci | TopKart/Vortex | | 228 | Nicholas Johnston | Maranello/Maxter | | 255 | Jess Peterson | Intrepid/Champion TM | | 260 | Sebastien Fauque | GT Kart/EFM TM | | 266 | Ariel Castro | Tony Kart/Vortex | | 271 | Don McGregor | GT Kart/EFM TM | | 284 | Juan Sanso | CRG/Maxter | | 289 | Nicholas Tonkin | Birel/TM | | 293 | Colby Jenn | Italkart/Italian Motors TM | | 294 | Brody Goble | Italkart/Italian Motors TM | | 298 | Mitch Cobb | RBI/SRA TM | |
Spec Racer Entry List
| No. | Driver | Chassis/Engine| 400 | Taylor Hacquard | Italkart/Parilla | | 403 | Kyle Heckman | NA/NA | | 408 | Will Martindale | GP/Parilla | | 409 | Tyler Mann | Italkart/Parilla | | 410 | Eric Gerrits | First Kart/Parilla | | 411 | Jamie Slone | NA/NA | | 419 | Chris Scribner | Tony Kart/Parilla | | 424 | Chelsie Jackman | NA/NA | | 427 | Lucas Wilkinson | Intrepid/Parilla | | 433 | Amber Friedberg | NA/NA | | 436 | Arly Irish | NA/NA | | 444 | Nicholas Fairney | First Kart/Parilla | | 451 | Billy Leininger | First Kart/Parilla | | 455 | Devon Sandeen | First Kart/Parilla | | 485 | Kyle Longmore | NA/NA | | 490 | Justin Miller | Birel/Parilla | |
JICA Entry List
| No. | Driver | Chassis/Engine| 3 | Jacob Neal | CRG/High-Rev Parilla | | 5 | Brendan Langlois | Maranello/Pitts Parilla | | 6 | Brett Smrz | First Kart/Woltjer Parilla | | 10 | Hayden Duerson | Italkart/Italian Motors Parilla | | 300 | Connor DePhillippi | KRT/High-Rev Parilla | | 309 | Victor Carbone | KRT/High-Rev Parilla | | 311 | Miles Maroney | KRT/High-Rev Parilla | | 314 | Edward Fortier | NA/NA | | 315 | Scott Rossi | KRT/High-Rev Parilla | | 317 | Joey Licata, JR | Biesse/TNR Parilla | | 318 | Christian Stover | Tony Kart/High-Rev Parilla | | 319 | Nicky Freytag | Intrepid/Champion Parilla | | 320 | Taylor Miinch | Birel/High-Rev Parilla | | 321 | Mitchell Egner | First Kart/High-Rev Parilla | | 324 | Branden Underwood | NA/NA | | 328 | Gustavo Menezes | Tony Kart/High-Rev Parilla | | 332 | Donny St. Ours | NA/NA | | 337 | Tyler Wheeler | PCR/High-Rev Parilla | | 340 | Adam Zeen | Intrepid/Champion Parilla | | 351 | Jacob Engle | KRT/High-Rev Parilla | | 357 | Kyle Shriver | Maranello/Parilla | | 358 | Sergio Pena | Maranello/Parilla | | 363 | Garrison Masters | CRG/High-Rev Parilla | | 366 | Max Riddle | First Kart/High-Rev Parilla | | 367 | Andrick Zeen | Intrepid/Champion Parilla | | 369 | Brendan Phinny | Birel/Fleming Parilla | | 377 | Dusty Davis | Maranello/Pitts Parilla | | 392 | Michael Hogg | Italkart/Italian Motors Parilla | | 394 | Zach Zimmerly | Intrepid/Champion Parilla | | 395 | Hayden Ritter | Italkart/Italian Motors Parilla | | 396 | Timmy Bachman | TopKart/Fleming Parilla | | 398 | Andrew Zimmer | Italkart/Italian Motors Parilla | |
Cadet Entry List
| No. | Driver | Chassis/Engine| 1 | Elliott Skeer | NA/NA | | 1 | Sage Karam | TopKart/High-Rev Comer | | 2 | Adrian Starrantino | Nevoso/Pitts Comer | | 3 | Oscar Tunjo Sanchez | Nevoso/Pitts Comer | | 4 | Nicholas Silva | Kart Mini/Fleming Comer | | 5 | Santino Ferrucci | TopKart/High-Rev Comer | | 6 | Raquel Martinez | TopKart/Pitts Comer | | 9 | Andrew Murray | Birel/Pitts Comer | | 13 | Dylan Kwasniewski | KRT/High-Rev Comer | | 18 | Phillip Orcic | Mach 1/EFM Comer | | 23 | Jonhathan St. Ours | NA/NA | | 25 | Chandler Williams | TopKart/Pitts Comer | | 30 | Kolby Araki | NA/NA | | 34 | Camden Geise | TopKart/Fleming Comer | | 35 | Devin Jones | Nevoso/Pitts Comer | | 38 | Jacob Will | NA/NA | | 41 | Tyler Palmer | NA/NA | | 42 | James Sullivan | First Kart/Comer | | 54 | Mason Marotta | TopKart/Fleming Comer | | 55 | Louie Pagano | Birel/Fleming Comer | | 66 | Jonny Norris | PCR/Bordogna Comer | | 67 | Brandon Moore | KRT/High-Rev Comer | | 74 | Luis Tyrrell | Trackmagic/Comer | | 75 | Dylan Nobile | Nevoso/Pitts Comer | | 78 | Elyse Crnic | Nevoso/Comer | | 81 | Mikee Mejia | Birel/Woltjer Comer | | 83 | Joshua Goshen | TopKart/Woltjer Comer | | 87 | Trevor Zindars | TopKart/Fleming Comer | | 90 | Misty Balser | Biesse/TNR Comer | | 95 | Remo Ruscitti | Italkart/Fleming Comer | |
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