|
 |
|
 |
| August 05, 2006 News |
| IKF 2-Cycle Grand Nationals - Saturday Report |
| Article by: Shift Communications Group |
For photos on the event, visit the Photo Gallery by Sean Buur - GoRacing Magazine
The second day of racing at Fontana’s CalSpeed Kart Track saw cool temperatures – well, compared to what Southern California has experienced recently, it was a positively artic 90 degrees – and karts so fast that they were flying. Some of them, quite literally.
Getting things started would be the 125cc National Cup. Grant Hebner put himself on pole, two-tenths of a second ahead of Tyler Brooks. Brooks, however, would have his time disallowed due to a fuel infraction, promoting Kyle Longmore to second and Chris Scribner to third.
The field made it through the first complex of corners on its second attempt at a start, with Hebner leading from Longmore and Scribner. At the beginning of the second lap, Mike Lewis made a move to get past fourth placed Brady Halbasch into the track’s first corner. The two made it through the right hander side-by-side, but when the track went left, Halbasch spun and the two had contact, flipping Halbasch and bringing out the race’s first red flag. Despite the fact that both of the track’s ambulances were dispatched, both drivers walked away, none the worse for wear.
On the restart, Hebner kept his lead over Longmore and Scribner for about a lap, until a second red flag came out when Steve Dzurilla’s kart booted him out, sending him to the ground while it somersaulted down a straightaway. Though he was on his feet and unhurt, the race was stopped again.
Hebner again kept his lead during the next restart, holding Longmore and Scribner at bay. Late in the race, however, Longmore got a good run coming out of the track’s final corner, making a pass stick on Hebner in the track’s fast turn one. After that, the drivers stayed in line, with Longmore winning from Hebner and Scribner.
The group would continue its trend of high-flying action in the Main. Longmore held his lead at the start, with Hebner, Scribner, and Tyler Brooks in hot pursuit. Scribner made a move on Hebner on the third lap that went largely unnoticed as Brady Halbasch went for his second tumble of the day, bringing out another red flag.
The restart saw Hebner make his way past Scribner, who then fell under attack from the fourth placed Brooks. Brooks made the pass stick into the first turn on the eighth lap, ably using the draft to get the job done. It appeared that he used up his kart in the effort, however, as the field began to pack up behind him. A lap later, his kart would break, but that too went largely unnoticed as Zachary Dericco recorded the class’ fourth take-off of the day, coming onto the back straightaway.
The race ended under the red flag, with Longmore winning, Hebner second, and Scribner in third.
Next on deck was the HPV 2 Junior group, featuring thirty-one entries. The stacked field led to an ultra-close qualifying session, as Randel King narrowly put himself on pole over Connor De Phillippi and Dylan Albiani. In fact, the action was so tight that the first twenty-three drivers qualified within one second of the polesitter.
King held the lead over De Phillippi and Albiani at the start, but De Phillippi drafted by King on the front straightaway, moving into the lead in turn one. The red flag would come out later that lap, however, when Joey Licata Jr. and Timmy Bachman came together in the track’s slow hairpin.
The restart was an orderly affair. King had a look a couple of times at De Phillippi, but he didn’t flinch and began to put a gap on the rest of the field. Albiani worked pass King, allowing De Phillippi to stretch his lead a bit, while Donny St. Ours made a pass stick on Cameron Jocelyn for fourth on the penultimate lap. In the end, Phillippi was 1.2 seconds ahead of Albiani, with King demoted to third.
Perhaps having a lot of entries is a bad thing, as this would prove to be a difficult start to survive. In fact, even the pace lap left one kart backwards and another stationary.
De Phillippi led the field at the start, which made its way through the first complex of corners cleanly. However, as the field approached the right-handed Scandi corner, several karts got together in a shower of front bumpers, airborne chassis, and tires that were knocked off the turn marshal station. In one fell swoop, seven drivers were eliminated.
Spare a thought for the brave marshal, who had his yellow flag up and waving despite having three karts run into his protective tire stacks!
Luckily, quick work by the course workers meant the race could continue uninterrupted, and De Phillippi continued to lead from Albiani and King. Brenden Phinny got the timing right to make a pass on Donny St. Ours for fourth in the hairpin. His next passing attempt, however, didn’t work out real well as he booted Randel King into the barrier on the exit of the hairpin, and was subsequently disqualified. In fact, he was so transfixed on advancing his position, he didn’t see his black flag for two laps…
Down to the last lap, Albiani was keeping the pressure on De Phillippi, taking a look at a pass a couple of times without trying anything foolish. However, he tripped himself up a bit entering the carousel, seemingly handing the win to De Phillippi. However, De Phillippi took a defensive line entering the Hatchpin – not knowing that he had big gap over second place – and bobbled the last corner. Albiani swooped past as De Phillippi gathered his kart up, and won the race. De Phillippi crossed in second while Donny St. Ours finished in third.
The heaviest of the day’s classes - Super Sportsman Heavy - saw Chris Guizar put himself on pole, two-tenths up on Mike Botelho Jr. and Jordon Brown. The leaders would stay in order at the start, with Steven Barros putting heavy pressure on third placed Brown.
Chris Scribner earned himself a black flag when he punted Joshua Veloz in the hairpin. Michael Varela put a neat pass on Barros into the first corner, when he and Brown used the slipstream of two karts to out-power Barros. Four laps later, however, Barros’ pressure on Brown led to contact in the Hatchpin, ending Brown’s race and earning Barros a black flag.
Keeping things interesting at the front, Botelho Jr. made a pass on Guizar to take the lead into the first corner. Everyone else would hold station until the end, when Garret Wright passed Varela for the third spot heading into the Contino Carousel.
In the final, Guizar got the drop on pole-sitting Botehlo to snatch the lead, with Garrett Wright slotting into third, with heavy pressure from Varela and Weston Walters. Botelho would need five laps to retake the lead, which he did when he drafted past Guizar heading into the first corner. In a mirror move, Walters pulled the same move on Varela, slotting him into fourth.
Two laps later saw him pull the same move on Wright, which bumped him up to second. Further back, Steven Barros and Kyle Kuntze disputed the same piece of real estate in the Kornikurva, and both retired.
Waters was having the drive of the race, keeping pressure on Botelho, when his kart suddenly slowed on the approach to the horseshoe, ending his challenge. This allowed Wright to set Botelho squarely in his sights on the last lap. He made a daring move into the last corner on the track, the hatchpin, but ended up giving Bothelo a shot in the rear bumper when Bothelo ran an extremely defensive line. The contact led to a drag race to the line, which Botelho won by 0.051 of a second. Shawn Fladager moved up from his sixth-place finish in the heat race to take third.
The smallest of all the race groups, Junior 1, provided action that far exceeded their diminutive size, which started when several of them came together on their warm up lap. Devin Jones started first, with Mason Marotta off pole and Raquel Martinez in third. In the frantic start, in which mid-pack starter Adrian Starrantino was spun around, Martinez jumped ahead of Marotta, with Lou Pagano taking fourth and Jonathan St. Ours in fifth.
Marotta quickly retook second from Martinez and put heavy pressure on Jones, while Pagano got a run on Martinez into the Contino Carousel to take the third position. Pagano took off for the leading duo, while Martinez fell into the clutches of St. Ours, eventually losing the third spot.
Marotta finally got the job done on Jones when he dove under him into turn one. Later that lap, Jones lost another spot when Pagano moved past him in the Horseshoe. As they took the white flag, Jones pushed Pagano past Marotta down the front straightaway, demoting him to third, and then got a run on Pagano coming onto the back straightaway to take the lead into the Contino Carousel – which he held to the finish, with Marotta finishing second after a last corner pass on Pagano, who finished third.
Jones, Marotta and Pagano held their order at the start of the Final. Martinez made a daring move on Pagano into turn one. The move didn’t stick, but the two karts did something many of their older brethren could not – they made it through the complex of corners side by side…
Jones and Marotta broke away from the pack, and stayed in line until the last lap. Marotta took a couple of looks at Jones, but there was nothing doing until the final corner. As they approached the corner running extremely close to each other, Jones took a defensive line, which Marotta anticipated by taking classic racing line. However, as Marotta tracked out, he drove himself across the front of Jones, hooking himself into a spin within sight of the finish line. If not for that, he may have won himself a Duffy, but Jones crossed the line in first, ahead of the battle that Pagano and St. Ours were having for third. With Marotta out of the way, however, Pagano finished second and St. Ours third. Marotta crossed the line in seventh.
Narrowly taking pole for the HPV 4 Heavy class was John Crow, who edged out John Bush by a tenth of a second for the honors. Ty Williams put himself third of the thirteen kart grid.
Crow checked out from the field at the start, while Bush fell under heavy pressure from Erik Jackson, who had leapfrogged Williams at the start. Williams took a couple of laps to retake his position, and a couple of laps longer to take second from Bush. Bush’s kart, however, was not up to the task and he slowly began to fall backwards, eventually finishing in sixth place. Crow would win the heat race uncontested, with Williams in second and Lucas Wilkinson finishing third.
Crow, Williams, Wilkinson and Jackson stayed in line at the start, but despite the lack of drama Crow pulled away from the field as he pleased, putting a gap on Williams before the end of the first lap. As he pulled away, Williams was clearly holding up the rest of the field, and pressure mounted from behind him as he lead a train of four other karts. This would come to a head on the last lap, when Williams was hit from behind (or he brake checked, depending on one’s perspective…) by Wilkinson as they entered the Contino Carousel.
Crow won the race, with Wilkinson in second and Bush in third. However, Wilkinson was moved back to sixth place for his contact with Williams, promoting Bush to second and Jackson to third.
Luis Martinez Jr. put himself on pole for Formula Y, with Matt Johnson taking second and Joshua Brander in third. The field made it cleanly through the start, and Brander found a way past Johnson to take second.
On the fifth lap, Brander passed Martinez into the first corner. The resulting loss of momentum allowed Johnson to slip through into second as well. Neil McCoy leapfrogged both of them as they disputed the position, giving him a clear shot at the leader. He dove under Brander into the hairpin, pulling off the pass but blowing the exit, allowing Brander to retake the position in the next corner. In that exchange, the slowed enough that they now had the entire field knocking on their backdoor.
The next tour through the hairpin saw polesitter Martinez get launched into the barrier, ending his day on the back of the ATV kart-retriever. Johnson took over the lead, Brander was second, and McCoy was content with third for the moment, and the field spread out just a touch. Not content was Clayton Snow, who passed McCoy on the approach to turn one. A lap later, Travis Motley tangled wheels with another kart whose timing while trying to pass in the hairpin was less than optimal, sending his kart airborne and ending his race.
The battle at the front was heating up, as McCoy and Ty Matta had contact through turn one without much damage or loss of time. But the field packed up again on the last lap, and a furious run to the line between Johnson and Snow saw Johnson narrowly take the win, while Snow crossed the line backwards and spun his way to the first corner. Brander took third, with McCoy fourth, and Matta fifth.
The final saw Johnson lead Snow, Brander, and McCoy cleanly through the whole of the first lap – although Brander snuck by Snow on the exit of the Kornikurva. Snow retook the position on the next lap, however, and set sail for Johnson. Matta also moved past Brander and took the third position.
On the fourth lap, Billy Goshen took a shot at passing Joey Barros in the hairpin, stuffing him into the barriers on the exit, ending Barros’ day (a day the entire Barros family would like to forget) and earning himself a DQ for rough driving. The order at the front stayed the same until the tenth lap, when Snow took the lead from Johnson as they entered turn one. Snow lost the position to Johnson two laps later in the Carousel, and nearly lost second to Matta at the same time, but he got a great run out of the hatchpin to retake the lead as they entered turn one.
The last lap saw Johnson make a great pass on Snow in the hairpin. As the two checked up, Matta ran into the back of Snow, sending him up and back down quickly but ruining his chances. He faded to fifth.
Snow would not be denied, however, and pulled an ultra-late braking move on Johnson into the last corner. The two drag raced to the line, with Snow taking the win by 0.034 seconds at the line. Neil McCoy finished in third.
For complete coverage of the event, visit the Event Page for photos and full results.
|
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
