|
 |
| September 23, 2006 News |
| EKN Trackside: Stars of Karting National Finals - Saturday Report |
| |
 | PSL Karting's Jan Velez leads all drivers after two rounds of heats with two runner-up finishes
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
After an evening of rain presented the drivers with a soaked track for morning practice, the wet weather that was initially expected to dominate the Toronto sky for the Saturday’s qualifying and heat races did not arrive, instead replaced by only heavy clouds and the occasional sunburst. All in all, the Stars crew could not have asked for much more considering the late week forecast to offered up an 80% chance of rain.
Overnight, the Stars staff went to work on the track and widened some of the areas to provide a better layout for competition. This minor tweak better developed a couple of the passing opportunities, and the racing was better for it. Today’s events would include the timed qualifying runs and two of the three heat races, and the action was heated. Morning practice saw the drivers on the Bridgestone rain tires for the most of the groups, that is until the ICC drivers hit the track for their practice session with a few drivers electing to run slicks, some getting them to stick while others struggled to put any power down.
ICC
The first group for the ICC Gatorz Pole Qualifying saw Wonderbar Racing’s Fritz Leesmann (GP) top the early lap chart with a 42.743, with championship contender Tad Funakoshi (Italkart) running second in the group ahead of Cameron Motorsports’ Mike Vincec (CRG). Tony Kart USA’s David Jurca would then jump up to the provisional pole with a 42.287-second lap as the rest of the top five shuffled around. Team TopKart’s Kyle Wiegand (TopKart) advanced up to P2 just past the halfway mark before teammate Matt Jaskol (TopKart) stole the top spot, dropping Jurca to second. Jaskol was confident in the time and headed to the pits, although the pace would not stand for the entire session.
Championship leader Gary Carlton (CRG) waited until the end of the session to take the track and he promptly put his PCH Motorsports machine to P2 on his third lap before dropping the fastest circuit of the weekend with a smoking 41.939 to secure the inside of the front row for all three ICC heats. Jaskol moved back to second with Jurca set to start third. Jan Velez moved up late in the session and will start fourth aboard his PSL Karting CRG. Fast driver on Friday - KLS Racing’s Lorenzo Mandarino (GP) - was fifth fastest. Title contender Jordy Vorrath (Intrepid) was ninth quickest as Funakoshi dropped to 12th overall.
In the first heat, troubles started early for Jaskol and Vorrath. Jaskol had clutch trouble and could not engage the unit, hurting him for the start, while Vorrath stalled heading to pre-grid and eventually retired with a broken shift lever. Jaskol would work on his kart during the warm-up laps and was then penalized when he tried to start from his original position on the front row.
When the field got the green, Carlton got the holeshot to lead early but Jurca would slip by on lap two, bringing Velez with him. Velez would eventually show the way by the halfway point, but Jurca rebounded and went after his challenger, retaking the top spot for good, bagging the opening win Mandarino and Carlton had a ‘coming-together’ for third on lap six, as Mandarino dove inside Carlton in turn 10 after the latter struggled exiting the previous corner. Contact at apex left Mandarino through for third and Carlton with a damaged driver fairing that would send him to the scales on lap seven.
In the second ICC heat race, Jaskol would make up for Round #1 issues by leading the opening corner and pulling away to 3.256-second victory. Velez held back the lions for the entire race to finish second ahead of Carlton and Mandarino, while Jurca put in another solid performance to finish fifth.
On the strength of a pair of second place finishes, Velez leads the way in the point tally for the main event grid with two points, while Jurca is second with four points.
 | Joel Miller controls the ICA divsion after taking both heat victories
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
ICA
PSL Karting’s Jake Rosenzweig (CRG) ended the first group of ICA Qualifying with the quickest time of the run with a 43.124-second lap time, edging Anthony Llopiz (Kosmic) by 0.013 seconds. Early in the second group, Italian Motors’ Michael Hogg, making his first ICA start on the Stars circuit, put his Italkart to the provisional pole, breaking the 43-second mark. The top spot was then shuffled around like a hot potato with Prime Motorsports’ Chris Larson (Gillard), Tony Kart USA’s Joel Miller (Tony Kart), and PSL Karting’s Cody Jolly (CRG) all taking turns up top. Larson took control before Miller and Jolly took a brief stint at P1.
After spinning in turn three after his first hot lap, Miller regained his composure to put down the fastest lap of the session, a 42.482. Larson was able to bounce to second, dropping Jolly back to third. Tony Loniewski (First Kart) jumped up at the checkered to line up fourth for the heat races. Hogg dropped to fifth but will move back to 18th for the heat races per Stars rulebook (he had not run an ICA race this season), moving Margay’s Eric Morrow up to the fast five. The times set by Rosenzweig and Llopiz in the first group put them ninth and tenth overall. Championship leader Jess Peterson (Intrepid) has struggled thus far and managed to record only the 23rd fastest lap.
At least 12 drivers were collected in the first turn incident for the start of the ICA Heat #1, with eight drivers not making it past turn two. Miller got the jump at the drop of the green and led flag-to-flag to take the win in the 11-lap event with Larson right on his bumper. Loniewski drove to a strong third with Morrow jumping up to fourth, dropping Jolly back to fifth. Peterson avoided the first turn melee and moved up to score 11th place points toward his Final starting position. The Intrepid driver continues to improve.
For Heat #2, the drivers made it to turn three before contact was made between Rosenzweig, Jolly, and Xavier Coupal (Tony Kart). Up front, Miller, Larson and Morrow pulled out a gap on the rest of the field. At the halfway mark, Morrow was able to work by Larson and begin challenging Miller for the lead. Miller went on to take the win ahead of Morrow and Larson. DL Racing drivers Joe Patterson (Kosmic) and John Mossey (Kosmic) moved up to finish fourth and fifth. From ninth back, it was a vicious fight that included Peterson, who managed to finish 13th in this run.
At this point, Miller leads the way with zero points thanks to a pair of wins. Larson and Morrow have identical 2-3 finishes to sit tied for second in points with three markers each. Sunday morning’s final heat will be the tie-breaker.
 | After a DNS in heat one, Eric Gerrits bounced back to take the Spec Racer victory in heat two
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
Spec Racer
The fastest Spec Racer driver all day on Friday was FirstKart.com’s Eric Gerrits and he continued this pace on Saturday afternoon in Spec Racer Qualifying. The Canadian continued to get faster throughout the 10-minute session with a 44.283 as the checkered fell. Devon Sandeen will join his First Kart teammate on the front row with Tyler Mann (Italkart) set to start third inside the unofficial Spec Racer National Championship Brandon Adkins (Margay), who wins the crown with a 14th and last place finish. Zach Beard (Margay) rounded out the fast five.
Trouble hit polesitter Gerrits as they left pit lane for the start of the first heat race. He was not able to get the engine to run at full power with carburetor problems and dropped off onto pit lane before the green flag fell for Heat 1. This allowed Sandeen to run to an easy victory with Mann finishing in second. Adkins moved up to third with Beard and Fairney following close behind as the top five ran bumper-to-bumper for the entire nine laps.
Heat #2 was all Gerrits, who got his carburetor problems sorted and led all nine laps. The battle on track was for second as Sandeen, Mann and Adkins were embroiled in a wicked dice. Sandeen dropped back to fourth at one point, but worked his way to second at the checkered. Mann finished third with Adkins in fourth and Fairney in fifth.
Sandeen has the power position now, heading into Sunday’s third heat with just one point on his record. The focus will be on Gerrits, however, as he looks to be the driver to beat. With a win in the morning, he would like start the Championship Final from third or fourth rows, well with in striking distance of the leaders, who would need to have steered clear of any issues in the final moto.
 | It was the Richard Benitez show Saturday in JICA
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
JICA
Championship contender Carlos Munoz (Birel) led the way in the first group of JICA qualifying with a 43.925-second lap time. Early on in group two, Richard Benitez (Kosmic) took the provisional pole, however, and he was able to hold off the field for the entire 10-minutes. Dusty Davis (Maranello) was second quick as Munoz dropped to third overall. Scott Rossi (Intrepid) was fourth quickest while Josh Call (Margay) rounded out the fast five. Title hopefuls Brendan Langlois (First Kart) and Jacob Neal (CRG) were sixth and 18th, respectively.
The entire JICA field made it through the challenging first two corners for the start of Heat #1 before Sergio Pena (Maranello) and Langlois tangled in turn three on opening lap. Pena was able to continue at the tail end of the field until dropping out on lap four, while Langlois was stalled and recorded a tough 31st place finish to begin his attack. Benitez led flag-to-flag unchallenged as the battle was for second was fought between Davis, Munoz, and Rossi. At the end, Rossi was able to get around the championship leader for the runner-up spot with Davis finishing fourth behind Munoz. Josh Call (Margay) had a stellar run to finish fifth from his tenth starting spot.
The second JICA heat began smoothly on the opening lap, that is, until Brendan Phinny (Birel) brought out a red flag. Although he was alert and moving around, eventually sharing a smile with EKN chief Rob Howden, the EMT officials elected to transport him to the hospital for precautionary measures. The Stars officials gave the drivers a half hour to work on the karts, moving up the ICC division in the order to run their second heat. At the restart after the repair period, all but a few drivers made it through the first laps. Benitez again jumped out to the lead with the battle for second behind him featuring Munoz, Davis, and Rossi. This trio ran nose-to-tail but no one made a move as Benitez went on to win. Langlois trailed the battle for second and rounded out the top five, bouncing back from his Heat #1 DNF.
 | Oscar Tunjo took the second heat win in search of the Cadet title
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
Cadet
With the Cadets hitting the track first in the order for Qualifying, the wet morning continued to dry throughout the session. Spencer Pigot (Juncos) held on to the top spot until the checkered flag fell as Canadian Remo Ruscitti (Italkart) jumped up to P1 with a 49.063, just over two tenths faster than Pigot’s fast lap. Dylan Nobile (Nevoso) was third quickest with Western Champion Oscar Tunjo (Nevoso) and defending National Champion Sage Karam (Birel) rounding out the fast five.
Pigot got the jump at the green to start the opening heat, leading a majority of the seven-lap run until Karam, who worked his way through the top five, got around him on the final lap and took the first heat win. Pigot dropped to second while Nobile held onto third. Ruscitti fell back to fourth with Tunjo rounding out the top five.
The same front-running quintet broke away from the pack in Heat #2 with Pigot leading most of the way until Tunjo got around with two laps to go. On the far side of the track, contact was made between two cars that sent Ruscitti into the barriers, ending his race. Tunjo went on to a comfortable win with Pigot, Nobile, Karam, and Sebastian Ordonez (Juncos) rounding out the top five. |
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
