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| August 04, 2007 News |
| EKN Trackside: Stars of Karting - East #3 - Saturday Report |
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 | Jordy Vorrath earned his first ICC victory of the 2007 season
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
The first day of racing action is completed for the Snap-on Stars of Karting Eastern Division finale at the USA International Raceway in Shawano, WI. The racing was tough from the front to the back as the season wraps up on the East. Two drivers unofficially wrapped up the Eastern titles with three classes still undecided heading into Sunday. Gary Carlton clinched the ICC East championship with his finish today while Sage Karam earned the Cadet East championship with a victory today. Carlton’s championship would be the only upside to the day as Jordy Vorrath ended his six race win streak with a dominate performance in ICC while Victor Cabrera put in his own strong performance in ICA.
ICC
The 15 minute ICC Gatorz Pole Qualifying session began with Canadian Michael Vincec (CRG) grabbing the provisional pole early until veteran Alan Rudolph broke the track record (57.043) set by Phil Giebler at last year’s event. The FirstKart.com driver posted the first sub 57 lap with a 56.979 pace. The record did not stand long as Matt Jaskol put his Team Top Kart USA ride on pole with a 56.828 fast lap. The attention then turned to championship leader Gary Carlton (CRG). The PCH Motorsports driver got a slow start to the session, opening up in the fourth position. The next two laps he moved up a spot each lap, eventually ending the session in second spot. Rudolph dropped to third with Team Intrepid/Champion Racing teammates Jordy Vorrath and Josh Schreiber - both who have been fast in the past here at the facility - rounding out the fast five.
After Jaskol grabbed the hole shot at the drop of the green for the 15 lap Prefinal, the field settled in with Carlton and Vorrath tucked in behind. Jaskol controlled the pace while Vorrath got Carlton and began pressuring him for the lead. On lap five, the Canadian made the pass and never looked back, taking the victory to start inside row one for the main event. Jaskol held on to second while Schreiber worked himself up to third after dropping out of the top five early on. Carlton settled for fourth ahead of Rudolph.
The main event was all Vorrath. Just as Carlton did in the previous six finals on the year, Vorrath stretched out to big lead early on cold tires, giving himself a comfortable gap on the rest of the field. Jaskol held the second spot with Schreiber in front of Rudolph and Carlton. They stayed that way until lap four when Carlton was able to get by Rudolph on lap four. A few laps later, Carlton got a bad exit out of the last corner and the two went side-by-side into turn one resulting in contact at the apex. Rudolph was able to continue on but Carlton dropped back to ninth.
Up front, Vorrath continued to stretch out to a two-second lead at the halfway mark with Schreiber now chasing him down after getting by Jaskol - who continued to drop back in the later stage of the race with Rudolph and Jan Velez (Intrepid) got by. Rudolph, running some of the fastest laps of the race, was able to reel in Schreiber with a few laps remaining. On his bumper, it looked as if Rudolph was setting up for a pass on the final lap when he lost some ground exiting turn five, giving Schreiber breathing room as they headed to the checkered flag.
Vorrath took the 0.796-second victory, his first of the year and ended Carlton’s six Stars race win streak. Schreiber was the provisional second place finisher until being bounced in the tech barn. That moved Rudolph to the second step on the podium - also being awarded the Mazda Fast Lap cash prize - with Velez earning his first podium with Team Intrepid/Champion Racing. Jaskol was moved up to fourth with David Carmendy aboard a Cameron Motorsports CRG rounding out the top five. Carlton finished sixth ahead of the charging Vincec - who went from last to seventh in the 22 laps. David Jurca (Italkart), Jon Allen (GP) and Philippe Gelinas (Birel) completed the top ten.
 | Victor Cabrera swept the days action to earn his first Stars ICA victory
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
ICA
Victor Cabrera put his Kosmic on the provisional pole early on in the ICA Gatorz Pole Qualifying session and held it for the full 15 minute session. The J3 Competition driver ran a 57.652 fast lap with Mike Giessen putting his MRP-Birel America machine on the outside pole position. Tyler Dueck (Intrepid) was third quickest with Jake Rosenzweig (CRG) filled out row two. Guillermo Freile (Tony Kart) rounded out the fast five.
The early stages of the 15 lap ICA Prefinal saw a five kart battle for the lead until Cabrera was able to break away from the pack. Championship contender Rosenzweig put his PSL Karting machine to second until mechanical trouble put him on the sideline on lap 10. Fast driver from Friday Johnny Johnson (Kosmic) put in some fast laps to get into the top five, getting the checkered flag second behind Cabrera. Dueck settled in to third with Giessen, leading at one point, dropping to fourth. Christophe Boisclair (Arrow) won the battle for fifth ahead of four other drivers.
Cabrera got out front early in the lead for the ICA main event with Giessen and Dueck getting by Johnson in the opening corners. The front four put space between each other as they ran unchallenged to the checkered flag with Cabrera earning his first win of the year. Giessen ran to a strong second with Dueck and Johnson finishing third and fourth. The drive of the race was by Chris Wehrheim (Top Kart). After starting 19th, he quickly worked up to the top ten and began picking off drivers one by one. His favorite spot was the turn back onto the oval, using it near the end of the race as he got by Sodi Kart drivers James Kennedy and Aaron Neilton for fifth place.
 | New Team Top Kart USA driver Conor Daly swept the Spec Racer division
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Spec Racer
Like ICA, the Spec Racer Gatorz Pole Qualifying was led by new Team Top Kart USA driver Conor Daly. The second generation driver posted a 1:00.037 lap time to start from inside row one with Nic Johnsrud (Merlin) set to start outside the championship contender. New Castle winners Nick Freytag (Sodi Kart) and Adam Johnson (Top Kart) were third and fourth quickest while Aaron Milavitz (Merlin) put to Franklin Motorsports drivers in the fast five.
Daly went flag-to-flag in the 12 lap Prefinal, stretching out to a 4.725 victory over Johnson. The rest of the top five was spread out after early shuffling with Freytag, Zach Beard (First Kart) and Cale Wyse (Margay) moving up to round out the top five. Beard would be however removed from the results after reporting to tech without an airbox, moving Wyse to fourth and Matt Codalata (Margay) fifth.
The original Spec Racer final was ended after one lap when multiple drivers flipped in different corners. They were given a complete restart following the Cadet final except after two false starts, the front row was sent to the second, allowing Wyse and Freytag to take the green flag. Johnson quickly took care of them, moving to P1 in the opening corners with Daly moving in behind Freytag. Wyse fell back to sixth with Robert Stout (Birel) and Codalata.
Daly moved up to second the following lap as the field sorted itself out to set his sights on Johnson. Lap four saw a change for the lead as Daly got by heading into the back section of the track. The front two repeated the Prefinal, pulling away from the field as a good battle continued for third with five karts running nose to tail. Things got interesting toward the end when Codalata made contact with another driver, sending him straight off turn five, putting him back on course in turn eight - getting a disqualification for cutting the course. This allowed Freytag to steal third. Behind him, they continued to battle on through the final corners as Robert Stout (Birel) and Wyse got together, pushing them back to 12th and 13th. This allowed the Merlin drivers of Cody Elliott and Johnsrud round out the top five.
The Eastern Championship battle comes down now to the top two drivers from today as, unofficially, Daly has a 42 point lead over Johnson heading into tomorrow.
 | Rookie Spencer Pigot stood atop a very young JICA podium
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
JICA
The JICA division was the first group out for the Gatorz Pole Qualifying. Most of the drivers recorded their fast lap early on in their laps with Brendan Langlois (First Kart) scoring the pole for the Prefinal. The Canadian recorded a 1:00.124 lap time. Championship leader Gustavo Menezes (Tony Kart) was 0.118 off Langlois’ time to start outside row one. California’s Taylor Miinch (Birel) was third with Florida’s Chemill Mercado (Tony Kart) and double Utah winner Brendan Phinny (Top Kart) rounding out the top five.
After going through the tech barn, Miinch and Phinny were both removed from the results for an engine tech issue. That moved Mercado to third and Jarvis Gennari (Tony Kart) and Phil DeLaO (First Kart) into the fast five.
Langlois was able to pull out to a good size lead in the early laps until a red flag came out for Jaime Ortega (Birel) and Sean Rayhall (Kosmic). Both were sent to the hospital for observations. Getting the restart from lap three, Langlois continued to lead with Mercado running second with the rest of the field shuffling around. The two would go on to finish 1-2 after the 12 lap race with Spencer Pigot (First Kart) winning the battle for third. Menezes was fourth with Mikael Grenier (CRG) moving up to fifth.
Mercado was able to grab the front spot from the outside row one starting position. He and Langlois hooked up and were able to pull out a small lead on the rest of the field. Menezes was able to reel in the leaders to form a three kart lead group when contact was made resulting in Menezes on top of Langlois. The three fell back to the tail of the lead group after pulling apart the karts.
This gave Pigot a comfortable lead as he went on to take his first Stars JICA win. The battle for second came down to the two drivers who were penalized in qualifying, Phinny and Miinch. Phinny had the spot after getting by Angel Caban (Kosmic) earlier with Miinch eventually working his way up as well. The two battled in the closing laps with Miinch getting the edge at the line. Caban finished fourth with Dusty Davis (Maranello) moving up to fifth.
Langlois now holds the unofficial championship lead heading into Sunday, 15 points in front of Gennari with Rossi 15 back from him.
 | Sage Karam wrapped up the Cadet Eastern Division championship
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Cadet
Championship leader Sage Karam (Birel) took the Cadet Gatorz Pole Qualifying session with a 1:07.554 lap time. Juncos drivers Ian Tilbor and Anthony Furfari were second and third while Nick Neri (Tony Kart) and Tristan DeGrand (Kosmic) rounded out the fast five.
Karam looked to have the Cadet Prefinal in his hand after a first lap bunch up in turn five gave him plenty of room to cruise to victory. As the laps went on, the second place pack led by Tyler Thomas (Top Kart) caught the leader with a few laps remaining. Thomas was able to earn the win to start the main event from the pole. Austin Self (Birel) was second with Karam falling back to third. Jacob Will (Top Kart) was fourth with Anthony Furfari (Juncos) rounding out the top five.
The day was just Karam’s as he wrapped up his second Eastern Division Cadet title with a victory in the main event. Will won a great battle for second over Thomas with DeGrand and Andrew Murray (Top Kart) completing the top five. |
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