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| August 17, 2007 News |
| EKN Trackside: Champ Car Rotax Kart Challenge Grand Nationals - Friday Report |
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The Champ Car Rotax Max Challenge U.S. Grand Nationals took one step closer to completion on Friday when the final two rounds of heat races went into the books, capped by a quartet of Last Chance Qualifiers. The action was heated, although most of the drivers played it safe in order to maintain their positions at the front of the grids. When the day was done, the grids were set for Saturday’s Prefinals.
Junior
The Junior category kicked things off with the first Prefinal as Florida’s Jarvis Gennari (Tony Kart) made the right changes overnight to run strong on Friday morning in the Group A vs. Group C heat, winning by 2.5 seconds over Danny Buecker (CRG). Neil Alberico (Top Kart) was third ahead of Thursday heat winner Cody Robinson (Arrow). Jordan Jadallah (CRG) rounded out the top-five.
In the second heat race, Jose Zanella (FA Kart) continued his strong run from Thursday, however, he was pressured by Cameron Jocelyn (Birel) in the morning race, edging him at the line by just half a second. Justin Coplen (CRG) and Taylor Miinch (Birel) ran third and fourth while Matthew Mair (Tony Kart) capped the top-five.
Heat A vs. D saw Gennari and Buecker battling again, with Gennari maintaining the edge for a second outing, this time winning by 0.177 seconds at the line after shuffling the top spot around. Alberico ran third in the early portion of the 10-lap race before Coplen and Jocelyn were able to push him back to fifth when the checkered flag fell.
Robinson put an end to Zanella’s win streak in the final Jr. Max heat race as the Ohio driver ran away to a near three-second win. Zanella ran third behind Miinch until just after the halfway mark when he was able to get by for second. By then, Robinson had put a good gap on the two drivers, running clear laps up front. Mair and Race Liberante (CRG) were running forth and fifth in the opening laps until the two made contact entering turn two, dropping them out of the top five and allowing Jadallah and Miles Maroney (CRG) to run and finish fourth and fifth.
The LCQ saw Jacob Pearlman (Birel) take the important victory in the 16-lap race, winning by 2.673 seconds over Brandon Scheiber (Arrow). Markus Josephson (Swiss Hutless) was third with Mark Pellegrini (Arrow) and Jesup Studer (CRG) crossing the line in fourth and fifth. Zak Bonin (Kosmic) had a sixth and final transfer spot for most of the race before retiring on lap 13, giving Taylor Stawicki (Margay) the last qualifying position into the Saturday events.
In the final tally, Zanella will start Saturday’s Prefinal on the pole position with Gennari on the outside of row one. Robinson and Coplen will fill out row two with Buecker and Jocelyn completing row three.
Mini Max
Jordan Perry (Tony Kart) earned his second heat victory in the A vs. C race, running a very smart race. Perry took a 0.125-second victory over fellow heat race winner Jake French (Margay) to take the lead in the heat race point standings. RC Enerson (Tony Kart) was third with AJ Myers (Merlin) and pole sitter Dore Chaponick (Birel) rounding out the top five.
Jesus Rios Jr. (CRG) earned his first heat win in the Group B vs. Group D race over Pietro Fittipaldi (Kart Mini). Santino Ferrucci (S-1) drove from the rear of the field to a third place finish as Cole MacEwen (Birel) followed him up for fourth. Colin Daley (Gillard) completed the top five.
Chaponick took advantage of his pole position in his third heat, pulling out to an early lead, controlling all 10 laps of the A vs. D heat. Two-time winner Perry ran second ahead of Fittipaldi, Brennan Harrington (Birel), and MacEwen to bag a front row starting position in the Prefinal.
In the final MiniMax heat race, French took home his second victory of the weekend, running to the win by 0.808 seconds over Taylor McKeever (Tony Kart). Dakota Dickerson (Birel) ran to finish third in front of Enerson and Jack West (Tony Kart).
Ten drivers raced for six spots in the Mini Max LCQ with Nicholas Silva (Kart Mini) and Dominic Tesoro (Tony Kart) running 1-2 in the 13-lap race. The man on the move was Colin Daley (Gillard), who started outside the top six but worked his way into a transfer spot until making contact with Shawn Carlson (CRG), ending both their races while also collecting Christopher Tillery (CRG). Ryan Rudolph (Maranello) held the final transfer spot until a thrown chain with two laps to go ruined his chance and gave Austin Mack (All Kart) the final position in the Saturday Prefinal.
Each scoring two wins, French and Perry will start the Prefinal from row one. Enerson and Chaponick will launch from row two with McKeever and Dickerson behind them on row three.
Masters
With an invitation to the America’s Team for the upcoming Rotax Max Grand Finals awaiting the winner, the fast driver from Thursday’s Masters heat races, Erik Jackson (Arrow), took the A vs. C heat race win over a tight battle with David Harwin (Tony Kart), Paul Walker, and round one winner Keith Karr (Birel). Ian Thomas (Tony Kart) rounded out the top five while front runner Brad Smith (CRG) had trouble on lap four ran into trouble and finished 22nd.
Maverick Bartlett (Arrow) continued his strong pace in the second heat, running the fastest lap toward another five-second win. Jerry Shawn Tatum (Arrow) was second ahead of Alex Raine (CRG). Andy Seesemann put in a solid effort having changed his Birel chassis after bending his original frame, running to fourth ahead of John Crow (Birel).
With just two heats remaining, the A vs. D battle was a wild one with the top five drivers - Karr, Smith, Bartlett, Harwin, and Seesemann - all pulling out to a good sized lead from the rest of the field. On lap seven, Karr went into turn three and just lost control, spinning off the track while leading. Karr’s spin caused a chain reaction wreck as, while everyone worked to find a safe path through, all five drivers were sent off track. Bartlett was unlucky, making contact with Karr and breaking a tie rod in the process. Roman Gutierrez (GP) inherited the lead and took the provisional win, until being removed in post-tech when his track width was too wide. This gave the win to Harwin, who came back on track in second following the crash. Jackson was second with Tim Hannen (CRG), Marc Mair (CRG), and Kurt Fisher (CRG) rounding out the top five.
Just before the B vs. C heat race hit the track, a heavy rain shower came through to bring the field into the pit lane before getting the green, forcing the drivers to change to wet tires. After the 30-minute break, the field finally got underway. At the green, Raine used his rain experience to take the win over Thomas, Jones and Mike Price (First Kart), while Dave Lehman (Arrow) won the battle for fifth in the final corner.
Mike Daniel (CRG) and track owner Jim Keesling (Birel) led the Masters division in the LCQ to take the provisional 1-2 finish and positions in the Saturday Prefinal. After going through tech, Keesling was removed for an improper airbox, moving David Carlisle (CRG) to second, David Fiedler (Birel) to third, and Matt Mandino (CRG), David Pergande (Birel), and Ihor Bilyy (VMT) into Saturday’s events and the final drivers to transfer.
The front six drivers in the Masters division were very close in points with Raine and Jackson earning the front row starting spots for the Prefinal. Thomas and Karr are third and fourth overall in the points with Price and Bartlett sitting fifth and sixth.
DD2
As the outright favorite in DD2, Kyle Ray (Arrow) continued his strong pace, this time hounded by Curtis Cooksey (CRG), winning by 0.241-seconds. David Chapel (Arrow) had a great run to third ahead of Brandon Marsell (Arrow) and Chris Jennings (MMK), another driver who put in a great drive to fifth. CRG drivers Arie Ouimet and Joey Collins got together with Jordan Musser in a turn one accident, ending the race of Ouimet and Musser as Collins received a disqualification for getting assistance on the track.
The third DD2 heat ran on a drying track, although not quite dry enough for slicks. One driver opted for slicks, however, as Jack Warrington (Birel) took the gamble to run on the dry Mojo tires. At the green, Ray took the lead in the early portion until Cooksey’s wet set-up came in, taking over the top spot one lap four. Ray then continued to fall back, eventually finishing sixth. Musser began the race outside the top five, but charged through to finish second with Stuart Marsell (Arrow) following him through. Peter Bortolussi (CRG) crossed the line fourth ahead of Brandon Marsell (Arrow).
In the final heat tally, Cooksey enjoyed a two-point advantage on Ray to win the pole as the duo will start the Prefinal from row one. The Marsell brothers Brandon and Stuart will fight from row two while Jennings and Gregory Liefooghe (CRG) will occupy row three.
Senior
The Senior Max drivers capped the day here in Colorado and James Kennedy (Sodikart) earned his second heat victory in A vs. C morning dice after getting by polesitter Phillip Arscott (Swiss Hutless) early on. Arscott fell back consistently during the ten laps with a flat tire, eventually finishing ninth. Arie Ouimet (CRG) ran second behind Kennedy with Victor Pedrosa (CRG) in third, again turning the fastest lap of the race. Austin Isaac (Birel) and Clayton Snow (Energy) rounded out the top five.
After having trouble in yesterday’s heat race, Nick Boulle (Gillard) was able to hold off Joey Collins (CRG) for the B vs. D heat. Cody Tracy (First Kart) put some pressure on Collins as he was focusing on Boulle, but was not able to slip by. Thiago Parazinho (Zanardi) was fourth with Wes Phillips (Birel) completing the top five.
The first attempt of the Group A vs. Group D qualifier was red flagged when Mike Herda (Birel) was involved in a multi-kart accident in turn seven, and thankfully, he was able to walk away uninjured. Rotax officials decided to put the B vs. C heat race out on the track while they gave a 30-minute repair time for the first heat participants. On the restart, Pedrosa did not wait long before he shot past Arscott for the lead and would eventually win after the race was shortened by another red flag. Phillips was classified third with Mike Giessen (Birel) and Brandon Jones (Arrow) rounding out the top five.
The B vs. C heat had an exciting last lap battle with Kennedy leading the entire race until the final circuit when Tracy made a move for the lead, making it stick, dropping Kennedy to third as Collins and Kyle Demeter (Arrow) followed Tracy through at turn seven. Parazinho recorded another top five finish, crossing the line in fifth.
Pedrosa earned the pole position for the Prefinal with Kennedy lined up outside him. Row two is filled with Collins and Tracy with Ouimet and Arscott in row three.
With the day capped, the fields have now been set for Saturday’s Prefinals, which will in turn give us the grids for the National Championship finals in the afternoon. |
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