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| October 11, 2007 News |
| Race Report: IKF Region 7 - CalSpeed |
| Article by: Sean Buur - Go Racing Magazine |
For the Photo Gallery from Go Racing Magazine, click HERE
 | Neil McCoy brought home a win and a championship in HPV competition
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
The IKF Region 7 Southwestern Super Series presented by Bridgestone ended their 2007 season the weekend of October 6-7 at the CalSpeed Kart Track. The Los Angeles Kart Club hosted the event with the able CalSpeed crew seeing to the details. It’s been a spectacular season thus far, and only fitting that we end it back where it all began, under the cover of NASCAR turn four at California Speedway. Participation remained consistent, as many of the championships were yet to be decided. Series promoters decided a month ago to throw a curve ball at the racers and run the CalSpeed circuit backwards. Unlike most tracks, CalSpeed actually races just as well in the opposite direction and proved a challenge for many of the series regulars.
Misty Balser, coming off her EKN Top Gun award from the Willow Springs round put her #90 on the pole in the 30 kart Junior 1 class. JA Junior found his way to the front for the prefinal, and the stage was set for a great final. Raquel Martinez already the class champion and sat out the class for the day. Camden Geise, Balser, Junior and Luis Tyrrell didn’t miss her much. After only a few laps they had a four-kart train running out front. Junior, Geise, and Tyrrell all led the way at the start finish line, but Balser was in there with them the entire time. Slight contact between the leaders on the final lap dropped Balser back out of the top five and we saw a trio of cadets dive for the finish line. Tyrrell, who started the final from seventh brought this one home for a great win. Geise and Junior finished second and third, while Jacob Will and Jake Craig were seven seconds back in fourth and fifth.
Garrison Masters was the HPV 4 Junior Champ this year and he too was a no show. Mason Marotta scored the pole, but Taylor Miinch was on fire in the heat race. Miinch, last race’s winner recently switched from his trusty Birel to a brand new Top Kart. He put it to good use dusting the stout Jr field. Miinch grabbed the hole shot and never looked back, claiming an easy win for his new team. Branden Underwood started from the back, but matched Miinch in pace lap after lap. It took him a while to clear Donny St. Ours and Miles Maroney, but once he did the gap from first to second got smaller. Underwood finished a few seconds up the track from the third place runner, Maroney.
The Top Kart HPV seemed to be the ride of the weekend as three of them headed up the start of the HPV 3 Senior main event. Mathematically, three drivers were in the hunt for the championship, Joey Licata Jr., Neil McCoy, and Matt Johnson. Licata put it on pole to start the heat race, but Ty Matta came out fighting, and would start the final from the inside front row. Matta, McCoy and Joey Barros led the way from the get-go. Licata and Johnson were not up to pace with the leaders, leaving McCoy to win or lose the championship. Matta fell out with only a few laps remaining leaving Barros and McCoy to fight it out for the win. McCoy knew better than to mess with Barros when there’s a championship on the line and made no ill-advised last lap moves. Barros brought home a sweet win with his teammate glued to his bumper. Kyle Kuntze, fresh off his trip to New Castle, IN for the WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series race had a swell run up from mid-pack to claim third place honors. Licata finished in fourth, not high enough to keep McCoy from the championship.
 | Taylor Miinch recorded two wins on the weekend in his Top Kart debut
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
Misty Balser’s long wait for an IKF regional win finally came to an end on Saturday. After coming so close the race before, Misty can finally say that she is an IKF Region 7 Southwestern Super Series race winner. Not only that, she did it in style against one of the best in the country, Raquel Martinez. Girl Power was in full form for the Rookie Sportsman class as Martinez secured the pole and the prefinal win. Martinez led the majority of laps while Austin Barnes, Balser and Carlee Taylor battled it out for second place. By the completion of the final, the lead draft was seven karts deep. Balser made her move through the “Contino Carousel” with three to go. Most figured her for a sitting duck, but Balser came through with her hands in the air for her first IKF win. Martinez finished right on her heels, as did Taylor, completing the girl sweep of the top three of the podium. Barnes and Zane Smith were right in the action too finishing fourth and fifth. Misty dedicated her win to her ailing grandpa who was there in the stands watching her. Camden Geise was the class champion, having locked things up at Willow.
Dylan Nobile was the man to beat in Junior Superbox competition with a pole and a prefinal win to his credit. Colby Araki had this class nearly locked up, but with a little luck and a strong performance Cameron Jocelyn could have still triumphed. However, that didn’t happen. Araki was in the fight for the win and Jocelyn was fighting just to finish. A trio of racers led mostly by Nobile and Araki shot off in pursuit of the victory. Branden Underwood was again in the hunt and some sweet racecraft on his part landed him a great win. Clean and crafty was how these three roll, giving and taking like the pros they are. Underwood came out on top, but Araki won the war with his second place finish and the Superbox title. Nobile finished in third right on Araki’s bumper.
Senior Sportsman spread the love around on the fine Saturday in Fontana. Brad Hettervick was class champion and watched from the sidelines as Jordan Brown scored the pole. Brandon Toy went on to win the prefinal, but it was Kyle Kuntze who landed the win in the final. Kuntze and Toy stayed in tough, but the rest of the field was spread out like a hound dog under the porch. Can’t say many people will miss this class next year. Here’s a tip guys, buy an HPV or TAG for next year.
Big and Little TAG were the final classes of the day, and ran together. Mike Lewis was the Light pole sitter while Phillip Grey dropped the hammer in Heavy. The prefinal was full of attrition as most of the field retired before the end of the scheduled distance. Phillip Grey beat out Paul Grey, while Jacob Neal did the same to Lewis. The final too was filled with DNF’s including two of the overall leaders, Neal and Lewis. Bobby Stout was running up front with Neal in front and Lewis behind when all of a sudden, and without warning he was the new race leader. No surprise he brought it home in fine fashion, as he was a few tenths quicker than his two main rivals anyway. Grant Hebner was the fastest man on track, but started shotgun on the field. He managed to work his way into second by the end of the final. Scott Kennedy finished third in Lights. The Heavies had their bit of excitement as Michael Riehl pulled off early with a missing nose. Lucky for Riehl that he took the green flag since he and Phillipsen were championship contenders. Even with his DNF it was enough to grab the championship. Phillip Grey also fell victim to the racing gods, joining Riehl back in he pits. Brian Phillipsen had no such luck and sped off to beat Paul Grey in the 20-lap final. With Joey Licata Jr. already having locked up the championship second place was still up for grabs between Steven Barros and Kennedy. Kennedy’s third and Barros’ fourth locked in Kennedy for second overall.
 | Jacob Will earned his first IKF Region 7 victory in HPV 1
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
For those of us who live in the neighboring city of Rancho Cucamonga we have a little saying that is just a variant of the one Oklahoma has about Texas. Why does the wind blow in Rancho? Because Fontana sucks. Some choose to believe that the wind blows in Fontana to clear the riff-raff off the street, but either way as a resident of said neighboring community I can talk as much trash about Fontana as I want. Truth be told the wind just blows in the fall and we had one of those weekends at CalSpeed. Saturday wasn’t too bad, mostly just breezy, but Sunday kicked it up a notch. Most pits were smart enough to take down the EZ-Ups and just brave the 85 degrees, but a few canopies were bent up pretty good at the end of the day.
Sunday is the day of rest for the regional racers with only seven classes and five race groups on the schedule. HPV 4 and HPV Heavy started things out on this blustery October day with Nick Johnston and Brian Phillipsen taking pole in their respected classes. Phillipsen, already the champion needed only to start the race to put the nail in the championship coffin did better than he needed to with a prefinal win. Jacob Neal managed to get the better of Johnston in the prefinal and the stage was set for a gale force final. Phillipsen pretty much ran unchallenged in HPV 4 Heavy, but second place was pretty exciting to watch as John Bush, Michael Riehl battled early on. Rob Logan joined the fight a few laps in drove to the second place finish ahead of Riehl. Neal and McCoy did battle up front for most of the laps until a problem for Neal dropped him well back into the pack. Ty Matta ran solidly for most of the race, surviving the fight between Chris Freckleton and Matt Johnson. Eventually Freck and Johnson made contact, springing Matta by a few lengths ahead of the pack. McCoy coasted home for another win, ending his stellar year. Licata was the champion and didn’t grace us with his presence in today’s race. Matta was able to beat back all charges and keep his second place. Roa had a great run and was in the thick of things for most of the 20-lap final. He brought it home in third.
Raquel Martinez is a championship machine, having added HPV 1 to her long list of awards. It was a long hard fought battle with Camden Geise all year long and the two finished within 21 points in the standings. Third place overall, and best in class honors were still up for grabs and Austin Barnes was set to get them. Barnes scored the pole for HPV 1, Sunday’s largest class, but Geise scored the heat race win. The final belonged to three drivers only, Geise, Jacob Will and Riley Reyes. All others were playing second fiddle, well fourth fiddle to them. Barnes was that fiddle, securing third in the championship. Shota Kikuchi ended the season on a high note and a trip to the podium in fifth. Up front Geise set the pace with Will and Reyes in tow. It was pretty calm as the laps flew by. Will set up Geise and made his move with two to go. Geise countered, but it wasn’t enough to get back by. Will brought it home for his first IKF regional win, something that is no easy feat in IKF Region 7 Cadet racing.
 | After earning the EKN Top Gun award in round six, Misty Balser returned for her first Region 7 Cadet victory
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
HPV 2 Junior was the last final of interest on the day. With 20 or so drivers heading into turn one it was anyone’s guess as to how things would play out. Branden Underwood was the pole sitter, but a great drive up from tenth by Bobby Runyan landed him the pole for the final. The start was dicey as Neil Alberico came from the second row inside of Runyan in turn one. Runyan fell in line, but his day was over a few laps later after contact in that lead pack. First it was Alberico and Miinch, and then it was Alberico and Eric Gunderson, then Gunderson and Miinch once Alberico fell out on lap 14. In the end it was Miinch, scoring his second win on the weekend, finishing with his hands in the air. Gunderson was glued to Miinch’s rear bumper and he too crossed the finish line hands up as the class champion. Branden Underwood climbed all the way up from 11th to finish third, and second in the championship.
Senior Super Sportsman was another dull event to watch. The only interesting part is that any number of drivers could have won the championship. Jordan Brown again found the speed in qualifying to take the pole position, but Brandon Toy’s new haircut and color were enough of a good luck charm for him to win the prefinal. Toy looked better off track and looked pretty good on track too for the final. Toy went flag to flag for the win and the championship. Kuntze had nothing for him today and finished a distant second. Chris Brown came away with third.
80cc Cadet was the Camden Geise show. He had ran all year, but jumped in Martinez’s kart and showed the way. Martinez was the champ and didn’t need to race. Austin Barnes was the closest, but he was nine seconds back with Jake Craig. Timmy Bachman drove around alone in 80cc Junior for the win and the championship. We can say bye bye to these classes for next year as well.
The 2008 schedule has been released, but there might be a swap of venues but race dates are confirmed. Keep your eyes posted for official notification. Classes will be released soon; we expect to see a few less populated ones get cut from the schedule. The EKN Top Gun Award will be announced on EKN in a few weeks with a complete bio of the final round winner. |
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