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| October 14, 2007 News |
| EKN Trackside: Mazda RoboPong 200 presented by Bridgestone - Sunday Report |
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 | Chris Larson and Tony Loniewski celebrate in victory lane with Mazda's John Doonan
(Photo: davidleephoto.com) |
The 2007 edition of the Mazda RoboPong 200 presented by Bridgestone produced another historic event at the New Castle Motorsports Park outside Indianapolis, IN. The weather was perfect, bright sunshine with comfortable temperatures compared to previous years. Unlike the former winner’s performance, the First Kart USA team of Tony Loniewski and Chris Larson controlled the nearly all 200 laps from the pole position to take home the victory.
Following opening ceremonies, the race got the green flag roughly around 12:30pm with Larson leading the 70 kart field alongside #0 Screaming Talent/Gillard team with 2006 Indy Pro Series champion Jay Howard. All 70 teams used their smarts on the opening corners with no one spinning off track or any risking moves. Larson crossed the line first with the Racers of Tomorrow team with Josef Newgarden behind the wheel running second.
Attrition began early with the LCQ hard charger team of David Sutton and John Mossey in the Screaming Talent/Gillard #7 entry experienced ignition troubles on the opening lap, ending their race early along with the Zach Beard/Adam Johnson duo on the First Kart, four laps into the race. Also hit early included the #43 So-Cal PlayerZ (Birel) with John Zartarian behind the wheel, running with a broken flex after lap two, and #22 Team Cytomax Top Kart experienced a broken header after roughly 20 laps during Conor Daly’s first stint.
By about lap 14, Larson hit lap traffic as he stretched out a gap over Howard and DB Motorsports (Kosmic) Caleb Loniewski. The first scheduled stops began early with the #30 Energy Corse Racing team stopping on lap 40 after moving up to fifth from 16th. They would battle the fuel economy all day as the Sonik engine would use more racing fuel then the Parilla teams. The leaders stretched out to a 53 lap first stint before coming in for just fuel, chain lube, and driver change, handing over the wheel to Tony Loniewski. That gave Howard the point briefly as they were able to go until lap 55 before coming in. One driver that pushed the fuel limits to far was IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon in the CometKartSales.com entry (Arrow), as they ran out of gas and lost valuable time for their first stop.
 | Josef Newgarden (pictured) and Timmy Megenbier ran to a second place finish
(Photo: davidleephoto.com) |
Following all the schedule stops for the early contenders, Larson/Loniewski had lapped all but the top nine karts by lap 60, which included two other First Kart teams, including Phil DeLaO/Spencer Pigot aboard the #307 machine and the Brett Smrz/Derek Wagner in the Wagner Race Products entry. At the halfway mark, only five teams were on the lead lap after the #27 kart made an unscheduled stop for a fouled spark plug and the #30 team dropping out of the top five after making their second stop on lap 71. Tony Loniewski continued to lead with Screaming Talent/Gillard (Nicholas Boulle) and Timmy Megenbier (Racer of Tomorrow) in pursuit.
The second round of stops then began, the #2 kart in on lap 104, changing a right front tire, the leaders coming in the next lap making no changes, and the #0 kart putting on four new tires. Just eight laps later, Howard would bring in his Gillard machine with a broken flex. That moved Wagner, the Shake & Bake Racing (Arrow) team of CJ Lintner/Jimmy Simpson, and the Energy team into the top five. Running sixth by lap 120 was the Screaming Talent/H-Power team of John Mossey and IndyCar driver Vitor Meira entry after starting dead last due to a qualifying penalty assessed Sunday morning. They would however come into the pits on lap 137 with mechanical trouble and lose laps.
Larson continued the strong pace in his second stint, eventually lapping the second place - Racer of Tomorrow - at lap 149, just before the third scheduled pit stops for the leaders would take place. Following the third stops, the order would remain the same up front with the top two teams having no trouble getting in and out, though the #2 kart was able to make up some time to return back on the lead lap.
 | Local drivers CJ Lintner (pictured) and Jimmy Simpson put two Arrow machines into the top three
(Photo: davidleephoto.com) |
The running order stayed the way during the remaining laps with Tony Loniewski taking the checkered flag for the victory. Megenbier would bring home the runner-up kart about 48-seconds behind. Jimmy Simpson would cross the line third for the Shake & Bake Racing squad ahead of Dismore and the CometKartSales.com team, who bounced back from the early fuel mistake. Both teams just one lap down. Nicholas Boulle would round out the top five with the Screaming Talent/Gillard entry.
Finishing sixth was the CKS/Lewis Racing (Arrow) team with track owner Mark Dismore Jr. and Billy Lewis. They had a radiator hose clamp issue that put them off the pace during the middle of the race. Seventh was TKM Motorsports team (Margay) with Adam Rovazzini and IndyCar driver Scott Dixon after starting 49th. DB Motorsports, despite having multiple spark plug issues with their Rok TT engine, finished eighth at four laps down along with OMG Rockstar Energy Drink with Indy Pro Series drivers CR Crews and Logan Gomez (Margay) crossing the stripe ninth. Running five laps behind the leader, the Franklin Motorsports/Merlin USA entry with Jamie Sieracki and Nick Wagner piloting the Merlin/ATK package rounded out the top ten.
Along with taking home the $5,000 check for the win, the First Kart USA team also took home the contingency awards sponsored by Racersites.com. $500 check for pole position and $250 cash for the most laps led, totaling $5750. The DB Motorsports team took home the fast lap of the race $250 prize with their 1:00.086 lap time.
Despite all the problems with brakes, spark plugs, exhaust systems, contact - some experiencing all during the race, 53 teams were running when the checkered flag fell. Advancing the most spots in the 200 lap race was the LBJ Racing (Margay) team who started 69th and finish 17th to take home some prize money. Ballinger Motorsports (Margay) moved up 50 spots to finish 16th and the Friddle Racing (Margay) advancing 45 positions to 15th.
Thus wraps up another historic event with many, many stories throughout the paddock with everyone finishing safe and the lined fences around the 1-mile circuit entertained for the nearly four hour race. The NCMP staff is already looking to 2008 to make next year’s event bigger and better than this weekend.
Photos from DavidLeePhoto.com of Sunday’s main event will be added to the EKN Photo Gallery Monday morning.
Final Results, click HERE |
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