SKUSA SuperNationals 8 ICC winner Jason Bowles (Photo: Super Kart Illustrated)

The following is pulled from the old archives of eKartingNews.com, bringing you the words by staff members Rob Howden, Tim Blaney and David Cole, from the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals 8 on October 27-31 at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also included is the words from the pages of Super Kart Illustrated with more in-depth report of the ICC division and recaps of every category.

Bowles scores emotional win for Tony Kart

Capping off an emotional weekend for the CompCor team, Jason Bowles took the win in the headline ICC class today at the SKUSA SuperNationals. It wasn’t easy for Bowles, who despite falling back early in the race, hung tough and was there to move on Alan Sciuto on the final lap just as the young driver’s SwedeTech TM was seizing at the end of the backshute, ending his run to the win.

Bowles celebrated inside the Sam Boyd Stadium at SuperNationals 8 (Photo: Bill Kistler – racepixs)

Off the lights, Bowles jumped strongly from the pole and ran hard to the first corner before contact with Ron White (CRG), who was attacking aggressively from the outside. Bowles was slowed and slid back as the field funneled to the second corner. Heading into turn two, the action continued when White ran into the side of David Jurca (Italkart) fighting for the apex, ending both of their days before the race ever made it a single lap.

Across the start-finish line for the first time, Jordy Vorrath (Italkart) held the lead with Bowles in second and Lorenzo Mandarino (GP) in third. Making a strong run earlier was Kyle Martin (Trackmagic) on the new FTR chassis.

Moving up steadily was newly crowned SKUSA National Champion Alan Sciuto. After starting back in the pack, Sciuto powered his Kimball Williams-tuned Birel through the field. One by one, Sciuto moved up in the order as Vorrath continued in the lead.

By lap 15, Vorrath’s Italkart began to slow and Bowles closed the gap that had once been at 1.762 seconds. By this point, Sciuto had moved into the lead group and, working with Bowles, began to track down the leader.

When the time was right, Sciuto made his move and took the lead from Vorrath with Bowles eventually getting past the Italkart as well. With the laps closing, Bowles looked to be eating into the gap. Sciuto’s SwedeTech TM began giving out on him three laps from the end and he knew it thanks to the display on his data gauge.

On white flag, Bowles was in full stalking mode; he all over Sciuto. Down the long back straight for the final time, Bowles looked to the inside but couldn’t quite make the pass. Heading over to turn 9, Sciuto slowed when his motor stuck hard. Bowles seized the lead while several other drivers scrambled to avoid Sciuto, who was dead-stick on the track.

Bowles, hands in the air, crossed the finish line first with Martin in second and Vorrath in third. Kyle Wiegand drove solidly to fourth while Brett Buckwalter capped the group that was invited to the podium.

On the podium, Bowles dedicated his win to Ron Huber, owner of CompCor, who passed away on Saturday after he sustained head injuries in a paddock accident on Thursday. It was a big win for both Bowles and the CompCor squad and the first victory for Tony Kart in the United States since Scott Speed won the SuperNationals back in 2001.

TaG Senior

Headlining the day’s trio of finals on Saturday was the TaG Senior main that was scheduled for the second last race. It was the best on-track battle of the event thus far and in the end, it would come down to a last lap battle between a TaG veteran and a newcomer to American racing.

Off the line, IRL star Tomas Scheckter (Tony Kart) jumped into the lead with Jerry Henderson (Azzurro) and Chris Freckleton (Tony Kart) falling into line. About 1/3 of the way in, Henderson moved into the lead and began building a gap between himself and Scheckter. Meanwhile, moving up through the grid effectively was Toby Scheckter, Tomas’ younger brother. Toby dispatched his sibling after trying to work together and then set about hunting down the leader.

Slowly, lap after lap, the gap to the leader was shrinking and with five to go, Scheckter was applying massive pressure to the leader. With two laps remaining, Henderson went into defensive mode, parking his Azzurro squarely in the middle of the track. Scheckter tested different lines in the latter corners of the track looking for a way past, all with little success. Taking the white flag, the two were separated by mere inches.

Heading into turn 11 on the final lap, Henderson set himself in the middle of the track to defend his position. Scheckter did what he could and swung wide in an attempt to set up a move on the exit of the corner. As the Tony Kart dove for the apex, Henderson’s corner speed was slowed due to his tight line and Scheckter’s quicker pace resulted in front nosecone to rear bumper contact. Pushed off the line, Henderson continued his lead but then make a mistake on the entrance to the right hand turn 12, running wide on exit which allowed Scheckter to slip through on the inside, giving him the power line through the final turn and on to the checker flag.

After the race, SKUSA officials conferred and to a chorus of boos from the assembled crowd, it was announced that Scheckter had been penalized a position for the contact, elevating Henderson to the win. Italian Motors’ driver Colby Jenn was third while James Rooke (Tony Kart) came home fourth. Rounding out the SuperNationals podium in TaG Senior was Tomas Scheckter, who proceeded to show the crowd how to handle a champagne celebration like a pro, dousing the scantily-clad trophy girls while simultaneously remaining dry as bone.

SKUSA SuperNationals 8 SuperSunday Results

Oct. 31 – ICC LCQ

If this race weren’t the SuperNationals Last Chance Qualifier, it could have passed as a main event at any other venue with names like Boswell, Elliott, Hinchcliffe, Noud and Rudolph filling the grid. In total, there were four former SuperNats winners on the hot pit lane before the start of the dice. Thirteen drivers lined-up for the final ten starting spots on the ICC grid for today’s final with three competitors looking like they were heading home.

Many eyes were on fast qualifier Tad Funakoshi, who was shipped to the LCQ after he was DQ’d from the Group A Prefinal for being underweight after dominating the moto. The Energy driver was starting dead last in the LCQ field and needed to make up ground in a hurry.

Off the line, veteran Darren Elliot jumped to the lead after schooling Nick Halen (Van Kart) at the entrance to the third corner. As should be the case in an LCQ, little hard racing went on at the front as Elliott put his CRG into cruise control to take the win. Boswell slotted into second with RBI Racing teammates AJ Noud and Alan Rudolph rolling in third and fourth.

Funakoshi looked strong during the opening laps but he pushed a bit too hard, clipping the barriers heading in the third turn, ending his day, and what he thought was his weekend. On the bubble spot gaining the final transfer spot was Bermuda’s Scott Barnes (Intrepid).

Thirty minutes after the checkers flew, SKUSA officials made the announcement that all of the LCQ starters would take the green in the Final, ending a great tradition of exclusivity for the SuperNationals’ top class.

Missing from the proceedings all day were MRP’s Josh Schreiber and Tony Kart’s Tomas Scheckter. Schreiber used the Thursday practice session as a testing day for the upcoming Stars of Karting Finale while Scheckter was feeling the often painful effects of the kart seats in his ribs and opted to concentrate his efforts on the TaG Senior where he would start from the front row.

Oct. 31 – ICC Prefinal

If you had the chance to look at the stacked grid for the SKUSA SuperNationals ICC class in our pre-race preview last week, you knew right away that the racing in Las Vegas was going to be tight at the pointy end of the pack. In today’s Prefinals, this was most definitely the case from P2 on back to the tail, as the racing was hard-fought.

In the first ICC Prefinal, which was comprised of the odd-number qualifiers, Energy pilot Tad Funakoshi broke away early and drove to a dominating victory. The former Formula S1 SuperNationals winner is in Vegas with a privateer effort that has Tad and his father Bud tuning the kart and a new SwedeTech Pavesi powerplant. Funakoshi basically flew in under the radar, taking a surprise pole of the lead dog to give the rest of the field a new target.

Debuting the new Trackmagic FTR, Kyle Martin was slow off the line in the first heat, forcing Brett Buckwalter (Reynard) to take evasive action to avoid the Texan as the field streamed into turn one. Buckwalter slotted into second early although he eventually slipped to fourth.

Also running strong in the early going was Phil Carlson (CRG) as he moved aggressively across Martin’s bow on the opening lap. As the heat wore on, attrition began taking its toll and perhaps the biggest name in the DNF column was last year’s SuperPro winner Wesley Boswell. Just past the halfway point, Boswell rolled his Birel into the pits with a stuck SRA TM.

Funakoshi was cruising and crossed the line first, capping off a nearly perfect two days at Sam Boyd Stadium. Jason Bowles (Tony Kart) broke the stripe in second, holding the Comport banner high after he and his team had learned the horrible news this morning that their team boss Ron Huber had succumbed to the massive injuries he sustained in a scooter accident Thursday. In was a tough day for the Comport / TonyKart USA team although the entire squad handled themselves with poise.

Martin was third in the opening heat with Buckwalter in fourth ahead of Alan Sciuto (Birel) in fifth.

It wasn’t all positive, however, as Funakoshi’s perfect weekend came crashing to a halt when he crossed the scales underweight. Multiple attempts on the scale pad were unsuccessful and the young Californian was disqualified, moving Bowles to P1 on the day.

While Funakoshi was learning his fate, the second ICC group was on-track with Ron White (CRG) on the point looking to score his second SuperNationals win. Early in the race, White drove away from the chase group of Italian Motors’ teammates David Jurca and Jordy Vorrath and True North’s Lorenzo Mandarino.

Normally well-disciplined on the track, the Italian Motors’ drivers duked it out early between themselves, allowing White to power away. At one point, Vorrath dove hard under Jurca at the end of the long straight. Unimpressed, Jurca laid the wood to Vorrath on the very next lap. The action on track led both drivers to be summoned to the IM trailer after the race for a meeting with the (team) principal.

White rolled to the win with Jurca, Vorrath and Mandarino in tow. Missing from the action was SSC Racing’s Darren Elliott who, while fast early, had to pull into the pits when the exhaust springs holding the pipe to the motor snapped.

With a number of drivers being relegated to the LCQ, things will be interesting tomorrow as a number of top drivers were forced to run in this final qualifier. We’ll be back tomorrow morning with complete results from the LCQ as well as our ICC predictions from the SKI Team on the final results of the ICC main on SuperSunday.

EKN Trackside – Super Nats 8 – SKI Team ICC Predictions

It’s Sunday morning at Sam Boyd Stadium so time to lay our necks on the line and go on the record as to who we think will take the big win here at the SuperNationals. It’s been a wild couple of days in Las Vegas with a number of surprises popping up across the grid and this has made our predictions very tough.

We have said all along that this was going to be a tight field and all the action so far has proved it. The bottom line is, while the field last year was bigger, this grid this weekend is better from a quality standpoint. What we have this year in the best of the best with few field fillers packing the back half of the grid.

Okay, we’ve stalled enough.

Tim’s Picks:

Here is who I think will win: Ron White. White has been working hard, I mean really hard, for the past month getting ready for this event. While other drivers were at race tracks across the country testing, White was in a parking lot near his Santa Clara home because it’s a better simulation for the conditions he knew he would find here in Las Vegas. His RC-20 CRG was hooked up yesterday and as many have learned, once White gets in the lead, he’s VERY hard to pass.

Should White stumble, I’ll go with Bowles or Mandarino. Bowles is driving smart and nothing would cap an emotional weekend for the CompCor team better than a triumph in the top class. Another driver to watch out for is Canadian Lorenzo Mandarino. He’s always been blindingly fast, but this year, we’ve noticed a different driver. He’s still confident, but not as cocky as he’s been in the past and that maturity showed on the track yesterday. He ran down the Italian Motors’ duo of Jurca and Vorrath hard without making the dive-bomb pass that could have taken them out – a move he has gotten a reputation for making.

Blaney’s SuperNationals ICC Podium:

1. Ron White
2. Jason Bowles
3. Lorenzo Mandarino
4. Kyle Martin
5. Jordy Vorrath

Rob’s Picks:

The top three rows for this ICC main are stacked with guys that all have a chance to win. Starting on the front row of a SuperNationals main event may be more important than it is at any other race. Getting out into the lead here is crucial as the quality of the field makes advancing extremely tough. For this reason, the front row starters have to be the favorites. And on this day, there is an interesting sideline story that could play in the final results. Polesitter Jason Bowles will start alongside Ron White this afternoon and the key to this is the fact that they were teammates this year on the Cooper F2000 Zetec series. The rivalry developed between this two pilots behind the wheel of their JDC Motorsports Van Diemens will likely spill out onto the track today and I can see a solid fight for supremacy up front. My pick for the win is a guy that no one expected much from this weekend…Jason Bowles.

Bowles has been a very cool customer and was very quick in morning warm-up, posting the second fastest time behind Wesley Boswell, who flew to a 49.908-second lap. Bowles is fast and ready to win.

White should be able to chase Bowles to the end and will also come under attack by the Italian Motors duo of David Jurca and Jordy Vorrath. Trouble in the Prefinal saw these drivers get into each other on a few occasions and a team meeting with Claudio and Michael Valiante should have them back on the same page.

Lorenzo Mandarino rounds out my top five as he has been very quick all weekend and looks to have matured significantly. With this trademark fast pace possibly void of his equally-renowned poor decision making, I look for the Canadian to advance from his row four starting spot.

Howden’s SuperNationals ICC Podium:

1. Jason Bowles
2. Ron White
3. David Jurca
4. Jordy Vorrath
5. Lorenzo Mandarino

Oct. 29 – ICC Qualifying

The 2004 SKUSA SuperNationals were officially opened on Friday with a full day’s worth of on-track action. The atmosphere in the paddock was subdued significantly, however, by news that CompCor / Tony Kart USA President Ron Huber remains in intensive care at a local hospital after suffering a severe head injury yesterday when he apparently fell off his scooter in the paddock area early in the morning.

While the mood in the paddock is somber, the action on the track has been very solid as the surface is now taking rubber with a groove being laid down. Times are dropping dramatically as the grip level increases. There remains a buzz regarding the strength of the ICC field and excitement was magnified today by a wild set of qualifying sessions that introduced this weekend’s primary players.

The big story of the day was ICC poleman Tad Funakoshi. The 2002 Formula S1 SuperNationals winner laid down some seriously quick laps during the 15-minute session, running in the all-important second group of the class. With almost 50 drivers in the field, SKUSA split the class into two groups to allow for more open track. With the track grip improving with each session, being in the second group translated into approximately two tenths of a second. This approach opened the door for a great deal of controversy, which came in the form of an unfortunate officiating error.

Muscling their way into the second group was the trio of Joe and Ron White and Phil Carlson, who had practiced in the first group through the beginning of the weekend. Just as the first session was about to begin, they were moved into the second group, much to the displeasure of many on the ICC grid. The stated motivation for this alteration was to even out the group sizes. It was an incorrect decision on the part of the SKUSA official, but truly, not much could be done. There was, however, at least one protest pending when we left the track.

Making an impressive debut was the all-new Trackmagic FTR, running into the top five at the hands of veteran Kyle Martin. The Texan steered the chassis to third on the grid, just 0.148 seconds back of Funakoshi.

In the lead-up to the SuperNationals, we talked about the quality of the field and now we have the proof. The top 43 drivers in the ICC class are covered by just 1.43 seconds. Once we get racing, it’s going to be hard-nosed racing with the very close lap times.

Italian Motors’ David Jurca put his Italkart on the front row, keeping the streak alive for the British Columbia-based team. Over the past three years, an Italkart has been on the front row of the ICC grid following qualifying. White (CRG) and Carlson (CRG) rounded out the top five, taking full advantage of their move to the second group. Factory Porsche driver Patrick Long made a good showing for the new Zanardi chassis with a solid tenth-place effort. Long was second after the first group’s session and was one of the more vocal oponents of the move of the three drivers into group two.

As much of a surprise as it was to see Funakoshi on pole, a poor showing by Alex Speed also set the paddock abuzz. Speed has been struggling all weekend with his new Birel and this was evident this afternoon as he and tuner Mike Speed thrashed making changes. All the hard work would only yield a 29th place effort in the final tally. The young hotshoe has his work cut out for him today.

Kyle Wiegand (GP) looked strong early in his session, running in the first group, but a slight error saw him graze the TechPro barriers and he retired from the session with a bent steering shaft. Another big-name driver who struggled during the timed session was First Kart’s Bobby Wilson. The Wisconsin driver fought a tweaked chassis and the remnants of a stuck motor this morning and could only manage the 40th best time of the day.

FRIDAY

When the new day dawns over Sam Boyd Stadium on Friday morning, the official green flag on the 8th annual SKUSA SuperNationals will be thrown and the first official track sessions will be underway. Thursday’s schedule saw just three on-track sessions for each category after a late start when it was deemed that the track required significant adjustment first thing this morning. The finalized layout is challenging and fast and as usual, the search for grip is on. This year’s parking lot course has only started to ‘season’ and the constant train of race karts is now beginning to lay down a visible line.

The final ICC session of the day was highlighted by a 0.6-second drop in the fast time, as a reported 51.7 was the quickest lap found on any trackside stopwatch, hit by CRG drivers Darren Elliott and Phil Carlson. Carlson has been quick all day, making an impressive return to SKUSA competition this year. Canadian Lorenzo Mandarino (GP) knocked off a 51.8 and impressed many onlookers in the paddock with his smooth attack on this rhythm-oriented circuit.

Many front runners struggled in coming to grips with the fast and slippery circuit. Most other competitors were in the low 52s. Alan Sciuto, Ron White, Canadian National Champion Jake Thompson and Tad Funakoshi all ran 52.1-second laps.

The last session didn’t reveal much as the sun was already fading and most drivers were struggling with front grip. A few pilots, like Kyle Martin, reported quick early laps before understeer set in, slowing them badly.

The day was capped by the season-ending banquet for the ProMoto Tour. Alan Sciuto took to the stage to accept his SuperPro national championship awards while Formula S1 champion Justin Moon, Formula Junior titleist Cole Whitt and Formula G1 champ Howie Idelson were also honored. Formula Junior driver Race Johnson was awarded the Rookie of the Year trophy.

Today’s action will see a morning warm-up give the drivers and opportunity get back into focus before heading into afternoon qualifying sessions. The day concludes with the first round of heats for a limited number of the support classes.

WEDNESDAY

SuperNationals 8 was the first trip to Sam Boyd Stadium for SKUSA (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

After landing here in Las Vegas last night, we have now set-up shop here in Nevada to begin our Trackside coverage of this year’s Superkarts! USA SuperNationals. We will be bringing the EKN readership daily report from the track as well as nightly wrap-ups of the day’s events. Heading into SuperSunday, we’ll present our predications for the main events.

Now it’s time to get down to business. The 2004 SKUSA SuperNationals are on…

It may be a new location, but the ‘buzz’ that was absent all year on the ProMoto Tour has returned for this year’s SuperNationals. An ICC field that features the best of the best and guest entries from a handful of big names for the car racing world will do that for a program. Preparations are now underway for the eighth edition of this event – often dubbed the ‘U.S. Open of Shifter Kart Racing. Teams are now busy preparing their entries in the ‘tent city’ that has taken over the parking lot here at Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium, the home of the ULNV football team. There is a wave of excitement in the paddock and many people are talking about the ICC field, which could be the best ever. In fact, all of the classes are primed to be stacked with an expected final entry tally closing in on 300.

WEATHER

Rain hit the area last night, soaking down the stadium grounds and the storm clouds that dumped their contents hung around all day with only intermittent relief and sun. It was a cool day with temps in the low 60s. Another quick rain shower dampened the track late in the afternoon but reports of clear but cool temperatures.

THE TRACK

The initial layout of the track has caused considerable negative feedback from the paddock. About 80% of the track is visible from the pit area with a small segment of the layout slipping around behind the stadium. The only real questionable segment involves the first half of the back straightaway, which runs through a fairly narrow section. Although it is over 30’ wide, there is no runoff on either side, running between a fence line and a parking lot picnic area that is shielded by a hay bale wall. The SKUSA staff is working to straighten the run into this section and has also adjusted the corner leading to the backshute, slowing down the speed to make it a first or second gear launch onto the straight. The initial layout would have allowed for a third gear entry onto this fast section of the track. The remaining section of the track after the straightaway looking exciting, offering a number of tighter corners that should open up a number of passing opportunities. We’ll come back tomorrow with actual on-track feedback from the drivers, as well as some photos of the layout itself.

PIT NOTES

There are a number of drivers ready to debut on new rides this weekend, many of which have been detailed on EKN this past week. We’ll be updating the website all weekend from our trackside location in the DeCal Works motorcoach so we’ll start with the owner of the rig, ICC pilot Ron Joynt. A top competitor in the Formula S1 class this summer, Joynt will debut on a CRG in the Pro IC category as he is now running as part of Ron White’s RC20 operation. As reported in the recent issue of Super Kart Illustrated, Ron’s brother Joe White will be back aboard a CRG as well, to run alongside his sibling. Alex Speed and Darin Marcus will be piloting Birel chassis this weekend after running blue karts for the past year. Speed has been running a GP this season while Marcus has been with First Kart for the last two campaigns. Lastly, NorCal hotshoe Tom Dyer is expected to put his new Leading Edge Intrepid on-track this weekend with Greg Bell tuning the Italian machine.

The Tony Kart tent is packed with drivers this weekend, harkening back to the day when the marquee was a major player here in North America. Backed by a concerted effort from the new importer – CompCor – Tony Kart will be represented by a number of teams and shops including PTK Racing and Msquared Karting. CompCor is using this event to signify their emergence back onto the U.S. scene after a season of supporting Tony Kart privateers across the country. Big news is the fact that the PTK chassis will now be manufactured by Tony Kart and is expected to by branded as a Paul Tracy signature model. This new relationship will put top Pro IC driver Nick Green on a kart more suited to his name, along with Super G frontrunner Bonnier Moulton and S1 flyer Mike Beeny. Veteran frontrunner Jason Bowles will also be under the tent, running in the ICC category alongside former SuperNats Formula S2 winner Michael Abbate. Last but not least, it will be interesting to see how IRL driver Tomas Scheckter stacks up against the sport’s top pilots as he will pit in the Tony Kart tent to run in the ICC class. We’ll have more on this tomorrow when EKN sits down with CompCor’s Cliff Kujula to discuss Tony Kart’s program.

Former Moto World Champion Phil Carlson will reunite with tuner Mike Robbins this weekend, back under the JAF Racing banner with which he won the 2002 SKUSA crown. Carlson has run a limited schedule in Mexico this year and will be aboard a new Danilo Rossi signature CRG with Darcy DeCoste power.

The This year’s Super G category will be exciting this weekend with the first-time SuperNats addition of former Msquared banner while Shipley will suit up in his Extreme Karting livery to run a GP with SwedeTech Pavesi power. Shipley is also going to enter the TaG class on a GP/Parilla combination. The duo will take it to the current Super G establishment, which included new national champ Howie Idelson (First Kart), Chris Farrell (PTK), Tom Kutscher (GP) and Jeff Carter (Intrepid).

The return of Bobby Wilson has certainly upped the ante in the ICC class.

It’s not only new drivers and new combinations that will be making their debuts this weekend. The factory Trackmagic team is in the house with their first ‘new’ chassis in a number of years. After developing the Diablo through four models, new factory driver Gary Carlton has worked in R&D; to come up with the new Trackmagic FTR. Carlton’s experience with European chassis has resulted in a car that likes a laid-back driver position, with the pilot’s arms fully extended. This profile will be in stark contrast to the more compact seating position made famous by Jason LaPoint and Kyle Martin. It will be interesting to see how the new chassis stacks up.

We’ll touch on the favorites in the other classes tomorrow once everyone has had a chance to get on the racetrack. Controlled practice begins tomorrow morning.

Once again, the countdown is over….the ’04 SuperNats have begun.

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