3-31-10 Extreme Motorsports Four Drivers, Four Podiums!

      Extreme Motorsports would once again find themselves battling for top honors at round one of the Nor-Cal Crossover series.  Hot off two wins at the last Pro Kart North race, Junior 2 hot shoe Kathryn Cornell, again drove her Extreme Motorsports tuned/supported Intrepid to another dominating performance.  In the senior Yamaha Sportsman division, Matt Chase and teammate Brian Gallagher would both put in impressive performances.  Extreme Motorsports is also proud to announce the newest addition to its Junior squad, Ryan Sizemore.  Sizemore competes in the Junior Sportsman division.

     After carburetion issues at her last trip to Dixon, Kathryn Cornell was determined to win in the Junior HPV-2 class.  Qualifying would see Extreme’s Cornell on top of the charts with a 30.936, and the only driver to turn a sub-31 lap time.  The start of the heat did not go well for her, however, as she found herself falling from the pole position to third by the time they took the green.  Cornell pressed back into second spot; then setting her sights on running down the race leader, turned the fastest laps of the race.  Cornell finished the heat race in second position.  Together with EMS tuner Bryan Eady, she made the proper changes for the main and went on to dominate and win the feature race.

     With eighteen karts in the field, Senior Super Sportsman was sure to be an event to watch.  Extreme Motorsports’ Brian Gallagher and Matt Chase, each running separate weight classes in the same race, secured row two of the heat with third and fourth place qualifying efforts.  Gallagher led Chase in the heat race until an ignition failure forced him to retire.  Chase went on to a fourth place finish.  The start of the main event saw Chase jump quickly into third position where he found himself battling for second.  Extreme’s Brian Gallagher was on the move from the eighteenth starting spot, and navigated his way up to third in his class by the end of the main event.  Up front, Chase remained comfortably in second until two to go when a lapped kart spun directly in front of him.  Chase lost a position due to the incident and continued on to finish a strong third in his class.

     Joining the Extreme Motorsports squad in the Junior Super Sportsman division was Ryan Sizemore.  In this, his first trip to Dixon, Sizemore impressed many with quick lap times and competitive results.  With less than a month of seat time in his first kart, Sizemore led the first four laps of the main event until contact sent him spinning off the track.  Sizemore drove hard and his efforts paid off as he went on to finish second for the day.  Keep an eye on this young driver, as Extreme Motorsports’ Bryan Eady stated, “I can’t wait to work more with him; he’s got a lot of natural talent!” 

     Extreme Motorsports would like to say thank you to the Kinsmen Kart Club for all its hard work and effort in putting on yet another great weekend of racing.  We’d also like to thank our customers for a fun-filled weekend of success.  To find out how you can become a part of the Extreme Motorsports team feel free to contact us today via e-mail at extreme30y@yahoo.com or info@extremegokarts.com, or by phone at (530)262-2962 or (530)949-8975.  You can also visit our on-line store today for all your karting needs at www.extremegokarts.com.    

3-30-10 Gatorz championships wrapped up Sunday in Sonoma

It was an exciting Sunday as the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas finished its third season at the Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Although two of the championships had been mathematically clinched on Saturday, the remaining four classes would prove to have exciting finales.

Making things more interesting was the prize of a school in the Jim Russell Racing School’s Formula 3 car, which would be awarded to a deserving driver in the CKI Senior Rotax championship.

Minimax
Parker Thompson entered the day with a small points lead over Blaine Rocha and Davey Manthai, but after a rough qualifying session and pre-main, Thompson lined up fourth for the main. The front row, however, was Rocha and Manthai. Rocha came out of turn one the leader, but Manthai fell to fifth and Thompson was even further back after getting bounced around. Manthai was able to work forward to third place in a couple of laps, while Adam Iavelli was putting a ton of pressure on Rocha for the lead. It wouldn’t last, however, as Iavelli pulled his kart of the track with a mechanical problem. Thompson was pushing his way forward, but with Rocha and Manthai running first and second, his title hopes were all but gone. Rocha crossed the line first with Manthai in second, and Grey just beat Thompson to the line after the two battled side-by-side over the final lap. After the race, however, Grey was placed behind Thompson as a result of blocking, but third wouldn’t be enough for Thompson. With his win, Rocha took the Apollo Motorsports Minimax championship and earned a trip to the Rotax Grand Nationals.

Junior Rotax
With Louie Pagano clinching the class championship, and a trip to the Rotax Grand Finals at La Conca in Muro Lecesse, Italy, the Sunday Junior Rotax race would be the last chance for the Junior Rotax class drivers to earn a bit of glory in the 2010 Gatorz Challenge of the Americas. Kiel Spaulding, winner on Saturday, led the field to the green flag with Pagano starting second. Pagano, however, would fall back several spots as Raquel Martinez leapt up to second place. Spaulding built a gap right away but Parker McKean was on a mission, passing Martinez for second and catching Spaulding a few laps later. McKean dove under Spaulding in turn one and became the new leader, but his lead would last less than a lap as he dropped a wheel exiting turn 10 and Spaulding was back through. Behind them, Martinez, Pagano, Nicholas Silva and Jake Craig battled for the final podium spot. When the checkered fell, Spaulding had a comfortable lead and handily took his second win of the weekend, with McKean second and a charging Pagano capping his championship season with a third.

Rotax Senior
Phil Gelinas entered the day as the points leader, needing to finish ahead of Stepanova Nekeel and Mason Marotta to secure his title. Nekeel helped him out by spinning at the beginning of the pre-main, and having to start the main well back in the order. Gelinas would start the main in second. Polesitter Justin Coplen led the field into and out of turn one, while Gelinas lost two spots to Marotta and Wimsett. He took third back from Marotta right away and, a lap later, took second back from Wimsett. Marotta then made a forceful pass on Wimsett into turn one, and the two entered Tic Tac Toe side-by-side with Marotta getting through to third and Wimsett going airborne. Their battle allowed Nor-Cal driver Jordan Jadallah to catch them, work his way past, and set off after Gelinas. With only two laps remaining, Jadallah passed Gelinas without incident in turn nine in second place. At the checkered, Coplen took a win and a bit of redemption after his race ended spectacularly in turn one with a brake failure. Jadallah took second, and Gelinas came home third which was good enough to clinch the CKI Senior Rotax championship and a trip to the Grand Finals. Coplen didn’t go home empty handed. His driving throughout the season earned him a school at the Jim Russell Racing School’s Formula 3 car, for which he was selected by a committee of Gatorz Karting staff who took note of his talent throughout the six-race championship.

Rotax Masters
After five races, the championship in Rotax Masters came down to a duel between Paul Bonilla and Mike Daniel. It was simple; in order to secure the championship, Bonilla would have to win the main and set fast lap which was worth another five points. Bonilla held his lead into turn one while Daniel fell under attack from Nor-Cal driver Andre Ericksen. This allowed Bonilla to instantly build a lead and, just as quickly, set the race’s fastest lap. He continued to build a gap over Daniel, but Daniel responded a few laps later by setting the fast lap and swinging the championship back in his favor. Only a couple of laps later, however, Bonilla went faster and took fast lap back. Meanwhile, Ericksen, David Busby, Scott Falcone and Bruce McKean were having an entertaining scrap for third place. With Bonilla in the lead and holding fast lap, the championship appeared to be in Bonilla’s grasp as he took the white flag. However, as Daniel crossed the start/finish line to start his final lap, his name went purple on the timing screen as he set fast lap! Bonilla could go no faster on his final lap, and although he took the win, Daniel’s second place and fast lap secured his Rotax Masters championship and a trip to the US Rotax Grand Nationals – where he will defend his title from 2009. Ericksen survived the battle to finish third.

Micromax
Nicky Hays led the final from start to finish, while behind him Conner Robustelli and Annie Breidinger battled for the class championship. Annie ran in second place in the early stages, while Robustelli made a pass in turn one but couldn’t make it stick, allowing Annie back through into second. Robustelli, however, made a pass stick around the outside of turn one, and Annie was unable to counter. Hays took the win, but he was disqualified afterwards for non-compliance, promoting Robustelli to first place, which was enough to clinch the championship and earn an invitation to the Rotax Grand Nationals. Annie Breidinger finished second, with Toni Breidinger third.

DD-2
Championship winner Troy Castaneda started from pole position but Matt Ostiguy was going to make him work for another victory, as Ostiguy passed him under braking going into Tic Tac Toe on the opening lap. Castaneda retook the lead in turn 10, and was able to build a small gap as Ostiguy came under attack from Derek Wang and Noel Dowler. The three karts traded positions multiple times, until Dowler got ahead of both karts and Wang was ahead of Ostiguy. Wang then spun in turn 12, allowing Ostiguy back up to third position.

And that is how they ran to the end, with Castaneda taking his fifth win of the season, Dowler getting his best result with a second, and Ostiguy in third.

3-30-10 Italian Motors USA sponsorship of IAME TaG at the Red Line Oil Karting Championship series brings new life to the Parilla engine

For 2010, the Red Line Oil Karting Championship has changed the TaG class to allow the many Parilla engines to be raced both competitively and more economically.

Series promoter Steve Cameron has set some new objectives for this class to help lower the maintenance costs for this engine by using a spec gear system to lower the operating RPM to help ensure reliability. In addition, the spec gear formula allows heavier drivers to compete with lighter drivers by using different gears depending on the minimum kart/driver weight. "Lowering the RPM will go a long way to allow the racer to get more races out of a rebuild and save the racer money on the long run" says Steve. "We want to bring back the fun part of racing the Parilla engines without all the high costs of maintenance caused by excessive RPM. Besides, there are a lot of good Parilla engines in people's trailers that can be bought for low prices right now." The goal of using the spec gear is to keep the engine RPMs under 16,500.

The spec gear formula is as follows:

For a kart/driver with a minimum weight of 370#, the only gears the racer can use will be 10-75 or 11-82. For a minimum 385# kart/driver, the spec gears will be 10-76 or 11-83. And for a kart/driver of 400# or more, the spec gears will be 10-77 or 11-85.


The sliding scale of the weights and gears will allow drivers of various weights to compete with each other and will be adjusted based on input from the competitors.

The IAME TaG class is open to Parilla Leopard 2008 and earlier engines in "stock' configuration or engines that were built to the IKF National Cup specs. "Stock" 09 engines will also be allowed to run.

Italian Motors has stepped up to sponsor the class at the Red Line Oil Karting Championship. A new 09 engine will be given away at the end of the year to one of the top three drivers in the class. Additionally, Italian motors is giving away certificates towards TaG parts purchases to the top three drivers at each race: $50 certificate for the winner, $25 for 2nd place and $15 for 3rd place.

So if you have one of those Parillas that you would like to race again, the IAME TaG class at the Red Line Oil Karting Championship series may be the place for you. The next Red Line Oil series races are April 11th and May 23rd at the Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway. There are still seven more races left in the 2010 season, giving everyone a chance at the Parilla 09 year end award.

For more information about the IAME TaG class, go to www.cameronkarting.com  or contact race director Ric Shaw at racedirector-ric@hotmail.com .

The Red Line Oil Karting Championship is also supported by the following sponsors with over $20,000 of prizes available to the racers.

Red Line Oil
Cambrian Go-Karts
Italian Motors USA
Jim Russell Racing Drivers School
Metal Mashers - Rolf by Design
Mobile-Shop
MOLECULE
Uncle Joe's Sauces & Ribs

3-30-10 Abba and Kelley Claim Their First Wins at Prokart Challenge South

Parity at the top continues in SKUSA regional program during round three at Grange

The competition continues to heat up in the sixth year of the ProKart Challenge South program, as the third round of the 2010 season completed at the Grange Motor Circuit last weekend. The Apple Valley, California facility saw a number of first time winners, which continues to be the trend on the year, thanks in part to the strong contingent of drivers competing in the series. That trend shows in the headline classes, as the S1 and TaG Senior categories have seen three different winners in each of the three features this month seeing Peter Abba and Bobby Kelley taking the checkered flag.

The journey to his first PKC S1 victory was a battle for Abba. In qualifying, point leader Tommy Thompson was the quickest as his 52.126 lap was just 0.028-seconds better than round two winner Clinton Schoombee. Abba was fourth in the order behind Brad Dunford, and they would start the first heat from row two. Schoombee grabbed the holeshot as Thompson fell back to third in the order behind Dunford. Abba, however, would not complete more than a lap as he encountered mechanical issues. Schoombee led most of the way, until a charging Thompson took over the point and led the final two laps for the win in Heat 1. Thompson and Schoombee would again run 1-2 in the second heat, as Thompson stretched out to a five-second advantage with Jimmy McNeil moving up to the third spot and Abba going off track after a racing incident in lap 2. The field would shuffle up in the opening lap of the feature, as Schoombee had an off-track excursion. His trip dropped him to fifth, while Abba acquired the point ahead of Thompson and Dunford. Abba posted some fast laps early and would gain a solid distance over the fight for second to score the victory. Thompson held off Dunford for second to earn his second straight podium finish, securing his point lead. With Schoombee fourth and McNeil fifth, the fight remains very tight with three rounds down, and three rounds to go.

TaG Senior was a great duel between point leader Kyle Shriver and Bobby Kelley. Round one was won by Kelley, as he posted the fastest lap in qualifying (54.224) with Shriver just one tenth off. The two went toe-to-toe in the first heat, with Shriver getting the advantage at the checkered flag. Kelley would come away with the win in the second heat as the two were joined by Travis Lowe, until he retired on Lap 10 with a broken chain. In the feature, the battle would be for not as Shriver would fall victim to contact multiple times, dropping him back in the field and eventually finishing sixth. Out front, Kelley led all 20 laps to score a two-second victory over former Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Phil Giebler and Billy Cleavelin, holding off a charging Lowe for the final podium spot.

Just like the two headline divisions, the S4 category also saw its third different winner in as many races. Willy Musgrave bested the largest field of the weekend for his first win of the 2010 season. The third round saw the return of former PKC champion Phil Conte, and he made a early statement in his debut by posting the fastest lap in qualifying (53.695). Conte held the position through the first heat race, leading all 12 laps to the win over Randy McKee and Willy Musgrave. After a great opening lap to start the second heat, Musgrave overtook the point and held off Conte for the rest of the race to the win. The two went head to head for the feature win, but it was all Musgrave as he led all 20 laps to score the checkered flag. Conte was a close second with Rob Logan, also making his 2010 debut, completing the podium with a solid drive forward. Point leader Jeff Littrell had a tough time, as motor problems plagued him for most of the day. He fought through those, and then contact in the start of the main and a couple of spin-outs put him in a ninth place finish. Lucky for Littrell, he is still in the running for the class title.

The event saw four drivers perform an event sweep, leading all of their class trials on the day. Fernando Diaz returned to his winning ways to score his second event sweep on the year. After missing round two, Diaz returned to best multi-time class champion and current point leader PP Mastro on the day. Robert Marks nearly disrupted Diazs perfect performance from the start as he came just 0.082-seconds from stealing the top qualifying spot. Once the racing began, Diaz and Mastro engaged in an epic day long battle. Despite leading in both heats and the feature, Mastro would come up short each time as Diaz would get the advantage at the line every time out. In the end, Diaz would score the feature win by 0.209-seconds with Troy Butts moving up to complete the podium.

TaG Masters saw the return of Rob Soares behind the wheel, who just dominated the proceedings in the class. Pasha Mirhadi would claim the runner-up spot in his 2010 PKC debut, while point leader Ron Rossetti drove to a third place finish. Jason Attwood earned his second straight event sweep in the S3 Novice Stock Moto category. Attwood scored the feature win by an 18-second margin over Tristen Orear and Steve Berg, who are occupied in a fight for the second spot in the points. Defending S4 Magnum champion Luke Bianco returned to the top step of the podium for his second straight win and his first event sweep of the year. His performance put him at the top of the points chase, as he outran Marc Lewis and Larry Metter.

The S2 class saw Billy Musgrave score win number two on the year to extend his points lead. Ryon Beachner posted the fastest lap in qualifying; however, Musgrave got the jump in the first heat to take the win. In the second heat, Musgrave would lead all 12 laps, with Beachner retiring after just five laps. The feature would be all Musgrave once again, as he took the victory by eight-seconds over Bryce Miller and Corey Neveau. Scott Phillips and Matias Podboj had a great dice in the S5 Stock Moto Junior class, with Phillips taking the feature win. Phillips was best in qualifying by just 0.091 seconds over Podboj. Each would then have troubles in the heats as Podboj had issues in heat one to retire early while Phillips was caught up on the warm-up lap by an S3 driver in heat two. At the start of the main, Podboj grabbed the holeshot; however, he jumped the gun. Despite holding off Phillips to the line first, Podboj would be penalized after the race to hand the win to Phillips, which will now tighten up their championship fight.

The ProKart Challenge and SKUSA organization continues to go above and beyond in returning back to the racers. Prior to the event getting underway, SKUSAs Tom Kutscher announced that the winners in the S1, S2, S4, S5, G1, TaG Senior and TaG Masters divisions would receive a free entry into the upcoming Superkarts! USA Pro Tour debut event at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California on April 16-18. Following the podium ceremonies, a raffle was held that awarded two free entries to the next PKC South event James Butts and John Irving were the lucky recipients, as well as Ken Schilling who won a free set of MG Tires and Troy Butts who won a free five-gallon jug of VP MS98 fuel.

With the opening round of the SKUSA Pro Tour on deck, the ProKart Challenge South program will take the month of April off, returning May 14-15 to the Willow Springs International Motorsports Park, this time on the Streets of Willow circuit run in conjunction with the Gatorz Karting program. The ProKart Challenge North program will host its third round at the Jim Russell International Karting Center in Sonoma on April 30-May 1. To find out more about the ProKart Challenge South or Superkarts! USA, visit the new www.superkartsusa.com website or phone their office at 951-491-0808.

 

3-26-10 Bobby Runyan Takes Home Second Place Finish at Havasu

2009 Formula Ford Regional Champion Bobby Runyan, Jr. had a strong showing in his first race of the season for Ron Sutton’s Winner’s Circle in the USAC Ford Focus Midgets, finishing second in the 40 lap feature at Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu, AZ.

Runyan, who also has experience as a two-time champion in IKF karting, will be competing for both rookie and championship honors in the ambitious USAC Western Pavement Ford Focus Midget Series in 2010.

Runyan began the afternoon by qualifying ninth from a field of 16. Runyan followed up qualifying by claiming the win in his heat race.

In the 40 lap feature that included drivers running for the points in the Western Pavement, SoCal Pavement, and Utah regional series, Runyan quickly moved forward.

With five laps to go, Runyan closed in on his RSWC teammate Eli Schrock. Runyan made a move to the inside on Schrock to set up a four lap side-by-side duel. The two battled it out to the finish on the quarter-mile asphalt oval, with Schrock taking the victory, giving Ron Sutton’s Winner’s Circle a 1-2 finish.

“Bobby Runyan is the real deal,” driver coach Ron Sutton said. “We are confident he has the talent to go all the way.”

Runyan’s second place finish also gives him second place in the points as the Western series moves on to I-10 Speedway in Blythe, Calif. next Saturday.

Bobby Runyan Racing and Ron Sutton’s Winner’s Circle thank partners: Raging Bull Motorsports, Inventory Sales Company, Sparco, K&N Filters, Scribner Plastics, Allstar Performance, Sunoco Race Fuels and Star Racing Supply.

 

3-26-10 Pole in Young Guns and Top Ten in Socal Focus Midgets For Clark

16 year-old Jessica Clark had a wild weekend competing at Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu, AZ, claiming a pole position in the USAC Ford Focus Young Guns and earning an eighth place finish in the USAC SoCal Pavement Ford Focus Midgets.

Clark, driving for both Ron Sutton’s Winner’s Circle and Jessica Clark Racing, is running full-time in the USAC SoCal Pavement Ford Focus Midget series. She opened up that campaign Saturday by qualifying fourth out of 16 cars around the quarter-mile asphalt oval.

A serious accident for Jessica in the JCR #44 in the heat race forced her to take the controls of the RSWC #8 car for the feature. Clark navigated a busy race track over the 40 lap feature to come home eighth and recover for a solid points day.

Clark’s biggest accomplishment of the weekend was her qualifying effort in the RSWC #8 car for the Young Guns series. Clark showed her growth in her second year driving for Ron Sutton, by taking the pole at over two tenths of a second faster than her nearest competitor.

“Jessica has come a long way in only four races,” said Driver Coach Ron Sutton. “Last year we only ran her in three races, but she learned super quick and was running up front by the end of the season. She will one to watch for wins this season.”

The Westlake High School student will hope to take a repaired #44 entry into I-10 Speedway in Blythe, Calif. for this weekend’s races. The races are again a combination between the SoCal, Western, and Utah regional points series and should have another full-field in action.

Jessica Clark and Ron Sutton’s Winner’s Circle want to thank sponsors K&N Filters, Scribner Plastics, Allstar Performance, Inventory Sales Company, Sunoco Race Fuels and Star Racing Supply.

 

3-26-10 American Chaves Impresses in Italian F3 Testing

Reigning Formula BMW Americas champion among leaders in two-day run at Autodromo di Vallelunga

Young American Gabby Chaves made a strong first impression in the Italian Formula 3 Championship this week (March 22-23) with a standout performance in testing at the Autodromo di Vallelunga, located just outside Rome. The Eurointernational rookie was among the leaders in both days of action, posting times on par with series veterans despite having never previously seen the track or having run the new Mygale M-10 chassis in race trim.

In preparation for his inaugural season European junior formula car competition, Chaves and the Eurointernational team traveled to the Autodromo di Vallelunga to take part in a collective private test, which featured the leading teams in the Italian Formula 3 Championship. The highly-rated American teenager, going head-to-head against drivers with a great deal more experience, immediately made his presence felt. Chaves quickly came to grips with his Euointernational prepared Mygale M-10 chassis and the spec Kumho racing slicks, which were being utilized by all the teams for the first time during the two-day test. Chaves impressive first run in full race trim resulted in the second fastest time of the day (1:30.315), less than four tenths of a second off the quickest time.

Returning to the 2.538-mile road course one day later – the track which will host Rounds 11 and 12 of the series, Chaves continued his impressive run of form. Despite being a single-car effort, the reigning Formula BMW Americas champion was regularly able to match or better those racers with previous series experience driving for leading multi-car squads. Showcasing his intentions to challenge for not only race wins in his rookie season, but also the championship title, Chaves ended the morning session P1 and finished the afternoon session with the fifth best overall time, only five tenths behind the leader.

“I am feeling more and more comfortable with the car and the developing of this new Mygale- M10,” stated Chaves. “Everything is going great so far. I have adjusted to these new tracks well and we will keep improving.”

Chaves and the Eurointernational now returns to its San Pietro Mosezzo base of operations – just outside of Milan – to continue preparations for the 2010 Italian Formula 3 Championship. The American standout is scheduled to take part in official series testing at the Misano World Circuit on April 13-14, prior to the season getting underway at the same facility on April 24-25.
 

3-22-10 Kathryn Cornell wins Two, in round 2, at Pro Kart North
Story & Photo By Race Media Group

Kathryn Cornell made a strong surge in late 2009 picking up wins while setting fast times. The momentum from last season has carried over into 2010. After early success at the Pro Kart North opener with solid strong runs, Cornell was determined to capture wins early in the new season, and her recent results at the Pro Kart Challenge North series displayed Kathryn’s tough Focus in ultimate success….WINS!

Friday Practice consisted of a wet track and rain fall providing different track conditions forcing the teams to prepare for quick Chassis changes in the Saturday Morning Practice sessions. Cornell was running two Karts for the day, providing twice the work, twice the panic, and twice the focus to align the chassis changes and handling characteristics to the fast changing track conditions as the competitors laid down new rubber on the rained on green track surface.

The quick changes made through practice with the help of Extreme Motorsports placed Kathryn at the top of the charts in HPV-2. Cornell carried that speed into Qualifying with fast lap to start pole in the first heat race and four tenths on the field. In the first Heat race Kathryn Cornell made a statement proving she was the driver to beat in HPV-2 with a solid Win, however in Heat two Problems for Cornell put her second at the finish, yet still with the fastest lap of the race. In the early laps of the final, it was clear the problems she experienced earlier in the day were repaired, and Cornell drove to victory in the HPV-2 category once again with the fastest lap.

Cornell’s work wasn’t finished, as she had one more category to capture a win, TAG Jr, and it ended up challenging all of her skills as a driver. In the first practice Cornell recorded the third fastest lap and backed it up in qualifying with a 3^rd place starting position and a third place finish in the first heat.  In the second heat Cornell found the setup in the Tag kart leading much of the race, unfortunate mechanical problems caught up to her Extreme Machine and put her on the sidelines of the second heat with a DNF, more unfortunate of the last starting spot in the field for Final and some tough work ahead for the young Norcal Pilot. As the race progressed Kathryn made quick work of the slower karts and had caught the leader by halfway. A battle of the leaders ensued with several lead changes. The two young pilots put on a display of close racing without giving each an inch more then what was needed. Racing to the checkered, it was a drag race to the line with Cornell getting the victory for the second of the day.

Cornell rolled into Pro Kart North Round 2 looking to capture two victories, and the hard work in preparation paid off. Next for Kathryn is the North American Pro Tour where she will compete with the top West Coast drivers at Infineon raceway. Kathryn Cornell Motorsports is in partnership with Extreme Motorsports, Leading Edge Motorsports, and Race Media Group. Track support and Tuning Provided by Extreme Motorsports, Engine Power and Intrepid Chassis development provided by Leading Edge Motorsports, and Media development and racing Promotions Provided by RaceMediaGroup.com

3-24-10 Red Line Oil Karting Championship Race #1 - Race Report

The first race of the new Red Line Oil Karting Championship at the Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway went off with a strong field of karts and some exciting racing. The day dawned in cool weather but finished in sunshine. Even though this was the first race under new promoter Cameron Karting, the event ran smoothly similar to the Jim Russell events of the past eight years. The race was run on the most common National track configuration. The Red Line Oil Karting Championship is the host series for the Northern California Rotax Challenge series, which will also run twice at the Kinsmen Kart Club track in Dixon this year.

This was the first race of the new Italian Motors IAME TaG class. Due to the inability to communicate this class to the karting community until three weeks ago, there was only one IAME entry. But four other potential IAME racers were at the track checking out the series. Expect to see articles on this class hitting the websites within the next week.

The Rotax classes were again solid in their numbers and there was no lack of competition in most of the classes.

The 80 shifter field was ten karts strong with eight Masters and one each of Formula 80 and 80 Heavy karts. For 2010, the Red Line Oil Karting Championship series will offer all three of these 80 shifter classes, all running in the same race group.

Rotax Mini Max
The largest ever Mini Max field of eight karts took to the Infineon Raceway kart track. In Qualifying, Gatorz veteran driver Blaine Rocha took the pole ahead of Justin Yanez and Michael Michoff. Less than four-tenths of a second separated the top five karts. In the Pre-Main, Rocha took the lead from the green flag and was never challenged. Behind Rocha there was no lack of excitement with Yanez and Michoff first battling for second, then attacks coming from Michael Avansino and Cole Davis. After some of the bumping and grinding settled down, Avansino found himself in 2nd just two seconds back followed by Yanez and Davis. The best battle was for 3rd in which Davis had a strong drive but had to hold off Gino Gigliotti and Michoff. In the Main, the top five drivers had eyes on the three podium positions. Again, Rocha took the lead at the green with Yanez and Avansino battling for second until Avansino spun. Yanez then focused on chasing down Rocha, but could only get within one second of the lead by race end. Davis came home in the 3rd spot followed by Michoff and Gigliotti. Five drivers turned in best laps all within one-tenth of each other making this the tightest race group of the day.

Rotax Junior
Only four drivers showed up for the class but what was lacking in class numbers was made up for in tight competition. 2009 class champion Brody Zink took the pole ahead of veteran Jim Russell Arrive and Drive karter Sean McDonald with Bobby Tifft in 3rd. In the Pre-Main, Zink controlled the race taking a two second win over McDonald with Josh Feiber taking 3rd. In the Main, McDonald made some improvements to his kart and took the lead early on in the race. Now it was Zink chasing McDonald. These two battled nose to tail for the entire race with Feiber and Tifft inching ever so close by the race end. At the end of the eighteen lap Main, less than one second separated 1st and 4th place with McDonald driving to his first feature win followed by Zink, Feiber and Tifft.

Rotax Masters and Masters Light
Four Masters and nine Masters Lights took the green for Race #1. The regional Masters Light class (365#) continues to be a popular class in the Nor Cal region. In Qualifying, Dave Higaki (Light) took the pole followed by Andre Eriksen (Masters), Jerry Pretti (Light) and Mary Beth Wilson (Light). In the Pre-Main, Higaki controlled the pace with the best action happening right behind him. The heavier Eriksen had to battle the Light karts of Pretti, Wilson and Mert Solis, but in the end he took the second spot and Masters class win just seven-tenths back of Higaki. Wilson came home ahead of husband Pretti with Solis in 5th. In the Main, Higaki lead out of turn one but spun in turn two and was several seconds back once he rejoined the race. Eriksen took advantage of Higaki's mistake to move into the lead and started putting down some consistent laps to open up a lead that he would never give up. The best battle was for 2nd through 4th and the class lead in Light between Wilson, Pretti and Solis. In the end, Eriksen cruised home three seconds ahead of Wilson for the overall win and the Masters crown. Wilson took the Light crown followed by Solis and Pretti with Leo Montero (Light) coming home 5th overall. Cameron Evans came home in 7th overall and 2nd in the Masters class.

80 Shifters
The 80 Shifter race group has expanded to include three classes for 2010. Eight Masters karts entered with a lone entry each in the Formula 80 and 80 Heavy classes. In Qualifying, Tom Nelson (Masters) started out the defense of his 2009 class crown by taking the pole over Marc Stanley (Masters) and a returning Bob Lesnett (Masters). In the Pre-Main, Nelson and Stanley exchanged spots a couple of times with Nelson coming out on top by less than a second in the end, Stanley 2nd, Lesnett 3rd and Ahmiel Freed (Masters) 4th. The start of the Main got crazy in turn one with Freed and Nelson tangling and Stanley taking over the lead. Freed had to pit with damage and Nelson now chasing the field from behind. Stanley controlled the pace and went on to an uneventful five second win over Lesnett. Nelson came back to take 3rd overall followed by Roger Cornwall (Masters) and Geoff Provo (Masters). Greg Richter came home 6th overall, first in the 80 Heavy class, with Justin Gald taking the Formula 80 class win.

Rotax DD2
Six of the two-speed Rotax DD2 karts took to the track. Glen Poy-Wing took the pole ahead of Bronson Eggert and January Grove. In the Pre-Main, Poy-Wing chose to start in the back and practice some passing in preparation for the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas event, thus Bronson and Grove dueled for the lead out of turn one. Grove had kart problems and had to come in after five laps which turned over second to Poy-Wing who had made his way through the field. David Palic came home third. In the Main, Poy-Wing had to miss the race thus allowing Palic to start on the front row. Dave Moody had a strong start, made a challenge for the lead out of turn one, and held onto 2nd during the early parts of the race. But Eggert was just too quick and started opening up a comfortable lead. Grove made her way through the pack to take over second. The lady driver continued to push the pace but could not get Eggert's lead to less than 2 seconds by the end of the race. Palic dropped out on lap ten with a mechanical problem and this allowed Moody to come home 3rd.

Rotax Micro Max
Six karts took the green with 2009 champion Nicky Hays returning to defend his crown. In Qualifying, Hays took the pole a half second ahead of Toni Breidinger with Annie Breidinger taking third. In the twelve lap Pre-Main, Hays took a comfortable win over T. Briedinger and A. Breidinger. In the Main, Hays duplicated his domination of the field by taking a nine second win over T. Briedinger and A. Breidinger again with a strong drive from Mark Bermen taking a well deserved 4th place followed by Nate Fleischli and Wilson Skjervan.

Rotax Senior & IAME TaG
The lone IAME TaG driver joined nine Senior Rotax drivers to take the green. In Qualifying, last years class champion and Senior Driver of the Year, Jordan Jadallah took the pole ahead of Raymond Bustamante Jr. and Carlos Calderon. In the Pre-Main, Jadallah took the lead out of turn one and was never challenged again. Bustamante and Calderon had the driver battle of the weekend with their duel for 2nd. This battle would intensify in the Main. Jarrett Lile, up from the Junior Rotax class, came home a solid 4th. In the Main, Bustamante took the lead out of turn one followed by Calderon and Jadallah slipping to third. But by lap three, the veteran Jadallah over took both drivers to take the lead he would never give up again. As Jadallah was cruising to a six second win, Bustamante and Calderon took up the battle for second swapping positions several times during the eighteen lap race. In the end, Bustamante took the runner up spot with Calderon in 3rd. Lile came home a solid 4th and Matthew Weiss out dueled Amber Freidberg for 5th. In his first karting race, Casey Monahan came home with the IAME TaG win.

The next round of the Red Line Oil Karting Championship will take place on Sunday, April 11th at the Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway. The track configuration will be the Sprint track layout. For more information about the Red Line Oil Karting Championship series contact race director Ric Shaw at racedirector-ric@hotmail.com  or go to www.norcalrotax.com  or www.cameronkarting.com .

 

3-23-10 First Race of 2010 NW Gold Cup March 26-28 hosted by Tri-Cities Kart Club

The IKF Region 6 / NW Gold Cup / Rotax Max Regional Series will kick off the 2010 Racing Season with the first race event hosted by the Tri-Cities Kart Club March 26 - 28 at Horn Rapids Raceway in Richland, Washington. Tri-Cities Kart Club members have been working through out the winter with track and facility improvements to make the Horn Rapids track one of the top facilities in the Northwest.

The kick off race will be one to attend as Karters from over 4 states and Canada will be in vying for their share of the prestigious Gold Cup one of the oldest continuous running series in the country.

Saturday Night of the event TCKC will be hosting a complementary Barbeque prepared by award winning chief: Doug Root. Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Chicken, hot dog, with slaw and the Gold medal winning Baked Beans are just some of the items on the menu for the Barbeque.

There will be lots of action in all of the Classes for this years Gold Cup Series including Rotax MAX, Shifters with opportunities to win engine packages in the IAME Cup and Four Cycle Classes.

So come on out watch the race have a sandwich or be a part of the race. For online registration and information see: www.nwgoldcup.com  www.tckc.net 
 

3-23-10 Team Leading Edge Motorsports-Intrepid March Report 

After a stellar February, Leading Edge Motorsports started off the month of March much the same, the team unloaded at the second round of Nor-Cal IKF to almost dominate Norcal’s top levels of competition. Entering drivers into five classes to dominate in four, only to have mechanical failures costs the teams result in the fifth. The drivers split the nation the next weekend Keeping the Same pace with the Leading Edge Flag held high with competition at both Pro kart North at Infineon, and the final stop for the CKI Florida cup.

In the recap of the IKF at Kinsmen Kart club in Dixon Ca, Jared Woolf on his LEM powered Intrepid would qualify his 80 Shifter 3rd. From the drop of the first Green flag, Jared would power out front to never look back in the heats or main as he took the victory with a 4.5 second finish. In the Super Pipe Yamaha class Brett Felkins on his LEM powered Yamaha/ Intrepid Qualified on pole, only to get bumped to the rear of the field due to a fuel DQ. He would race hard to the front of the field to finish second in his heat. On the Start of the Final he grabbed the lead and finished with a 2.6 second victory. Team member Troy Diede running his LEM powered Vortex Rok TT/Intrepid would have a day he won’t soon forget after putting it on pole, winning the heat race and then dominating the main event, it was a perfect day. Cody Diede racing his LEM powered Intrepid 125 shifter would also capture the pole and raced to third in the heat to retire due to a loose axel in the main finishing his day. Finishing up the day was Jarred Campbell Racing in HPV2 on his LEM Intrepid he would Qualify 4th and finish the heat in 4th. After a few adjustments Jarred came out quick the main to capture the victory with a 1.4 second lead.

On to the PKC round 2, team driver Catherine Cornell would take her LEM Powered HPV2 / Intrepid and put it on pole. Catherine's team mate Jarred Campbell aboard his LEM Intrepid would finish ahead of her to grab the pole for the main event. During the main, Cornell would throttle down her LEM powered Intrepid to dominate with a .7 lead over the field. Jarred Campbell would finish 4th after a mechanical issue. Cornell in Tag Jr. was aboard her LEM Powered IAME / Intrepid would wow the field with a hard fought battle with Luna to prevail the winner. Kathryn has been racing with Leading Edge Motorsports for seven years and continues to impress on her quest to compete in Bigger cars and the next level.

On the other side of the country Broc Yocom would continue honing his skills aboard his IAME factory powered LEM Intrepid to finish third after a bad wreck in Saturday’s qualifying session. It took the team a better part of the weekend to straighten the frame and get it close to what he had before the crash. Broc did a great job getting ready for the CKI National series where he will now have his 2010 Intrepid and motors ready for battle.

As last weekend came to a close we found ourselves on the top step once again with drivers in the Infineon Rotax Series and PC club race. Sean McDonald would win his first ever Rotax JR race at Infineon aboard his LEM powered Rotax, Intrepid. Intrepid would finish 1-2 in Yamaha sportsman pipe with Kyle Vallerino finishing second on his LEM powered Intrepid to out run the field. Randy Froom would finish second on his LEM powered Intrepid in Tag masters. Then Jarred Campbell would never look back after his bad qualifying session to take the top step in HPV 2 on his Intrepid. It was one great weekend for Intrepid and Leading Edge Motorsports.

Greg Bell stated, “To say that I am happy with what our customers and team have accomplished over the past two months would be an understatement; I would like to thank each and every one of our customers for sticking buy Leading Edge Motorsports in this transition in employment and economic times. We will continue to support you in every way you ask and are evolving with the industry’s ever changing scenery being a leader in motor development and chassis preparation and knowledge off the track; we believe it is showing in our customer’s success on the track.”

Needing fast reliable motor in Rotax, Iame, Honda, Comer, Yamaha and HPV? Call Leading Edge today to see why there racers are finishing on top of the podium over and over again.

To purchase an Intrepid Chassis to compete at the top of your class and get the customer support that some say is the best in the industry just call Leading Edge Motorsports, the west coast distributer for the intrepid chassis line. 209-369-0921 leadingedgeguy@sbcglobal.net or visit the shop at 2501 S. Stockton St. Lodi, CA 95240

 

3-23-10 Joe White Racing Engines Earns Stellar Results at Prokart Challenge

Four JWR Engines drivers stand on podium at Infineon Raceway

Northern California based Joe White Racing Engines scored solid results at the recent SKUSA ProKart Challenge North event at Infineon Raceway. A quartet of drivers was powered to the podium by JWR Engines at the March 13 on the Jim Russell International Karting Center circuit. With a solid stock moto and TaG engine program, JWR Engines garnered four podium finishes, including a victory in the headline S1 category.

Nic LeDuc and Tommy Thompson each had JWR Engines Stock Moto powerplants bolted to their chassis in S1 Pro Stock Moto class. The duo recorded the third and fourth quickest laps in the timed session to start the event off. Each ran both heat races inside the top five to set up solid starting positions for the main event. LeDuc - running a JWR Engines package for the first time - would battle for the lead early on in the feature until securing the position following the halfway mark. Though he was challenge, LeDuc powered away at the end to secure his first Stock Moto victory. Staying with the lead pack, Thompson made a late charge to steal the third step on the podium, keeping in the early hunt for the class championship.

Also utilizing JWR Engines Stock Moto package was S4 driver Alex Keith. The Masters Stock Moto driver recorded the fastest lap in the qualifying session, posting a 49.455. Grabbing the hole shot in the opening heat, Keith led the first few laps before relinquishing the position, ending up second at the checkered flag. After losing a spot in the early goings of heat two, Keith regained the second position to start outside row one of the main event. Holding strong in the runner-up spot, Keith kept up with the leader for most of the final, unable to produce a pass for the top spot to score the second step of the podium.

JWR Engines earned its second pole position of the weekend behind TaG Junior pilot Niki Luna. The young driver posted a 53.415 to start the opening heat from the P1 grid spot. Luna would go on to lead all eight laps of the first heat, repeating the feat in the second to secure the pole for the feature. Luna engaged in a tough battle for the win in the 20-lap race, coming down to the wire. Leading on the white flag lap, Luna fought valiantly however came 0.037-seconds short of the victory. The performance put Luna at the top of the early points chase in the category.

This event was great for our JWR Engines customers, stated Joe White after returning to the shop. We scored a pole in both TaG and Stock Moto competition, which shows we have the right engine packages to put drivers at the front in those categories. Im happy (Nic) LeDuc was able to score his first win and with Tommy in third, we had two JWR Engines drivers on the S1 podium. Working with Infinity Karting drivers Keith and Luna were great and I look forward to helping them to the top of the podium the next time out. The start to the 2010 season has been great and Im looking forward to support our other customers throughout the year.

JWR Engines will be supporting drivers with Stock Moto and TaG packages along with Maxter and TM ICC engines, KPV (formerly HPV), Honda CR-80 and modified Honda CR-125 engines. White will be trackside at the remaining ProKart Challenge North events along with selected others, including SKUSA Pro Tour, WSK North American Series, IKF Region 11 and ProKart Challenge South.

3-23-10 De Phillippi Earns Valuable Points and Experience in Star Mazda Debut

MAZADSPEED Motorsports Development driver finished seventh in his first race with defending series champions

American Connor De Phillippi officially commenced his Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear campaign this past week (March 19) at the opening round of the series, which was held at Sebring International Raceway as part of the famed Sebring 12-Hour event. The highly regarded junior formula car racer enjoyed his series debut and exited the Florida season-opener with valuable points and experience thanks to a solid seventh place result.

A little over a month after an impressive debut with JDC MotorSports during official pre-season testing, De Phillippi was back behind the wheel at the historic Sebring International Raceway for the Star Mazda Championship season-opener. The Californian immediately displayed his intentions to challenge for top honors in pre-event testing, turning a fast time under the current lap record en route to fourth overall in the session. Focusing on finding the ideal race setup for the fast and bumpy road course, the afternoon session saw De Phillippi continuing to post quick times, although he was not able to better his morning effort.

Returning to the cockpit of his No. 11 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development/Justice Brothers/Sparco/Rock View Farms/Oakley/Power Balance/Redline Athletics/Red Line Oil JDC MotorSports entry one day later, both practice sessions proved frustrating for the talented teenager. Battling handling issues throughout the day, De Phillippi was unable to match the increased pace of the front-runners, falling outside the top-10 for the first time. This trend unfortunately continued on Thursday in the lone qualifying session. Battling to get the most from his JDC MotorSports entry throughout the 45-minute session, De Phillippi ended with the 10th quickest time, earning a fifth-row start position for his series debut.

Although he was not able to lay down the qualifying effort that he was looking for, De Phillippi entered Round One confident that he could make his mark. The 17 year-old Californian got a good launch from his first-ever Star Mazda standing start and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver immediately began working his way forward. Making the most of every opportunity around the 3.7-mile road course, De Phillippi found himself involved in a heated multi-car dice for fifth through eighth place. He battled for position throughout the 21-lap affair, displaying a great mix of patience and aggression. In the end, De Phillippi crossed the stripe in seventh, gaining both valuable points and experience in his Star Mazda Championship debut.

“Overall, it was a big learning week for both myself and the team,” said De Phillippi. “At times it seemed to be a bit of an uphill battle, but in the end we produced the best result we could with what we had for the race. I'm really looking forward to St. Pete, and building on everything we learned at Sebring.”

The 2010 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear resumes for De Phillippi and JDC MotorSports this coming weekend (March 27-28), with Round Two taking place on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., in conjunction with the IndyCar Series. The talented Californian enters the event third in the chase for Rookie of the Year honors and seventh overall in the championship fight.

 

3-23-10 Pigot Exits Sebring With Two Podiums and Skip Barber National Championship Lead

Floridian extends podium run to four races at famed Sebring 12 Hours event

 Spencer Pigot continued his early season pursuit of the BF Goodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda title this past week (March 18-19) with a pair of podium finishes in Rounds Three and Four at Sebring International Raceway. The superb runs at the famed Sebring 12 Hour event not only re-affirmed his place as a rising star in the junior formula car ranks, but they also ensured that he exited the opening races in Florida with the championship lead.

Given that the 16 year-old Pigot had previously found success at the historic Sebring road course – winning the 2009 Skip Barber Karting Shootout – many were expecting a strong run from the talented young racer. Pigot quickly lived up to those expectations, turning the quickest time in unofficial lapping sessions on Tuesday. That trend continued one-day later when the event officially got underway, as Pigot yet again posted the fastest time in the lone practice run of the event.

When Pigot returned to the cockpit of MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development/Skip Barber/Sparco USA car on Thursday morning for Round Three qualifying, he was confident that he could challenge for the pole position. Things did not go quite according to plan, however, as the combination of traffic and his car’s set-up meant that the teenager was unable to match his times from the previous two days, earning a fourth place starting position for the opening race of the doubleheader later in the day.

Pigot was well aware that a clean start would be the key to a strong run, and he got just that when the green flag waved on Thursday afternoon, slotting into the middle of the lead pack. Running fast consistent laps around the 3.7-mile road course, the Floridian never stayed more than a few car lengths from the lead, ensuring that he would be part of the expected last-lap battle for the win. Pigot made his final move exiting the last turn on the final lap and came up just short in the drag race to the checkered flag, earning his third consecutive podium finish by a mere 0.126s in second place.

Pigot promptly built on this success when the on-track action resumed on Friday morning, as the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver was among those battling for the Round Four pole position in qualifying. Unfortunately, a red flag situation arose when two cars collided in turn one, resulting in the session being shortened with Pigot ending the run in third place.

With friends and family cheering him on, it immediately became apparent that the multiple karting champion would be part of the battle for the win once again when the green flag waved for Round Four after the lunch break. As the order within the top-five rotated lap after lap, it once again came down to strategy and positioning to determine who would emerge with the victory. Pigot’s chances at the win vanished on the final lap, however, as a heated battle for second contested by six drivers allowed the race leader to break the draft and pull away to the win. Pigot was able to emerge from the fight for position near the front, crossing the stripe in third place, extending his podium run to four. More importantly, the result ensured Pigot exited his home state continuing to lead championship standings.

“We were hoping for at least one win this weekend but unfortunately it was not to be,” stated Pigot. “We made a set up change before the start of the second race, but the track conditions changed and ended up with major oversteer. However, I am happy to come away from Sebring with second and third positions and a seven point lead in the championship going into VIR. As always thanks to my driver coach, Jonatan Jorge, MazdaSpeed, Skip Barber,Sparco USA and my personal sponsors Parathyroid.com, California Scents, Lott-O-Lawyer.Com and Silver Knight Racing.”

Pigot now has a break of just over a month before the BF Goodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda season continues at Virginia International Raceway on April 24-25. Entering Rounds Five and Six, the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver leads the championship fight by seven points (128-121).

3-22-10 Extreme Motorsports Wins at ProKart North Challenge

Extreme Motorsports again made a strong showing at round two of the SKUSA ProKart North Challenge event, in Sonoma, CA.  Tuned, coached, and supported by Extreme Motorsports, driver Kathryn Cornell, would once again be the junior driver to beat.  The Extreme Motorsports racing team was also proud to announce the addition of S4 driver, Andy Mewhirter. 

     Once again, wind and rain would prohibit Friday practice, calling for quick set-up and teamwork Saturday morning.  Kathryn Cornell and Extreme Motorsports tuner/coach, Bryan Eady, exhibited their ability to quickly adapt to conditions as Cornell qualified on pole in HPV-2.  Cornell went on to dominate heat number one in HPV, while separated fuel caused carburetion issues in heat two where she finished second.  To finish it off, the main event would be all Cornell, as she jumped out to the early lead and slowly pull away, going on to a dominating win.

     The always exciting Tag Junior class once again provided some of the best racing throughout the day.  Cornell qualified third and went on to finish third in heat number one.  After having taken over the lead on lap two in heat number two, Cornell would be forced to pull her Intrepid down pit lane as a detached air box forced her to retire.  Due to the air box situation in the final heat Cornell had to start the main event from last position.  Cornell was on a mission to the front, catching race leader Niki Luna just after the halfway mark.  Cornell and Luna would go on to put on what most considered the best race of the day, as they swapped the lead at least seven or eight times.  Having made the final pass with two to go, Cornell pressed on to a .037 second victory over Luna, scoring her second win of the day.

     Joining the Extreme team in the growing S4 class, Andy Mewhirter would make an impressive appearance in what was his first 125 race.  Having no laps on the track before Saturday morning, Mewhirter quickly adapted to the challenges of a 125 shifter.   Restricted by Friday’s rain, Mewhirter used qualifying and the two heat races as his practice sessions.  The main event would see Mewhirter up to the 2^nd spot in the S4 division and fourth over-all, before a loose floor pan forced him to retire on the white flag lap.

     Extreme Motorsports would like to thank S.K.U.S.A. and their staff for putting on another great day of racing!  We’d also like to say thank you to our customers who made for another fun day of racing.  To find out how you can become a part of the Extreme Motorsports team, contact us at www.extremegokarts.com.  Call (530)949-8975, or e-mail Steve at info@extremegokarts.com or Bryan at extreme30y@yahoo.com.  We look forward to seeing everyone at ProKart North Round three!

3-17-10 Top Kart Introduces the Flash Lightning Model & New 2010 Topkart Cadet!

Grand Products and Top Kart are excited to announce the launch of the 2010 Top Kart Flash Lightning model & New redesigned Cadet Chassis (Named Topkart Eagle the same chassis Zane Smith used to win the WKA Manufactures cup race in Comer 80 in Daytona).  The lightning model is Top Kart’s new kart along with the redesigned cadet that will be available in North America in late March or early April.

What makes the Flash Lightning model different than some karts is that the chassis is the exact same premier Flash frame that won the 2009 SuperNats in TaG Sr. and TaG Jr.  Also the same frame that won the 2009 CKI Tag Sr. Championship.   There is zero difference in the bends, tubing size, or material.  It comes with a 50mm axle, 2010 caster/camber pills, OEM Topkart Wheels, 2008 bodywork, and a factory decal kit.  The main differences are 20mm chrome spindles from 25mm, front and rear aluminum hubs, metal real bumper, non-quarter padded seat, and the 2008 brake system.

As a bonus, anyone purchasing the Flash Lightning or Topkart Eagle Cadet model will have the ability to purchase at a cost of $175.00 the New 2010 Topkart Team suit at a special price. (Normal cost of the suit is $250.00)

The Flash Lightning kart will retail at $3350.00 as described above or $3495.00 with the same options but with a plastic rear Righetti Ridolphi rear bumper.  The chassis will suit the KPV, Yamaha, Rotax, PRD, Tag & KF markets in club, regional & National level applications.

“Karting has become very expensive and it is not getting any cheaper, With that we are very excited to introduce the Flash Lightning into the North American market and believe in making our premier kart available to the masses at a cost that is affordable is a direction we should be going, Topkart in Italy understands this and has been very cooperative in making this available to us to support our market in North America with price and the ability to still use our premier line of equipment”

To find the nearest Top Kart dealer in your area, please visit www.grandproducts.com.  Look for Team Top Kart USA drivers using the Flash Lightning & Eagle Cadet Chassis in the coming months.

3-19-10 Grange Motor Circuit to Host 3rd Round of Prokart Challenge South

Apple Valley, California circuit the site of the next Superkarts! USA SoCal region action

Now just a week away, the third round of the Superkarts! USA ProKart Challenge South program is set for the Grange Motor Circuit in Apple Valley, California. The 8/10-mile course will be the perfect site to continue the championship chases in the six-round championship, mixing in well with the opening round facilities of CalSpeed and Willow Springs. Within the program, the Stock Moto package continues to grow, thanks in part to the new internal ladder system developed by the Superkarts! USA organization while the TaG competition has certainly earned praises with a diverse group of drivers and engine packages.

To speak volume on the competitiveness of the series, no one driver in the 10 divisions has won back to back features. The headline S1 Pro Stock Moto category has seen Brett Felkins and Clinton Schoombee take the first two feature wins, though it is Tommy Thompsons early consistency that has him earning the top spot in the standings thus far. The racing in TaG Senior has been like no other class, with stacked fields in the opening rounds. It is a battle of young up-and-comers against karting veterans; Kyle Shriver currently has the early edge over Larry Fraser and Phil Giebler along with the rest of the field with two strong podium performances.

S4 Masters Stock Moto continues to be the domain of Jeff Littrell, a three-time SKUSA SuperNationals winner. After getting shut out in the opener at CalSpeed, Littrell pulled off a near perfect weekend at Willow Springs to vault him into the point lead over Wayne Mello and Willy Musgrave. Billy Musgrave shows the way in the S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto division, riding off the opening round victory. Bryce Miller and round two winner Ryon Beachner will look to apply the pressure at Grange. The S3 class Novice Stock Moto continues to invite newcomers to the program as does the S5 category Junior Stock Moto. Jason Attwood tops the point standings after two rounds in S3, while Matias Podboj holds the number one spot in S5 after earning his first feature win in Willow Springs.

Four-time G1 champion PP Mastro is the early favorite in the championship chase, as he searches for a fifth title in six years. Unable to score a feature win, his two runner-up finishes have him at the top, with round two winner Roy Montgomery on his heels. Robert Morales is looking to knock Luke Bianco off the S4 Magnum pedestal, and is doing so thus far. Ron Rossetti controls things in TaG Master with a recent win, as he is being chased by Allan Svela and Kim Ryan. TaG Junior has Chris Cricca at the top of the standings, with a number of drivers set to challenge him at Grange.

The third round of the six-race PKC South championship will begin on March 26 with a practice day, as on-track activities will take place from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Race pre-registration is currently being accepted, with racers able to save $35 on their entry fee by submitting an entry prior to midnight on March 24. SKUSA memberships will be mandatory for the event, and forms are available on the SKUSA or ProKart Challenge websites. Pit spot reservations are also being accepted, and it is recommended to submit yours quickly as a strong turnout is expected. Camping and overnight parking of trailers on site will be permitted Thursday thru Saturday night at no charge. A host hotel will be selected shortly for those needing overnight accommodations. ProKart Challenge is currently accepting sponsorship opportunities for the Friday night dinner at the track; for those interested, call the office at 951-491-0808.

A live scoring feed as well as blogging will be available Saturday during the racing action. For more information on the opening round including the tentative race day schedule or anything related to SKUSA and the ProKart Challenge, visit the redesigned and updated www.superkartsusa.com website or call the SKUSA head office at 951-491-0808.

 

3-18-10 Italian Motors USA to sponsor IAME TaG class in the Red Line Oil Karting Championship

A new class has been added to the Red Line Oil Karting Championship line up this year.  The class is IAME TaG.  Unlike the past TaG classes that have run at the Jim Russell International Karting track at Infineon Raceway; this new class will focus on lowering the costs of running the popular Parilla Leopard engine.  Race #1 of the 2010 season is this coming Sunday, March 21.

To help support the racers, Italian Motors USA has stepped up to sponsor this class in 2010.  Italian Motors owner Claudio Valiante has contributed a new 2009 spec Parilla Leopard engine to be given away to a driver in the series.  Determination of how to present the engine prize has not yet been finalized but expect an announcement soon.  In addition, Italian Motors certificates for IAME parts will be given out at each race in the following amounts: 1st place, $50; 2nd place, $25; and 3rd place $15.

SPEC GEAR FORMULA ADDED AS SAVING MEASURE:

"The objective is to help make this TaG Parilla class less costly than in the past but yet have a competitive class that will bring back the fun of TaG racing" says series promoter Steve Cameron.  One of the ways is to use a spec gear/weight ratios that will help lower the RPMs the Parilla engine turns. The desired maximum RPM goal is 16,500 RPMs.  This has been used with good success at other series in the US and will be applied at the Red Line Oil Series for 2010.  After each race the spec gear formula will be evaluated to determine if improvements can be made to help achieve the lower RPM objective as well as to assure competitive racing.

The spec gear to be used for Race #1 will be as follows:

Kart/driver weight of 370#, spec gear to be 10-75 or 11-82

Kart/driver weight of 385#, spec gear to be 10-76 or 11-83

Kart/driver weight of 400#, spec gear to be 10-77 or 11-85

The sliding scale of the weights and gear allow drivers of various weights to compete with each other.  If the number of karts over 400# approaches 10 entries per race, a separate heavy class will be considered.

The IAME TaG class is open to Parilla Leopard engines only.  Older National Cup spec engines will be allowed to run as well as the more current stock spec 08 and 09 engines.  Tires will be Bridgestone YKC, fuel VP98 and oil to be Red Line Two Cycle Kart Oil.  Burris Hi-Rev Castor oil and YHC tires will be allowed for Race #1.

For more information on the IAME TaG class, contact race director Ric Shaw at racedirector-ric@hotmail.com

3-16-10 LeDuc and Giebler Impress in Exciting Prokart Challenge North Battles
Photos by Tony Leone

Perfect weather on race day changes outlook after raining practice

After rain and wind kept the drivers of the ProKart Challenge North series in their trailers during the Fridays available practice day, they emerged ready for battle when Saturday dawned sunny and cool at the Jim Russell International Karting Center. As the temperature rose through the day, so did the excitement on the racetrack, as the Infineon Raceway facility provided the perfect venue for some close racing including two of the races which were decided by less than four hundredths of a second. In the closest race of the day, Phil Giebler won over a strong TaG Senior class when he nipped Bobby Kelley by a scant 0.008 seconds in a drag race to the line. In the S1 Pro Stock Moto class, Nic LeDuc scored his first PKC gearbox win by holding off a charging Brett Buckwalter at the end of the 20-lap run.

LeDucs emergence in the PKC North program will put his name in the hat for the race win at the upcoming SKUSA SpringNationals, the opening round of the new Pro Tour. STA Racings LeDuc wasnt the primary contender for the win this past weekend, however, as Fritz Leesmann was certainly the man to beat. The Aluminos driver qualified on the pole ahead of Buckwalter by three tenths, and proceeded to score wins in both heat races to remain on the front row for the main. After getting off the line slowly and dropping to fourth, Leesmann worked his way back to the lead. It was not to last, however, as a broken shift arm put him on the sidelines, opening the door to the remainder of the field. Cameron Kartings Buckwalter would assume the point, but LeDuc had worked into the challenge position and eventually took over the top spot before stretching a small advantage. Buckwalter would pick up the pace over the final laps, but came up just short, taking second to LeDuc. Tommy Thompson came out of a hard-fought battle for third with the final podium position, finishing ahead of Jason Toft and Brad Dunford.

In S2, Matt Alcorn was following Leesmanns lead, sweeping qualifying and both heat races as he ran just behind all seven S1 drivers who were in the same race group. The tone of Alcorns day would match Leesmanns, as an errant airbox brought out the meatball flag, taking him out of the lead and eliminating what would have been a sure victory. This advanced the thrilling battle for second into a fight for the win, as Jared Woolf and Cameron Pringle were running nose-to-tail. Pringle would eventually come out on top to score his first PKC win, finishing ahead of Woolf and Cambrians Jamie Wilson . Rocky Mountain Kartworks drivers Cole MacEwen and Christian Bird rounded out the top-five. In the S5 Stock Moto Junior class, Daniel Langon was awarded the win after Christian Schureman was docked a position for jumping the start.

The S4 Stock Moto Master category attracted 12 drivers to Infineon, and Jeff Smith was the class of the field, sweeping the days events. In the main, however, Alex Keith showed that he had dialed in his chassis, matching Smiths pace through the 20-lap event. Keith stuck with Smith throughout the race but could never challenge, eventually crossing the stripe in second. Jim Inglebright would finish third, ahead of Andrew Mewhirter and Mike McDonough, who had trekked in from Colorado for the race.

The TaG Senior race was one of the best of the day, as Giebler was magnificent in coming from the tail of the field after a heat two DNF. The day began with Dave Harwin and JP Cadoux leading the way in qualifying. Jess Peterson would join the party in the first heat as he and Harwin scrapped for the win, but the rematch would not happen in second moto as Harwin was out on the warm-up lap with a mechanical issue. Attrition claimed Giebler, Cadoux and Fraser as well, putting fast drivers at both ends of the main event grid with Peterson starting on pole thanks to his heat two victory. Position Ones Bobby Kelley and Devin Lindsey were also in the front two rows, joined by Jordan Jadallah. As the final got started, a turn one incident put Fraser and Cadoux to the back and also advanced Giebler into the top 10. Over the next 20 laps, Giebler reeled in the lead group, expertly working his way forward to Kelley, who had assumed control of the race. As each driver turned great laps, Giebler proved to have the edge as he inched closer. The veteran would take over the lead heading into turn one on lap 17, but Kelley took it right back in the right-hander after the Tic-Tac-Toe section of the track, making a big statement in the process. Giebler would make one last-ditch effort heading to the checkered flag, nipping his young rival by just 0.008 seconds at the line. Jadallah would take third ahead of Lindsey and Harwin, while Fraser was able to recover to sixth. Petersons solid day came to a close on lap eight, when he retired with a mechanical issue.

The TaG Junior race was thrilling as well. Kathryn Cornell and Niki Luna were the first to battle to a photo finish, finishing up what was an incredible main event dice that featured multiple overtaking maneuvers each lap. Luna topped qualifying with a 53.415-second lap to sit at the top of the chart over Deven Sanchez, and he would then go on to sweep the heat races to start on the pole for the main. The race quickly became a two-kart battle, and both Luna and Cornell would take several turns up front. On the final lap, Luna sat in second and timed a run coming out of the final corner, pulling to the outside of Cornell at the stripe. The CRG would come up just short, as Cornell won by 0.037 seconds. Jack Freese would complete the podium in third, ahead of Austin Keller and Austin Thomas .

TaG Master was all Craig Corwin on this day, as he qualified on pole and won all three races. Ethan Wilson tried to match Corwin with some strong starts, but he would need to settle for second on this outing. In the main, Jeff Deehan finished up in third, but not after being chased by Peter Workum, who turned the fastest lap of the race in his pursuit of a podium finish. Paul Hohlbein rounded out the top-five.

The final class of the day was HPV2 Junior, where Kathryn Cornell scored her second win of the weekend topping Jack Freese and Jonny Norris for the top step of the podium.

Throughout the day, the buzz around the paddock centered on the upcoming SKUSA Pro Tour, which will invade Infineon Raceway on the April 16-18 weekend. SKUSA received entry confirmation from a majority of the drivers in the paddock, and they are now expecting 20+ competitors in a majority of the nine classes on the dance card. The PKC North series will take the month of April off to support the SpringNationals, but they will return on April 30 May 1, heading back to the Jim Russell International Karting Center for round three. The SKUSA crew will first head to the Grange Motor Circuit for the third round of the ProKart Challenge South on March 26-27.

3-15-10 IKF Region 7 Championships Series - Buffalo Bills Report

Round 3 of the IKF Region 7 Championship Series presented by Bridgestone took place at Primm, Nevada in the back parking lot of Buffalo Bills Resort and Casino. Kerman Kart Club hosted the event drawing drivers from as far away as New Jersey. For as long as Go Racing Magazine has been in karting Buffalo Bills has been a grade A event. There is nothing quite like the feeling of getting out of bed, walking down to the casino, and heading straight out to the race track in the span of 5 minutes. The convenience has played a big part in the draw over the years, but so too has their parking lot, which allows for a multitude of track designs. IKF Region 7 has played host more times than most here, but events past have seen pro money races from CKC, and even a round of the WKA Constructors Championships. There is something about this place, and seeing a 20% rise in entries is proof of its popularity.

Drivers were forced to endure ever changing conditions all weekend long. Saturday morning was crisp and sunny, but a storm was brewing in the area and officials were weary of it and kept a close eye on the clouds and made sure the program didn’t lose any unnecessary time. The rain began to fall after the pits were cleared but things didn’t look good for Sunday action. The track was wet as the morning practice kicked off but qualifying took place in the dry. Two of the heat races were ran on dry tires, but then a steady drizzle forced most driver to wets for the rest for the day. Halfway through the finals the taped down scoring loop came up because of the moisture. Out of tape, out of patience and out of dry pavement, the concluding classes were scored old school.

Jake Craig, Parker Thompson, and Carl Modoff were three drivers who pretty much made things difficult for others. They were the kings of the castle, master of their domains, and scored half of the total wins.

Jake Craig dominated the Junior 2 classes with 4 wins, sweeping both KPV 2 and PRD Junior 2. Undefeated yes, but easy, no, he earned all of them as he only started from the pole in one class on Saturday. Though winning is everything, drivers like Jason Hannegan and Haley Jenni came within inches of victory and breaking Craig’s hold on KPV and PRD. Hannegan scored 3 poles and a heat race win, but Craig came up with the results. David Vasquez was in the hunt, but not as high up as we normally see him. The best win for Craig clearly was Saturday’s KPV 2 where he soloed to a 7 second victory over Hannegan. The most exciting finish was Saturday as Craig took advantage of lap traffic jamming up Hannegan on the last lap of the PRD Junior 2 race. Craig got just a little better run to the line, nipping the win by maybe 6 inches.

With only this the 3rd race weekend of the series we see the main cadet protagonist are Parker Thompson and Zane Smith. Guys like Colton Herta, and Brenden Baker have won races, while Christian Brooks, Matt Million and Jake Drew are right there too looking for a way to the front. This weekend didn’t look so good for Thompson as he had a turn one issue and had to chase back, plus not scoring a pole always makes things a little more difficult too. To many these would keep them off the podium, but for Thompson it was just another day in the office, hammering out 3 wins in 4 classes. Junior 1 on Saturday was a test as Brooks came within 2 tenths of his first win. The damp conditions were no match for the crafty skill on Sunday as he overcame an 11 second deficit in the Rookie Sportsman prefinal to win the final. The same was true in KPV1, Smith scored the prefinal win, but Thompson found something extra for the final to complete his hat trick.

Double winner Carl Modoff, was untouchable in Senior KPV action all weekend long. The combined KPV4 and Super pipe class had a boost in entries this weekend thanks to the lour of Buffalo Bills. Modoff grabbed the pole on Saturday and went on to distance the field in the prefinal. The final was more of the same as Modoff went flag to flag for the win. Kyle Wright and Jordan Brown rounded out the KPV podium with 2nd and 3rd. Sunday was almost a carbon copy, but this time Buttonwillow’s race winner Kolby Araki set on pole. Modoff managed to get the prefinal win again, but the ever-changing conditions were difficult on setup. Modoff kept the winning pace in the final for the second day in a row, this time besting Lloyd Mack and Bradley Espinoza. It was good to see “Mad Matt Johnson” in the mix after having a season or two off. He and his family are certainly missed by a lot of us old timers.

With 9 of the wins secured by 3 drivers only 8 classes were left to contest. Those in attendance were privy to a rare occurrence, brothers winning the same class on different days. We’ve seen fathers and sons both take wins and even brothers running different classes but I don’t ever remember a time when competing siblings split wins.

Kid Karts this weekend was a family affair as the Waterman brothers each scoring their first IKF wins. Saturday’s pole went to Myles Farhan, but it was Braden Waterman who stepped up his game for the prefinal. Braden got the drop on the field to start the final and he never looked back on his way to his first IKF Kid Kart win. The rest of the Kid Kart class was left fighting for 2nd place. Luis Ortiz, Hayden Wagner, Hudson Morrow and Carson Enright all dueled for the final podium positions. Ortiz originally placed 2nd, but tech decided otherwise handing the position to Wagner. Morrow completed the top three. Sunday saw Braden score the pole over Farhan. The prefinal was the first class to have rain and it jumbled up the field, but Braden held on for the win. After moving up from his 3rd place qualifying position Bryson Waterman finished the prefinal in 2nd place and we had an all Waterman front row. Bryson rocketed out of the gates to start the final trailed by his brother and Farhan. When your name has water in it you better perform well when it is wet. Bryson and Braden put ten seconds on the pack to score a Waterman 1-2 finish, with younger brother 5-year-old Bryson getting his first IKF win. Farhan was best of the rest and finished in 3rd place.

Zane Smith was the only other cadet driver to see victory besides Thompson. Smith qualified on pole in Saturday’s KPV1 race and went on to win the prefinal. The final was nothing more than a walk in the park for Smith as all the action was set well behind him. As Smith cruised to the win, Skylar Estrada brought it home with a great 2nd place finish. Thompson tried every trick in the book, but Estrada kept the upper hand for his best finish of the year.

Jersey boy Chris Giumarra set the pace for Saturday’s Super Pipe qualifying session, but he and a hay bale had an early disagreement to end his prefinal. Bradley Espinoza went on to win, finishing 3rd overall. Leland Holden returned to the seat after taking some off and finished in the mix for 2nd. The combined Super Pipe and KPV class has bragging rights for overall winners, but the Yamaha’s were no match this weekend for the KPV’s. Espinoza had his hands full of KPV drivers in the final, but it took a while for Giumarra to work his way through traffic. A few more laps and he would have caught Espinoza and challenged for the win, but instead he settled for 2nd place. Sunday saw Aaron Koop nudge out Giumarra for the pole and take the prefinal win. Many of the Super Pipe competitors sat out the prefinal not wanting to burn off a $200 set of rain tires if it was going to clear up for the final. Koop kept the Sunday sweep alive by winning the final over Giumarra and Terry Nash for his first Super Pipe win of the year.

Senior PRD saw an influx of entries this weekend and it was a welcomed sight. Bobby Kelley got the ball rolling Saturday with a time of 42.122 in qualifying that was good enough for the pole. Seeing how many trophies this kid brought home at the banquet it is never surprising to see him up front. Kolby Araki gave chase in the prefinal, but Kelley was just a bit out of reach. The same held true in the final. Kelley got a nice start while Araki was forced to battle with Devin Lindsey for 2nd place. Kelly pulled out a gap quickly and that was more than enough to keep it rolling to the checkered flag. Once in the clear Araki made forward progress, but the best he could claim was 2nd. Matt Johnson moved up to claim a podium position for the first time this year after scrapping with Lindsey and Araki.

Sunday’s PRD runs combined with TAG Masters. Devin Lindsey and Jerry Henderson were the day’s pole sitters, Henderson being in TAG Masters. Henderson put a lap on the field in the wet prefinal and was a clear favorite heading into the afternoon final. Lindsey too seemed to be on his game in the semi wet conditions, and since we were in Vegas I’d bet that they didn’t make many changes to their setups for the final. Lindsey had no troubles in the final and capped off his weekend with a solid performance and the race win. Ariel Jimenez was in the hunt all day long, but Bobby Kelley managed to get by her and take 2nd place. Jimenez held on for 3rd. Masters TAG was also a repeat performance by Henderson who bested Ron Honsaker and James Rich.

The fourth installment of the IKF Region 7 Championship Series presented by Bridgestone will be at Grangé Motor Circuit and hosted by Tri-C Kart Club April 9-11. Entry forms are online @ Tri-C and IKF’s websites, and in the February issue of Go Racing Magazine (print and virtual). The winter/spring series then comes to a close the last week in April at CalSpeed.

3-15-10 Los Angeles Kart Club Presents the KAL-GARD CHALLENGE

We want to introduce everyone to the latest program LAKC is offering for the Spec Honda and Open Shifter classes. 

The Kal-Gard Challenge 

The purse will be a minimum of $4,800.00 to be split between 2 classes at the end of the season.  It will be paid to the top three drivers in both the Spec Honda and Open Shifter classes. 

·         1st place  $1,200.00

·         2nd place    $700.00 

·         3rd place    $500.00 

·         (1) bottle of Kal-Gard 2 stroke oil will be provided by LAKC for $20.00 dollars which will be added to your entry fee at each event. Kal-Gard will be the spec. oil for both these classes.

·         The first race of the Challenge is March 21, 2010 and will continue for the rest of the LAKC 2010 series.  Your LAKC membership needs to be paid by the April race to qualify for the purse. 

·         The points will be based on your overall race day NOT just your main event. Points will be calculated using the LAKC formula and will be based on your qualifying time as well as heat and main event finishing positions.  The LAKC points formula can be view on the downloads tab on the club web site.

·         You will be allowed (1) drop. A flagrant post tech DQ or Rough driving DQ will be scored as zero points and cannot be used a drop.

·         All other DQ’s will be scored as last place points and can used as a drop.

·         All other LAKC Class Structure rules apply.

·         www.lakc.org

If you have any questions feel free to give me a call. 
Chris LaTorre 
661-259-3668

3-16-10 De Phillippi Set to Commence Star Mazda Campaign at Sebring

MAZADSPEED Motorsports Development driver confident he can lead JDC MotorSports to second consecutive series title

Junior formula car standout Connor De Phillippi returns to cockpit this coming week (March 19) at the opening round of the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear, which will be held at the historic Sebring International Raceway in Florida. As part of the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring event, the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development racer will make his series debut with defending and two-time series champions JDC MotorSports.

After a long off-season hiatus away from official competition, De Phillippi is excited to get back behind the wheel and do what he does best, challenge for race wins and titles. Thanks in large part to a scholarship from MAZDASPEED Motorsports - the reward for winning the 2009 Skip Barber National title - the Californian enters his inaugural season of Star Mazda competition well positioned to achieve his goals.

De Phillippi immediately showed what his new partnership with JDC MotorSports is capable of during official pre-season testing at Sebring International Raceway. The former Team USA Scholarship racer and Formula Ford Walter Hayes Trophy winner regularly challenged for top honors throughout the three-day test, before finishing as the second fastest rookie.

Piloting the No. 11 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development/Justice Brothers/Sparco/Rock View Farms/Oakley/Power Balance/Red Line Oil JDC MotorSports entry, De Phillippi will partner fellow rookie Chris Miller and series veterans Caio Lara and Gerry Kraut in the season-opening event at Sebring. The on-track action for Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear drivers gets underway on March 16th with a pair 40-minute practice sessions. Two additional practice sessions will be conducted one day later, with qualifying taking place on Thursday morning (March 18). Round One of the 14-race series commences with the cars launching from a standing start at 12:45 p.m. local time on Friday (March 19).
 

3-16-10 JDC Motorsports Fires Up title defence at Sebring

Four-car effort features two veterans and two junior formula car champions
JDC MotorSports will commence its title defense of the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear late this week (March 18), when the opening round of the series takes place at Sebring International Raceway as part of the famed 12 Hours of Sebring event. The Minnesota-based race team enters the season well positioned to win a third series title, with series veterans Caio Lara and Gerry Kraut being joined throughout the 2010 race season by highly rated rookies Connor De Phillippi and Chris Miller. A little over a month after a strong showing in the lone official Star Mazda Championship pre-season test at Sebring, the quartet of JDC MotorSports drivers will return to the historic road course to begin their pursuit of a championship title.

For Lara, the 2010 campaign marks the second year of a successful partnership with JDC MotorSports. The Brazilian will once again pilot the No. 19 MLD/ATW/Molecule/Red Line Oil/JDC MotorSports entry. Lara was a front-runner throughout the season one year ago, finishing inside the top-10 in all but two races en route to eighth in the final series standings. Given that Lara narrowly missed the podium in his inaugural race with the team one year ago at Sebring, many are expecting big things from the JDC driver in both the season-opener and throughout the 14-race campaign.

Kraut returns to JDC this season not only as a team co-owner, but also as one of the early favorites for the Masters Series title (for drivers 45 years of age and older). Driving the No. 55 Dougherty & Co./Dougherty Funding LLC/Red Line Oil/JDC MotorSports, Kraut has won numerous Masters Series races over the past few years, finishing as the class runner-up last year. The Minnesota native led the class in pre-season testing and enters Round One confident that he can better his runner-up Masters Series finish in last year’s edition of the traditional season-opener.

Thanks in large part to backing from Mazda via its MAZASPEED Motorsports Development program, De Phillippi is expected to be a key component in JDC’s pursuit of back-to-back Star Mazda Championship titles. The Californian will get behind the wheel of No. 11 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development/Justice Brothers/Sparco/Rock View Farms/Oakley/Power Balance/Reline Athletics Red Line Oil/JDC MotorSports entry, as the reigning Skip Barber National series champion following a record setting seven-win season. Given his added success as a member of the Team USA program – winning the 2009 Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Ford race in England – and the fact he’s won the prestigious Superkarts USA! SuperNationals a record four times, many expect De Phillippi to not only challenge for Rookie of the Year honors, but also the championship title this year.

Miller makes it two reigning junior formula car champions under the JDC awning at Sebring. Piloting the No. 85 Miller Milling/Red Line Oil/JDC MotorSports entry, Miller takes to the central Florida race track for Round One as the reigning F2000 Championship Series champion following a series-high four-win campaign with JDC. Big things are expected of the Edina, MN, driver following his Star Mazda Champion debut in the final two races last year, and his continued progress in pre-season testing.

The on-track action for JDC MotorSports at Sebring International Raceway gets underway on March 16th, with a pair 40-minute practice sessions. Two additional practice sessions will be conducted one day later, followed by the lone qualifying session on Thursday morning (March 18). Round One of the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear is scheduled to commence with the cars launching from a standing start at 12:45 p.m. local time on Friday (March 19).

3-15-10 Los Angeles Kart Club Championship Series- 2010 Season Opener
By David Jimenez

What a great way to spend the day enjoying our favorite sport, at our favorite club, in our favorite weather…RAIN! That sure seems to be the norm for a January race, I think it’s a great obstacle for championships, being able to have different twists and turns each round brings the cream to the top! In these bad economic times, your support and the support from your fellow racers is unbelievable, proving that not only is LAKC the home for family fun competitive karting, but it’s that way because of you! Applaud yourself for good work; go ahead, nobody’s looking.

Well if you missed the 2009 banquet, you missed one “HELL OFA” party! Over $15000.00 in cool prizes were given away to each member, that’s an average of approximately $245.90 each! There were over 240 humans on hand to eat, some of you were confused between the dinner plates and the championship trophy plates, the trophy plates were shinier and worth a lot more. Recognition went to long time member Keith Waters; he’s going to play in the dirt. Class podium pictures and collectable table centerpieces for the champions were had by all. Other notable guests of honor were Noah Grey and Michael Graves, our outstanding sportsmanship racers and our most improved drivers were Chandler Campbell and Ruiz Billings, good examples of how this club is represented and what this club is all about.

January 17, 2010 7:03am – My family and I pulled into, I should say skidded into the speedway ready for action. It hasn’t been too long, but I saw a lot of friends reuniting with their fellow competitors and exchanging good thoughts and wishes, always a good thing.

8:00am - New for 2010 was the early drivers meeting. WELCOME! Number of Douglas Wheels hats given out= 7. Number of race entries= 139. Total number of non-member entries = 29

*PRACTICE; prac-tice - præk-tis [prak-tis] noun, verb, -ticed, -tic ing. habitual or customary performance; operation: repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency:

8:35am – Reminder – pre-tech certification MUST be completely filled out, NO EXCEPTIONS FOR ANY REASON. Present your helmet, kart and complete signed certificate to the grid steward, she (or he) will then place a tech sticker on your kart and only then can a kart be allowed on the track. Drivers and crew MUST have a wristband on in order to be eligible to go onto the track, for any session. Any new racer can ask any official for assistance about this procedure. Minors, your mommy or daddy needs to sign this as well as you. Any and all pre-tech idems must also pass post-tech.

9:27am – Practice session two - the sun was very happy, shining down on Cal Speed, warming things up for the anxious racers. Stopwatches and the never lying AMB transponder timing system confirmed that, setting the fast paced grid order for the next session…

* QUALIFYING; qual-i-fy [kwol-uh-fahy] verb, -fied, -fy-ing. to exercise oneself by repeated performance in order to acquire skill. To declare competent or capable; certify.

11:28am - Quickly there was glitch in our program, dropping race group two, moved all the groups up in the schedule and with no breaks in the day; sometimes the hurry up mode was on full tilt. The bigger groups, and there were many were split up for qualifying allowing a better chance at a clear lap. Top qualifiers were Jacob Drew at 55.616, Dane LaTorre at 51.023, Michael Graves at 48.650, Myles Farhan at 1:11.432, Christian Brooks at 53.662, Dakota Dickerson at 54.669, Lloyd Mack at 48.247, Brett Felkins at 46.642 and Ron Rosetti stopped the watch at 49.560, congrats to them. Now let’s get to the racing!

RACING; [reys-ing] noun, verb: raced, rac-ing. a contest of speed, as in running, riding or sailing. Artificial channel leading water to or from a place where its energy is utilized. The current of water in such a channel. Just when I thought I’d seen it all, I’m hit with something fresh. They say if you don’t learn something new each day you aren’t livin.

FYI: 2010 IKF rule book page 32, rule 105.2.1.21 - Ballast: all weights must be white. All bolts used to secure ballast shall be fastened to the kart with a nut secured with a cotter pin or safety wire through a hole drilled in the bolt. Tape, hose clamps, tie wraps, wire or any fasteners, other than bolts, are not legal for fastening ballast to the kart. The editor of the 2010 rule book forgot to include wing nuts! Yes wing nuts. Eric Lazar pointed out to me that he saw a weight fly off a kart, when I picked it up, I found a bolt with a wing nut on it! DOUBLE WOW! Without saying who or why, ill just say that the racer was new, very sorry and now aware of the danger, knowledge is power! 12:18pm

– Start of the 8 lap heat race for race group one. Kids would do an 8 lap heat race, more about that later. On- track incidents, usually result in off-track penalties. As director of competition, it’s my job to represent the race director from time to time. A conduit for that information. Such was the case for one particular racer, after several minutes of listening to his version of what happened, I made a dumb comment, “that it would be…a waste of time…” I immediately apologized for that, and investigated the involved racers further as they had asked. At the time, that was one of many ongoing issues I was dealing with. In the end, the penalty stood, and they accepted the decision. Again, I’m sorry to that driver. Please know that as officials, we are here to help you have a fun, safe and fair racing experience where you can come to us with your concerns, criticisms and praise, at any time without prejudice. *MAIN EVENT ; no dictionary definition 1:29pm - Up first in January and last in March is Rotax Senior. Troy McCall would be the pole sitter with Michael Graves to the outside of row one. On the start the pack fanned way out as some racers used the parking lot for speeding down the front straight. About half way through, Shaland Leach set personal fast lap at a 50.316, but at the pace the leaders were going, it wouldn’t be long before they approached. Obeying the blue flag, the lappers let the leader’s race. In the end, the first main of the season was clean, fast and exciting as John Crow was able to put the moves on kart 28 and the 19 kart of McCall, but it would be Graves with the fast lap of 48.824, good for second. Crow had a total race time of 12:26.05, complying with all post tech items, he claimed the gold cup trophy.

1:57pm - Kid Karts would take the stage next with Damon Bustamante at the point. Thirteen karts raced for ten laps. Kart 98, Myles Farlan extended his lead late in the race. Very catchy graphics on the Farlan kart, makes it easy to spot this winning effort. It looked to me like a lot of our 2009 kids class have moved up, bringing us a new batch of future stars to cheer for. Brandon Eshom and Cody Dempster battled it out finishing only four tenths of a second apart in the heat race and one second in the main. Mason Grey would drop out after 5 laps with some sort of problem.

2:14pm - 48.637 mph is what it said on the ticket I got in front of the school the other day, coincidently on lap nine Jacob Drew went the same speed, laying down fast time in the Junior One main event, where he pretty much went wire to wire to take the race win away from his nineteen other competitors. Kart 09 and kart 34 could do nothing but watch Jacob’s bumper get smaller as he drove away. Brendon Baker dug deep on the last lap and was able to overtake kart 34 at the line, or did he? It would take rule number 206.2 on page 46 of the 2010 IKF rule book, measuring the transponder location which should be a minimum of 12 inches rearward of the centerline of the top of the left king pin to the leading edge of the transponder, I personally took the measurements, finding that they were in the proper location, and at the correct distance from the king pin. It would take a human eye to decide this one. A total time of 14:30.536 from “The Rookster” was just enough for second and Brendon Baker would be third. Andrew Murowatz and Ian Wesolowski would be seventh and eighth. Jack Graboski finished fourteenth and Cooper Whitbread drove hard to secure a top ten finish, good to see Cooper and his dad back. Speaking of good to see back, our very own Scott Weeks was roaming around the pits; he came to say hi to all his friends and watch the Rotax Masters battle it out. Get well soon Scottie, we miss you. Greg Smith, kart 39 flew right off the track in the heat race, by himself he explained to me. David Busby would take the heat race win. At the start of the main, it was Busby flying off track and through turn one, coming back on-track ahead of twelve drivers to lead the way. Close behind were Steve Dzurillo, Scott Falcone and the others. Greg Smith, started almost last, he was only able to move up a couple spots before the RAIN brought out the red flag. 2:47pm

- It was then decided to call the remainder of the event, a rain race. Then it started to dry up, but not for long. 15 minutes later we were back racing as the rain steadily drizzled. A little later we would resume the main with a single file restart, but not much would change except that kart 39 would redeem himself, picking up a well deserved second, behind Mr. Busby. Philipson, Dzurillo and Falcone were left wondering how the ol man got by. KPV 2 had all the right stuff for Dane LaTorre, he went wire to wire in, what, DW would say was “a snoozer”. His competition was back a bit after Chandler Campbell spun in turn one. Carlee Taylor and Jesse Huaman had a little battle going on resulting in a black and checkered finish. As a result, the official finishing order was altered, changing the top three positions to Jake Craig second and Josh Kurtz rounded out the top three. Isabella Busalacchi was clocked at a speed of 52.373 mph. Next up was KPV 1. Twenty two in this class, Noah Grey ended up 15th and was still smiling. Josh Kurtz got a top ten only 29.811 seconds behind the winning kart number 09, driven by Brendon Baker. Just like the Jr. 1 race it was very close, but this time the transponders decided the finishing order, Christian Brooks second in the 12 lap main, who knows what could have happened had there not been a wet track and had they raced the scheduled 16 laps? My guess would be an upset by the 29 kart. From the 29th grid position only 29.729 seconds back, Jacob Drew would salvage an incredible point’s day after the heat race crash. Ian Wesolowski and Anthony Sawyer rounded out the top five for the day.

3:57pm – A protest form was delivered to me regarding David Busby’s corner cutting before the red flag, the race director said that without question, “Busby will not be penalized, he will be our winner!”. However unless we shorten these last few classes we will never make it before sunset, so the laps were cut from 16 to 10, Kobe Jackson gave David his trophy and from there, “it was all good” as they say.

4:06pm - All I can say about the 125 shifter class is WOW! There were 24 racers with Brett Felkins leading the way. The, “I’m having way too much fun” award went to Erik Jackson who went from almost last on the grid to leading for a second until he spun, spun and spun again and again and even again. He wasn’t the only one. I don’t think I’ve seen so many spin outs in a race in a long time. We had many leaders, as they would trade off a as one would spin out, the next would spin out and so on. Some opted for rain tires and others opted for slicks, a good choice if you didn’t have rain tires because it just kept getting wetter. The top and only finisher on slicks was Pedro Abba in eighth place; Jackson would end up seventh, doing post race doughnuts in turn one after yet another series of spins. Rain man honors go to Brett Felkins crossing the line first, I think he was at one point about 4th or 5th and Bryce Miller who would settle for second. Shifters, watch for an announcement very soon, look for new exciting incentives at LAKC in 2010.

4:20pm - TaG and PRD Spec ended as it started with Lloyd Mack leading by eleven seconds to win over Zeen and Bowers. Six racers including Indy 500 rookie, Phil Giebler did not start the main event for various reasons, in March look for an announcement regarding this combined group. Lloyd, the LAKC recommended oil for your gas in TaG is MOTUL, PRD Spec uses Burris caster or blend, but please don’t hesitate to have a free fuel check prior to qualifying, just to make sure, a little late, but I didn’t forget you.

4:37pm - Rounding up the day as daylight dimmed and rain fell, race group nine, Rotax Jr., Mini Max and the all new PRD Spec Jr. class. Racing together but being scored separate, that didn’t matter to Dakota Dickerson, just as long as you score him number one in Rotax. Shadowing him was Timothy DeSilva, searching off line for traction; he finished second, six tenths ahead of Breanna Miscione, Jake Craig and Holden Delcoure. With one entry we can only have one winner, Max Zackey, 37.782 MPH was his fastest speed. FYI: LAKC is a ROTAX local series which means we run by their rules for the most part, in the case of rain tires, we can only allow Mojo rain tires on Rotax karts.

5:01pm – Last checkered flag of the day. What a great start to the 2010 season, twelve winners in the books, ninety-six more to crown, we will count 8 of 9 events to determine the series champions in October.

Notes from the Board….
Board member elections were held at the January meeting with Chris LaTorre, Steve Novikoff, Joe Stalker, Dan Rivera, and Greg Jackson being elected. David Jimenez no longer has a seat on the board but will continue on as club vice president. There was some confusion with the new pre-tech procedure at the last race. Karts do not need to be inspected by a LAKC official. Just follow the list on the pre-tech form and do your own kart inspection. Minors must have their form signed by their parent or guardian. Present the completed form to Joe Stalker on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning before 8:00 AM to get your sticker. Joe can be found at pit space number E-301. After 8:00 AM on raceday, the form can be presented at the grid to get your sticker. Karts will not be allowed on the track without a sticker. Everybody needs to get their annual helmet inspection and 2010 helmet sticker. You can get it inspected and approved with Joe Stalker or on the grid when turning in your pre-tech sheet. Jack’s Snack Shack has re-opened and will be serving both breakfast and lunch on raceday. They are located near the grid right next to where we have our driver’s meeting.

We want to announce to everyone the latest LAKC program.
The Kal-Gard Challenge
There will be an approximately $4,800.00 dollar total purse split between 2 classes at the end of the year, paid to the top three drivers in the Spec. Honda Shifter class and the Open Shifter class. Kal-Gard will provide (1) bottle of 2 stroke oil sold for $20.00 dollars as part of your registration fee. For this purse Kal-Gard will be the spec oil for those classes listed above.
If you have any questions feel free to give me a call.
Regards
Chris LaTorre 661-259-3668

ROTAX News….
There have been rule updates regarding seat strut mounting as well as spark plug wires for the Rotax classes. Please visit the Rotax forum at the club web site for complete details. Just as soon as it is available, LAKC will make the complete 2010 Rotax rule book available for download.
Just like last year, a membership in the U.S. Rotax Max Challenge is included at no charge with your regular LAKC membership for all Rotax participants. Just fill out the R-Max membership application on the LAKC downloads tab and turn it on at the registration window on raceday.
The club will take care of everything from there.

3-15-10 Welcome to the 2010 Red Line Oil Karting Championship

It has been a crazy winter of discussions, but I am excited with the changes in the Rotax/80 Shifter/TaG program for 2010 and very happy to have Steve Cameron stepping in, taking over the reins and promoting the series for the next few years. Steve is looking forward to meeting with all the racers at the March 21st Drivers Meeting and throughout the race day.

Click the links for the Race Day Schedule and Registration Form for the March 21st Race #1.

Due to the very recent changes in the promoter structure, there are a lot of changes that I need to communicate to all of you to help you through some of the changes. The change in the promoter role is much more than just a new name. Steve has been working non-stop on a number of critical issues such as securing event insurance, lining up Red Line Oil to be the series sponsor, working with Rotax on transition issues in the Rotax Administrator role, searching for new awards vendors, writing up specs for the new IAME TaG class and of course learning all that goes into putting on a race event. But Steve's and my commitment is to make the 2010 season not only just as enjoyable and competitive as the past years, but to work to make things even better as we go through the year.

There are going to be some required changes to help get 2010 off to a good start and insure that it can stand on it's own:

1. Entry fee will remain the same at $100, but the transponder rental fee will be set at $10 this year since the series will have to rent transponders to make them available to all the racers who do not have them.

2. With new insurance coverage in 2010, all non-racers will have to be covered by insurance, thus all non-racers will have to buy a Pit Pass this coming year. Pit Passes will cost $10 for those 12 and over and $5 for those 11 and under.

3. Race morning registration will be done different this year. It will be done at the old Russell building that is located to the right side prior to the Main Infineon gate. This means you will pull over into the large area to the right of the Main gate, get out and register with Tina, Jasmine and me, sign everyone in, get your wrist bands, then go through the Main Infineon gate and up to the karting track. You will then be greeted by someone who will help you get into a good pit spot.

4. Red Line Oil will be the sponsored oil for the series in 2010, but due to the last minute announcement some flexibility will be allowed for at least the first race. For 80 shifters and IAME TaG classes, Red Line Oil and Burris Hi-Rev Castor will be the only oil used for Race #1. For the Rotax classes, Motul and Red Line Oil will be allowed for the first race. The Red Line Oil that is speced for the series is the "Two-Cycle Kart Oil". This will be available at the track on March 20th. Expect that by Race #2, Red Line could be the only oil used for the series. For Race #1, the Red Line karting oil will be offered at Race Registration at a discount to allow everyone to try the Red Line Oil.

4. The fuel for Race #1 will be VP98 for Rotax and IAME TaG and VP110 for the 80 shifters. The Rotax racers can expect a change to VP93 early on in the 2010 season thus bringing the Nor Cal Rotax Challenge in line with the other major Rotax series in the country and the US Rotax Max Challenge (USRMC) spec.


5. Rotax membership will be required for all drivers in the six nationally recognized Rotax classes. This is a new requirement by USRMC, but is in line with most other series such as ProKart and IKF which require membership to participate. A one race grace period for new racers just trying the series will be allowed. The USRMC membership fee has been lowered in 2010 to $35, but don't expect a free t-shirt this year. It is easiest to join Rotax by going on-line to sign up. Paper membership forms will also be available at the track. To sign up for a Rotax membership, go to www.rotaxmaxchallenge.com.


6. The weights for the 80 Shifter and IAME TaG classes are as follows:
Formula 80 360#
80 Masters 375#
80 Heavy 400#
IAME TaG 370# Spec Gear/Weight
All the 80 Shifter classes will run in the same race group until the numbers get too large and make for an unsafe race situation.

The specs for the IAME TaG class are still being written, but all past Nor Cal "National Cup" spec engines as well as stock spec IKF/TaG USA engines will be allowed to run. The main objective of this class is to have a place for the many Parilla engines to run and be competitive. Stay tuned for more information on this new class.

Well, that is all for now. The start of the 2010 season is only about a week away. I am looking forward to seeing many of you again and looking forward to putting on some great races for all the Rotax, 80 Shifter and IAME TaG drivers.

Any questions, just email me at: racedirector-ric@hotmail.com

Thanks,

Ric Shaw
Race Director

 

3-15-10 Team Pitts Performance Goes All In at Buffalo Bills Resort and Casino

Team Pitts Performance is always a good bet at any race, but this past weekends results at the IKF Region 7 Championship Series presented by Bridgestone had nothing to do with luck. Great preparation, fast engines, and fabulous drivers all came together for round 3 of the series at Primm, Nevada in the back lot of the Buffalo Bills Resort and Casino. Team Pitts Performance struck it rich with 6 wins, 20 top 5’s, and a podium sweep both days in Kid Karts.

Jake Craig led the way for Team Pitts Performance and drew 4 of a kind, sweeping the Junior 2 action with 4 wins on the weekend. Craig and his 00 prove that just like on the American roulette table 00 adds an extra advantage to the house. Coming off a strong run in Phoenix Craig, once again proved be belonged in the no limit room. Craig’s PRD is the stuff of dreams as he has gone four straight wins in the Junior class with his Phil Carlson Pitts Performance PRD. Craig was dealt two pair in KPV2 this weekend overcoming adverse track conditions to run the table Saturday and Sunday in the premier Junior 2 events.

Team Pitts Performance Kid Kart drivers are always the odds on favorite at any event. This weekend the field of IKF’s most youthful members was made up primarily of Team Pitts Performance drivers. Both days event saw Team Pitts Performance sweep the top five podium positions. History was made as the brothers Waterman doubled down, splitting wins Saturday and Sunday. Saturday action saw Pitts driver Myles Farhan earn the pole position only to surrender it to Braden Waterman in the prefinal. Braden got the drop on the field to start the final and he never looked back on his way to his first IKF Kid Kart win. The rest of the Kid Kart class was left fighting for 2nd place. Hayden Wagner, Hudson Morrow, Carson Enright and Dezel West all dueled for the final podium positions. Sunday saw Braden score the pole over Farhan. The prefinal was the first class to have rain and it jumbled up the field, but Braden held on for the win. After moving up from his 3rd place qualifying position Bryson Waterman finished the prefinal in 2nd place and we had an all Waterman front row. Bryson rocketed out of the gates to start the final trailed by his brother and Farhan. When your name has water in it you better perform well when it is wet. Bryson and Braden put ten seconds on the pack to score a Waterman 1-2 finish, with younger brother 5-year-old Bryson getting his first IKF win. Farhan was best of the rest and finished in 3rd place with Morrow and Enright completing the top five. Luis Ortiz and Tommy Trickle also flew the Pitts banner high with each scoring well in the points.

Junior 1 action saw solid performances turned in by Colton Herta, Christian Brooks and Jake Drew. The Team Pitts Performance trio pulled the lever and came up with 6 top five finishes including two 2nds and a 3^rd. With good qualifying runs turned in by all three drivers it was no surprise to see them stay up front in both the wet and dry conditions. Brooks came within two tenths of scoring his first IKF win in Saturday’s Junior 1 race. His 2^nd and 3^rd place finishes will turn into a first place soon enough for the driver of the #34 BA1. Herta tasted victory back at Buttonwillow and Santa Maria and wants to be back on top. Look for Herta at Grangé to leave with at least one win. Cadet newcomer Anthony Sawyer earned a top ten finish, while fellow Pitts driver Chris Trickle finished 14^th in Sunday’s KPV1 race.

3-11-10 Willow Springs Kart Club Readies for Round 2

Second round of five-race mini series prior to IKF Grand Nationals offers stellar prize package

The second round of the Willow Springs Kart Club (WSKC) 2010 season is set for Sunday, March 14 at their home track on the grounds of the Willow Springs International Motorsports Park. WSKC - host of the 2010 International Kart Federation (IKF) 2-Cycle Grand Nationals - opened the year in February with the first round of the nine race club championship season. The first event also marked the start of the new five-race mini series Willow Springs Kart Club has put together to build momentum toward the IKF Grand Nationals with round two set for this weekend.

The mini series within the club championship will award free entries to nine of the club classes for the IKF 2-Cycle Sprint Grand Nationals, scheduled for June 22-26 at the Willow Springs Kart Track. For the five events leading up to the Grand Nationals (February 21, March 14, April 18, May 16, June 19), a best four of five points chase will be tabulated in each of the nine categories with the top WSKC member driver awarded one free entry to the prestigious event.

WSKC has also assembled a large prize purse for the five-race mini-series leading up to the Grand Nationals. Counting the best four of five results allow those who missed out on round one to enter the mini-series this weekend with a chance at earning a prize or even the championship. The following is a break-down of the prizes:

1st place - Free entry IKF G.N. and one set of Bridgestone tires
2nd place - 1 set of Douglas Wheels
3rd place - RLV sprocket and 219 chain
4th place - Scribner fuel jug and 3 bottles of Burris 2 cycle oil
5th place - TRP Mechanics gloves and 3 bottles of Burris 2 cycle oil

Each points champion and the rest of the top-five finishers will also have their names entered into a drawing for a GPS system for the MyChron 4 from AIM Sports and selected drivers could have their name drawn for one class at the Cory Krusemans Sprint Car and Midget Driving School. To be eligible, a competitor must enter a minimum of four races and be a WSKC 2010 member. In total, 45 lucky drivers could walk away from the mini-series with some sort of prize in addition to experiencing fun and exciting racing here at Willow Springs

The 2010 season is an exciting time for the Willow Springs Kart Club, stated TIMI Promotions Mike Manning. Hosting the IKF 2-Cycle Sprint Grand Nationals in June will be a great way to show the karting community to the strong program we have built here. With the mini-series we have created, our goal is to reward those that support us along with give an incentive for those outside our program to join in. Id like to thank the all the members of the Willow Springs Kart Club and those companies that are supporting our program.

The opening round of the 2010 season saw some great racing take place. Eleven classes in total will compete on the day with only those offered at the IKF 2-Cycle Grand Nationals part of the mini-series - Kid Karts, PRD Spec, Junior 1 Comer, Junior 1 KPV, TaG Junior, TaG Senior Light, Junior Super Sportsman Pipe, Junior 2 KPV, Senior Super Sportsman Pipe. Also competing on the day will be the 125cc shifterkart group and TaG Senior Heavy. The weather forecasted for the weekend is set for perfect racing weather, thus giving racers a great chance to enjoy a day at the track.


TIMI Promotions, directors of the Willow Springs Kart Club, have launched the redesign of the club website - www.timipromotions.com - which contains all the information you need on the club as well as the IKF 2-Cycel Sprint Grand Nationals. For those who have questions or would like to find out more information about the Willow Springs Kart Club, contact Mike Manning at 661.256.7500 and Tim Holden at 818.701.7151.


 

3-11-10 Superkarts USA Announces Pro Tour Awards Program

New prize package confirmed at over $80,000 for national program debut

With the opening round of their new Pro Tour just five weeks away, Superkarts! USA officials have put the finishing touches on the prize package that they have assembled for the series. With a prize payout total worth more than $80,000, the cash segment of the program features both event purse money for all three races and a year-end championship prize fund for the top drivers in S1 and TaG Senior. SKUSA is also offering supported entry into this years SuperNationals for the mid-season point leaders in TaG Junior and TaG Master, and paid entry into the entire 2011 Pro Tour for all nine class champions. SKUSA will also bring back the popular national number plates, and will offer up a very lucrative prize in the shape of guaranteed SuperNationals main event starting positions for the top-five in points heading into the biggest race of the year. The new TaG Cadet class is also in the prize mix with new Mini Rok engines being offered up to weekend event winners, leading up to a fully supported trip to the Rok International Finale for the category champion. The chase for these exciting offerings will begin at the SpringNationals at Infineon Raceway in mid-April, and as such, SKUSA is also pleased to release the host hotel information, which will no doubt be the epicenter of off-track action during the opener.

The Pro classes on SKUSAs new national tour S1 and TaG Senior will run for a weekend total of $3,500 in prize money at all three events. Each class will be awarded $1750 to the top three drivers in the overall cumulative point standings for the weekend. SKUSA President Tom Kutscher will present $1000, in cash, to the overall point winner in each class during the Sunday afternoon podium presentations. Second and third will receive $500 and $250, respectively. A championship point fund will be accumulated from race-to-race, and cash awards will be distributed to the top-three in the point standings for both S1 and TaG Senior. A drivers accumulated points from all five Pro Tour events will determine the final standings. The champion will receive $5000, while second and third will be awarded $2000 and $1000, respectively.

All of SKUSAs nine national champions will be supported in 2011 with special sponsorship for the next Pro Tour season. This years title winners will be provided with complimentary non-transferrable entries for the 2011 Pro Tour, including the SuperNationals. To commemorate and honor their champions, SKUSA will be bringing back the prestigious National Number Plate program as well, providing special number plates to the top-three drivers in the final championship points in all nine classes.

As always, SKUSA will actively work to assemble product from series sponsors to distribute to racers following podium presentations as per ProKart Challenge standards. A list of the prizes that will be available for those attending the podium presentations will include Mothers Polish products, MG Tires and VP Fuel, as well as products from any interested future providers.

SKUSA will be including a very lucrative benefit to the top drivers in Pro Tour points heading into the SuperNationals. In any of the classes that will be opened to 80 entries for this years SuperNats, such as TaG Senior, the top-five drivers in Pro Tour points after the SummerNationals will be rewarded with guaranteed starting positions in the main event on SuperSunday. Should they not make the main following the heat races or the Last Chance Qualifier, they will start at the tail of the grid from 41st to 45th in the order of where they sit in the Pro Tour points. The SuperNats will also be the focus of a special program for TaG Junior and TaG Master drivers. For this years Pro Tour, the point leader in both classes following the first two double-race weekends (SpringNationals and SummerNationals) will receive a full support package at the SuperNats, including entry fee, two sets of race tires, fuel and oil. These drivers will need to have turned at least one lap in both the SpringNationals and SummerNationals to be eligible for the support package.

Special awards for the new season are focused on low-budget privateers and SKUSAs new category: TaG Cadet. In the new Privateer Support Program, Superkarts! USA will be developing a special support offering for privateers that travel to compete on the Pro Tour. At the SpringNationals in Sonoma, SKUSA will hand-select a driver to receive a support package for the SummerNationals in Shawano that will include a complimentary entry fee and pit spot, as well as a gas company gift card to offset travel costs. This package is worth more than $700. Thanks to a new partnership with Vortex, SKUSA and the engine manufacturer will award the overall TaG Cadet winner of each of the first two weekends a brand new Mini Rok 60 engine for their efforts. The class champion will be given a partially supported trip to the 2011 ROK Cup International Final. This support package includes the event entry fee, a complete and new (OTK) chassis with engine to use for the race, tires for the race, one set of practice tires, fuel and hotel stay for the driver (four nights). This driver will be representing SKUSA on the world stage.

With this attractive prize program now outlined, the SKUSA operations team can begin final approach on Infineon, prepped to launch the most ambitious program since Tom and Patti Kutscher took over the reigns of the company in 2005. SKUSA will be basing its SpringNationals operations at the Embassy Suites in San Rafael, CA, the events host hotel. Information can be accessed via http://www.sanrafael.embassysuites.com, and more details will be posted on the SKUSA website shortly. Race registration/check-in will be offered at the hotel throughout the day and evening on Thursday, April 15th, and the SpringNationals Welcome Party will take place in the hotels bar area during and following the Managers Reception, complete with an interactive edition of eKartingNews.coms Trackside Live show featuring interviews with assorted Pro Tour competitors. SKUSA will also present its popular AfterParty on Sunday evening at the hotel, so that the racing community can celebrate an exciting weekend of competition.

Our planning for the first-ever SpringNationals is moving very quickly and my whole staff is pumped for this race; were really going to blow it out, offers Tom Kutscher, SKUSA President. The Infineon venue is one of the most beautiful in the country and the track is stellar, and we will be running it backwards, which we believe is the best way to enjoy the layout. Our new affiliation with the Embassy Suites is going to allow us to bring so much more to the event on the whole, and Im looking forward to the Welcome Party on Thursday night so that we can show our racers how thrilled we are that they have come to race with us!

From our initial conversations with our membership and our valued race shop partners, I expect that were going to be seeing 20+ entries in a majority of the Pro Tour classes, Kutscher continued. The Stock Moto classes are particularly exciting, and were counting on a strong line-up of TaG drivers as well. Our new TaG Cadet class has already exploded, as all 10 of the complimentary motors are already spoken for, and based on the response, I think we could see over 20 entries at the first race. Thats awesome!

The SKUSA Pro Tour begins on the April 16-18 weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. The events will all feature a three-day format with practice on Friday and complete race days on Saturday and Sunday with qualifying, heat races and a main. Any companies interested in event or class sponsorship opportunities are asked to contact the SKUSA head office at 951-491-0808.

3-10-10 Region 11 Super Series turns Kinsmen into the ultimate Battle Field

The IKF Region 11 Super Series passed through Kinsmen Kart club in Dixon Ca. for Round two of the six race series. After kicking off the season opener with an eye opening performance by the newly formed NCTA board of directors leading the Norcal Karters at Blue Max Kart club, the major question surrounding the series was whether the series was on its way back to hosting the high Kart count with tough competition like years past, or if it was just another opening round crowded kart race that would soon dwindle to only Championship point contenders later in the season.

The questions were answered Sunday morning when the number of entries came in and Kinsmen Kart Club and NCTA had not only lived up to the hype from the first race, but they raised the bar with raising the kart count from the opening round by nearly 30 entries and changed the attitude of the competitors by hosting a popular BBQ the night before. The feeling in the air Sunday morning was excitement; as the clear blue sky and sunshine combined with crowded pits brought back the feeling of the good old days of fierce competition and fun while competing for Bragging rights. If there is one Region in the country filled with more talent and side-by-side driving, Its Northern California!

First up on the track was Kid Karts and Zach Corbitt picked up where he left off at Blue Max and grabbed fast time in qualifying with a lap of 42.626. Corbitt would absorb some trouble in the heat race on lap two and Emmick Cobra's Stephen Daniel would get the win to start pole for the big race. Daniel would jump to the lead on the start of the final with Corbitt flanked on the last row. Corbitt got the start he needed to pick off the others early, and with a stellar drive on the first few laps Zach Corbitt grabbed the lead on the second lap. Corbitt walked away with it winning by 21.104 seconds. Daniel was second, Tomas Mejia third.

The 21 kart field of Jr Comer took to the track and Hunter Corbitt laid down a flying lap of 33.209 to grab fast time. The heat race had Cambrian Go Karts Danny Rubino flexing his muscles to grab the lead several times after being challenged by any one of the top seven karts in the lead pack. Two laps to go Davey Manthei Jr took the lead for good to start pole in the Main. Rubino went to the point on the start of the Final looking as if he was the man to beat. Halfway through the race Rubino and Cambrian Go karts Justin Yanez got together ending the race for an unhappy Yanez. Blaine Rocha coming from the eighth starting position to run down Rubino and take the lead. Rocha would power away to the win. Rubino would get set back behind Yanez moving up Tyler Burk and Joseph LaRosa to complete the top three.

Jr 2 Yamaha Super-pipe was on track and Luis Tyrrell took pole with a 31.157. Tyrrell looked tough early driving to a big lead but late in the heat JR Raczko's Kart came in as he ran down Luis to the finish on his rear bumper. Raczko would jump to the lead on the start of the final with Tyrrell lurking. Late in the race Tyrrell pulled the trigger for the winning pass on JR, however the two made contact sending Tyrrell seep into the infield and Raczko limping his kart to the finish with bent everything. Emmick Cobra's Harrison Mills got his first IKF win with Raczko second and Zach Maclean third.

In the 80 Shifter Divisions MMI's Chuck Hastings made the sweep in the Masters division for the win with Mat Kattanek second and John Espinor third, while Davey mead made his return to a Kart after a year long break. His rust showed with the a stall on the start of the heat sending him to the tail end of the field. Leading Edge's Jared Woolf took advantage of winning the final by a 4 second gap.

Sr Yamaha Superipe was up next and Emmick Cobra's Clayton Snow qualified fast time with a 31.416. Snow rolled to victory in the heat, however Leading Edge's Brett Felkins was on the move from the back due to a Technical DQ in qualifying. On the start of the Final Felkins went to the point with Snow in tow. As the race progressed Felkins began to gap Snow while things began to heat up further back. Felkins got the win with Snow in second, Fastech's Taylor Young got moved up to third after Leading Edge's Bryan Gallagher was removed from Post Race Tech.

The 21 Kart Field of HPV-1 was next to do battle and Cambrian Go kart's Danny Rubino grabbed fast time with a 32.404. Rubino looked to be the man to beat in the heat cruising to the win. On the start of the Final Rubino pulled out front to the lead only to relinquish it a few laps later to Tyler Burk. Burk pulled out to a lead and held it through the race for the win. Cambrian Go Kart's Justin Yanez pulled a pass on Rubino late to move into second leaving Rubino for third.

Tag Sr was on track and the premier Sr division laid down some quick laps. Leading Edge's Troy Diede qualified pole with a time of 29.804. Diede looked strong in the heat showing his power. On the start of the Final Neil Alberico jumped to the point to lead Diede around the Dixon. As the race progressed it was evident that Diede’s power plant gave him the advantage as Troy would pace Alberico lifting to half throttle down the straight. With about five laps to go Deide made his move making the pass down into turn one. Alberico would drive everything he had but didn’t have enough for Diede. Troy Diede earned his first IKF win! Alberico was second with Cambrian Go Kart's Brandon Eggert third.

The 125 Stock Moto Class continues to grow resulting in some of the best racing in the series. Leading Edge's Code Diede grabbed pole with a lap of 28.946. Adam Booker would jump to the lead on the start of the heat driving to an easy victory. On the start of the main Adam Booker again got the hole shot and ran to an easy five second victory. Cambrian Go Kart's Jamie Wilson came home second with Cambrian Go Kart's Jereme Abshire getting the third.

Last on the day was HPV-2 and Bordogna's Ian Fryer grabbed fast time with a quick lap of 30.805. Austin Elliott got the lead from off pole on the start. Elliott looked to be the man to beat on the day driving to a 2.5 second victory in the heat. On the start of the final it was Fryer with the hole shot with Elliott falling to second. Right away Leading Edge's Jarred Campbell looked to be strong as he made quick work of Fryer and went to the point. Campbell would pull to a one second lead and hold it til the checkered flew to get the win. Fryer was second with Elliot third.

The next stop for the IKF Region 11 Super Series is April 11th at the Stockton Motorplex for Round 3 of the six race series. The series has caught the eye of many out of state Racers and is expecting a big turnout from Drivers from Southern Ca as well as many from Oregon and Washington. For more Information on the Region 11 IKF Super Series visit the Official Series website www.NorcalKarters.com 

 

3-8-10 ProKart Challenge Nor Cal 2010 Championship Series Round 2 -- March 12-13 Jim Russell Int'l Karting Center/Infineon

Round 2 of the ProKart Challenge Nor Cal 6-event kart racing series will be held NEXT Saturday, Mar. 13th, at the Jim Russell Int'l Karting Center at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. A practice day will be held on Friday, Mar. 12th, from 9am to 5pm, with a complimentary BBQ dinner directly following. THIS RACE WILL BE A GREAT PRE-CURSOR TO THE PROTOUR SPRING NATIONALS NEXT MONTH! Complete details are available at our NEW WEBSITE www.superkartsusa.com, including an online store where you can pre-enter the event as well as purchase/renew your SKUSA membership, apply for your new racing license, purchase spec tires/fuel/oil, rent a transponder, order spectator pit passes, and more!

Event Entry: Pre-Entry Cut-off for this event is midnight this Wednesday, Mar. 10th. Enter before the cutoff and save $35 on your entry fees -- PLUS save yourself from standing in long lines at registration when you could be prepping your kart! Enter the event and purchase everything else you need thru the online shopping kart with a credit card or call 951-491-0808. You can also download, fill out and fax your entry/order to 951-491-0809, or mail it in with a check. NOTE: If you do not receive an email confirmation of your entry within 24 hours of submitting it, please call the PKC office: 951-491-0808.

PKC Classes to be run at this event, including our restructured Stock Honda program, are: S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, HVP-2 Jr, TaG Junior, TaG Senior, and TaG Master. Click here for the full 2010 class descriptions, and here for details on our new licensing program.

Other important Race Event Info:

Practice Day: Gates and Registration open on Friday, March 12th, at 7:00am. Fuel and tire desks will be open starting at 7:30am. Track is open from 9am - 5pm for OPEN practice ($60/driver -- No SKUSA membership required to practice). Friday night dinner: We are offering a complimentary BBQ dinner at the track directly following practice (for all who have paid for practice or a pit pass for the day). Bring your own drinks!

Race Day: Gates and Registration open on Saturday, March 13th at 6:30am, with tire and fuel desks open 7am - noon. Track is hot 8am 'til approx. 4:30pm, with podium awards and a raffle drawing immediately following the final tech inspection. Click here for a tentative event schedule. The final race day schedule will be given out at the track on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Track Configuration: The practice and race day for this event will be run in the National track layout.

Championship Points: This year's PKC Nor Cal championship is based on 6 races, including a North vs. South Shootout, with NO drops! Click here for the full season's schedule of dates and track locations, here for the PKC/SKUSA points system, and here for the current points standings after Round 1.

Rules: See the PKC/SKUSA rulebook, as well as rules specific to this event, on the website.

Air Boxes & Mufflers: Air boxes are required for all moto engines -- up to three (3) 29mm +- 1 mm tubes. All moto motors must also have a 14-inch RLV or M4 muffler.

SKUSA Membership: ProKart Challenge requires all racers to have a current SKUSA membership with their first race of the season. SKUSA also has new license levels that all drivers must register for. Purchase or renew your SKUSA membership thru the PKC online store, download and fax in your form, or sign up at the Registration desk on Friday or Saturday morning. Cost is $75/year, offers many great benefits, and is good for a full 12 months from date of purchase.

Race Numbers and Colored Number Panels: With your SKUSA membership, you will be assigned a race number (with a letter designating your region) that must appear on all 4 sides of your kart for all competition sessions -- for the season. PKC is also mandating specific number plate color combinations by class, starting with your first race of the season. Click here for more info. Call PKC at 951-491-0808 to reserve or check availability of your desired race number.

Overnight Camping & Trailer Parking: Is available at no charge, but will be available Friday night only, unless you have made special arrangements with the track (i.e., staying Saturday night for Sunday practice). Pit spots will be assigned by the Paddock Marshal. Some up front spots may be reserved for large teams, kart shops or sponsors by calling PKC at 951-491-0808 prior to Wednesday, March 10th.

Host Hotel: If you are in need of a hotel room for this event, PKC has again made room block and special pricing arrangements with the EconoLodge in Novato, just 11 minutes from the track. Call them today and mention ProKart Challenge for 10% off their already low room rates: 415-883-2406.

10-Day Weather Forecast: It's looking decent next weekend, but if that changes, don't forget about our Tough Guy Rain Bonus points -- it could make the difference in the championship! Click here for those details.

Live & Post-Race Event Coverage: Rob Howden from EKN will be on site for this event, announcing the live on-track action over the PA system. We will also be broadcasting the MyLaps Monitor AND micro-blogging the sessions as racers come off the track. After the event, a media release with this event's highlights will be distributed to the major karting publications, giving everyone the chance to become a local hero to their family and friends.

The next PKC So Cal race is at Grange Motor Circuit in Apple Valley on March 26-27. Details can be found here.

The Pro Tour SpringNationals will be April 16-18 at Infineon. The online shopping kart opens this Sunday, March 7th at Midnight! Click here for more details.

Feel free to call ProKart Challenge for more information, assistance with your entry, or to check your race number availability for your SKUSA membership: 951-491-0808. The website also has up-to-the-minute race event info and special rules that apply to this event only. See www.superkartsusa.com.

 

3-8-10 Second Round of Prokart Challenge North Returns to Sonoma

March event to set the stage for regional championships and upcoming Superkarts! USA Pro Tour event at Infineon Raceway

 Looking to build upon the momentum of the 2010 opener, the ProKart Challenge North returns this month for the second event of the season at the Jim Russell International Karting Center. Located on the grounds of Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA the Superkarts! USA Northern California regional series will attack the 7/10-mile national circuit on March 12-13. With the organizations debut of the new SKUSA Pro Tour just around the corner April 16-18 this regional event will see a host of national contenders from outside the area looking to educate themselves on the facility and the MG Tires utilized in all Superkarts! USA events.

Included in the cast of guests for the second round of the ProKart Challenge North program is veteran karting announcer Rob Howden. The owner/publisher of eKartingNews.com was the official voice of SKUSA during its ProMoto Tour days, and now with the debut of the new Pro Tour, Howden will be in California to warm-up his voice for the April weekend.

The opening round for the PKC North program was good, but we expect round two to be even better, stated ProKart Challenge promoter and Superkarts! USA CEO Tom Kutscher. With our first SKUSA Pro Tour event scheduled for this facility next month, we have a number of outside competitors looking to grab some extra seat time before the April 16-18 weekend. SoCal, Colorado and the Midwest they are all coming here and I couldnt be more excited.

While some will be focused on preparing for the SKUSA Pro Tour event, a number of drivers will continue on as they have put their names in the bid for the season championship. The new S1 division for the Pro Stock Moto drivers is certainly going to see a number of hot contenders throughout the year. Fritz Leesmann was the man in round one as he outran Tommy Thompson an S3 frontrunner last year, as well as Brett Buckwalter the defending TaG Senior champion. A number of others are expected to battle it out in round two.

Everyone in S2 will be gunning for Matt Alcorn, who swept the action back in February. Alcorn will see challenges in the championship from former S4 driver Jared Woolf, as well as from a host of others. The TaG Senior division was the largest at the season opener, with veteran Larry Fraser scoring the feature win to lead the early championship chase. Dylan Lupton was Frasers closest challenge, with David Harwin getting into the mix as well. Jeff Smith and Deven Sanchez were the only other drivers to score maximum points at round one like Alcorn by sweeping their respective class proceedings. Smith, the PKC South S4 defending champion, shined in his 2010 debut while Deven Sanchez was perfect in his ProKart Challenge North debut in the TaG Junior category.

Ethan Wilson has converted from the G1 category to TaG Masters with ease, as he led the division throughout the opener to score the feature win. Peter Workum and defending champion Jeff Deehan will look to battle back at round two. Kathryn Cornell made the most of the first round as she recorded her best weekend in the HPV-2 Junior category, scoring the feature win after showing the way for most of the day. The S3 and S5 divisions made their series debut with Chris Yettito and Daniel Langon scoring the feature wins in their respective classes, with entries projected to grow in both categories as the season progresses.

The second round of the six-race PKC North championship will begin on March 12 with a practice day, with the track hot from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. A complimentary BBQ dinner will be offered directly following the on-track action. Race pre-registrations are currently being accepted, with racers able to save $35 on their entry fee by submitting an entry prior to midnight on March 10. SKUSA memberships will be mandatory for the event, and the downloadable forms or online registration are available on the new www.superkartsusa.com website. No reserved pit spots are required for this event. Camping and overnight parking of trailers on site will be permitted, starting Friday night at no charge. The EconoLodge in Novato (415.883.2406) is offering special pricing on rooms when mentioning ProKart Challenge at booking.

A live scoring feed as well as blogging will be available Saturday during the racing action. For more information on the round two including the tentative race day schedule or anything related to SKUSA and the ProKart Challenge, visit www.superkartsusa.com or call the SKUSA head office at 951-491-0808.

3-5-10 Scribner MotorSports partners with Heritage Hotel Group 
Source: RaceMediaGroup.com

Loomis,Ca: Scribner MotorSports announced this week the partnership with heritage Hotel Group for the 2010 NASCAR Whelan All American Series Racing Season. Heritage Hotel Group is a Chain of Hotels offering both Luxury and Economical Hotels in California. The Heritage Chain expands from Southern California in San Diego up North as far as Chico with several Hotels located in Yuba City, Grass Valley, Roseville, and Bay Area surroundings and incorporates an impressive 22 Hotels.

With the Partnership of Scribner MotorSports, Heritage is looking to become more involved with the California Racing Scene and provide Hotel room accommodations for the Racers at a reasonable rate. "The Heritage Partnership with Scribner MotorSports is a special one that lends itself to providing a necessity to the MotorSports Industry. I feel we can promote Heritage Hotels on a High level within the Northern California region expanding their market and customer base throughout several types of Racing,” stated Chris Scribner. Chris will be competing in the Whelen All American Series this season in the NASCAR Late Model Division and several one-off races in other types of racing divisions. 

To show their support for the California Racing Scene, Heritage Hotel Group is extending a discounted Hotel room rate to all Racing Enthusiast of 25% off the standard Hotel Rate through the 2010 Season. The discounted rate can be utilized simply by contacting the desired Heritage Hotel and using the Promotional discount code of “SM51”. For more information on Heritage Hotel Group and Hotel locations please visit HeritageHotelGroup.com  

All American Speedway 2010 Racing Schedule:  

April 3^rd
April 10^th
April 24th 
May 1^st
May 8^th
May 22nd 
June 5^th
June 12^th
June 19th 
July 3^rd
July 10^th
July 17^th
July 24^th
July 31^st
August 14^th
August 28th 
September 4^th
September 11th 

Additional information on Scribner MotorSports and the 2010 season can be obtained from scribnermotorsports.com. The Team will contest the 2010 All American Speedway NASCAR Late Model 27 race series with Team Partners Heritage Hotel Group, Zamp Helmets, Scribner Plastics, Powertrain Technology, Impact Racing, MSD Ignition, Flowmaster, AD3 Graphics, RMG Race Media Group and KRC Power Steering.

3-5-10 Announcing the Redline Oil Karting Championship at Infineon Raceway’s Jim Russell International Karting Center

Featuring:

Rotax Max Challenge, 80 Shifters, IAME Parilla to roll off March 21

The Redline Oil Karting Championship at the Jim Russell International Karting Center is set to start the 2010 season March 21.  This season has several exciting changes that will make the kart racing at the premier Northern California track better than ever.

The first change is a change in the series promoter.  In a very recent development, Cameron Karting will be the Series promoter with the decision of Jim Russell Racing Driver Schools choosing to focus their expertise on the race car and karting school business.  Cameron Karting president Steve Cameron will bring his racing experience and enthusiasm for karting to the series.  “This is an exciting opportunity, we hope to grow from the strength of the 2009 season which was based around the Rotax classes, 80 Shifters. Adding the IAME Parilla class will give local club racers another great venue.”  The series name and promoter may be new, but most of the 2009 season will return.  Ric Shaw will be returning for his 9^th year of coordinating and race directing the series. 

The second big change is the series will be sponsored by Redline Oil for 2010.  This will mean that the oil for the series will now be exclusively Redline Oil Two-Cycle Kart Oil for all classes including the Rotax classes.  Regional Rotax series do have the option to change to a different oil.  “Redline has stepped up with a substantial support package that will benefit the competitors, it is great to have them on board”, says Steve Cameron. www.redlineoil.com

One other big change will be moving the series to a Sunday race day schedule.  “We will be able to expand the classes and track time for all the racers by making the move to Sunday” says race director Ric Shaw.  The Saturday prior to the race day will be a full day at the Infineon track with the Jim Russell Arrive and Drive program in the morning and a 4-hour practice session available to all karters in the afternoon.  The racers will no longer have to take time off work or take the kids out of school to run the Friday practice days of the past.

For 2010, the series will have 8 races at Infineon’s Jim Russell International Karting Center.  For the 80 Shifters and IAME TaG classes, the series championship will be a best 7 of the 8 races.  For the Rotax classes, 8 of the 10 planned races of the Northern California Rotax Challenge Series will be at Infineon with 2 races to run at the Dixon kart track.  For the Rotax Challenge series, the championship will be determined on the best 8 of the 10 races.

The class line up should bring some exciting racing to the Jim Russell Internal Karting Center track.

The complete line up of National Rotax classes will run again in 2010.  Micro Max and Mini Max classes for the Junior 1 driver, Junior Rotax, Senior Rotax, Rotax Masters and the 2 speed Rotax DD2 class.  In addition, the regional Rotax Masters Light class will run again in 2010.  Marin Karting and Cameron Karting will partner in the administration of the Northern California Rotax Challenge Series, one of the largest regional Rotax series in the country.

Three 80 shifters classes will run this year with a special focus in 2010 to build the 80 Shifter numbers back to the Infineon track.  Formula 80, 80 Masters and 80 Heavy will give enough classes for all 80 driver situations.  The rules and tires will follow those used throughout Norcal.  At the beginning of the year, all three classes will run together in the same race group, but if the numbers get to large, splitting the race group up will be considered.

The new class for 2010 will be IAME Parilla.  The class will allow both Norcal modified 08 spec engines as will as Stock prepared 08 and 09 engines.  Significant prize support from Italian Motors USA will be announced shortly.  “The focus on the rules for this class will be to try and help keep the costs down for the club racers and allow close competition, we will institute a spec gear/weight rule to help achieve this”, says Steve Cameron.

The season starts March 21, so get your kart ready to roll!!   For more additional information, contact Race Director Ric Shaw at racedirector-ric@hotmail.com or go to www.NorCalRotax.com

2010 Race Dates
March 21 – Infineon Raceway
April 11 – Infineon Raceway
May 23 – Infineon Raceway
June 27 – Infineon Raceway
July 25 – Infineon Raceway
August 22 – Dixon Track (Rotax Classes)
August 29 – Infineon Raceway
September 19 – Dixon Track (Rotax Classes)
September 26 – Infineon Raceway
October 24 – Infineon Raceway

3-5-10 Cameron Karting and Marin Karting form the only full service kart shop in Bay Area

It is with great excitement that two of the longest standing Bay Area kart shops, Cameron Karting and Marin Karting have merged to offer Northern California karters a complete, full service kart shop. The new entity will operate under the Cameron Karting name at their current trackside location at Infineon Raceway. Combined, the new Cameron Karting will comprehensive services including:

kart sales: Italkart and CRG Dealers
kart part sales
engine sales: Rotax, IAME, Honda, TM
trackside kart storage
authorized service and repair for all types of motors including Rotax, TaG and Moto
kart service for all makes and models
trackside support
driver coaching
kart scaling
and much, much more...

With 40 years of combined racing and motor building experience, two of Northern California's most knowledgeable karting experts, Brett Buckwalter and Kris Shaw will combine forces to provide customers with premiere motor work, driver coaching and racing knowledge. Buckwalter is currently racing in the ProKart Challenge (PKC) North S1 Moto class and was the 2009 PKC Tag Pro Champion. He is also a former national champion in 80cc shifter,125cc shifter and TaG. Shaw is a former SKUSA Pro Moto Tour national champion and has recently raced Rotax at the highest level, the 2007 Rotax Grand Final held in Dubai.

The Northern California Rotax Challenge previously administered by Marin Karting will also be folded into the merger. The first of a ten race season opens at the Jim Russell International Karting Center (JRIKC) at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, March 21st. Additional information about the series will be released shortly.

"I am very pleased Marin Karting and Cameron Karting are merging. Both businesses have been looking for ways to offer a wider range of services." commented Adrian Szwarcburg, owner of Marin Karting. "The combined businesses, along with the ideal trackside location will provide the best customer experience possible, a one-stop shop."

"I am extremely excited about this merger. Without a doubt, having both Brett and Kris here at the shop we can offer kart racers the most experienced team of chassis tuners, engine builders and driver coaches in the industry." added Steve Cameron. "We can now also offer our customers the highest quality lineup of chassis and engines available with Italkart, CRG, Rotax, IAME, Honda and TM."

About Cameron Karting: Established in 1994 at Infineon Raceway, Cameron Karting is one of the longest standing kart shops in Northern California. Principle Steve Cameron has a long history in both kart racing and car racing as a driver, driver coach and team owner. His accomplishments include multiple Daytona 24hr race wins, Atlantic Championships and other professional race series. Co-owner Brett Buckwalter is an accomplished kart champion and has won multiple regional and national races including a IKF national championship. He is a SKUSA SuperNationals winner, two time STARS of Karting winner in ICC and TaG, and recently the 2009 Tag Pro champion in the ProKart Challenge North series. Engine builder and chassis tuner, Brett has numerous professional and National kart titles to his name. For more information, visit: http://www.cameronkarting.com/

About Marin Karting: Established in 2002, Marin Karting sells kart chassis, engines, parts, apparel and accessories and offers service for all types of kart motors and chassis. Marin Karting is the sole authorized CRG dealer in Northern California and the oldest Rotax Dealer and Service Center in Northern California. For more information, visit: http://www.marinkarting.com

About the Northern California Rotax Challenge: Established in 2004, the NCRC is one of the largest regional Rotax Challenge series in the United States. Each race season consists of ten races; eight races at the JRIKC at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA and two races at the Kinsmen Kart Club in Dixon, CA. NCRC racers have consistently qualified to race at the Rotax Grand Final, held in a different location around the world each year. For more information, visit: http://norcalrotax.com

 

3-5-10 Superkarts USA Expands National Program to cadet level

New TaG Mini ROK Cadet class added to class structure for Pro Tour and SuperNationals

Hot on the heels of the confirmation of the 2010 Superkarts! USA Pro Tour schedule, the organization is now focusing its attention on the opening round of the series the inaugural SpringNationals which will kick things off on the April 16-18 weekend at the Jim Russell International Karting Center in Sonoma, CA. The newest piece of the puzzle has now been confirmed as SKUSA officials are excited to announce the expansion of their class structure, with the positioning of a new TaG Mini ROK class for drivers between the ages of 9-12. This class will be run as part of the Pro Tour this season, thanks to a support program that has been put together by SKUSA and Vortex, the engines manufacturer. This effort will be backed by a fleet of complimentary engines for the first two rounds of the series, motor packages offered for overall weekend race winners and a supported trip to the ROK World Cup for the Pro Tour champion.

The new announcement of the TaG Mini ROK program is big for SKUSA and comes following an extensive research effort by the organizations technical team, which saw the crew test several different powerplants over a period of several months. In an effort to open the door to all karters, SKUSA went on a search for the correct racing package for the Cadet-aged drivers, eventually deciding on the 60cc Mini ROK which will be debuted on the national level in 2010 with its inclusion in the Pro Tour and the SuperNationals. It will also be available as a local option with SKUSAs regional programs, should the support warrant a class on the schedule. In 2011, the TaG Mini ROK will be introduced as an official Superkarts! USA category, both nationally and regionally. This engine has been in production for seven years and has a very tight spec, aggressively limiting the work that can be done. The specs will also be locked in for at least three years. Full information on the motor can be found here:

http://www.vortex-rok.com/uk/motori/mini_rok.asp

SKUSA has put together a program with Vortex to get the engine into the hands of interested drivers, with 10 units available for complimentary usage during the first two rounds of the Pro Tour (SpringNationals in Sonoma, CA and SummerNationals in Shawano, WI). The engine retails for $2300 USD, and SKUSA will be mandating a $3000 claim rule to keep the costs in check. In addition, the overall winner of each of the first two weekends will be awarded a brand new engine for their efforts.

Lastly, and possibly most exciting, is the confirmation that the Pro Tour champion in the TaG Mini ROK class will be given a supported trip to the 2011 ROK Cup International Final. This package includes the event entry fee, a complete and new (OTK) chassis with engine to use for the race, tires for the race, one set of practice tires, fuel and hotel stay for the driver (four nights). This driver will be representing SKUSA on the world stage.

This new program finally allows us to provide a platform for the youngest drivers in the sport, allowing them to become part of the SKUSA family from the get-go, Kutscher explained. In the past, weve had racers parents tell us that they wanted to come race with us after hearing good things from one of our drivers, but they had to wait until their kids were 12 years old because of our limited class structure. We believe that the Mini ROK program is perfect for us, as its a super package, reliable and inexpensive to race. This was certainly one of our primary concerns when selecting a new platform for the youngest SKUSA members. Im also thrilled that well be able to work more closely with Vortex and the importers, which will head up the rollout of this new program.

We are very happy and excited that SKUSA will use our engine for the young drivers in their prestigious race events. This is a nice addition to our Mini ROK program globally, said Mr. Corona, president of Vortex factory.

This injection of additional manufacturer support is important to SKUSA, providing a playing field in the Junior ranks for Vortex to develop a working relationship with the organization, just as IAME has with the Leopard-only TaG Junior class. SKUSA remains focused on keeping the TaG Senior and TaG Master classes open to multiple engine manufacturers, ensuring the ability to support a wider spectrum of manufacturers and area racing shops.

The SKUSA Pro Tour begins on the April 16-18 weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. The Spring and Summer events will each feature a three-day format with practice on Friday and complete race days on Saturday and Sunday with qualifying, heat races and a main. Any companies interested in the event or class sponsorship opportunities are asked to contact the SKUSA head office at 951-491-0808.
 

3-5-10 Fraser Continues podium Streak for Team Aluminos in Wet Conditions

Aluminos squad finds success at Willow Springs despite battling challenging weather conditions

Another successful weekend went into the books for Team Aluminos following the second round of the ProKart Challenge South program. Challenging weather conditions put the Aluminos squad to the test at the Willow Springs Raceway kart track in Rosamond. Following solid testing sessions in the previous weekend, the result saw five drivers in an Aluminos entry battle for victory three categories.

Scoring the best result for the squad was veteran Larry Fraser who came away from the wet and rainy weekend with a runner-up finish in TaG Senior. Fraser started out the day second in qualifying in what would be the wettest conditions of the day. Once the green flag waved on the race action, Fraser led seven of eight laps in the first heat race to take the win by a tight 0.123-margin. Heat two looked to be a repeat of the first until a lap two spin sent him off-track. Falling down the order, Fraser was able to climb back and finish fourth, setting the fastest laps of the race. A great opening circuit of the 20-lap feature race put Fraser to the point quickly and engaged in a strong battle with two competitors for the lead. Never having a chance to break away, Fraser fought hard throughout the main event to take the checkered flag in the second position.

The S4 category has become Team Aluminos' staple for success as drivers have come on-board with their Arrive and Driver program and achieved numerous personal goals. The three on hand at Willow Springs continued to climb their own personal ladders with stellar performances. Phil Dunford led the way as he narrowly missed topping the qualifying charts by less than a tenth of second, qualifying off-pole to the three-time SKUSA SuperNationals S4 winner. Dunford led in both heat races, eventually finishing second in both. In the feature, Dunford encountered a shifter lever issue, but overcame the nuisance to bring home a solid fourth place after losing a couple positions in the opening laps. Overall, it shows signals that the senior Dunford will be a consistent threat for the front of the S4 field throughout the 2010 season.

Also making his presence felt at the front was Arizonas Peter Workum. Qualifying fifth, Workum grabbed the hole shot at the start of the first heat, leading his first laps of the season in the S4 category. He eventually finished third in heat one and fourth in the second heat en route to a smart and well driven fifth place final result moving him up the championship standings. For Workum, it was a chance to improve on his wet racing skills in his first rain race in a shifter kart under the guidance of the experienced Aluminos staff. The same could be said for Jonathan Allen, who continues to gain vital experience and knowledge under the Aluminos tent. Though he retired early in the feature, Allen - also new to rain racing - continued to make strides throughout the day and showed excellent improvement in speed during Friday's dry practice sessions.

It's great when we leave a race weekend with our drivers happy with their performance, stated Aluminos team manager Rob Soares. Each driver has a different set of goals with myself, engine specialist George Tavares and all the driver coaches working hard to help them achieve that, whether its a win or just performing better than the previous weekend. We had a number of drivers come test with us last weekend here at Willow. Some were not able to compete this weekend, but those who did race were able to vastly improve from their testing pace a week ago.

The pre-race testing with the Aluminos squad was accepted well for S1 driver Brad Dunford as the extra laps prior to the PKC event at Willow helped the young driver adapt to the challenging circuit. Dunford started out the event third in qualifying. Following opening lap shuffling in the first heat, Dunford led early and battled for the lead until the checkered, settling for second and setting the races fastest lap. It was all Dunford in heat two as he went flag-to-flag for the heat win to start on the pole for the 20-lap feature race, again carding the fast lap honors. Showing the way early on, Dunford was relegated to fourth following lap five. As the race went on and tires going away, Dunford drove hard but was unable to make up the lost ground to the leaders, settling for fourth and keeping close in the points chase.

On the docket for Team Aluminos will be the second round of the ProKart Challenge North at the Infineon Karting Center in Sonoma, California on March 12-13. There is little rest for the busy squad as round three of the South series rolls into the Grange Motor Circuit March 26-27. Following those two events is will be a trip back home for the first round of the SKUSA Pro Moto Tour at the Infineon Karting Center April 16-18.

 

3-4-10 Raquel Martinez Gatorz CalSpeed Report

“California native scores podium at home race”

Just one week after watching her favorite NASCAR drivers Raquel Martinez returned to California Speedway for the second round of the Gatorz Challenge of Americas. For round two Raquel made the switch to P1 engines, which is who she uses for all of her racing programs.

After a solid day of practice the skies opened up Friday night and would not let up the entire day Saturday. Raquel qualified in the 9th position, but was not able to start the prefinal due to a faulty fuel pump. Because of the weather the officials decided to hold race number three of the series bright and early Sunday morning. Starting 22nd on a very slick track Raquel muscled her way through the field aboard her Top Kart Flash passing for 3rd place on the final lap. The remainder of the day did not go as well with the team struggling to solve what they thought was a carb issue, but turned out to be a bad battery. Raquel ended the day 13th in the second final.

“This was an up and down weekend for us, but we know where we need to improve and we will work on these things before the final round at Infineon,” commented Martinez. “Infineon is a track I really enjoy racing at and a place our karts perform well at.”

Raquel would like to thank her sponsors: King Taco, Pepsi, Grand Products, Top Kart, P1 Engines, Alpinestars, Troy Lee Designs, PKS Kart Supplies, MLP Imaging, and Graphix Plus.
 

3-3-10 Rocky Mountain Kartworks Gears For Successful 2010 Season

GP Kart importer expands brand across the country for assault on victories and championships

The 2010 season is gearing up to be a successful year for Rocky Mountain Kartworks (RMKW) and the GP Kart chassis. A full slate of events as been scheduled across the country for the importer of the Italian chassis, and in cooperation with a solid group of dealers, they will be putting the GP Kart on a number of tracks in search of victories and championships. With the winter months nearly complete, RMKW is preparing for a busy year of racing.

The 2010 season is looking to be a solid year for Rocky Mountain Kartworks and GP Karts, stated owner AJ Noud. Since becoming the sole United States importer for the brand, we have carefully outlined our business model and now are looking to expand further. The collaboration of new dealers that we have signed on and the longtime supporters of the GP brand will only help build the presence throughout the country. We excited to hit the track for our official 2010 debut in the next few weeks.

Rocky Mountain Kartworks squad, which is based in Colorado, will campaign the new Superkarts! USA Pro Tour along with their state program the SKUSA Mountain Region Challenge. The new SKUSA Pro Tour will be a collaboration of the RMKW operation and its many GP Kart dealers, providing a number of Arrive-and-Drive opportunities for all divisions offered. The Tour will take the GP Kart pilots to the Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway in Northern California for April and then the USA International Raceway in Shawano, Wisconsin during the month of July. Wrapping up the SKUSA Pro Tour will be the 14th annual SuperNationals in Las Vegas, where plenty of GP Karts will be battle for victories.

Rocky Mountain Kartworks will also aim to be the backbone of the GP Kart support program for the new SKUSA Mountain Region Challenge, based in Colorado, for the four weekend schedule. Providing a number of Arrive-and-Drive opportunities, the RMKW tent is sure to be full and loaded with some of the best talent in the Mountain Region. In addition, Rocky Mountain Kartworks will return to the Rock Island Grand Prix over the Labor Day weekend along the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities area for that popular event. In preparation for the SKUSA Pro Tour events, RMKW will be attending the March event of the ProKart Challenge North in Sonoma and the Central States Challenge in Wisconsin in July.

There are a number of dealers under the GP Kart banner for 2010, all set to tackle kart tracks across the country. Crockett Motorsports and Corrida Karting, newly developed shops in the St. Louis and Wisconsin areas, will provide trackside service for those competing in the SKUSA Central States Challenge. Kart Speed Motorsports - a newly relabeled operation out of Northern California - along with the S.T.A. (Shawn Thomas Automotive) Racing program will be the GP Kart foundation for the northern part of California, including the ProKart Challenge North series. In Southern California, Extreme Karting carries the GP Kart banner, focusing on competition in the ProKart Challenge South program. Handling GP Kart customers along the East Coast will be CF Motorsports, a shop with a great following at sprint and road racing events. Also flying GP Kart colors is Evolution Karting in Indianapolis, one of the longest running supporters of the GP marque.

We are thrilled with the dealer lineup that we have assembled thus far, continued Noud. Each has a solid base of customers and loves working with the GP Kart brand. Our goal is to expand even further with our dealership program to extend the models to areas of the country not yet familiar with the craftsmanship and quality product GP Kart produces.

Rocky Mountain Kartworks will make their 2010 debut at the ProKart Challenge North event on March 12-13 at the Jim Russell karting circuit at Infineon Raceway in Northern California. The event will be a warm-up for the opening round of the SKUSA Pro Tour in April.

 

3-3-10 Geibler and Schoombee Rebound to Lead Action at Second Round of Prokart Challenge South

Rainy weather conditions keep drivers and teams on edge at Willow Springs

Rain was the word of the weekend for the second round of the ProKart Challenge South held at the Willow Springs International Motorsports Park kart track in Rosamond, California. The Superkarts! USA regional program fought through off and on wet conditions on the 6/10-mile course, which kept the drivers and teams busy trying to battle the weather situation as well as the tough fields that make up the PKC following. With the event declared a rain race at the beginning of the day, all competitors were awarded a 100-point bonus.

In the headline S1 category, Tommy Thompson led the way in the timed qualifying session to start off the day with his 50.821-lap quickest of the group. Jimmy McNeil qualified second, ahead of round one contenders Brad Dunford and Clinton Schoombee. With the changing weather conditions, Schoombee was unfortunately left on pit lane for the first heat race, trying to change over tires before the start. Then, Thompson was unable to secure the lead through the opening laps of the first heat as he fell off the pace. The result put Dunford at the point until McNeil was able to knife his way to the win. The second heat however was all Dunford, as he held off Thompson first and then McNeil. In the 20-lap feature, it became a four kart battle as Schoombee was able to keep pace with the top three. Dunford led early before McNeil assumed the position and showed the way for most of the race with Thompson and Schoombee pushing Dunford back to fourth. In the closing stages of the race, Schoombee made his move forward. With three to go, he would overtake Thompson for the second spot and began hounding McNeil for the lead. On the final lap, Schoombee secured the lead as he edged out McNeil for the win by 0.123 seconds. Thompson settled for the final podium spot in third, as Dunford lost ground in the final laps.

The talent pool in the TaG Senior category is like no other and round two at PKC South was no exception as former Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Phil Giebler beat out a stout field at Willow Springs. Lloyd Mack was the early favorite following qualifying with his 51.745 to put him at the top of the charts over PKC North round one winner Larry Fraser, Kyle Shriver, and Giebler. After Mack was pushed back to sixth following some racing contact, Fraser won the opening heat race, leading seven of the eight laps, while Shriver matched that feat in the second heat. Veterans Fraser and Giebler shuffled Shriver back in the opening lap of the feature to show the way early on. As Fraser led the first four laps, Giebler took over the position. Fraser fell to third, with Shriver able to slide by for the second spot and the two began battling for the position, allowing Giebler to pull away. Unchallenged at the end, Giebler scored the victory by nearly three-seconds. Fraser took second, with Shriver rounding out the podium as well as being credited with the fastest lap of the race.

S4 continues to show a great following after the first two rounds, with 16 drivers in the group, including the S4 Magnum category. Though he was denied in round one, three-time SKUSA SuperNationals winner Jeff Littrell could not be stopped in Willow Springs, as he swept the days action. Qualifying was a close one, as Littrells 52.660-lap was just 0.086s quicker than Phil Dunford. At the drop of the green in the first heat, it was Peter Workum that would get a jump on both Littrell and Dunford, before Littrell would take back the lead and keep it thru the rest of that session. In the second heat, Dunford got the edge and led for the first few laps, before Littrell would again take over the point en route to the win. The feature, however, was all Littrell as he went wire-to-wire to score the victory by over two-seconds. Willy Musgrave and Wayne Mello were able to work by Dunford in the early stages of the 20-lap main and held on to the end to complete the podium. Much like round one, Robert Morales paced the S4 Magnum category for much of the day only to be denied at the end, with defending class champion Luke Bianco able to steal the feature victory in a tight race to the checkered with Marc Lewis a close third.

In S2, Bryce Miller was on his game early on, posting the fast lap in qualifying for the category 50.825 which put him second overall as they ran with S1. Miller was able to get a clean start in the first heat race, going on to lead all eight laps for the win in class and outdrove the S1 field to score the overall win. Come the second heat, Vivek Tandon made the right changes in the paddock to put down the fast laps of the race for the division and score the win over Miller. Tandon continued the pace into the feature, while Miller retired early due to a mechanical issue. Round one winner Billy Musgrave was the early challenger until Ryon Beachner was able to take over the second spot. Beachner then took the lead from Tandon on lap 13 and from there went unchallenged to the victory. Tandon held on to second, with Corey Neveau scoring the third spot on the podium in his S2 debut.

Round two was Roy Montgomerys event, as the G1 driver nearly completed the sweep en route to his first victory of the season. After topping the charts in qualifying with his 50.363-lap, Montgomery led all the laps of the first heat and nearly all eight laps of the second heat before Robert Marks slid by on the final lap for the win. Montgomery would strike back, taking over the lead from Marks on lap two of the feature and never looked back to an astonishing 19-second margin of victory over four-time series champion PP Mastro and Troy Butts, as Marks fell off the pace to finish fourth.

Jason Attwood and Matias Podboj scored their first victories of 2010 in the new S3 and S5 categories. Attwood swept the action on the day, leading all but three of the 36 laps of competition to score both heat wins and the feature. Adding in the fast lap of the main, Attwood earned maximum points on the day. Tristen Orear and Steve Berg rounded out the S3 podium. On track at the same time, Podboj paced the S5 field for the day to win both heats and the feature, but was challenged in the late goings by Scott Phillips, who posted the fast lap of the feature. Micah Hendricks earned his first podium of the year finishing third.

In other TaG competition, Ron Rossetti earned maximum points in TaG Masters as did Chris Cricca in TaG Junior. Rossetti outran Allan Svela and Kim Ryan on the day, while Cricca ran uncontested.

The next PKC South race is set for March 26-27 at the Grange Motor Circuit in Apple Valley, California. First up for the SKUSA staff will be a return to the Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway for round two of the ProKart Challenge North program on March 12-13, the last PKC event at that Sonoma, California facility before the opening round of the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour set for April 16-18.

 

3-2-10 Gatorz Challenge of the Americas crams two days of racing into one long Sunday
Photos by Go Racing

It would end up being a very long day for the drivers of the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas on Sunday at the Calspeed Karting Center in Fontana, Calif. Owing to several circumstances outside of the control of the series, five of the six mains from Saturday were rescheduled to Sunday morning. Owing to flooding of the Long Beach section of the Calspeed track, all of the round three races were run on a shortened modified course, while the round four race used the full Grande Counter Clockwise track.

Round 3
Rotax Senior
In heavy rain, Garrison Masters led Justin Coplen at the start of the race, but it was Phil Gelinos taking the lead with a move up the inside of the hairpin. Coplen, however, didn’t take long to work past Gelinos to take the lead and began building an advantage. Gelinos held off Masters and Menezes for a while, until Masters passed Gelinos and Menezes crashed at the end of the backstraightaway, putting him out. Coplen had a small advantage over Masters that was negated as soon as the two karts hit lapped traffic. Masters, however, was unable to do anything with Coplen in traffic, and once he cleared it, Coplen streaked off into the distance to take the win, with Masters second and Bobby Kelley finishing third after charging through the field.

Rotax Masters
With a wet track that was rapidly drying, the Rotax Masters drivers hit the track with several on slicks and several on rain tires. Jim Busby, Jr., on slicks, led from the start with Paul Bonilla and Scott Falcone right behind. Bonilla and Falcone were able to get away from Busby in the early going and lead the race, but as the track dried out Busby was able to easily catch and pass the two and simply left them behind. Behind them, Bonilla and Falcone were caught by Andre Ericksen and Mike Daniel, and the four put on an entertaining battle for the two podium spots. Daniel earned the unofficial Pass of the Race award when he passed Bonilla and Falcone in one move to take third, but at the end Busby won with Bonilla second and Ericksen in third.

DD-2
This race would need two starts to get going, as Glen Poy-Wing had a solo incident on the first lap that required him to be tended to by the ambulance. On the restart, Erik Jackson jumped out to a lead but Troy Castaneda needed only a couple of laps to catch Jackson and make a pass for the lead into turn six. Jackson would answer a lap later and the two battled throughout the race, swapping the lead several times until the final lap. Jackson and Castaneda battled up the hill into turn nine, and Jackson got underneath Castaneda allowing Matt Ostiguy to slide into second place. Castaneda countered, and as Jackson crossed the finish line in first, Castaneda made contact with Ostiguy as he tried to take back second place, sending both karts spinning past the finish line.

Junior Rotax
Louie Pagano led the field out of the first corner, with Nicholas Silva and Marcus Brodie giving chase. Pagano began to pull away from the field right away, while there was quite a bit of carnage behind as Silva spun out of second, Austin King was eliminated after he spun and was hit by another kart, and McKean’s race was over after he hit the turn nine barriers. While all this was going on, Daniel Burkett was working his way forward, up to second from his eighth starting position while Raquel Martinez, who started at the back of the field, was charging through the field. Second through tenth was running together, trading positions nearly every lap, but Martinez caught the group and made her way forward. On the final lap, she worked past third-placed Brodie and held it to the checkered. Pagano won his third-straight Challenge of the Americas race, with Burkett second and Martinez third.

Minimax
Parker Thompson led the Minimax race from the start, and instantly began pulling out a large gap from the field behind. Michael Womack, Davey Manthai, Jr., Royal McKee, Blaine Rocha, Alec Bergstrom and Adam Iavelli drove in a train, trading positions two through seven all the way until the final lap. By that point, Thompson was far in front and Womack was in second with a comfortable gap over Bergstrom in third with May right behind. May and Bergstrom made contact on the final lap in the hairpin, with May through into third place. Thompson won his second race of the year, with Womack second and May third.

Micromax
Nicky Hays dominated the main, leading flag to flag with Connor Robustelli finishing second with Annie Breidinger pushing him for third.

Round 4
Rotax Senior
Stepanova Nakeel led the final with Round Three winner Justin Coplen, Mason Marotta, and Steven Barros giving chase. Coplen immediately tried a move on Nakeel that didn’t work, and he lost two spots, allowing Marotta the chance to pressure Nakeel for the lead. Marotta couldn’t keep it up, however, and Nakeel began to pull ahead while Neil Alberico, Phil Gelinos, and Ben Schermerhorn caught the group battling for the podium spots. Alberico moved through the group, up to second, while Schermerhorn was doing the same thing. He made his way up to fourth, right behind Marotta, when Marotta slowed and pulled off the track with a mechanical problem. On the final lap, Barros passed Schermerhorn for third place, while Gelinos muscled past Schermerhorn in turn nine for fourth. Way out in front, however, Nakeel took the win ahead of Alberico and Barros.

Rotax Masters
Round three winner Jim Busby, Jr. led from the green flag with Mike Daniel and Ken Maxfield behind. It didn’t take long for things to get interesting, as Paul Bonilla, Scott Falcone, Andre Ericksen and Ron Rosetti got together in turn nine. Falcone and Rosetti fell well back behind the field as a result. At the front it was the same story all over again, as Busby simply began to drive away from the battle for second between Daniel and Maxfield. Hayashigawa and Bonilla ran fourth and fifth, while Jarrod Bradley held off Jon Kimbrell for sixth. In the end, much like he did earlier in the day, Busby took a dominating win and Daniel held off Maxfield for second and third.

DD-2
Jackson led the field out of turn one with an outside move on polesitter Troy Castaneda. It didn’t take long, however, for Castaneda to battle back with a pass into turn one on the next lap. Jackson fought back but Castaneda shut the door, and immediately began to pull away. Jackson would fall back into the clutches of Matt Ostiguy, but Ostiguy was unable to find a way past. Behind them, Tim Otto and Noel Dowler battled throughout the race for fourth place. In the top three, however, the order would stay the same until the end, with Castaneda winning, Jackson second, and Ostiguy third.

Junior Rotax
The first attempt at a start didn’t work, as a large crash taking out half the field led to a red flag and a full restart. On that restart, polesitter Luis Tyrrell jumped out to a huge lead while off-pole starter Louie Pagano went backwards to fifth, with Austin King jumping up to second and Jeremy Kane moving to third. Kane made an immediate move for second and began to draw away from King as Spaulding and Pagano began to put pressure on King. Pagano passed Spaulding, then King, then began to work on the large gap that Jeremy Kane had built over third. At this point, Tyrrell had a massive lead and was beginning to work lapped traffic. Four laps from the end, Pagano made the pass on Kane for second place, but he would have no opportunity to catch Tyrrell. Tyrrell won his first Gatorz Challenge of the Americas race in domination fashion, with Pagano’s win streak broken by finishing second, and Kane in third.

Minimax
A large melee in turn one of the final shuffled the order at the front of the field, with round three winner Thompson leading Blaine Rocha, Zane Smith, Michael Womack and Davey Manthai, Jr. Rocha, however, didn’t let Thompson get away and took the lead with a pass in turn six. A lap later, Womack did the same move on Thompson to move him to third. The two drivers continued to trade positions, allowing Rocha to pull away and race unchallenged to the checkered flag. On the final lap, with Thompson in second, Womack attempted a pass in the hairpin and the two karts came together. Womack fell way back, Thompson could not get his kart going, and Smith inherited second place with Manthai, Jr. inheriting third.

Micromax
Polesitter Nicky Hays spun and contacted the barriers at the start of the race, allowing Connor Robustelli to take the lead with Annie Breidinger in second and Toni Breidinger in third. Robustelli held the lead until the final lap, when he spun exiting turn nine, allowing Annie Breidinger to pass his kart and take the win. Robustelli finished second, with Toni Breidinger in third.

 

3-2-10 Kartel continues Dominant Start to Season

Kartel Motorsports continued its domination of the Cadet and Jr. classes with Magnum power at the Fontana Gatorz Challenge race.  Kartel entered drivers in four classes and won two out of four in Sunday’s finals. 

Luis Tyrrell won Junior Max going away with fast time of the race and a straightaway lead.  Blaine Rocha won Mini Max for his second win of the Gatorz season with Davey Manthei in 3^rd.  Connor Robustelli was winning Micro Max by nearly ¾ of a lap when he thought he saw the checkered flag.  In fact, it was just a second white flag; he was only passed while completing celebratory donuts!  It was a shame, but he was winning by almost a lap and that’s impressive.  Neil Alberico also turned in a stellar run from the rear of the field after an incident in the pre-final.  Showing his veteran karting skills he moved through the field methodically and quickly to secure a 2^nd place finish; that’s two first places and two-second place finishes for team Kartel.  This all comes only two weeks after the Nor-Cal Super Series race at Davis where Kartel pilots won six classes. 

While the Wild Kart chassis are working well, they are being powered to the front by Magnum Racing Engines.  Magnum engines are built and developed by Buck Sorensen who works closely with Erik, Les and Joey to give Magnum customers the best power and opportunity to win.  In three events to start the season, Kartel has entered 15 classes with their Wild Kart pilots powered by Magnum and have won nine, had seven pole positions, two podium sweeps and that makes for 13 top 2’s; that is domination! 

Kartel and Magnum Racing Engines are always testing and developing to make their packages stronger.  The team is always looking to bring new winners into the program, so feel free to call or see the boys at Kartel to see what they can do for you.  To get extra assistance please call Erik on his cell phone after hours at 916-217-2181.  He is most helpful after 8pm any day. 

3-2-10 IKF Region 7 Banquet
Story & Photos by Go Racing

 

This past weekend the 2009 IKF Region 7 Championship Series presented by Bridgestone officially closed out their season at Dave and Busters with their annual awards banquet. The banquet was timed perfectly to coincide with NASCAR weekend a few blocks away at California Speedway. Many racers were already in town for the race and the city was buzzing with NASCAR fever. Dave and Busters was a great venue with some of the best banquet food we’ve had, and who can argue with kids and their love of video games. Class champion’s awards were fabulous cups, and the Grand Champions (combined points from Saturday and Sunday’s classes) earned commemorative Plates. Master of Ceremonies was none other than series announcer Dave Williams. Highlights of the event included: driver interviews with Dave Williams, trophies, games, food, drink, and Mr. yes I said Mr. Mankin dressed up as Willy Wonka doing his version of the movie in about two minutes, including some singing.

2009 i.k.f. region 7 GRAND CHAMPIONS
 

kid kart
jerett tachovsky

hpv-1
brenden baker

hpv-2
tyler palmer

hpv-4
devin Lindsey

jr. supersportsman
tyler palmer

tag
bobby Kelley

Tag masters
steve wiener

2009 IKF Region 7 CLASS CHAMPIONS
 

Jr. supersportsman Mike manning karting
1st   tyler palmer

HPV-4 Horstman manufacturing
1st   devin lindsey

Kid Kart Fleming Racing Engines
1st   jerett tachovsky

rookie sportsman T.N.R. Kartsports
1st   Riley reyes

sr. PRD PRD USA
1st   bobby kelley

jr. super sportsman burris racing
1st   tyler palmer

hpv-4 Douglas wheel technology
1st   bobby kelley

kid kart rlv tuned exhaust products
1st   ethan barrett

tag masters Dave’s performance karting & mlp
1st   steve wiener

hpv-2 PKS
1st   tyler palmer

tag Mike manning karting
1st   kyle shriver

prd masters dave’s performance karting
1st   paul grey

hpv-1 p-1 engines
1st   brennen mankin

world formula hyper racing
1st   terry nash

jr. world formula Fresno discount trophy
1st   matias podboj

Jr. I grand products
1st   Michael womack

HPV-2 Empire karts
1st   tyler palmer

tag full throttle karting
1st   bobby kelley

tag masters az kart werx
1st   steve wiener

hpv-1 pitts performance
1st   slater stowell

Formula y/c heavy miinch motorsports
1st   mike mcginnis