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5-11-12 Parker
Chase Earns Victory in Texas Prokart Challenge Debut
11-year old kicks off new series with win and runner-up finish
at Gulf Coast Kartways
Starting out a championship series with a victory is the best
way to accomplish the task of earning the year-end title. For
Parker Chase, the Texas ProKart Challenge kicked off in stellar
fashion as the 11-year old began his bid for the series title in
the competitive TaG Cadet division with a victory and runner-up
finish in the opening two rounds at the Gulf Coast Kartways in
Katy, Texas. The New Braunfels, Texas driver made just his
second ever start with a Vortex Mini Rok engine aboard his brand
new Tony Kart chassis, switching from another brand.
The first round of the weekend took place Saturday around the
7/10-mile course as Parker qualified second to begin the action.
His best lap of 45.098 seconds was just a few tenths off the
fast lap. From outside row one, Chase was the early leader in
the first of two 10-lap heat races. In the late stages, he
relinquished the spot and finished second. The second heat race
was a battle to the finish line with four drivers crossing the
line in under one second. Parker came across the stripe in the
third spot to sit inside row two for the main event. Quick
early, Chase was able to advance up into the lead by the
completion of lap three. From there, he led the remaining
circuits in the 16-lap event to score the inaugural Texas
ProKart Challenge TaG Cadet victory by just under five-tenths of
a second.
Round two began in similar fashion for Parker as he laid down a
similar lap time (45.030) to end up third overall in the order.
A great battle for the win in heat one came down to a photo
finish between him and two other drivers. Chase came up just
short, about 41-thousandths at the line and was classified third
in what was the closest finish in the weekend. Heat two did not
start as planned with Parker getting shuffled back to the tail
of the field. After 10 laps, he was able to work up to fourth
and record the fast lap of the race. Just as he did Saturday,
Chase was on the move early and into the lead by lap three. He
would lead the field until the white flag was displayed when the
final lap battle began. On the final lap, Parker came up just
short in securing the top spot, settling for the runner-up
position and earning his second straight podium finish.
Parker ran double duty on the weekend, piloting his Rotax Mini
Max machine against another stout field. He would struggle all
weekend with the engine tuning and thus his speed was hampered
each session on-track. He managed to record a top-five finish on
Saturday but continuing engine issues forced him to retire early
on Sunday.
Eric Chase, Parker’s father, was proud of the performance his
son recorded on the weekend, “I am really excited for Parker to
score his first win in the series. The Tony Kart chassis was
simply tuned perfectly. Parker and I want to express our
appreciation to Jared Beyer and Tony Tesoro with Southern
Karting Specialist along with Mike Mantel. We also want to thank
Stuart Robinson for lending a helpful hand this weekend.”
Up next on the Parker Chase schedule will be the second event of
the Southeast Karting Challenge, set for the MSR Houston kart
circuit in Angleton, Texas on May 19-20. Chase will look to
continue his podium streak in TaG Cadet and upgrade his
performance in Mini Max at the next Texas ProKart Challenge
event on June 2-3 at the fast Grandsport Speedway in Hitchcock,
TX - southeast of Houston. For more on Parker Chase and his 2012
season, be sure to visit www.chaseracing.com
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