7-27-10 IKF Region 11 Super Series Finale
Source & Photos RaceMediaGroup.com

The Region 11 Super Series provided hot action in the desert at NNKC and Desert Park Raceway in Reno Nevada for their Season ending Finale. The Reno facility was the home of the 2009 IKF 2-cycle Grand Nationals and was the home for the season finale where class Championships would be decided as many of the classes were coming right down to the last race.

Kid Karts was first on the track and Championship Points leader Zach Corbitt took the pole with a fast time of 1:11.058. In the heat race it was all Tomas Mejia. He flexed his muscles every time another driver attacked for position and held off several attempts for the Heat race win. On the start of the Final Mejia got the jump to lead lap one, but as the raced progressed Corbitt quickly snagged the lead away from Mejia and ran away to a 2 second victory, but most importantly secured the Championship. Tomas Mejia was second with Cambrian Go Kart’s Clayton Williams third.

Jr 1 Comer was up next and the attention was on the close championship battle between Kartel’s Joseph LaRosa and Tyler Burk. Kartel’s Blaine Rocha got fast time with a 55.606. In the heat race Rocha, Burk and LaRosa were all in tow to the checkered setting up what looked to be a great battle for the win and the Championship in the Final. On the start of the Main LaRosa got collected in a wreck that was none of his doing and this allowed Rocha and Burk to sneak out to an early lead. Burk held patiently for the entire race bump drafting Rocha until the White flag flew. Burk pulled the trigger on the lead and the two drivers swapped the lead several times the last lap with Burk getting to the line first to secure the win and the Championship by 5 points. Rocha was second with Jospeh LaRosa third.

Jr Super Sportsman was on track and the Championship battle had the top three all within 35 points. Kartel’s Luis Tyrrell got fast time with a 52.300 who was second in points 25 points behind the leader JR Raczko. In the heat race it was all Raczko cruising to the win looking like he had the championship in hand. However starting in the fourth position in the Final, Tyrrell went right to the front and jumped out to a big lead. Meanwhile Raczko running in the third position had his championship lead in jeopardy. Tyrrell was behind by 25 points and needed a strong run while Raczko needed to struggle for Luis to come out on top. Tyrrell drove to a 4 second win. Zach Maclean was second and JR Raczko held on to secure his IKF Championship by 5 points.

Fastech’s Mark Nason won both the Formula 80 Shifter Sr class and the Formula 80 shifter Masters divisions. The 125 Stock Moto class had a great race between a couple of long time shifter racers with Cambrian Go Kart’s Jamie Wilson getting the win and the Championship.

HPV-1 Jr was next up and Championship Points leader Cambrian Go Kart’s Justin Yanez grabbed fast time with a 54.220. In the Heat race it was Kartel’s Joseph LaRosa led the way to get the win and start pole for the Main. On the start of the Final Kartel’s Blaine Rocha and Yanez jumped out to an early lead to work together and put some distance between the other drivers. As the race progressed it appeared Rocha had learned a lesson from Burk in the Jr 1 race earlier in the day in the fact he waited patiently behind Yanez bump drafting him and setting him up. Late in the race Rocha made the pass for the lead and secured the win to the Checkered. Yanez came home second and Joseph LaRosa finished third.  With the second place finish Yanez secured the Championship.

The awaited Sr Super Sportsman was next and Leading Edge’s Brett Felkins was a lock on the Championship only needing to start. Emmick Cobra’s Clayton Snow got pole with a fast lap of 51.904. It was a three kart battle in the front with Snow leading MMI’s Mike Botelho Jr and Brett Felkins in the heat race. From the drop of the green the close racing was intense with the top three swapping positions several times. With three laps to go Felkins passed Snow who lost the draft. This left the race up to Botelho and Felkins. On the last lap Felkins made the pass to go to the lead and held on to the Checkered. Botelho was second with Snow third, and the exclamation point for the championship was Felkins winning.

Coming into the HPV-2 Jr race Kartel’s Austin Elliott held a 45 point advantage over second and needed an equally good run as the contenders. Elliott opened up qualifying with a fast lap of 51.473 over three tenths over second place. Elliott was strong in the heat race flexing his muscles over MMS Karting’s Austin DeMent who stayed close the whole race. On the start of the main Elliott jumped out to a quick lead but Dement quickly ran him down. As laps wound down Elliott put a gap on DeMent and cruised to a 2 second victory with fist pumped to secure the Championship title. DeMent was second and Emmick Cobra’s Sonny Cervelli made a great run to third.

Last on the day was the TAG Sr category and Leading Edge’s Jess Peterson qualified pole with a fast time of 49.356. Peterson led the heat race with David Harwin pressuring him till the white flag flew and Harwin broke a tie rod and had a scary wreck into the front stretch barriers. Peterson would start pole in the Main with Harwin at the back. Harwin made a great run through the field setting fast time by more than three tenths in the race. Peterson got the victory with Harwin second. MMI’s Kelsey Nilsson was removed from post race tech for illegal ignition timing which bumped Michael Yazembiak to the third position.

In 2010 the Region 11 Super Series was a success. Not only were the classes full of talented competition but region 11 in 2010 became the highest level of IKF Members in the Nation. Next year’s schedule has yet to be decided as the meeting for new board delegates and scheduling will take place later in the year around early December. Stay tuned to NorcalKarters.com for upcoming information as the Gold Rush series which proved to be very popular last year gets set to kick off their season. For more information or for series points visit the official Region 11 IKF website www.NorcalKarters.com . For the series Photos visit http://scribnerracingpromotions.zenfolio.com/

7-20-10 Austin Elliott Scores IKF Championship
Source RaceMediaGroup.com
Photos RaceMediaGroup.com

Austin Elliott recently closed out the 2010 IKF Region 11 Super Series Finale’ with an exclamation mark, capturing the Series Championship. Going into the season Finale’ Austin had just come off a successful Grand Nationals Event at Willow Springs Kart Club with Tuner Wesley Boswell. Headed Straight for Reno with for the Region 11 Super Series race, Austin was focused on closing out the season with the Championship in hand.

In June, at the 2010 IKF Grand Nationals, Austin registered his Top Kart machine in 4 different classes. The first class was the super competitive Jr. Super Sportsman Heavy. Austin Qualified ninth on the field and with a packed class, he was able to capture an 8th place finish. The next category for the Nationals was Jr. 2 KPV and Elliott qualified off-pole missing fast time by only .332 of a second. Austin led a few laps early and was able to close out the race with a 3rd place finish to stand on the podium. Day 3 Elliott continued his hot streak in Jr. Super Sportsman and again qualified off-pole only .106 off of fast time. Once again Austin took control of the race early and jumped out to a big lead. When the checkered flew Austin once again stepped on the podium with a second place finish. The last day of the Nationals hosted Jr. 2 KPV and Austin again qualified his Top Kart machine on the top of the charts with a 3rd place time only .289 off fast time. Elliott ran with the two leaders clicking off fast laps and trading the lead position. At the end of the race Austin Elliott captured another 2nd place finish reaching the podium three times on the weekend at IKF's premier event.

Not wasting any time, Austin left Willow Springs and headed directly to Northern Nevada Kart Club in Reno, Nevada where he was hoping to close out the year with a championship in the KPV 2 category. Elliott, with a 45 point lead, only needed to start the main to secure the Championship, but wanted to end the season on a high note. He qualified fast time running a 51.473 which was .344 second faster than the field.  Elliott found himself under pressure in the heat race swapping the lead a few times, but finished in the top spot.  In the main event however, Elliott ran uncontested to the win to not only stand on top of the podium with the win, but with the series Championship as well.

Austin Elliott is teamed with some of the best people in the business that support him and help him compete in a Kart at the highest of levels. Special Thank you to Tuner Wesley Boswell for his outstanding chassis setup, engine tuning and driver coaching. Austin’s Sponsors include The Door & Window Stop, Fresno Tap Recyclers, SNAP Fitness, RDS Race Cars & Chassis, CS Tactical, Stat Medical, Kartel Motorsports, P1 Engines,  Grand Products and Race Media Group. Check out more on Austin Elliott’s racing endeavors at www.AustinElliottRacing.com

7-20-10 Red Line Oil Karting Championship Race #5 Preview
 

Race #5 of the Red Line Oil Karting Championship (RLOKC) on July 25th will mark the mid-season for the Northern California Rotax Challenge (NCRC) and is Race #5 of eight races for the TaG and Shifter classes. Most classes have hotly contested point battles going on and the Sprint Track configuration of the Jim Russell International Karting Center track will challenge the racers and make for some great driver duels. The most exciting classes this year have been the Rotax Mini Max and Rotax Senior. This will also be the second race for the newly added 125 Stock Moto Masters class.

Rotax Mini Max
Cole Davis sits atop the points board but has many fast drivers right behind him. Although he has scored a feature win this year, Michael Michoff is close behind in second. With last month's sweep of Race #4, Michael Avansino boosts himself up to third in points, followed by Gino Gigliotti. With eight to nine karts at each race this year, the Mini Max class should continue to be one of the most competitive classes of the weekend. Mini Max will also be the GoPro featured class with the race winner taking home the GoPro Hero mini camera.

Rotax Senior
Rotax Senior also has a tight point battle with Carlos Calderon sitting in first place, closely followed by Raymund Bustamante, Jr. Improving each race and taking a strong second last month is Amber Friedberg. The veteran lady pilot now holds down third place in points and is looking for a feature win in Race #5. Matt Weiss, fourth place in points, has also been coming on strong. NCRC 2009 champ Jordan Jadallah is fifth in points even though he had to miss two of the first four races.

IAME TaG
This new class has had good entry numbers in the last couple of races and with it, a battle for the top spot in the points is starting to shape up. Having run all four previous races, Casey Monohan has the points lead, but his lead is getting smaller with each race due to strong finishes from Michael Torrano and Jim Zootis. Zootis is looking at making it two feature wins in a row while Torrano will need to bounce back from his fourth place finish last month.

Cambrian Go-Karts Junior Rotax
After his best race in Junior Rotax last month and also competing at the US Rotax Max Challenge Grand National last weekend, Brody Zink looks to be in a position to start pulling away from the field. Sean McDonald is looking to get back into the race groove that took him to the Race #1 win. Bobby Tifft is looking at backing up one of his best drives from last month and if Kiel Spaulding returns, well this could make for a very interesting run for the lead.

Rotax Masters / Masters Light
One of the most improved drivers from 2009 now sits atop the Masters Light class with Mary Beth Wilson holding down the points lead just ahead of hubby Jerry Pretti. Wilson has shown to be consistent in all her starts this year and would like nothing better than to open up the gap. With his return to the NCRC last month, 2009 Masters Light champion Andrea Delfanti dominated, just like did in 2009, but he has already used up his two throw-away races this season and thus has no margin for poor results if he plans to back up his championship.

In the Masters class, Andre Eriksen has been the class of the field so far this year, but if young Barry Lee moves over from Senior into the Masters class, he will give Eriksen a real run for the top spot in this class. Eriksen will be coming off a long weekend of racing at the Rotax Grand National, but be sure he will be ready race.

80 Shifters
After the largest field of the year last month, the 80 Shifters are putting a good challenging race on. Points leader and defending champ Tom Nelson would like a win to put some distance between him and his rivals, but Mark Stanley would like nothing better than to chase Nelson down and close the gap. Rob Mullaney has been consistent all year and looks to continue his steady finishes.

125 Stock Moto Masters/Rotax DD2
Combining these two classes provided some exciting racing last month with DD2 driver January Grove challenging the 125 Moto of Jim Inglebright and getting the best of Brad Shaffer. As the 125 Stock Moto Masters class grows, this could be a very entertaining race group to watch.

Rotax Micro Max
With Annie and Toni Breidinger just getting back into town from the Rotax Grand National, Wilson Skjerven may get the upper hand while the young gals get re-oriented back to their home track. Skjerven showed some new driving speed last month only to have mechanical problems spoil his weekend. He is looking to bounce back.

Saturday Schedule
12 PM - 6 PM Open Practice, Pre-Registration & Pre-Tech

Sunday Schedule
8:30 AM Controlled Practice
9:30 AM Qualifyling
10:45 AM Racing
Race Entry Fee: $100
Pit Passes: $10, kids 11 and under, $5

For more information about the Red Line Oil Karting Championship, go to www.cameronkarting.com, www.norcalrotax.com or contact race director Ric Shaw at racedirector-ric@hotmail.com.

The Red Line Oil Karting Championship is supported with over $20,000 of prizes and awards from the sponsors below.
 

7-20-10 Leesmann and Koyen Emerge from SKUSA SummerNationals Sunday Battles

After enjoying three days of beautiful sunny skies and mid-80s temperatures, Shawano, WI’s USA International Raceway was hit with rain and wind on Saturday evening, and this precipitation continued into the Sunday morning qualifying sessions for the inaugural Superkarts! USA SummerNationals. The morning rains did not dampen the enthusiasm of the participants, as once the storm cell cleared the area, the MG slicks were back on and the hard racing continued. A pair of new weekend winners was crowned at the end of the day, as Fritz Leesmann recovered from a tough Saturday to outrun Alex Speed for the S1 win, while TJ Koyen was masterful in his Sunday performance as he topped a strong TaG Senior grid to score the victory.

The S1 Pro Stock Moto class took center stage on Sunday as the feature race of the day, and being positioned as the final class in the rotation presented them with a drying track during qualifying. The racing surface was starting to clear up, but wet weather rubber was still necessary. Aluminos’ Fritz Leesmann struggled on Saturday, but regrouped overnight and came out swinging, laying down the fastest lap of the wet session with a 1:21.477. NASCAR star and Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray impressed in the tough conditions by posting the second quickest lap, out-pacing Syar Motorsports’ Nick LeDuc and the STA Racing duo of Alex Speed and Jason Toft. Richard Petty Motorsports driver AJ Allmendinger qualified eighth, but he knew that he had competitive pace in the dry thanks to his solid third place finish on Saturday.

Leesmann would go onto sweep both heat races, getting solid launches from the grid to run away from the rest of the field with Speed hot on his rear bumper. Speed had the measure of his competition on Saturday, but motivated by the dissatisfaction of running mid-pack, Leesmann had come alive and was certainly Speed’s equal. McMurray maintained his spot in the lead group in the opening eight-lap moto, taking third ahead of LeDuc and Allmendinger, as AJ was back on pace with the MG slicks installed. In the second heat, which set the grid for the main, McMurray did not get a good start from the inside of the second row and would get shuffled to the tail of the 12-kart grid, allowing LeDuc to slip by into third, a position he would hold to the finish. Leesmann pulled away to a 2.5-second cushion over Speed, while Allmendinger advanced one more position to sit fourth behind LeDuc. Rocky Mountain Kartworks Daniel Bray capped the top-five after a good dice with Toft for position.

The 20-lap final featured a head-to-head battle between Leesmann and Speed, with the former heading the field from start-to-finish. Speed kept up the pressure all race, but only a big moment in the ‘Elevator Shaft’ corner kept him from sticking with the leader. Speed was able to save the aggressive ‘tank-slapper’, keeping the kart on the track after drilling the start of the apex curbing, but his shot at gunning for the win was long gone, as Leesmann drove a superb error-free race to win by 2.271 seconds. Allmendinger completed a stellar weekend by slipping past LeDuc for third, his second podium of the weekend. Speed would take the overall weekend win and the $1000 first place check, while Leesmann and Allmendinger would take home $500 and $250, respectively. On the podium, Allmendinger was pleased to finally enjoy the payoff of being a team owner. The former SKUSA star was gracious in his podium speech, as he thanked Tom and Patti Kutscher for putting on a great event and the paddock for making him feel welcomed on his off-weekend.

The remainder of the order in S1 saw McMurray lay down a great performance in recovering back to fourth after his start-line miscue, while LeDuc capped the weekend with a top-five finish.

Like S1, the S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto class was a barnburner. Point leader Matt Alcorn battled set-up on Saturday and needed to come back big on Sunday, so he attacked the wet qualifying session like a man who knew that he needed to step up. With his primary title competition standing on the Saturday podium as he watched from the fence following a tough ninth place finish, the Energy pilot took control of the timed session to win the pole and the 10 available bonus points with a time of 1:24.086. The session was halted at the halfway point when the rained accelerated, accompanied by some lightning. Once things let up, race officials deemed the session complete, which left Saturday winner Derek Crockett at the tail of the field as he was on his out-lap when the red flag appeared. With the times from the first six minutes standing, Evan Batt was second quick in the rain session, ahead of Connor Iseli, Lukas Johnson and Eric Batt.

In the first S2 heat race, which was run in dry conditions, Evan Walters (Intrepid) turned up his game in coming from seventh on the grid, taking over the lead from Johnson as the top four checked out on the field. Alcorn maintained his pace up from to finish third on the track, only to get moved back a spot for creeping on the start line. Crockett was on the move from the back and finished second in the heat to move to the front row for the start of the second moto, while Johnson was eventually advanced to third when Alcorn received his one-position penalty for jumping the start. Alcorn showed now negative affects, as he knew that he had made major gains from the opening day and was ready to fight for a podium finish.

Johnson would move to the front in the second heat race to take the pole for the main, finishing ahead of Crockett and Walters. Clint Korte and Jack Bradley completed the top-five, while Alcorn slipped back to seventh behind Iseli.

The S2 final featured some interesting strategy, which was not popular with everyone in the paddock. Energy driver Josh Lane had sat out the two heat races, essentially conserving his dry tires, and with the relatively short 14-kart field, he was able to attack quick from the seventh row. At the start, Walters would power to the lead over Johnson and Crockett, but Lane had fresh rubber, which was worth about a second per lap over the opening circuits. Lane quickly worked to the lead group, getting past Crockett and then Johnson as he closed on Walters. Crockett would follow suit, moving into third and closing on the lead duo as Walters worked hard to hold Lane at bay, his newer rubber giving him a distinct advantage. Things came to a head on the penultimate lap, when Lane took over the top spot. Walters would fight back heading into the final hairpin, making a solid move to the inside to steal the position. However, in trying to get his kart to rotate as he slid past the apex, Walters’ looped his Intrepid right in front of Lane, locking the two together. As Crockett ducked underneath to steal the lead, Lane jumped from his kart to separate the chassis, and then they both re-fired and got back underway. Crockett would go on unchallenged to his second victory of the weekend, while Lane recovered for seventh and Walters 11th. The incident also allowed Alcorn to advance to second and Johnson to third, putting the top-three in S2 Pro Tour points together on the podium. Korte and Bradley will cap the top-five.

The S4 class provided some of the best action of the weekend, and once again, Aluminos’ Jonathan Allen topped the qualifying run. The S4s kicked off the morning on full wets, with the rain falling lightly, and Allen was impressive in topping Saturday race winner Phil Conte by just under two tenths of a second to win the pole and the 10 bonus points. Phil Dunford was third in the order ahead of Christiaan Bouhuys and Peter Workum. Things got interesting in the first heat race as a dry line was beginning to develop during the final qualifying runs. Only Mike McDonough would take the risk of heading out on slicks, but it would be the right call. With the race line drying, McDonough slowly brought his MGs up to temp and then powered through the field, eventually closing on Dunford, who had taken the lead from Allen. McDonough pushed hard over the final laps to reach the leader, but he would come up just short at the line. Conte, Workum and Bouhuys capped the top-five.

The track was completely dry when the second S4 heat came around, allowing the field the ability to re-sort itself to similar positions as Saturday. Dunford pulled away at the start and maintained the point all the way to the checkered, chased closely by Workum and Conte. Allen and Bouhuys completed the top five.

The S4 final was a thriller, even though the lead group was without Conte, who was forced to the sidelines early when he lost his air filter on the opening lap. It was a rough blow to the Californian as he would have been simply padding his point lead with another podium run. Conte’s departure left Dunford to roll out to a comfortable cushion at the start of the 16-lapper, that is, until Workum and Allen reeled him in. Over the final laps, Workum kept the pressure on the leader but just couldn’t find a way by. The climax would hold off until the final lap in the final corners, when Dunford had trouble getting out of the hairpin as his kart bogged slightly on the exit. Workum jumped on the opening and stuck his GP inside his Aluminos teammate and they would run side-by-side for a few yards. Dunford realized that he was hung out to dry and that his only chance at the win would be to cross-cross inside Workum as they exited the left-hand sweeper heading to the stripe. The move came up just short as Workum had enough forward bite to edge his challenger by 0.055 seconds at the line to score his first national win. Dunford was close to losing second as well, as Allen had tucked up behind Workum heading to the line, but he was able to maintain the runner-up position. Mark Cleppe finished fourth while Luke Bianco capped a strong weekend in fifth.

Just as it was at the SpringNationals at Infineon back in April, the G1 class was dominated by Aluminos’ Fernando Diaz. After winning on Saturday, Diaz posted the fastest qualifying time in the wet, exactly a tenth of a second quicker than Eduardo Martins. Colorado’s David Conyers was enjoying a great weekend in Shawano and was third in the order, ahead of Evolution Karting’s Kurt Mathewson and PP Mastro. In the first wheel-to-wheel run of the day for G1, Diaz once again ran his set program of pulling away quickly at the start of the opening heat race and then pacing his speed to maintain the lead while conserving tires. Mastro, his main competition, retired right after the start and would have the added edge of better rubber for the remainder of the day as his MGs would have run eight less laps. In Mastro’s absence, Conyers took up the charge and ran to an impressive second ahead of Martins. Roy Montgomery and Mathewson had a coming together late in the race when the latter attempted an optimistic move in the second corner that resulted in heavy contact. Montgomery would loop his CRG off the track, while Mathewson would be hit with a penalty for avoidable contact. This allowed Darrell Tunnell to slip through for fourth as Montgomery recovered to hold onto fifth. Armed with fresh MG slicks, Mastro was able to get a great start and eventually reel in and pass Diaz for the lead early in the second heat race, winning by 0.668 seconds. Martins, Conyers and Mathewson were third through fifth, respectively.

In the main, Mastro took full advantage of his pole position and his fresher tires to stretch away to a 3.804-second win over Diaz. To his credit, Mastro never put a wheel wrong in his run to the checker, scoring his first SKUSA Pro Tour win. Conyers would join the lead duo on the podium, his first trip to a SKUSA award celebration after many years of competing with the organization. The veteran stepped up for the SummerNationals and was certainly rewarded for his impressive efforts.

The paddock was still buzzing on Sunday morning after the amazing finale from the day before, as the TaG Senior put on an incredible show. Phil Giebler had scored an impressive win following some last lap excitement, and he rolled with the momentum in the wet qualifying run, posting the fastest time of the session. Benny Moon was again in the hunt in his Allmendinger-owned entry, qualifying second ahead of Robby Seward, Jamie Sieracki and Larry Fraser.

Giebler was masterful at the front of the opening heat race, again having to deal with the relentless pressure of Moon. The lead duo pulled away cleanly from the field as Moon didn’t press the issue, understanding the need to stay at the head of the class all day if he wanted to fight for the win in the main. Sixth place qualifier TJ Koyen (Merlin) hooked up with Fraser to advance up the field to sit third and fourth at the checker, right ahead of Franklin Motorsports pilot Tommy Andersen. In the second eight-lap heat race, Moon would take the point when Giebler encountered trouble, forced to hold his airbox on his carburetor with his right hand as it had worked loose. Amazing the paddock, Giebler went almost the entire distance using just his left arm to pilot his kart, in fact passing a couple of drivers in the process. He was running eighth when the motor finally failed, leaving him dead-last on the grid for the main. This would only set up a stunning drive to the front.

Back up front, Moon was eventually joined by Koyen in their charge to the checker, as Koyen never left Moon’s bumper. The margin at the line was just 0.234 seconds, putting the two drivers on the front row for the main event. National Kart Supply’s Mark Vielgut was third, having advanced from sixth, while Fraser and Sieracki completed the top-five after late-race contact for an aggressive move by Andersen resulted in a penalty that dropped his to eighth.

In the 16-lap main, Koyen and Moon put on a show up front, while Giebler wowed the crowd by driving from 19th to third. The lead duo was never separated by more than two kart lengths, as Koyen held the point after getting past Moon on the start. Koyen was forced to run every lap at 100% in an effort to hold back the visiting driver, and in the end, he completed the day with a big victory. Moon was forced to settle for second, but it was an impressive return for the multi-time SKUSA ProMoto Tour winner. Giebler’s drive from the back was equally impressive, as he charged hard to the podium, using the result to back up his Saturday victory to take the overall weekend win and the $1000 first place check. Sieracki was fourth in the Sunday order ahead of Andersen, putting three Merlins in the top five. Second overall for the weekend was Vielgut, who was second on Saturday and seventh on Sunday, receiving $500 for his effort. Koyen’s win also paid off with some cash, as he advanced to third in the final tally to take $250 from SKUSA’s Tom Kutscher on the podium.

SKUSA ladder of Stock Moto classes continues to develop, and the S5 Stock Moto Junior drivers handled the wet qualifying nicely, with STA Racing’s Daniel Langon topping the charts with a lap of 1:26.429. Saturday winner Christian Schureman was second ahead of Crocket Motorsports’ Colton Brooks (GP). Langon was not able to fully capitalize on his qualifying effort in the open heat as Austin Schimmel eventually took the lead from seventh on the grid thanks to a great start at the lights. Langon stayed right with the leader through the short six-lapper, leaving Schureman to fight with Alex Tartaglia to fight for third and the inside of row two for the start of the second heat race. Schimmel would maintain his lead in the second moto, this time ahead of Tartaglia to set the front row for the main.

The final was all Austin Schimmel as he avoided the mechanical disappointment that left him one lap short of a podium finish on Saturday. Schimmel ran to a 4.671-second win, turning the fast lap in the process, to get his first career Pro Tour victory. Tartaglia ran a strong race to finish second ahead of Schureman, who performed well all weekend to take his third straight Pro Tour podium finish. Langon and Lerch completed the top-five.

In TaG Junior, Saturday race winner Luis Tyrrell avoided the mechanical issues that put him on the sidelines for the opening day’s qualifying run, instead pacing the field with a 1:25.201 that was three tenths quicker that Pennsylvania driver Trent Walko, who was making his SKUSA debut. ‘The Flying Farmer’ Karl Weber was third in the order, ahead of Emmanuel Mestre and Mason Daughters. Weber then posted the fastest lap of the first heat, but he would not be able to get in front of Tyrrell, as the California pilot would not be challenged again all day. Weber advanced to second ahead of Mestre, with Maxx Marian and Austin Thomas finishing fourth and fifth. In the second heat, Tyrrell would stretch his lead to 4.3 seconds at the stripe, with Weber again positioned as the primary challenger. Marian would improve to third in this six-lap sprint.

In the TaG Junior final, Tyrrell performed like a champion to score his third Pro Tour win of the year, his only non-victory being a second place finish to Kathryn Cornell in the Sunday final at the SpringNationals. Tyrrell won by 5.642 seconds from Mestre with Weber completing the podium. Marian was fourth in the final order ahead of Emily Maddison.

The young class in the SKUSA program – TaG Cadet – attracted just five drivers to Shawano, but the youngsters were the top-five in points following the SpringNationals and they all put on a good show as the racing was intense. The drafting was tight in this category, although SKUSA did a good job to separate them in qualifying. Colton Herta topped the timed run ahead of Tate Holleran and Christian Brooks, while Parker Thompson  and Noah Grey were fourth and fifth. Thompson would work his way to the front to win the opening heat over Herta, while they would swap positions in the second. The final saw the two drivers again hook up to pull away from Brooks and Grey, that is, until Thompson made the move for the lead mid-way through the race. Thompson was then able to pull away to score a 5.105-second triumph. Herta was eventually caught by Brooks, but held onto the position to finish first overall on the weekend, winning a full Vortex Mini Rok package in the process. Grey was fourth in the Sunday tally, while Holleran was finally able to get his kart rolling after DNFs in both heat races following some mysterious technical issue that kept his engine from spooling up to full revs. It was a disappointing end to a good weekend for Holleran, who is now looking forward to making his first appearance at the SuperNationals now that the organization has added the TaG Cadet class to the weekend line-up.

All in all, the inaugural SKUSA SuperNationals should be considered a big success. The race was missing a large number of entries it could likely have counted on should the US Rotax Grand Nationals not have been scheduled on top of their date, but the end result was a paddock full of smiling faces. SKUSA’s approach to customer service was a talking point, as Friday and Saturday night BBQs were enjoyed by the racers and with the focus on fun and enjoyable racing, they certainly gained some new fans. The addition of Jamie McMurray and AJ Allmendinger to the paddock added to the excitement, as both drivers enjoyed strong outings during their weekend ‘off’. They’ll both be back in the office this coming weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup series heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400.

The SKUSA staff will now turn their focus on both the upcoming ProKart Challenge North-South Shootout at Santa Maria on August 12-14 and the continuing preparations for the SuperNationals in November in Las Vegas. Online registration for the sport’s biggest race was opened on June 1 and the entries are coming in on a regular basis, and the special SKUSA hotel code for the Rio is now available so that teams and drivers can get their discounted room rates. All the necessary information is available at their website – http://www.superkartsusa.com.

SKUSA now has their first Pro Tour season all but in the books, with new traditions now launched in the form of the SpringNationals and SummerNationals. SKUSA president Tom Kutscher informed that he will be releasing next year’s Pro Tour schedule as soon as possible in an effort to side-step the chance for conflicting weekends in 2011. Keep an eye out on this website for this information as soon as it is released.
 

7-19-10 Hot Competition & Growth in the Sanzaru Games Mini Max Class

One of the most exciting classes at this year's Red Line Oil Karting Championship is the Rotax Mini Max class (ages 9 to 13 years). In only its second year as part of the Northern California Rotax Challenge, the Mini Max class has attracted several veteran Junior 1 drivers to campaign the championship. When the 2009 season ended, Mini Max had five drivers with four of them moving up to the Junior class in 2010, but 2010 has seen nine new drivers move into the Mini Max class, some moved up from the Micro Max class and some coming over from other series.

Sponsorship continues to grow with the RLOKC offering over $20,000 of prizes to the racers. Sanzaru Games has signed on as the Mini Max class sponsor and will give away cash prizes and Sanzaru video games at each race. $50 will be awarded to the race winner at each race. Year end prizes include $300, a PlayStation 3 for the class Champion and a second PS3 for the Rookie of the Year. Mini Max will be the GoPro featured class for the July 25th race at Infineon. The race winner will receive a GoPro Hero Mini-Camera.

This veteran group of Junior 1 drivers has brought a great deal of competitiveness to the class with a different winner in each of the first four races this year (Blaine Rocha, Cole Davis, Gino Gigliotti and Michael Avansino). In addition, two other drivers have lead races this year, making over half of the field capable of winning and also making the Mini Max class one of the most competitive classes in the RLOKC.

Mini Max is one of the six national Rotax Max classes offered at the RLOKC. It is for drivers ages 9 to 12 years of age and uses a restricted version of the Junior Rotax engine. One major piece of feedback from drivers and crews is they like the lower cost of maintaining the Rotax engine, as well as ease of tuning. They also like the fact the class is more about driver and chassis, rather than engine, since the engine is spec.

Another feature of the Rotax formula is the rigid engine rules which levels the playing field between the drivers and helps assure lower controlled engine maintenance cost compared to other major engine types. Drivers can run the Rotax FR125engine in the Micro Max configuration starting at age eight and reconfigure that same engine as they grow into Mini Max, Junior Max and Senior Max. The US Rotax Max Challenge promotes both strong regional racing as well as having one of the best national championships in the country. The Rotax Max Challenge formula is raced in over fify-seven countries around the world.

Come out and see for yourself what all the buzz is about in the Sanzaru Games Mini Max class. The RLOKC is a ten race championship. Eight races on four different track layouts are held at the Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway and two races take place at the Kinsmen Kart Club track in Dixon.

Upcoming races:
July 25th Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway
August 22nd Kinsmen Kart Club in Dixon
August 29th Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway

For more information about the Rotax Mini Max class and the Red Line Oil Karting Championship, go to www.cameronkarting.com  or www.norcalrotax.com
 

7-18-10 Brett Felkins – “Changing Gears” SKUSA Summer Nationals
Photos By Race Media Group
 

NorCal Driver Brett Felkins coming off last weekend’s IKF Regional 11 Series Championship win in Senior Sportsman’s changes up a gear and moves back to SI Shifter karts at the SKUSA Summer Nationals being held July 16-18, 2010 in Shawano, Wisconsin.

Felkins has been fast all month – finishing first in two IKF Grand National finals in Willow Springs, CA, only to be denied the Duffy’s with tech infractions – however he was not denied, when showing his true outright speed by winning a Screaming Eagle at the event. During the IFK regional series he reached the podium at every race – winning five out of the six events toward the championship title.

This weekend Felkins will be piloting an Intrepid Chassis with Leading Edge Motorsports (LEM) Honda power in the S1 class taking on two NACSAR regulars in Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray and current Richard Petty Motorsports pilot AJ Allmendinger.  

At this time we would like to thank our feature sponsors, Diede Construction, Championship Racing, Leading Edge Motorsports (LEM), Carbon Dynamics Racing, Noesis-Factor and Race Media Group.

For additional information on “Brett Felkins” visit the Noesis-factor hosted website presence at www.brettfelkins.com for all the latest updates, partnerships, synergies, images and stories.

7-18-10 Oh Canada!- Region 6 visits Chilliwack
 

On July 23 - 25 region 6 racers will once again make the trip north to Canada. There they will meet at the famed kart track in Chilliwack, British Columbia recently renamed “Greg Moore Raceway” in honor of the noted Canadian racer who suffered a tragic death in 1999 at the California Speedway in Fontana.

This race promises to be a good one, perhaps the best to date as we enter the second half of the 2010 season. Rumors abound of notable Canadian kart racers who may drop in, as well as certain Americans just back from the  Rotax Grand Nationals in New Castle, Indiana.

Those Canadians are fast to be sure, and of course Team Italkart will be looking to dominate the IAME and SHIFTER classes as they make plans to defend what must be considered their home turf. Anyway you break this down it looks to be a great race, one you definitely won’t want to miss. So whatever you do don’t let the standings  fool you, with the allowed one drop factored in we have some very real points battles at hand as the race teams prepare for round 5. Northwest Karting News will be on hand for the  three day event, covering all on track action, as well as driver interviews, and photos.

Track Facts:
Length:  4015 feet, width 26.25 to 36.5
Corners:  12 total, 7 right 5 left
Rotation:  counter clockwise, or clockwise (at club’s discretion)
* meets all CIK - FIA  requirements.

Event Host: West Coast Kart Club

Hotel accommodations: Comfort Inn, 45405 Luckakuck Way, Chilliwack BC        Phone Number: 604-858-0636

For additional information contact: Bill Hettick   wghrock@comcast.net

7-14-10 Raquel Martinez WSK World Series Portugal Report

“Martinez Makes European Debut”

Less than two weeks ago California native Raquel Martinez made the trip across the pond to compete in her first European karting event.  She chose the world’s largest stage for this occasion in that being the WSK World Series, which is a three race series, held on three continents.  Round one was held at the brand new Circuito do Algarve in Portugal where she joined the Factory Top Kart team.

Raquel and the team arrived at the track Wednesday morning to prep for the opening day of practice.  The first two sessions of the day were spent breaking in the IAME engines while learning the track.  After lunch Raquel started to pickup the pace as the team began to work on the setup.  By the end of day one Raquel had learned a lot and was taking her time learning how to drive the Dunlop tires and on a very grippy track.  Qualifying was set for Thursday evening and Raquel qualified in 30^th position for the heat races.  In heat one Raquel was up to 18^th position when on the last lap an on track incident forced her to finish in 30^th.  Heat number two started off the same way with Raquel getting off to a great start and moving up 20^th until another incident occurred, which put her back to 27^th position.  Each heat race she continued to improve and the team was looking forward to the last heat race, but a popped chain forced her retirement.

On Sunday the thirty four kart field lined up for the prefinal where Raquel moved up early in the race.  Around half way the driver behind Raquel lost his brakes and hit her off the track.  Raquel was able to continue, but fell in 27^th position.  The final was a tough race, but Raquel was up for the challenge and put on her best performance of the weekend when it counted.  Raquel moved up to 20^th position with about five laps to go and caught a group in front of her looking to improve a few more positions.  Unfortunately an incident ended the race under caution giving Raquel a top 20 in her debut race.

“I feel like I have learned more in just this one week than I have all year,” stated Martinez.  “Every lap I learned something new and I can not wait until my next race in Europe.  I am also very happy with the result as we achieved every goal we had set including a top twenty finish in my first International race.”

This coming weekend “Rocky” will be heading back to Europe to compete in the very competitive Italian Open Masters series, which races across Italy.  Raquel will once again be competing in the KF3 category.  The team plans four to five more trips to Europe this year to prepare for the 2011 season.

For more information please visit www.raquelmartinez.com.  After her trip to Italy for the Italian Open Masters series Raquel will return to the states to compete in round three of the WSK North America series presented by CKI.  Raquel would also like to thank her sponsors King Taco, Pepsi, P1 Engines, Grand Products, Top Kart, RLV, Bridgestone, DWT, Alpinestars, MLP Imaging, Troy Lee Designs, Bell Helmets, Graphix Plus and PKS Kart Supplies.

7-2-10 Region 11 IKF Tech Update

Regarding the use of “old style” Yamaha cylinders at the Reno Region 11 IKF Race . Please refer to the 2010 IKF Rulebook…Section 617.21 and Section 207 “Note for exhaust restricted Yamaha classes.”  This means that if you run an old style cylinder you will have to add 20 Lbs and put a red stripe on the outboard side of the cylinder. The Yamaha classes are exhaust restricted.”

Don Durbin
R11 Norcal Tech

7-2-10 SKUSA Summer Nationals Line up Continues to Develop

Fields building as local drivers and professional racers set to challenge SKUSAs best

The first annual Superkarts! USA SummerNationals is promising to provide an early look at the on-track battles that the organization will likely see at its SuperNationals in November. The SKUSA staff will be heading for USA International Raceway in Shawano, WI in just about two weeks (June 16-18) and they are thrilled that the SummerNationals is expected to see a solid influx of local drivers for the race, pitting them up against the top drivers from their own ProKart Challenge, Mountain and the Central States regional programs. Add in the confirmed participation of NASCAR stars Jamie McMurray and AJ Allmendinger, and this race could be a solid pre-cursor of things to come in Las Vegas. SKUSA has an assortment of plans in place to make the SummerNationals an enjoyable experience for everyone who treks to Shawano to join in on the party.

Wed love to officially welcome everyone to come and join us in Shawano for the SummerNationals, offers Tom Kutscher, SKUSA President. Theres a lot of crazy stuff going on in karting right now and as I am watching it unfold, I can remember exactly why we started our ProKart Challenge program in 2005. Karting should be about having fun, and thats what we try to offer our customers when they come race with us. We had a great time at Infineon in April during the SpringNationals, and our approach to the SummerNats is no different. Its going to be a fun summer vacation! Well do a little golfing, enjoy some BBQ with our karting friends, new and old, and well get the chance to hit a great racetrack for some hardcore competition. Thats what the Pro Tour is all about!

The pre-entry discount for the SummerNationals will end this Sunday, July 4, but drivers can still take advantage of these savings by entering on SKUSAs website www.superkartsusa.com. SKUSA is also offering a reserved entry at the SuperNationals with payment deferred until August 15 for any competitor who wants to race in Shawano but is strapped for available funds right now. As entries for the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas opened on June 1 and seeing as many competitors have already committed an investment to enter the season-ending race, this opportunity has been offered in an effort to ease the financial strain on SKUSA customers. Any racer wishing to take advantage of this offer should contact the SKUSA head office directly.

The entry list for the SummerNationals is shaping up to be an incredible weekend of racing. Not only will the racers get the chance to rub shoulders with NASCAR stars Jamie McMurray and AJ Allmendinger, but a growing number of local drivers have confirmed their entries, which will be exciting as theyll be set to take on SKUSA top competitors from all of their regions. McMurray, the reigning Daytona 500 champion, is primed and ready to battle the S1 establishment, which will include a whos who of shifter kart racing, including round two winner Clinton Schoombee, Alex Speed, Jason Toft and current Pro Tour point leader Fritz Leeseman. Add in the entry of Texan Nick Lucido, NorCals Brett Felkins, SoCal hotshoe Jimmy McNeil and Kiwi transplant Daniel Bray, and the shootout for Pro Stock Moto supremacy will be huge.

Like the S1 competitors, the TaG Senior pilots will be gunning for the $1000 event winners paycheck, which will certainly turn things up a notch. Phil Giebler leads the point hunt coming into Shawano and he will be focused on maintaining his position up top as he is set to dice with a field that will enjoy the attendance of some very quick drivers from the local racing community. Top WKA Manufacturers Cup pilots TJ Koyen and Tommy Andersen have confirmed their entries, and several others have also voiced their intentions on being in the paddock at Shawano. The Great Lakes region is a hotbed for fast TaG drivers, and this could certainly develop into one of the strongest fields of the year.

If anyone is still looking for shipping options for their kart and equipment, there are still a number of teams from both California and the Pacific Northwest who will be traveling to Shawano and still have room in their trailers. Interested competitors are asked to contact SKUSA headquarters to be connected with the right team or check out some available options listed on the website.

Early entry line-ups are looking good as a majority of the frontrunners from the SpringNationals remain fixed on securing the #1 plate for 2011. One of SKUSAs primary projects for this new season was the development of a TaG Cadet program for both the Pro Tour and the SuperNationals, and the decision to go with the Vortex Mini Rok has been very popular as the class debuted with 12 drivers at Infineon. Most of the top guns from Infineon have already entered for Shawano, so the racing is sure to be intense. Vortex stepped up this spring with a special engine program that would provide 10 motors for complimentary use by interested Cadet families at the Spring and SummerNationals, and SKUSA still has a few of these engines available for Shawano. And as a reminder, the weekend winner of the TaG Cadet class in Shawano will also receive a complete Mini Rok engine package. If you are the parents of a Cadet driver who would like to sample this new category at the SummerNationals, you are urged to contact the SKUSA head office to sign up for the program. The TaG Cadet class will be the only opportunity for a young driver aged 9-12 to participate at this years SuperNationals in Las Vegas, so getting a taste of the new powerplant at the SummerNats has many advantages.

This inaugural Mothers Polish SummerNationals is set to go on the July 16-18 weekend at USA International Raceway in Shawano, WI. Registration remains open via www.superkartsusa.com and the pre-entry cutoff is Sunday, July 4.


 

7-2-10 Come see what all the buzz is about. LAKC Round 5

Los Angeles Kart Club June 13, 2010, Race 5 of 9

Race #5 of the LAKC season kicked off under perfect weather conditions. With a Gulf of Mexico feeling in the air the unusually long driver's meeting took place. The previous months winners were recognized for their win, or wins as was the case for Jake Craig and Jake drew, hey what’s with the Jake name? After last month's event where a plethora of penalties were handed out drivers were reminded of the rules once more in case they forgot. “We are a family fun competitive kart racing series, let’s not lose sight of that.....peace”, said the little Mexican race director David Jimenez who  pulled double duty as Guy Kesee had to miss this event. Bayan Salehi was the lucky winner of a free entry for July's LAKC race after Gatorz  MC, Chappy drew the winning safety test from over 70 completed tests.

Racers soon took to the track for the day's action running the CalSpeed Kart Track Nuevo configuration in the clockwise direction. Following a flawless two practice sessions qualifying led to the heats, and the heats were just a prelude to the mains.

Heat Race Highlights:

Heat one for the Junior 1 class was maybe the best race of the day with the top 5 trading the lead until Justice Lepe edged out a celebrating Christian Brooks for the win. Then a red flag in masters as coming onto the front stretch #84 Bradley Anstis had a slow roll over. The ambulance would stay putt as he was ok. Dzurilla made it boring and Jarrod Bradley fought for a second. Hayden Wagner took the kid kart heat, Jesse Huaman and Dane LaTorre had nothing for Jake Craig. KPV-1 saw a good fight for the win with Brooks on top, for now. Chanler Campbell started 8^th in her first Rotax Senior race, but it was Zeen all the way.

2pm main events:

Short handed because a miscommunication with the flagging team left LAKC short handed, but their fine members stepped up to share the duties until the official corner workers arrived just in time for the mains.

Jr. 1 – Justice Lepe (in a new BA-1 chassis) led the first two circuits of the final followed closely by Christian Brooks and Chase McDaniel. Brooks slid by on lap three to grab the lead but it was short lived as Jake Drew took over the point a few laps later. Drew's time out front didn't last long as Lepe regained the top spot. The running order of Lepe, Drew, Brooks, McDaniel and Cooper Whitbread remained unchanged for a few laps, but soon the villagers became restless again. McDaniel started picking off positions one by one as Drew fell back with Brooks. In the end we saw a fabulous photo finish with McDaniel inching out Lepe for the win by a scant .040. Brooks was right there only 2 tenths back to finish 3^rd. Whitbread came away with a solid 4^th and a strong performance by Ian Wesolowsky earned him 5^th.

Masters Rotax – If DW (announcer Dave Williams) was in attendance he would have said it was a snoozer for everyone but Steve Dzurrilla. The mighty Dzurrilla went flag to flag taking yet another win. Larry Hayashigawa picked up a few positions to finish in 2^nd place while poor Bradley, who started up front got dropped back to 10^th. Dave Rivera too turned in a solid run finishing 3^rd.

Kid Karts – Justin Hodge led the first lap of the final before handing the reigns over to Hayden Wagner. Wagner was on fire and easily bested the field by an impressive six seconds. The challenge for 2^nd place between Myles Farhan and Anthony Willis early was exciting to see. Willis who hails all the way from Arizona went home with the 2^nd place trophy. Farhan maintained 3^rd place while Brandon Eshom had a good showing for 4^th. Damon Bustamante back from a little hiatus rounded out the podium with a pleasant 5^th.

KPV2- Once again Jake Craig was the man to beat in this challenging class, and once again he took the green, took the white and cruised to the checkered flag. Jesse Huaman was best in class, solidly running to a 2^nd place finish and well ahead of the dynamic battle for 3^rd place. Alec Karas, Willem Elsdon, Cory Davidson and Dane LaTorre all vied for the position with Davidson eventually winning out over the others. Elsdon finished 4^th and LaTorre rebounded from losing a battle with a curb to finish in 5^th.

KPV1 – The KPV1 pole went to Jake Drew, just .052 ahead of Chase McDaniel. Christian Brooks kicked it up a notch in the prefinal as he and Drew were able to gain a slight advantage over the rest of the field. Brooks and Justice Lepe traded the lead in the opening laps before having to yield to McDaniel. McDaniel didn't have to chase any more and finished strong with a 3 second buffer and the win. The fight for 2^nd never ceased as Drew fought back and brought it home ahead of Brooks and Lepe. Andrew Murowatz led the field's charge to the line with 5^th place. It was good to see last year's Kid Kart standout Ethan Barrett and Anthony Sawyer running solidly in the field.

Shifters – The Shifter classes sported lower than average turnouts this weekend for some reason. You would think with all the money up for grabs in the KalGard Challenge more people would jump on it, but never the less we saw moments of good racing with Erik “Action” Jackson winning Spec by a mile and Troy Butts winning in the open category. Most importantly Butts was the overall winner, besting all shifter drivers on track. John Chott gave Butts all he had, challenging lap after lap but was unable to make anything stick. Chott had to settle for 2^nd overall and 2^nd in Open.

TaG/ PRD – Jason Bunch and Nick Cole had a dynamic duel in TAG while Devon Lindsey and Elliot Skeer went at it for PRD Sr. supremacy. Qualifying set the tone for the rest of the day with Bunch just edging out Cole for the pole and Skeer doing the same in PRD. The prefinal continued with the same story line except for Lindsey getting the better of his rival and finishing first in PRD. The finals were as close as you can get with Bunch beating Cole to the finish by just .121. Skeer was finally able to drop Lindsey but only after a valiant effort to score his win and 3^rd overall behind the two TAG drivers of Bunch and Cole.

JR Rotax, MiniMax, PRD Jr – At some point Jake Craig has to get tired of running all alone out front, maybe not, and I'm sure all the first place trophies help ease his burden. In the combined PRD Jr, MiniMax, and Rotax Jr. Craig was once again in prime form. Breanna Miscione and Emmanuel Mestre were the ony fellow Rotax Jr. drivers able to even stay remotely close to the #00 of Craig. Once the green flag flew there was little change in the running order and Craig inched his way out to a small lead over Miscione and Mestre. They ran like that for the entire duration of the final with Craig earning another win. Good efforts on the part of his rivals but they are going to have to do some extra credit work to catch up at the next event. Time Desilva and Nova Brown rounded out the top five in Rotax Jr. MiniMax saw Noah Grey led the way and run virtually unchallenged to the checkered flag. Behind him two Nicks, Ramirez and Hays scrimmaged for the runner's up position. The first have Ramirez led the charge against Grey, but eventually Hays was able to get by and secure 2^nd place. Liam Winston, Joey Ritorto and Austin Schrader finished things off.

Rotax Senior – Adam Zeen had some competition this month in the popular Rotax Sr. class. With the pole things looked bright for young Zeen, but hot on his heals were Neil Alberico and John Crow. The top 13 drivers had less than a second separation. The prefinal saw Alberico take an early lead and never give it back. Zeen was right there to pounce, but settled for 2^nd. Michael Graves and Troy McCall got around Crow and set the order to start the final. Alberico once again got another great start and sped off into the lead. Zeen and McCall jumped into his slipstream determined to not let him get away. Alberico pased the field until just past halfway when Zeen made the move for the win. McCall and Brett Sheffer still ran close, but were a few lengths back in 3^rd and 4^th. Zach Woodslord held down fifth on track and was clear of Bayan Salehi and Graves. Zeen brought it home with Alberico waiving tech from 2^nd so he could catch a plane. This bumped everyone up a position so McCall finished 2^nd, Sheffer 3^rd, Woodslord 4^th and Salehi. Steve Novikoff did an outstanding job giving room to the leaders when he got lapped, and although he wasn’t in the hunt for the win he still finished ahead of some top notch competitors in the results like Crow and Morotta.

While other clubs are struggling to get 50 entries LAKC leads the way with a constant 125 plus. With top notch club racing both beginner and pro drivers come to test their skills against the best racers In Southern California. LAKC regularly sees drivers from neighboring states like Nevada and Arizona make the long trip to race with the best.

“Come see what all the buzz is about” and  join LAKC for their July 25^th event at CalSpeed Kart Track in Fontana,CA. Like the saying goes, “rain or shine, you are going to have a good time”. For information on everything LAKC please click on www.lakc.org.