8-25-10 RLOKC Race #6 Report

Red Line Oil Karting Championship's Northern California Rotax Challenge made its first visit of 2010 to the tight confines of the Kinsmen Kart Club at Dixon this past weekend with the largest Rotax turnout at Dixon ever. The weather was perfect on Sunday for some great racing. The host, Kinsmen Kart Club put on a great BBQ for the racers along with root beer floats in the afternoon and two piñatas for the kids to beat on and collect all the candy. All class winners were given a driving suit cleaning kit provided by Molecule. The Senior Rotax winner also took home a GoPro Hero Camera.

Senior Rotax & Cambrian Go-Karts Junior Rotax
With seven seniors and three junior entries, these two classes were combined to make for the most exciting race of the day. Senior points leader Carlos Calderon took the pole ahead of new junior graduate Sean McDonald and Amber Friedberg. Bobby Tifft was the top Junior in sixth with Brody Zink in seventh. In the heat race, Calderon and McDonald did some rubbing as they drove into turn one with Calderon leading into the turn. McDonald held his position to come home in second with Raymund Bustamante, Jr. overtaking Friedberg to take third. In the Junior class, Tifft held the Junior class point for most of the race with Zink falling back at the start. Brody worked his way past a few senior class karts and got by Tifft to take sixth overall and first in the Junior heat race.

At the green flag for the Main, Calderon went to the front with Friedberg getting a good start moving into second. Tifft also got a great start and moved into fifth, leading the junior class. Calderon and Friedberg went nose to tail for the first fifteen laps with Bustamante close behind and Tifft moving up to fourth overall right on Bustamante's bumper. With three laps to go, the two leaders battled so hard that they moved high on the track going into the last corner and left the door open for both Bustamante and Tifft to slip by. With too few laps left, Bustamante went on to the win and took both the Senior Class win as well as winning the GoPro Hero Camera. Tifft took second overall and first in the Junior class with his best drive ever, a fantastic run for the veteran junior driver. Calderon came home third (second in Senior), Friedberg fourth (third in Senior), Jarrett Lile fifth (fourth in Senior) and Joshua Feiber sixth (second in Junior).

Rotax Mini Max
The MiniMax class continues to grow with ten karts making up the Dixon field, the largest field in series history. Michael Michoff took the pole ahead of Blaine Rocha, Michael Avansino and Scott Huffaker. In the heat race, Michoff lead the entire race but was being chased by three drivers who have all won features this year. Rocha held his second place with Avansino in third, Gino Gigliotti in fourth and Justin Yanez in fifth. In the Main, Michoff took the early lead but Rocha found a way by and took over the race lead by mid-race. After two straight wins at Infineon, Avansino could not come up with the speed to overtake Michoff and had to settle for a well deserved third. Gigliotti came home in fourth with Colin Daley putting in his best drive of the year to come home fifth and take the last trophy spot. For his win, Blaine won the Sanzaru $50 cash first place prize as well as the Molecule driving suit cleaning kit.

Rotax Masters & Masters Light
With thirteen entries between the two classes, this race group was the largest race group of the day. The pole was won by Andrea Delfanti (Light), followed by Jerry Pretti (Light), Andre Eriksen (Masters), Mary Beth Wilson (Light) and Mert Solis (Light). In the heat race, Delfanti lead the front rows through the first turn, but some bumping would cause Steve Weiss to drop out with a bent axle. No one could match Andrea's speed as he lead the race flag to flag. But behind Andrea, a good battle was raging with Wilson leading Eriksen much of the race. Late in the race, Eriksen took advantage of a lapped traffic situation to get by and take second overall (first in Masters), followed by Wilson, Pretti and Corey Mitchell.

In the Main, Delfanti took the lead at the drop of the green and checked out again leaving the rest of the field battling for second. Eriksen charged into turn one right behind Delfanti and took over the second spot. But mid-race, mechanical problems hit Delfanti which ended his race. Now Eriksen was in the lead and the heavier Masters class driver pushed his kart to try and stay in front of three or four fast Light karts. While the leaders were battling, Steve Weiss came from his last place starting position and made one pass after another and by mid-race was lapping much faster than the leaders. As the laps counted down, Weiss passed the four top Light karts to take the class lead and was zeroing in on Eriksen for the race lead when the checkered came out. Overall win went to Eriksen as well as the Masters class win. Second overall and first in Light went to Steve Weiss, his first feature class win ever. Third was Light points leader Mary Beth Wilson with her best Dixon effort. Fourth went to Luca Delfanti (Light) and Fifth to Cory Mitchell (Light). Peter Breidinger finished sixth overall and second in the Masters class.

Rotax DD2
Five karts took the green with Michael Ostrowski returning after a 2 year absence to take the pole ahead of Andre Eriksen who was running his first DD2 race with points leader January Grove in third. In the heat race, Ostrowski took the lead at the green followed by Eriksen, Dave Moody and Grove. Eriksen hounded the young Ostrowski for the entire twelve laps and when the two were getting around a lapped driver, Eriksen took the best line and slipped by Michael to take the lead and the heat race win followed by Grove and Moody. At the start of the Main, Eriksen lead at the green followed by Ostrowski and Grove and the three went nose to tail for the first fifteen laps. Eriksen was not giving Ostrowski much of a look for making a pass so Michael used his experience to try a pass where few would ever go and he slipped by with two laps to go to take the win ahead of Eriksen and Grove, a great return race for Ostrowski.

The race day was a great day for the visiting Rotax racers, having fun with the challenge of the Dixon track as well as enjoying the hospitality of the host Kinsmen Kart Club. RLOKC's Northern California Rotax Challenge will return to Dixon on Sunday, September 19th. Next up for the Red Line Oil Karting Championship is a return to Infineon Raceway this Sunday, August 29th to race on the National track configuration. Results for the Dixon race will be posted at www.norcalrotax.com. For more information about the RLOKC's Northern California Rotax Challenge, go to www.norcalrotax.com.