Events

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The big race of the day was the Rotax Senior Max. The solid field of 19 seniors and four masters was split into two groups for qualifying. The combined times put Tyler Wheeler (Scuderia PCR) on top followed by Chris Glover (Arrow) and Bryce Choquer (Tony Kart) making up the top three. Local pilot Scott Campbell (Ital Kart), running as a Senior and not a Master, took fourth followed by rookie Daniel Burkett (Arrow). The prefinal was a hard fought battle as points front runners looked to stay at the sharp end of the action. Wheeler ran well up front along with Choquer, Glover and Campbell as drivers ran in close in formation through the early stages. Contact on lap 13 between Choquer and Glover would see the Tony kart driver retire. At the line it was Wheeler, Campbell and Glover as the top three. Post race penalties would see Glover moved to the rear of the field just two spots back of Choquer to set up a dramatic final.

In the final it was Wheeler with the holeshot as the field of 23 karts dove into the tight corner one-two complex. The Senior group had done a good job on the weekend getting through corner one and the final race was another good clean start with not too much drama. Wheeler was followed through into corner three by Burkett and Campbell while Choquer and Glover began to cut through the field. Choquer moved forward taking inside passing moves in the back section while Glover chose to use late braking into corner one to move himself forward. Never more then a couple of karts apart, the duo paced each other as they moved toward the front. Meanwhile back at the front, Wheeler began to stretch out a lead while the steely veteran Campbell sized up the rookie hot shoe Burkett. The young driver didn’t crack under the intense pressure and with just a few circuits remaining Campbell would pounce to take P2. At the line it was Wheeler going lights to flag and taking the win by 3.5 seconds over Campbell and Burkett. Choquer drove forward from 20th to take fourth with Noel Dowler rounding out the top five. Glover would go from 23rd to secure 6th in the final tally. At the days podium presentation it would be Wheeler, Campbell and Burkett standing tall in Senior with Blair Gautschi (Arrow) taking the Masters win, sharing the podium with Keith Miller (Marenello) and Jerry Van Beilen (Arrow).

The two-speed crowd was not going to disappoint the fans in the stands as they looked to put on a great show. The combined DD2 and DD2 Maters field saw Scott Campbell (Ital Kart) take pole over Kyle Stevens (CRG) and Thomas McGregor (Arrow) with Travis MacDonald (Ital Kart) and Noel Dowler (Tony Kart) rounding out the fast five. In the prefinal Campbell would use his international and local experience to grab the lead and take the win by 5.8 seconds over Stevens and MacDonald. In the final it was McDonald getting out front while Campbell sat in second to hold off McGregor, Stevens and Ayrton Triolo (Ital Kart), who like McGregor, was taking a break from his car-racing program to run the SKR track. At the line it was MacDonald with his first win of the year over Campbell with McGregor in third. At the podium in DD2 it was MacDonald, McGregor and Stevens grabbing the hardware with Campbell and Jeff Bachalo (Tony Kart) taking the DD2 Masters trophies.

Another anticipated race of the day was the Rotax Junior Max class. Saturday’s incredible race showed some great skill from some risky strategies. In qualifying it was Matthew Moniz (Mach 1) showing the way with a lap of 45.232, beating Garett Grist (Birel) by 0.087 with Adam Dowler (Tony Kart) taking the third spot. In the prefinal it was Moniz again showing the way taking a big win over Emily Maddison (Scuderia PCR), Grist, Austin King (Scuderia PCR) and Gianfranco Sartor (Scuderia PCR). In the final the anticipation would evaporate quickly as Moniz grabbed a lead from the lights and began to check out on the field. Grist would slot into second and try to chase down Moniz with Maddison in tow. A great battle for 4th, 5th and 6th would wage between King, Sartor and Kyoichi Tsutsui (CRG). After 22 laps it was Moniz going all the way to take the a huge win over Grist and Maddison with King taking fourth and Sartor taking fifth to round out the top five.

Rotax Mini Max would run the Sunday in the dry after contesting a wet final on Saturday. In the four lap timed qualifying it was Mark Newson (Scuderia PCR) with fast time of 48.241 followed by Tristan Merke (Birel) and Brendan Deibert (Scuderia PCR). Newson would back up his pole run with the win in the prefinal over Merke and Coltin McCaughan (Ital Kart). In the final Newson would look to make up for the Saturday gamble and try to run at the front. At the checkerd flag it was Newson with the win followed by Merke and McCaughan, giving Newson maximum points on the day.

The Rotax Mirco Max drivers of Griffin Dowler (Tony Kart) and Adam Robinson (Tony Kart) would run with the Junior 1 group and had their own battle within a battle all day long. Dowler would out qualifying Robinson with Dowler also getting the edge in the prefinal. In the final the two young drivers did a great job with Dowler just edging out Robinson for the final win. Look for this class to grow in the near term.

Support classes were well represented with the Senior Honda group pulling a solid and well-seasoned field of both light and heavy pilots. In qualifying it was Ian Brown leading the way just 0.063 over Neil Boyle (Arrow) followed by Damon Meier. In the prefinal Brown would back up his qualifying run with the win by scant 0.096 over Boyle and Matt Bradley (Arrow). In the final it was great racing action on the track and some more action after the engines had cooled. At the line it was Brown crossing first with Meier in second and Van Beilan in third. Post race technical infractions saw Brown sent back to 8th, Meier to 9th and fourth place finisher Darin Derbyshire (Swiss Hutless) back to 10th. This gave Van Beilan the win with Shaun Derksen in second and Jeff Graham (Arrow) rounding out the podium.

The Junior 1 group headed out looking to keep the close racing going from Saturday. Garett ‘GG’ Gulenchyn (Arrow) took pole with a time of 52.948 followed in the standings by Jessica Dezall (Scuderia PCR) and Steven Bachalo (Arrow). Gulenchyn would grab the prefinal win over a hard charging Ty Stone up from his fifth starting spot and Dezall. In the final it was Gulenchyn making the clean sweep by taking the final win by a 1.27 second margin. Gulenchyn would share the podium with Dezall and Stone. Alan Haggerty and Bryson MacDonald (Arrow) would round out the top five.

In Junior 2, first blood would be drawn by Skylar Dunning (CRG) who was building on a solid Saturday set of performances as he took pole with a time of 52.260. Bradley Dezall (Scuderia PCR) would secure the other front row spot with Tristan Merke (Birel) and John Buzza (Arrow) making up row two. Dezall would take the prefinal win over Merke and Buzza with Yakov Zaretskin (Arrow) moving up to take the fourth spot. Dezall would keep his momentum going as he powered away from the field to take the win over Matthew Shirley (Arrow) and Merke, who was taking her second podium of the day.

“The South Florida RMax Challenge is a great series with lots of good drivers,” comments Andre Serra, Team Principal of RDD Motorsports. “Our results have been good and we like coming back to race every chance we get.”

In Mini Max it was the brother duo of Dalton and Logan Sargeant showing the way. In qualifying Dalton took fast time with Logan setting up in third spot. That order would hold in the prefinal as Dalton took the win and set fast lap with Logan crossing in third. In the final it was Dalton with the holeshot and Logan slotting into the second spot looking to pull away on the field. Dalton would lead for the first seven circuits until Logan took over to lead the field heading into lap eight. On the last lap Dalton would go back to the lead bringing the third place kart with him. At the line it was Dalton with the win and another fastest lap. Logan would hang on for the third spot on the podium box.

In Junior Max it was team regular Sebastian Ordonez working with junior rookie Garrett Sargeant. In timed qualifying it was Ordonez slotting into the second position with Sargeant clocking through in the 9th spot. The prefinal was a hard fought battle with Ordonez swapping the third and fourth spots throughout the race. At the line it was Ordonez holding onto third with Sargeant moving forward to grab sixth. The final was a solid run for Ordonez as he grabbed second off the start and set out to chase down the leader. At the end of 12 laps, it was Ordonez settling for second while Sargeant battled hard and held onto the sixth spot for a solid top ten finish.

RDD Motorsports continues to sit well in the South Florida RMax Challenge championship points standings. Dalton holds onto top spot in the standings after five rounds having not missed the podium yet with Logan in the third spot. In Junior Max it is Ordonez also grabbing hardware in all five rounds topping the points standings while Garrett holds down the fifth spot in the points tally.

“The big focus for us right now is the US Rotax Grand Nationals,” continues Serra. “We are in good shape heading in and look to have some success for our drivers.”

The team will take a short break before they make a return trip to New Castle Motorsports Park on July 15 to 17 for the US Rotax Grand Nationals. The team scored well in the 2009 US Rotax Grand Nationals and will look to take home more titles in 2010. The RRD Motorsports team will head back to Las Vegas for the SuperNats late in the year.

The event marked the first combined event of the season for the BSRKC where all twelve official classes took part. Adding in two local club supported classes, fourteen final races were held, with twelve different winners amongst the 175 entries. Doubling up on the weekend, local racers Grant Quinlan and Greg Rempel each scored a pair of victories. With their excellent performances on the weekend, they both earned the ‘Autosports Media Group BSRKC Driver of the Weekend’ awards. An extra special award was given to Durkac Karting for making the eight-hour trek from Sudbury for the race and providing one of Canada’s most talented karters, Aaron de Heus, with a chance to jump back into the driver’s seat.

The racing surface held up very well in Leamington, although tire management was very important throughout the 25 lap final races. For many, this event was their first trip to the PPK track, and judging by their smiles, it won’t be their last.

Saturday Report:

Kicking off the day’s final races, the local option Cadet class took to the track after lunch. Leading the field into turn one, Ciarra Collison, daughter of multi-time BSRKC Champion Jake Collison, erupted as the leader, while Tommy Quinlan got a great run to exit the corner in second place from his fourth position starting spot. While Quinlan battled with Ryley Hulme for second place, Collison was able to drive away. Never looking back, the young racer secured her first BSRKC victory. Hulme was able to sneak by and take the second position, followed by Quinlan.

The Honda Jr. Medium class provided plenty of excitement as fifteen karts took the green flag led by Scotty Nagel. Grant Quinlan, older brother of Cadet racer Tommy Quinlan, converted his front row starting spot into the early lead, followed closely by Nagel. Behind them, Nicholas Ledson and Jaret Stewart pushed hard to keep up with the front two, and after a handful of laps, it was a four-kart race for the lead. The quad ran nose-to-tail for a majority of the race, until Nagel made a move for the lead with two laps to go. Quinlan tried to counter the attack with a pass in turn six but was denied and in turn, lost his and Stewart’s momentum. Nagel held the lead through the first half of the final lap before Ledson dove to the inside of Nagel in turn six. Contact between the two resulted in Ledson’s kart flipping over top of Nagel. Limping to the finish line, Nagel was declared the winner, followed by Quinlan and Stewart. Ledson was able to walk away from the incident with some slight scratches on his arm, and was able to race his Rotax Junior race, later in the afternoon.

In the Rotax DD2 class, point’s leader Michael Glaze was embedded in a great daily battle with Eric Gerrits. Making his 2010 BSRKC debut, Gerrits pushed Glaze to his limits, and in the final race, the two swapped the lead early on. Cory Cacciavillani and Matthew Di Leo also joined the two in the early stages of the race, but by the midway point, found themselves in a battle for third place. Glaze was able to post continuous fast laps in the second half to pull a slight gap on Gerrits as the two received the last lap board. Taking yet another victory and a commanding point lead, Glaze held on for the win joined by Gerrits and Di Leo on the podium.

Entering his second race of the day, Grant Quinlan was the man to beat in Rotax Mini-Max. The 2009 BSRKC class champion dominated the day’s action, taking the pole position in qualifying, as well as the pre-final and final victories. Putting in a great drive in his debut on a Greenspeed TonyKart, JP Hutchinson drove through the field in the final race. From his last place starting position, he posted times equivalent to race winner Quinlan en route to an impressive second place finish. Rounding out the podium, point leader Braydon Strik finished in third place.

The second local option class taking part in the BSRKC action was the TaG Sr./TaG Masters class. Competing together but scored separately, the two classes were full of flavour. Aboard his Vortex Rok powered Kosmic Kart, Cory Cacciavillani controlled the Sr.’s, followed by the Rotax of Alex Watzke, and the IAME Leopard of Matt Haggith. In the Masters, it was the IAME Leopard Italkart of Dale Cook topping the charts followed by the Rotax of Greg Howe and the Leopard of Joe Patrick.

Austin Milwain continued his 2010 dominance of the Rotax Junior class, as the Greenspeed pilot once again controlled the class. Unbeaten so far this season in BSRKC competition, Milwain swept the day’s action to make it five-for-five this year. Michael Taibi was able to benefit from a mid-race incident to hold onto second place, while Jamie Lockwood earned his first podium finish in the class with a great drive to third place.

Saturday’s final race featured another great battle between Zack Meyer and Addison Rayner. The duo has now raced together for three full seasons with great respect for each other. Meyer was able to grab the holeshot into turn one, and with that, the early race lead. Trying everything to get by, Rayner hounded Meyer the entire race, but just couldn’t quite make the move. That is, until the final lap, where an uncommon mistake by Meyer, handed the victory to Rayner. Exiting the final corner, Meyer slowed thinking he had already won the race, and was going to grab the checkered flag for a victory lap. Never giving up and always running until the end, Rayner scooted by Meyer before the finish line and took the win. The confused Meyer admitted his mistake, but vowed it would never happen again.

Sunday Report:

Headlining Sunday’s racing was the dominating performance by Greg Rempel. The local racer, competing in only a select few events throughout the year, scored two compelling victories in the Sr. Lite and Sr. Heavy classes.

After weighing in just under the minimum in Sr. Heavy qualifying, Rempel charged through the field in the pre-final, making his way up to fourth place and a great starting position for the final. Tucking into third place on the start, it only took Rempel a handful of laps to take the lead. Once out front, he never looked back, en route to an impressive five-second victory. Behind him, Marc Stehle and Cory Cacciavillani displayed a great 25-lap battle with Stehle getting the upper hand at the finish line and a sweep of the podium by Leamington area racers.

In his second race of the day in Sr. Lite, Rempel earned the pole position for the final with a great run in the pre-final. Leading the field into turn one, the outside row got a great run and Rempel settled for third place exiting corner three. However, once again, it didn’t take long for Rempel to work himself back into the lead. In cruise control, he never looked back, taking his second victory of the afternoon. After leading the opening laps, Aaron de Heus eventually was scored in second place in his debut on an Arrow chassis with Durkac Karting. Jeremy Brutzki also has a great drive to stand on the podium in third place.

Pulling double duty on the weekend, Marc Stehle also entered the Masters class. Taking the pole-position and the pre-final, Stehle looked very good heading into the final race. But multi-time BSRKC Champion Jake Collison would have something to say about that. The two quickly broke away from the field on the start and began a 25-lap chess match. Swapping the lead back and forth, the two bounced off each other many times throughout the race, but neither held the lead for more than a handful of laps. Leading as the two took the last-lap board, Collison held the lead through turn one and two with Stehle all over him. A tight line through turn four allowed Stehle to get a run inside into the tight turn five hairpin. Contact between the two sent Collison through the dirt into a spin, with Stehle getting away to the checkered flag. However, the contact was deemed Stehle’s fault and resulted in a one-position penalty, giving the win to Collison, who recovered to cross well behind in second. Silently holding onto third place, Robin McLean earned his first ever BSRKC podium finish.

In the Junior Heavy class, the duo of Grant Quinlan and Sean McPhee were atop the results all weekend. McPhee posted the fastest time in qualifying, while Quinlan won the pre-final and inside pole-position for the final. Grabbing the lead into one, Quinlan lead lap one, while McPhee worked back into second place after being squeezed into third in the opening corners. From there the two, worked together to beak away from the remainder of the class to settle the race on their own. However, with two laps remaining, the two encountered some lapped traffic, and although Quinlan got through easily, McPhee was held up just enough that he wasn’t able to make the move he was hoping to for a shot at victory. Pumping his fist all the way down the front straight, Quinlan earned his second victory of the weekend and his third podium finish capping off a great weekend for the youngster. In a great battle for the final podium spot, Scotty Nagel was able to outrun Spencer Todd, who was making the debut of the much-anticipated Tecno 4-Cycle chassis.

Both the Jr. Lite and Novice classes were very much the same as two karts were able to break away early and battle amongst themselves for victory. In Jr. Lite, Jaret Stewart led the opening twenty laps, before Clay Van Eerd jumped out front. The two then swapped the lead for the final five laps, but with a great counter attack pass by Stewart with two laps to go, he was able to pull a three kart-length lead to take him to victory. In Novice, Austin Bisschop and Ty Lucio continued their ongoing battle for Novice supremacy with a drag race to the finish line, with Bisschop crossing a mere nine-hundredths of a second ahead, to earn his second victory of the season. Matteus Makos and Roman DeAngelis completed the podium in Jr. Lite and Novice respectively.

In the final race of the weekend, the Rotax Senior class put on a great show for the fans. The only 2-stroke class racing on Sunday, Michael Glaze was able to turn his pole position into a pre-final victory, holding off point’s leader Andy Jaffray. A tough start in the final for Jaffray forced him back to sixth rounding lap one. Working his way back through the field was just enough to allow Glaze to get away. Holding off the charging Jaffray at the finish line, Glaze earned the victory ahead of Jaffray and Alex Watzki.

Over the weekend, ten classes qualified for cash prizes. The BSRKC series presented a total of $3000.00 in cash to the top three finishers in those classes.

On July 10-11, the series will continue its busy month this weekend with a race for six of it’s official 4-cycle classes: Novice, Jr. Lite, Jr. Heavy, Sr. Lite, Sr. Heavy, and Masters at the Flamboro Speedway hosted by the Waterloo Regional Kart Club. The event has also added a special non-points race for the F125 Shifter class. Following Flamboro, all the classes will reconvene for the prestigious ‘Bear Hunt’ races at Shannonville Motorsports Park on July 28-August 1.

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.
“We’d love to officially welcome everyone to come and join us in Shawano for the SummerNationals,” offers Tom Kutscher, SKUSA President. “There’s 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 that’s 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. It’s going to be a fun summer vacation! We’ll do a little golfing, enjoy some BBQ with our karting friends, new and old, and we’ll get the chance to hit a great racetrack for some hardcore competition. That’s 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 SKUSA’s 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 they’ll 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 who’s 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, NorCal’s 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 winner’s 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 Manufacturer’s 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 SKUSA’s 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 year’s SuperNationals in Las Vegas, so getting a taste of the new powerplant at the SummerNats has many advantages.