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| December 29, 2012 |
| Neri and Gangi Score Double Wins During Day One of WKA Daytona KartWeek |
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 | TaG and Komet Pro winner Nick Neri
(Photo: Sean Buur - Go Racing Magazine) |
The time between Christmas and New Year’s brings hundreds of karters to Florida for the annual World Karting Association Daytona KartWeek, held at the Daytona International Speedway. The ‘World Center of Speed’ hosts three events on three different tracks - the National Road Racing Series on the 3.5-mile road course, the Dirt World Championships on the flat track outside NASCAR turn 1-2, and the Manufacturers Cup Series inside NASCAR turn 3-4. Over 500 pre-entries were scheduled on the dirt and the sprint track before arriving to the event with the regular die-hard speedsters ready to hit the high banks, showing just how important and popular racing at Daytona is. Rain during the morning hours brought on a challenge for the competitors, but by morning’s end, the sun was out and dry tires were back on. Two of the big winners on the day included Nick Neri and Anthony Gangi Jr., as they each won two races, while NASCAR’s Jamie McMurray secured his second straight year with a win during his annual return back to the sport he loves.
The new Yamaha Senior category, featuring the new spec pipe replacing the former can muffler, kicked off the round of classes in the opening day. In wet conditions, Tony Jump piloted his Margay to the pole position in the 22-kart field. A throttle issue however in the Prefinal slowed his pace as he dropped to 15th, allowing Patrick Olsen - running his first event aboard a new Top Kart, taking the race win. The Final came down to he and Dakota Pesek, who came up from seventh on the grid for the duel. In the end, Pesek’s Arrow machine edged out Olsen in the closing laps for the victory. Senior rookies Chase Jones (Top Kart) and Joel Jens (Tony Kart) fought for third while Jump recorded the fast laps of the race to climb to fifth in a great recovery. The new Komet Pro category welcomed 13 drivers with Merlin driver Darin Marcus on the pole position in the wet session. Florida pilot Jonathan Kotyk (Tony Kart) scored the Prefinal win, but it was all Nick Neri (Tony Kart) in the main event, driving away to a two-second victory aboard his Tony Kart. Olsen recorded his second runner-up on the day, beating Kotyk for the position. Senior rookie Kyle Kalish (Merlin) was fourth with Marcus in fifth.
 | NASCAR's Jamie McMurray scored victory in the IAME class in day one
(Photo: Sean Buur - Go Racing Magazine) |
NASCAR’s Jamie McMurray made his annual return to karting for Daytona KartWeek and left the opening day with one pole position and one victory in two classes. He started out as the top qualifier in a damp timed session for TaG, piloting his own JMK chassis with Parilla X30 power. The Prefinal saw a dry track and drivers on new Bridgestone tires, with veteran Mike Giessen (Tony Kart) coming from third for the win. He was able to hold off Nick Neri to cross the stripe first, but was removed in tech. This handed the win to Neri, his first in the WKA TaG class, to move Jacob Knueven (Arrow) to second, McMurray third, Jonathan Kotyk (Tony Kart) fourth and Mark Boos (Top Kart) in fifth.
In the IAME class, McMurray came just two thousandths of a second off the pole position time, set by KartSport North America/Arrow driver Will Owen. McMurray however was able to work by for the lead in the Prefinal, scoring the win by two seconds and drove to a 1.8-second margin of victory for this second straight year winning at Daytona KartWeek. Tommy Andersen was second in his Team Top Kart USA debut, Knueven another podium on the day in third, multi-time WKA champ Robert Bujdoso (PCR) in fourth and Derek Dignan (Arrow) in fifth for his Senior debut. TaG Masters was swept by DB Motorsports’ Brian McHattie (Exprit). Both in wet and dry conditions, McHattie had the pace to lead the 20-kart field, earning the victory by just over three seconds in the Final. Colorado driver Scott Falcone (Arrow) kicked off his Daytona debut with a second place over former WKA champs Scott Ferris (Top Kart) and Jeff Jewell (Margay) with John Ferris III (Top Kart) completing the top-five.
Ryan Raffa became another first time winner, earning his first Junior checkered flag in the Yamaha feature. Austin McCusker (Haase) was the top qualifier in the class in wet conditions with Raffa coming through on a dry track for the Prefinal win. The Top Kart driver fought off Birel pilot Grant Quinlan for the Final victory. Brandon Jarsocrak was a close third with the Birel duo Austin Osborne and Matt Solarczyk rounding out the top-five. Davey Manthei Jr. (Arrow), from Washington, scored the pole position in the Komet division, making his first WKA and Daytona start. He settled for second behind Raffa in the Prefinal, but it was McCusker that celebrated across the stripe after 14 laps. Raffa settled for second with Gresham Wagner (Arrow) in third. Derek Sobel (Parolin) was fourth with Solarczyk earning another fifth position.
Anthony Gangi Jr. (Tony Kart) had a breakout day in WKA competition, crossing the line first in three classes on the day but only earning two victories due to penalties. The defending Rotax Grand Nationals Mini Max champ began in Komet Sportsman third through qualifying and Prefinal, behind top time setter Brandon Lemke (Merlin) and race winner David Malukas (Birel). Gangi and Malukas went down to the wire with Gangi crossing 16 thousandths ahead of Malukas. Lemke was third with Zach Holden (Top Kart) fourth and John Paul Southern Jr. (PCR) in fifth. Holden was his top challenger in Cadet Sportsman, qualifying first. Gangi prevailed in the Prefinal and squeaked out the victory after a hard fought 14-lap battle. Malukas was a close third with Neil Verhagen (Arrow) and Southern just behind.
 | Double Sportsman winner Anthony Gangi Jr.
(Photo: Sean Buur - Go Racing Magazine) |
Holden was once again the top qualifier in the Yamaha Sportsman division with Gangi all the way back in seventh. Lemke prevailed with the Prefinal win as Gangi worked up to fourth. This time battling with Lemke, Gangi crossed the line first however was removed in tech. Lemke was awarded the win with Verhagen in second. Simon Sikes (Arrow) was advanced to third over Southern with Michael Cruz (Birel) completing the top-five. Jeremy Fairbairn (Tony Kart) was the top gun in Yamaha Rookie, scoring the Prefinal and Final win. Caden Paszkiewicz (Merlin) was top qualifier but was dropped down in the Prefinal where Fairbairn drove to the win by four seconds. He backed it up by an eight-second margin in the 14-lap feature race. Mark Fineis (Birel) was second, Tyler Ferris (Top Kart) third, Carter Cass (Merlin) fourth and Brian Tremper Jr. (CRG) in fifth.
Tony Kart gained a big jump on day one for the WKA Manufacturers Championship Trophy standings, earning five wins on the day. Top Kart, Exprit, Merlin, JMK, Haase and Arrow all earned one win each, looking for more on day two tomorrow with 10 classes set to battle inside the Daytona International Speedway. Watch for updates throughout the final day of action in the Forum Discussion. |
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