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| July 27, 2010 News |
| Menezes, White and Miinch Top WSK North American New Jersey Stop |
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 | Gustavo Menezes was the event champion in the KF2 category, preparing for the WSK World Series event
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
While the third round of the CKI-WSK North American series featured some hard-fought races in a majority of the classes, it was the surprising end to the weekend that featured the wildest action. After Friday’s practice and Saturday’s events were run in extremely hot and humid temperatures, the late Sunday afternoon arrival of an aggressive storm front caught everyone off guard, and the high winds and hard rains that accompanied the thunder and lightning left much of the paddock in ruin. While awnings and tent poles can be replaced, it was an injury to the track’s General Manager Scott Paape that was of particular concern. The popular member of the community severely bruised his ankle when he was struck by one of the poles of the uprooted tech tent amidst the storm’s most violent moments. Once the storm had passed, the paddock turned to clean-up mode, as many of the large tents had taken on serious damage.
Prior to the arrival of Mother Nature, the action on-track was exciting. The racing was tight throughout the weekend as last-lap passes and wild finishes were typical in both the Prefinal and the Finals.
With the WSK World Series race set for the weekend immediately following the WSK North American event, the chance to get some solid test time on the track was the motivation needed to attract a very strong KF2 grid. A seven-kart field featuring some of the country’s finest talents would face off for both weekend supremacy and the valuable momentum heading into the World Series weekend. A surprising finish to the opening day of racing would see Canadian Philip Orcic (CRG) step to the top of the podium, but only after Phil De La O (Top Kart) broke down while out front with a five-second lead and on cruise control. A stripped drive gear left the disappointed young driver on the sidelines with just three to go, turning what was a battle for second into a fight for the lead. Orcic was now dicing with Arie Ouimet (CRG) for the top spot, but the duo was getting chased down by Gustavo Menezes (Tony Kart), who was crawling back after spinning during contact with Joey Wimsett (CRG) during the opening laps. As Orcic and Ouimet scrapped back and forth during the final lap, Menezes closed aggressively enough to make a strong move for second in one of the final corners, almost nipping Orcic at the line for the win. Wimsett would follow through for third after Ouimet went off-track, while Chad Brassfield (Tony Kart) and Madeline Komar (Maranello) completed the top-five.
 | Ron White (c) swept the weekend action for the first KZ2 action of the year for the series, followed by Alex Manglass (l) and Kristian Werkley (r)
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Sunday’s events would be affected by the storm, but Menezes was again impressive in winning the pole in qualifying over De La O, before the latter came back in the Prefinal to take control like he did in the Saturday Final. De La O was very strong throughout the weekend. The Prefinal victory over Menezes and Wimsett would eventually become main event points as well for De La O, as the race officials made the wise decision to shut down the event after the storm arrived as the damage that had been sustained by the paddock and the track was too severe to repair in the amount of daylight that was available. For the classes that did not run mains on Sunday, the Prefinal results will be used as the main event results as well. The end results put Menezes at the top of the overall standings for the weekend ahead of De La O and Orcic.
In KZ2, Ron White (CRG) had the class handled all weekend, although Alex Manglass (CRG) was using the veteran as a marker to gauge his speed. White swept all six sessions through the weekend, including the rain-shortened final that logged just a handful of laps. Manglass was just a tick off White in every session to finish second on both Saturday and Sunday. Likewise, Kristian Werkley (CRG) completed both podiums, ahead of Michael Rivera (Birel) and Mark Abrahams (CRG).
The TaG Senior fight was headlined by the top-three in points: Neil Alberico (Wildkart), Taylor Miinch (Top Kart) and Kyle Wiegand (Top Kart). There were others who joined the party at times, but the lead trio controlled the action for the most part. Miinch took the Saturday pole over Wiegand and Alberico, and then followed this up with a Prefinal win that saw Alberico begin a weekend’s worth of engine issues as he was on the sidelines after the opening lap. In the first Final, Wiegand grabbed hold of the lead early and fought with Miinch for the position, eventually holding him off to score a 0.161-second win to close up the points race. Michael Politis (Merlin) showed good speed all day and cashed this in for a third in the final tally, coming in ahead of Robert Bujdoso (PCR) and Mark Boos (Topkart). Alberico’s weekend woes continued on lap 13 when his engine let go, leaving him with a seventh place finish.
 | Taylor Miinch came away with the event victory in TaG Senior, putting himself in contention for the title
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Things picked up where they left off come Sunday morning, however, Miinch encountered his first issue when he was not able to turn a lap in qualifying. In his absence, Wiegand rolled to the pole by almost three tenths over Alberico, but it was the improvement of Bujdoso that added another element to the fight. The PCR pilot was third in the timed morning session. In the Prefinal, Miinch let everyone know that he meant business as he came from last to first to regain the pole for the final with a stellar attack during the short 12-lap sprint. Wiegand was on Miinch’s bumper in second at the line, ahead of Bojdoso, Politis and Alberico, whose engine expired yet again, just as he crossed the start-finish line. The Final was scheduled as the first main event of the day, missing the incoming weather, so the two Top Kart drivers rekindled their lead fight, albeit joined by Bujdoso, Politis and Alberico in a lead pack. Alberico was dropped midway through the race as he fell off the pace, his patched together powerplant simply no match for the rest of the field. This one would come down to Wiegand and Miinch, with the rookie pulling through for the win. Both drivers made up big ground on Alberico in the championship battle, and the next round at New Castle could be a turning point. Bujdoso turned in his best drive of the weekend to complete the podium in third, ahead of Alberico and Politis.
Like the KF2 grid, the KF3 field was plumped up with drivers looking for track time before running the World Series event this coming weekend. Raquel Martinez (Top Kart) did double duty in New Jersey in KF3 and Leopard Junior, and she was joined by Mason Chelootz (Top Kart) and Trent Hindman (CRG) in exciting racing all weekend. Despite the fact that Chelootz and Hindman were quick, Martinez emerged as the star of the class for the weekend, sweeping Saturday’s events to score the win. The return of Hindman to national karting from his current focus on Skip Barber formula car racing added a great deal to the class, and he would find himself second overall in the day’s main event after chasing Martinez for 13 laps. Chelootz capped the podium. Sunday’s events saw the return of Andrew Palmer (Kosmic), who while fresh off a national title at the Rotax Grand Nationals last weekend had a wedding to attend on Saturday. Palmer wasted no time in putting his name on the class by topping qualifying, outrunning by 0.087 seconds over Martinez and Hindman. In the Prefinal, however, Martinez would again step up to the challenge to post a 0.752-second victory, which once the rain came to scuttle the Final would be her fourth of the weekend. Hindman was again right there in third, ahead of Chelootz and Jake Johnston (Top Kart).
 | Raquel Martinez's performance in KF3 at New Jersey has her out front in the championship chase
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
The make-up of the Leopard Junior field was impressive, featuring top drivers from all four corners of the country. NorCal’s Kiel Spaudling (Top Kart) was the dominant driver throughout the weekend, battling both days with SoCal pilot Martinez (Top Kart), New Jersey resident Shawn Sharkey (Merlin), Californian’s Camden Geise (CRG) and Florida’s Dore Chaponick (FA Kart). Spaudling topped all five of the weekend sessions, but it was closer than it looks in the MyLaps reports. Martinez and Sharkey pushed him hard in the early going of Saturday’s final, and then fought it out amongst themselves to finish in that order once Spaudling had checked out. On Sunday, when the Prefinal would end up counting as the final as well, Geise came back after a difficult Saturday to take second on-track. However, a 10-second penalty for moving out of his lane before the start-finish line at the start dropped him to seventh. This moved Sharkey up to second and Martinez to third, their second podiums of the weekend. These results will certainly shake up the championship standings.
The Cadet categories of the program drew very limited numbers to New Jersey, but as expected, the racing between the leaders was exciting. The wide-open nature of the long F1 New Jersey layout pushes the draft to the forefront for these low-horsepower classes, making sure that they remain close from green to checker. Lose the draft, and it’s a different story. The difference in lap times between two karts drafting and one on its own is a full second.
 | Kiel Spaulding (c) overtook the championship lead in Leopard Junior thanks to his sweep on the weekend, leading Raquel Martinez (l) and Shawn Sharkey (r)
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
In Cadet, Canadian Parker Thompson (Tony Kart) handled both qualifying and the Prefinal on Saturday, but he fell to the tail of the field midway through the final, leaving the battle to Zane Smith (Top Kart) and Davey Manthei Jr. (Wildkart). Manthei took control of the lead for the second half of the last lap, but Smith made a bold attempt for the win late in the circuit, and resultant contact shuffled them both off the track for a time. Local hotshoe Ryan Raffa (Top Kart) was able to capitalize, closing back in to assume the lead and the win as the former point men worked to return to speed. Manthei recovered to come back for second, while Thompson completed the podium as Smith limped home in fourth. On Sunday, Smith and Raffa were able to hook up in qualifying to take the top two spots, and Smith maintained the lead position in the Prefinal to start the main from the pole. This race was another wild one, coming down to the wire as Manthei avoided the melee to win as Raffa and Thompson got together in the final corners, taking both out of the race and allowing Smith to come back through to second after being dropped from the lead pack.
In the Rotax Mini Max class, Thompson had the measure of the three-kart field all weekend, sweeping the proceedings on Saturday to take the win over Manthei and Florida driver Justin Wood (Kosmic). Thompson continued the performance on Sunday by topping qualifying and winning the Prefinal, which would also give him first place points in the main when the clouds opened up.
The WSK North American Series is back in action once again on August 13-15 at New Castle Motorsports Park in Indiana. |
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