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| April 22, 2012 News |
| EKN Trackside: SKUSA Pro Tour MG Tires SpringNationals - Sunday Report |
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 | 2010 champ Fritz Leesmann pulled a near sweep to the S1 victory
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
The final day of on-track action was just as sizzling as the weather in Phoenix, Arizona as the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour MG Tires SpringNationals was completed on Sunday. The skies were clear and the temperatures soured to triple digits at the PKRA Formula K Raceway, challenging the drivers and mechanics alike. Thankfully, there were no reported health issues with the weather for drivers nor those in attendance, and the on-time schedule set by the SKUSA Track Staff put the final event to be completed just after 5:00 pm. Although their were no red flags on the day, drivers were still on edge throughout the schedule as some poor decisions were made. Despite this, the great racing that was provided for a majority of the time trumped those bad moments, as eight drivers stood at the top of the podium to end the weekend. Fritz Leesmann and Phil DeLaO led the way with top honors in the headline categories, both scoring the win on Sunday and the event winner $1,000 check for S1 and TaG Senior.
Extreme Karting/Vemme Kart S1 Pro Stock Moto
Back in 2010, Fritz Leesmann (CRG) began his Pro Tour championship run with a sweep at the inaugural SpringNationals at Infineon. This year, Leesmann had to wait until day two before scoring a near sweep to put himself in the championship lead for the S1 title. An almost perfect day on Sunday helped Leesmann earn 310 points of the possible 320 on the day, propelling him into the point lead leaving Phoenix. The only blemish on Fritzer’s day was in qualifying where New Zealand driver and defending champ Daniel Bray (GP) scored the pole position, as the only driver below the 44-second mark. Leesmann would not be denied in the heat races, driving to the 10-lap moto wins and the pole for the Main Event. Grabbing the holeshot, Leesmann drove away to lead the entire 20 laps to a four-second victory. Behind him was a great battle for second that continued throughout the day. Bray ran second in the opening heat, but was moved back to third when Saturday winner Joey Wimsett (CRG) worked by in the second heat. They continued the duel into the feature race, with Wimsett grabbing the spot early. Bray was able to work by for position, but Wimsett kept the pressure on. With some defensive maneuvers, Bray held off Wimsett for the spot at the checkered, but officials gave Bray a one position penalty for blocking. The penalty placed Wimsett on the second step of the podium with Bray in third. Rookie Nicky Freytag (FA Kart) had his best day of the weekend, driving to fourth in his S1 debut on the Pro Tour with fellow freshman Jake French (Birel) fighting into fifth.
 | Challenged on Sunday, Phil DeLaO still came away with the sweep in TaG Senior
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
DRT Racing TaG Senior
Phoenix driver Phil DeLaO (Top Kart) matched a similar performance in TaG Senior, scoring another maximum points day as he swept the action on Sunday. DeLaO laid down a monster lap in qualifying to score the 10 bonus points for the pole position. Cruising to win in heat one, DeLaO found himself challenged in heat two. Italian Motors USA drivers Remo Ruscitti (Italkart) and Michael Valiante (Italkart) dropped Phil back to third early on, but the Top Kart driver once again found his way to the point. Escaping with the win, Top Kart teammate Austin Elliott came through as well to take second for a blue front row to the Main Event. Driving away early, DeLaO went flag-to-flag in the 20-lap event for the victory and point lead heading to the SummerNationals. The fight on track was for second as Ruscitti was able to score the position over Elliott. Senior rookie Joel Jens (Tony Kart) put in another impressive performace on Sunday, driving to fourth over veteran Matt Johnson (Energy).
CRG-USA S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto
In his SKUSA Pro Tour debut weekend, SoCal's Billy Musgrave (Arrow) scored his first series victory, but it did not come easy. Ryan Kinnear (Formula K) qualified on the pole position, giving Formula K its first pole award in Pro Tour history. Musgrave finished the session in second, just 0.092 seconds off Kinnear’s quick time. Musgrave took advantage of Kinnear getting off the line slowly, grabbing the holeshot and the heat one win. Musgrave then drove to the win in heat two, both times with Kinnear applying the pressure. In the Main Event, Musgrave took the holeshot while Sabré Cook (CRG) launched up from third to take second. She would pressure the leader early, but was unable to work by to take over the point. After the early challenges, Musgrave slowly stretched away to wire-to-wire for the win while Cook battled hard to hold off Kinnear in the late going, bagging her second runner-up finish which put her atop the early S2 championship standings. Connor Wagner had his best finish of the weekend, up to fourth to put two Champion Racing Formula K entries in the top-five. Saturday winner Cody Tracy (Tony Kart) recovered from qualifying 11th to end up fifth.
 | Paul Bonilla doubled up in TaG Master to leave PHX as the point leader
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Phil Giebler Racing S4 Master Stock Moto
Sunday was another wild one in the S4 Master category as wiser heads prevailed once again as Eddie Olpin (Kosmic) saw the victory fall into his lap in the Main Event. Trevor McAlister (Praga) appeared to have the day in his hands. Qualifying on pole position, he drove to the win in both heat races. ‘T-Mac’ showed the way to begin the 20-lap feature with Jordon Musser (Birel) applying pressure. The pressure become contact on lap eight as Musser looked inside at turn 12, but neither gave ground and both slide off hard into the tires off the track. This gave Olpin the lead and with a large advantage already established, he cruised to the victory. The driver on the move was Texan Mike Mantel (CRG). Nursing a broken throttle to a ninth in heat two, Mantel drove his way to second ahead of Lance Lane (DR Kart). Chris Jennings (Birel) moved up from eighth to fourth for his best run of the weekend with Robert Marks (CRG) in fifth.
Full Throttle Karting TaG Master
As he did Saturday, Paul Bonilla (Arrow) nearly matched his performance with another strong day at the front of the field to earn the victory and leave Phoenix as the Pro Tour point leader. Clocking in the third quickest lap in qualifying behind Randy Froom (Intrepid) and Jim Russell Jr. (Parolin), Bonilla to win both heats and start the main once again from the pole position. Grabbing the lead as the green flag waved to begin the main event, Bonilla set his Full Throttle Karting machine on cruise control, stretching out to a near five-second victory. Froom ran second to Bonilla the entire day. Russell rebounded from a lost rear bumper in heat one to advance up to third at the end of the day. Chuck Gafrarar (Parolin) missed the opening heat with a mechanical issue, and drove to fourth in the feature race. Defending champion Brian McHattie (Exprit) drove from seventh on the grid to finish fifth.
Italian Motors USA TaG Junior
Sunday was smooth sailing for Saturday winner Luke Selliken (Kosmic) as the Rolison Performance Group driver swept the action to secure the point lead leaving Phoenix. Qualifying on pole, he drove to wins of two seconds and one-second in the heat races. Untouched in the feature, Selliken was on-point for the 20 laps as he scored the win by nearly seven-seconds. Brendan Baker (CRG) earned his second podium of the weekend with a runner-up finish over fellow CRG driver and class rookie Austin Versteeg earning his first Pro Tour podium. Christian Brooks (Energy) had a great day, running in the top-five all day with a fourth place finish as Blaine Rocha (Arrow) overcame troubles early in the day, driving from 21st on the grid to an impressive fifth.
 | AZ driver Jim McKinney broke away from the S5 field for the victory Sunday
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Innovative Karting S5 Junior Stock Moto
Jim McKinney (Intrepid) completed the task he set out for on Saturday, coming through to earn the victory in S5 Junior. Qualifying third, McKinney came through for the win in both heat races. Grabbing the holeshot as the lights went off for the Main Event, McKinney had the race in his hand the entire 20 laps as he drove to a two-second victory. The win gave two wins for local drivers following the win by Micah Hendricks on Saturday. Hendricks had a race long battle for the second spot with Axel Matus (CRG). After several attempts by Matus, Hendricks fought strong to secure the position to the checkered flag. Yigal Garcia Rached (CRG) finished fourth, edging off a charging Carter Williams (Tony Kart), who started 13th and ended up fifth.
Leading Edge Motorsports TaG Cadet
Another great day of racing in the competitive TaG Cadet category ended in a photo finish with Hunter Kelly (Tecno) earning the victory over Sting Ray Robb (Tony Kart). Kelly started the day in second, behind Jackson Logsdon (Tony Kart) in qualifying. Saturday winner Hunter Corbitt (Top Kart) led things to the checkered in the two heat races after great battles for the win. The main event saw another great show as Kelly came up from ninth starting position into the lead pack that included Corbitt, Kelly and Anthony Sawyer (DR Kart). As they shuffled through the final lap, Kelly came away with the lead heading to the stripe with Robb just 0.065 seconds back. Sawyer completed the podium with Corbitt back to fourth. Logsdon ran unchallenged in the fifth position at the checkered.
The third season of the SKUSA Pro Tour is underway, and with the first two rounds of the five race point chase, the lead contenders have been established. Plans for many drivers will change for the month of July as the title players will be ready for the third annual SKUSA Pro Tour SummerNationals, this year at the Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah on July 20-22. |
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