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| June 01, 2012 News |
| Race Report: Red Line Oil Karting Championship Sees Great Weather, Great Racing, and Another Great Turnout |
| Article by: redlineoilkaritng.com |
Wonderful weather (cool morning, sunny afternoon and a slight breeze) made for some great racing at Race #3 of the Red Line Oil Karting Championship. With the 'Clean Sweep 500' awards up for grabs, drivers were posed to do their best on the fast and popular Reverse National track configuration. The 'Clean Sweep' award was for any driver in classes of five or more who qualified on pole, won both heat races and won the Main. Not only would the "Clean Sweep" drivers earn a free race credit for a future race, but they would also have their name in the hat at the end of the day to win $500 cash. As it turned out, four drivers won the "Clean Sweep" and the $500 went to Fritz Leesmann who swept the Pro Stock Honda class. Eighty drivers turned out on this Memorial Day weekend, continuing the strong growth of the RLOKC.
GoPro Feature Race: IAME TaG class
The mixed class TaG race group featured 6 drivers in the IAME TaG class to battle over who would win the GoPro Hero camera. In Qualifying, Austin Thomas took the pole in his Senior Tag kart with Josh Buttafoco (IAME TaG) 2nd, Larry Fraser (IAME), 3rd and the fastest Jr TaG was Maxx Marian in 4th spot. In the first heat race, Thomas opened up a small lead at the drop of the green flag and cruised home three seconds clear of the field. Fraser and Marian battled the entire race over 2nd spot with Fraser taking 2nd and Marian 3rd at the end with Alex Keyes (Jr TaG) in 4th. The second heat started out looking like the first, but Buttafoco made it a three way battle for the second spot. In the end, Thomas took the win, Marian 2nd, Buttafoco 3rd and Fraser 4th. In the Main, again Thomas took the initial lead and never looked back as he took the overall win by twelve seconds and with the win took the TaG Senior class honors. However, the real fun in this race was for 2nd place between the Junior of Maxx Marian and the IAME TaG of Larry Fraser. The two exchanged positions several times in the last half of the race with Maxx taking over the 2nd position as they entered the last lap. But Fraser would not have any of it. Going up the last short straight to the last turn, Maxx tried to make his kart as wide as possible with Fraser first looking outside then inside to make a pass into the last turn. Unfortunately they touched and both spun allowing Buttafoco to get by and take 2nd overall and with it the IAME TaG class win as well as winning the GoPro camera. Fraser and Marian recovered from the spin to take 3rd and 4th respectfully. Marian thus won the TaG Junior class win. Darren Geahry (IAME) took 4th, Bryson Guzman (IAME) 5th and Alex Keys in 6th.
Sanzaru Games Norcal Rotax Challenge Series
Micro Max and Mini Max
One Mini-Max kart was joined by five Micro-Max karts. This was the largest turn out of Micro-Max karts this year. Matteo Sandoval (Mini) took the pole with Ethan Tavares and Abby Keyes and newcomer Max Ellgen the first three in the Micro class. In the first heat, Matteo left the Micros in the dust and went on to a comfortable lead. But the best racing would be for the Micro class lead with Tavares leading Ellgen by less than one second with Abby Keyes a distant third. In the second heat, Sandoval took the win with Ellgen getting by Tavares to take the Micro win and Abby Keyes was again 3rd in Micro. In the Main, Sandoval took the easy overall win with Ellgen and Tavares battling over the second place spot all race long. In the end, Ellgen took 2nd less than a second in front of Tavares. Abby Keyes took her third 3rd place finish of the day followed by Valdemar Eriksen and Dakota White. The Sanzaru cash went to the top three in Micro-Max, thus Ellgen taking home $50, Tavares $30 and Abby Keyes winning $20.
Senior Rotax
The Senior Rotax class has been a strong and deep field this season, but it got even stronger this weekend with the return of 2009 class champ Jordan Jadallah, last year's champ Niki Luna and veteran national racer Cody Hodgson. In qualifying, Jadallah took the pole ahead of Hodgson, Luna, Sean McDonald and last month's class winner David Harwin. The first heat race saw Jadallah take the early lead with Cody and Niki making it a three way battle for the top spot. But in the end, Jordan won, Cody and Niki less than a half second back with McDonald 4th and Harwin 5th. In the second heat, again Jadallah and Hodgson pulled away from the field with Luna dropping out on lap 5. McDonald again held off Harwin to take 3rd, Harwin 4th and Jarrett Lile coming out in 5th. In the Main, Jadallah and Hodgson put on a 15 lap duel with the lead going back and forth. Luna battled McDonald the whole distance with Harwin running into problems and heading for the pits on lap 11. In the end, Jadallah made a pass for the lead going into the white flag lap and held on for the win, Hodgson 2nd, McDonald 3rd, Luna 4th and Andrew Colombini 5th. Unfortunately for Hodgson, he had a tech problem that moved him the rear of the field and moving all the drivers from 3rd on back up one spot. Jadallah became the first of the "Clean Sweep" winners for the day.
Junior Rotax
The Junior Rotax field continues to shine with eleven entries. A dominant Will Preston impressed all in qualifying to take the pole ahead of Alex Keyes and Annie Breidinger. At the start of Heat one, Keyes took the lead out of turn one with Preston on his tail but spinning karts right behind sent Annie Breidinger to the back and she had to play catch up all race. Keyes and Preston exchanged the lead a few times with Keyes taking the lead for good when it counted, at the checked flag. Preston was 2nd, Zach Dante 3rd and Enzo Prevost 4th. In the second heat, Keyes got the best of Preston at the start and took the lead out of turn one again. Again the top battled the entire way with Keyes coming out on top, Preston 2nd, Dante 3rd and Annie Breidinger 4th. In the main, Keyes led into turn one from the pole with Dante squeezing by Preston to go into 2nd. , Breidinger went into 3rd and Preston had to settle in 4th. Preston was the fastest kart on track all day and it showed when he took 3rd then he made a move on Dante to take over 2nd. Unfortunately, the two karts got a bit tangled up coming out of turn one and it slowed both of them and two or three drivers went by. With all this commotion in back of him, Keyes started to pull away with Wilson Skjerven popping into 2nd and Enzo Prevost 3rd. In the end, Keyes took and easy win, Skjerven 2nd, Annie Breidinger battled back to take 3rd , Prevost 4th and Zach Pettinicchi 5th. Unfortunately, Annie did not survive tech moving Prevost into 3rd, his first podium in only his third race. Good job!
 | | Senior Rotax winner Jordan Jadallah |
Rotax DD2 and DD2 Masters
Even with a smaller field, the DD2 class struggled to keep all the karts on the track. Michael Ostrowski took the pole ahead of Andrew Colombini and David Palic with Fritz Leesmann choosing to only run the Main at the end of the day. In the first heat, Colombini lost his brakes on the warm up lap and Ostrowski had to pit on the 4th laps, thus David Palic took the uncontested win. In the second heat, Ostrowski took the early lead and went on to a ten second win over Colombini with Palic 3 seconds further back. In the Main, Leesmann, who is trying to qualify for the Rotax Nationals in this class, joined the grid in the 4th starting position. Ostrowski took the early lead but Leesmann worked his way by the other karts quickly to take over the lead and drive onto an eight second win, followed by Ostrowski, Colombini and DD2 Masters David Palic.
Rotax Masters
The Masters class numbers grew stronger as three of the lighter Masters Lights drivers added the extra weight to run and increase the class numbers. Thus twelve drivers took to the track with Jerry Pretti taking the pole ahead of Andrea Delfanti and Scott Ripslinger. In the first heat Pretti took the lead at the drop of the green with Delfanti close behind. Ripslinger applied pressure on Delfanti and took over 2nd by the race end, Delfanti 3rd and Geoff Wise 4th. In the second heat, Pretti, Delfanti and Ripslinger again battled it out at the front of the field with Ripslinger taking the lead mid race. Pretti then attempts an inside pass on Ripslinger and the two met at the apex and leaned on each other. When they get straightened out and started racing again, Greg Hoff had gotten by to take the lead with Ripslinger 2nd, Delfanti 3rd and Pretti 4th. By race end, Pretti got by Delfanti for 3rd with Huff taking the win. For the Main, Pretti was on pole with Ripslinger alongside. Pretti took the early lead with Ripslinger and Delfanti right behind. Ripslinger and Delfanti made their move, got by Pretti and started to pull away while Huff caught Pretti and the two of them battled for third. Scott held off Andrea to take a narrow win, Pretti 3rd, Huff 4th and Michael Riyanto 5th.
Molecule Karting Championship classes
Pro Stock Honda and Stock Honda Masters
With nineteen karts (nine Pro Honda and ten Honda Masters), this was the largest field of 125 shifters since the class became a part of the Red Line Oil series. Fritz Leesmann took the pole in his Pro Stock kart ahead of Daniel Langon and Brett Buckwalter. The top Masters was Jim Inglebright in 7th, then David Arnstein in 10th and Nick Galante in 11th. In the first heat, Leesmann controlled the race from the start with Langon two seconds back and Jason Toft coming up to get by Buckwalter to take 3rd. In the Masters class, Inglebright took a strong 6th place but less than a second in front of Arnstein in 7th and Galante in 9th. In the second heat, Leesmann took control from the drop of the flag and took a three second win over Langon with Buckwalter 3rd and Troy Diede 4th. Jason Toft had mechanical problems and left the race after one lap. In the Masters class, Inglebright improved his overall position by coming home 5th overall, 1st in class. Arnstein was 2nd but five seconds back with Galante again in 3rd.
The Main started great but only for two turns when Andre Eriksen got spun around, then Brad Shaffer and Neil Joseph parked it in the Main straight-away wall at the end of the first lap. From then on, the race settled down; Leesmann was leading again and Buckwalter got by Langon but did not make much progress to catch Leesmann. In the Masters class Inglebright again opened up a lead on Arnstein with Galante 3rd until he had problems and had to exit the track on lap ten when Steve Cameron took over the 3rd position in class. By mid race, the leaders started lapping the slower karts and this made for a confusing and tense final five laps. Fast karts needing to get by slower karts while the slower karts themselves were in battles, making the passing difficult. But at the end of the fifteen lap Main, Leesmann took the win four seconds ahead of Buckwalter with Langon in 3rd and Diede in 4th, all these drivers being Pro Stock drivers. In 5th overall was Inglebright, thus winning the Stock Masters class. Arnstein was 7th overall and 2nd in Masters with Steve Cameron coming home 9th overall and 3rd in Masters. Fourteen of the original nineteen karts were running at the end of the race with eleven of them still on the lead lap. Leesmann became the second driver to make a "Clean Sweep" with Jim Inglebright also making a "Clean Sweep" for his class.
80 Masters Shifter
Six drivers took the track in the 80 Masters class. What lacked in numbers was made up for in competitive driving by the top 4 drivers in the field. Mark Nason took the pole ahead of Tom Nelson and Bob Lesnett. In the first heat, Nason took the early lead ahead of Nelson and Lesnett. But by the race end, Nelson and Lesnett had problems and Charles Hastings took 2nd with Charles Horrell coming home 3rd. In the second heat, Nason again took the early lead but was pursued by Hastings with Nelson and Lesnett close behind. In the Main, Nason again took the initial lead and was hotly pursued by Hastings, Nelson and Lesnett. But by the end of the race, Nason prevailed, Hastings was again 2nd with Horrell coming home 3rd when Nelson and Lesnett again had to fall back at the end. Nason thus became the 4th "Clean Sweep" driver of the day.
After all the trophies were handed out at the end of the day, the "Clean Sweep" drivers gathered for the final prize of the day, the drawing for the $500 "Clean Sweep" bonus. The winner was Fritz Leesmann, a well-deserved prize for a hard days racing.
The next race in the RLOKC will be on July 1 when the track configuration will be the Reverse Sprint layout. The GoPro featured class will be Rotax Masters.
For more information about the Red Line Oil Karting Championship's Northern California Rotax Challenge, go to http://www.redlineoilkarting.com or http://www.CameronKarting.com .You may also email race promoter Steve Cameron Steve@CameronKarting.com |
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