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| June 07, 2012 News |
| Rocky Mountain ProKart Challenge Boasts Record Number of Entries at Miller Motorsports Park |
| Article by: Superkarts! USA |
 | Fritz Leesmann swept the entire weekend in S1 Pro preparing for the SKUSA SummerNationals
(Photo: Jon Davis) |
The third and fourth rounds of the Rocky Mountain ProKart Challenge took place at the immaculate Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah over the June 2-3 weekend. This was the second weekend event for the revamped series, and served as a warm-up for the upcoming Superkarts! USA Pro Tour SummerNationals, set for July 20-22. A number of new series contenders took on the drivers of the Rocky Mountain region on the 0.9-mile course. Racers from coast-to-coast – California to North Carolina – made the trek, with the new series contenders earning 11 of the 18 main event victories. Those results are proving to shake up what will be interesting regional championship standings heading into the series finale in September, with guaranteed starting positions for SuperSunday at the SKUSA SuperNationals on the line. Just one driver produced a perfect score on the weekend, that being veteran racer Fritz Leesmann.
SKUSA Pro Tour S1 Pro Stock Moto championship contender Leesmann showed why he was the title winner in 2010 with a weekend sweep against the home-town drivers. No stranger to the MMP facility, Leesmann was chased throughout the weekend by Pro Tour rival Joey Wimsett and the regular Rocky Mountain S1 drivers. Leesmann went wire-to-wire on day one, with Wimsett running second and Colorado driver Cory Milne leading the local contingent in third. Fritz set the fast lap of the weekend in qualifying Sunday, posting a 56.849-second lap to secure the pole position over Utah’s Tyler Bennett. After qualifying fifth, Wimsett drove up to second as Leesmann continued to show the way. They ran 1-2 through heat two and then the 18-lap feature race, with Bennett rounding out the podium. The other headline category, TaG Senior, witnessed a great battle between California’s Austin Elliott and Wisconsin driver Aaron Telitz on Saturday. Telitz posted the fast lap in qualifying (59.687 seconds), with Elliott coming through for the win in both heat races. Elliott led the first half of the feature before Telitz secured the spot and drove off to a 5.8-second victory. Rocky Mountain racer Brandon Southwick ran third. Telitz ran uncontested on Sunday with Elliott and Southwick both electing not to race.
 | California’s Cody Diede excelled as the weekend closed to earn the S2 Semi-Pro victory on Sunday
(Photo: Jon Davis) |
One of the largest classes of the weekend was the S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto division with 10 drivers, including four of the top-nine in the Pro Tour championship standings. Leading the way at the end of each day were Cody Tracy and Cody Diede. Saturday began with series race winner Sabré Cook topping the charts in class for qualifying, ending the session third overall when combined with the S1 class. Cook remained out front through the first heat race. A great start by Troy Diede put him in the lead at the start of heat two, where he remained until the checkered flag ahead of Cook and Eddie Olpin. Diede led things early in the feature race with Cody Tracy coming up from P4 on the grid to challenge for the lead after the opening laps. They ran 1-2 until Tracy pulled the trigger on lap 17, taking over the lead and going on to score the victory. Cook was able to close up in the final laps, working around Diede on the final lap to secure second. Sunday saw Rocky Mountain PKC point leader Christian step up with a solid lap to end the session in the P1 position over Troy and Cody Diede. Bird went flag-to-flag in heat one with the Diede’s on his tail. Bird led the majority of heat two, with Cody Diede sliding through on the second to last lap, scoring the race win. Despite grabbing the holeshot, Bird went from first to third in the opening circuit of the feature race. Cody took the point over Troy with Bird and Cook trailing. They ran that way until lap nine when Troy took over the lead. That was all he needed as he drove to a 1.6-second margin over Cody to make it a Diede 1-2 finish. Cook worked around Bird to secure the final step on the podium.
TaG Junior tied the S2 division with 10 drivers filling up the field in Tooele, nine of them chasing current Pro Tour point leader Luke Selliken. The Oregon driver nearly pulled off the weekend sweep, earning both feature wins in a field full of Pro Tour competitors. After qualifying on pole position by two-tenths, he won the heat races by three seconds and two seconds. Davey Manthei Jr. and defending NorCal PKC champion Blaine Rocha gave Selliken an early challenge in the Saturday main event. Rocha took over the lead on lap three and led until Selliken fought back on lap 13. After swapping the lead a few more times, Selliken secured the position and the victory. Jake Preston and Manthei rounded out the podium, as Rocha was forced to pull off with a broken rear bumper. On Sunday, Selliken posted the fastest lap of the weekend in the class in qualifying, recording a 59.886-second lap. Recording the win in heat one, Manthei, Preston and McKay Snow tested Selliken for the 10-lap run. Selliken was able to cross the line first, but was penalized for not being in position before the commitment line prior to the start of the race, giving the win to Preston, with Snow and Manthei following. The penalty did not slow down Selliken as he stormed back in the final to score the victory. Rocha jumped out to the lead to begin the race, followed by Manthei. They ran 1-2 until Preston broke it up and moved to the lead on lap eight. By then, Selliken had caught the lead group and began working his way forward. On lap 14, Selliken was into the lead and pulled away to nearly two seconds by the checkered flag. Preston ended up second, with Snow in third.
 | Scott Falcone (99) and Jim Russell Jr. (21) split the TaG Master feature wins
(Photo: Jon Davis) |
The TaG Master class welcomed drivers from six different states across the country as Colorado’s Scott Falcone and Missouri’s Jim Russell left Utah with victories. Russell led things to kick off Saturday’s round of action, qualifying first and winning heat one. Falcone took the lead from Russell to begin heat two, never looking back as he went on to the checkered flag and then victory in the final by seven-tenths with a flag-to-flag win. North Carolina’s Chuck Gafrarar advanced to second as Russell, who recorded the fast lap, ended up third. Russell was able to come back Sunday and go four-for-four to sweep the action over Falcone and Gafrarar. Falcone gave Russell a battle each on-track session, producing some great clean racing, but in the end Russell came away with fast lap in qualifying, the two heat wins, and the main event victory. Rounding out the TaG categories was TaG Cadet, with Roy Fulmer traveling from Northern California to score both feature wins. Fulmer swept the action on Saturday as he outran Derek Deslauriers and Tristin MacLeod. Cody Dempster came in Sunday to upset the perfect score by Fulmer, stealing the top spot in qualifying. Fulmer returned to the front once racing got underway, winning both heat races and the feature over Deslauriers and Dempster.
Utah driver Ryan Pool showed his home-track knowledge with a near sweep in the S4 Master Stock Moto class. Pool kicked off the weekend with fast lap in qualifying by over eight-tenths. He went on to win both heat races and the feature unchallenged. Todd Edgington finished second in the main event, with Scott Allen rounding out the podium. Pool matched his qualifying effort from day one to begin Sunday’s proceedings. Pool led flag-to-flag in heat one but a jump start penalty awarded the win to Justin Peck, dropping Pool to second in the results. He bounced back with a demanding win in heat two and a 15-second victory in the main event. Peck finished second, with Colorado’s David Conyers in third. The S3 Novice Stock Moto class was all series point leader Alex Yates. The Utah driver swept the opening day action as he outran Cole Powelson and Chris Neria. On Sunday, Yates' only slip-up was in heat two as he was involved in an incident with an S2 driver. He rebounded to end the day on top over Neria.
 | Alex Yates extended his championship lead in the S3 Novice class with two more main event wins
(Photo: Jon Davis) |
In the S5 Junior Stock Moto category, series point leader Mianna Wick and Arizona’s Jim McKinney spilt the feature wins. Saturday was a great battle between Wick and Ryan Rudolph. Rudolph topped the charts in qualifying with Wick coming back to edge him out for the win in heat one only to see Rudolph come back with a solid win in heat two. McKinney joined the battle for the win in the main event as the trio ran behind the S3 and S4 fields. Each took a turn at the point while battling with the tail end of the S4 field. Rudolph was working to move through traffic when he made contact with a local option class driver. The race director black flagged Rudolph off for the contact and placed him last in the results. Wick would go on to the victory with McKinney in second. Sunday saw Rudolph once again on top in qualifying but McKinney, the current Pro Tour S5 point leader, made positive improvements overnight and was at the front for the remainder of the day. McKinney scored the two heat wins and the main event victory with Rudolph second and Wick third.
Racers will return to Utah for the second stop of the SKUSA Pro Tour on July 20-22. The finale weekend for the Rocky Mountain ProKart Challenge will take place on September 1-2 at the IMI Motorsports Complex in Dacono, Colorado. For more information about the Rocky Mountain PKC program, be sure to visit http://www.superkartsusa.com and click on the PKC Mountain tab for more news on the series finale. |
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