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| September 15, 2012 News |
| EKN Trackside Live: 2012 Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix - Saturday Report |
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The first day of action for the 2012 Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix went into the books Saturday afternoon. The Southern California street race held qualifying and the opening round of heat races, counting toward the final round of the Superkarts! USA California ProKart Challenge. Temperatures over 100 degrees challenged the 125 drivers and the event staff throughout the day. The fast and confined course on the ‘Boulevard’ district of the City of Lancaster provided its own challenges for the drivers. Thus far, Fritz Leesmann and Matt Johnson have tamed the beast that is the 0.7-mile street course.
S3 Novice/S4 Magnum/S5 Junior
Steve Ryckebosch (Zanardi) was the top driver in the three-class combined group to open up the qualifying rounds. Ryckebosch led the overall and the S3 category in qualifying with a 42.496-second lap time. Chalee Siengthai was second, in both S3 and overall. Third was Scott Allen (CRG), running in the S4 Magnum category. Carter Williams (Tony Kart) was tops in S5, sitting fourth overall ahead of fellow S5 driver Jack Freese (Intrepid).
Ryckebosch went flag to flag in the opening heat race to close out the day’s action and secure the pole position of heat two. Unchallenged to the win, Freese advanced to second overall as Siengthai retired early. Allen held third, as did Williams with Arizona driver Jim McKinney (Intrepid) advancing up to fifth.
TaG Master
 | Matt Johnson led Devin Lindsey to the checkered flag in heat one for TaG Senior Saturday
(Photo: dromophotos.com) |
Drama unfolded early in the TaG Master qualifying session with California PKC championship leader Billy Cleavelin (CRG) pulling off on the warm-up lap with a mechanical issue. Randy Froom (Intrepid) also nailed the barriers hard, bending up his machine early and forcing him to pull off after just one lap. This opened up the top of the time sheets to anyone else for the taking. Former Pro Tour champion Ethan Wilson (Tony Kart) held the provisional spot until Paul Bonilla (Arrow) moved into the position. He held the spot for most of the session until Wilson laid down a flier with three minutes to go. His 44.699-second lap was fastest in the session, moving Bonilla down to P2 in the order. Vatche Tatikian (FA Kart) was impressive in the session, ending up third ahead of Paul Holhbein and Gabriel Zughella (TBR).
Wilson got the jump as the green flag waved for the opening heat. Bonilla looked as if he had the pace to lead the field, taking over the top spot briefly before losing positions after he touched the barriers on the exit of turn four hairpin. Wilson returned to the lead, going on to score the win easily. Bonilla had fought his way back to second until the final lap when once again the barriers got the better of him, and he was unable to make it to the checkered flag after losing his chain. This put Hohlbein in second with Cleavelin posting fast laps of the race to move into the third spot when the checkered flag waved. Zughella was fourth over Paul Grey (FA Kart).
TaG Senior
Veteran Matt Johnson (Energy) was quickest in practice and stuck at the top after bolting on new MG Tires for the qualifying session. The California PKC championship leader posted a 43.435-second lap to secure the pole position for heat one, and 10 bonus points toward the championship. 2011 SOLGP runner-up Devin Lindsey (Tony Kart) was second quick, two-tenths back of Johnson. Former national champion Joel Miller (FA Kart) returned back to the seat, leading his Phil Giebler Racing teammate Mason Daughters (FA Kart) in the session with Dakota Dickerson, now piloting a FA Kart machine rounding out the top-five.
Johnson and Lindsey were the class of the field in the opening heat race as the two ran nose to tail to the checkered flag with Johnson scoring the win. A battle went on for third with Miller scoring the position after 10 laps with AJ Juergens jumping up to fourth after Dickerson suffered a brake issue. Daughters completed the top-five with Dickerson back in sixth.
TaG Junior
 | Trevor McAlister went untouched in day one of S4 Master action
(Photo: dromophotos.com) |
Current California ProKart Challenge championship leader Carter Williams set the tone for the weekend aboard his Tony Kart. Posting a 44.616-second lap time, Williams earned the pole position for the opening heat race. Just 35-thousandths off his time was Brendan Baker (CRG), securing a front row start. Nathan Seegrist (Energy), the 2011 SOLGP winner, was third in the order with Garrett Dixon (Energy) and Christian Munoz (ART GP) in fourth and fifth.
A number of wrecks slowed down the pace in the TaG Junior heat race, but one thing remained unchanged as Williams led the race from green to checkered. One of the wrecks involved Baker and Seegrist, allowing room for Dixon to advance up to second over Munoz with Christian Brooks (Energy) and Hannah Grisham moving into the top-five.
TaG Cadet
Two drivers stood out in the qualifying session for the TaG Cadet category. Hunter Kelly (Techno) led the session with the fast lap - 41.088 seconds. Sting Ray Robb (Tony Kart) was just seven hundredths off his time, earning a front row starting spot for row one. Trenton Sparks was third in the order with Jack von Quilich (Intrepid) and Cameron Kaihatu to round out the top-five.
Kelly drove away with the heat race win to finish out the day’s action. Leading all 10 laps, Kelly score the win over Sparks, as Robb dropped back to third. Anthony Sawyer (DR Kart) moved up to fourth with Jackson Logsdon up to fifth.
S4 Master Stock Moto
As he has for much of the second half of the season, Trevor McAlister (Praga) set the tone for the S4 division in qualifying. His 41.174-second lap was quickest of the 22 drivers making the start. PP Mastro, jumping in a Pure Karting Tony Kart for the first time, laid down the second quickest lap of the session to start from outside row one. California PKC point leader Robert Marks (CRG) was third over Nick Firestone (Zanardi) and Jim Kidd (CRG).
At the start of the heat race, McAlister grabbed the holeshot, and that was the only time anyone was near his rear bumper. He drove to a three-second win running consistent laps. Marks and Mastro made contact at the start, but continued on after losing a couple spots. Nick Galante (Energy) took advantage, driving up to second from seventh heading into turn one. Exiting the narrow turn three, he made contact with the barriers and spun around. Thankfully, most everyone avoided him with two others spinning around and not making contact. He continued on at the back of the pack. Firestone took over second until Mastro returned to the position, only to be chased down by the fast laps of Marks. At the line, Marks was second, just ahead of Mastro and Firestone while Kidd held fifth.
S1/S2 Stock Moto
 | Fritz Leesmann was top qualifier and heat one winner in the S1-S2 combined group
(Photo: dromophotos.com) |
Qualifying for the S1 and S2 categories was how it should always be, a little bit of excitement to start the event. California PKC championship leader Jimmy McNeil (CRG) and current SKUSA Pro Tour top dog Fritz Leesmann (CRG) positioned themselves at the top, swapping fast laps. DRT Racing’s Josh Lane got into the mix aboard his new DR Kart, and was the first to dip into the 40-second range. Both Leesmann and McNeil responded as the session closed, securing the top two spots. Leesmann was best with a lap of 40.818. Lane settled for third with defending race winner Daniel Langon (Zanardi) and top S2 driver Augie Lerch (Tony Kart) completing the fast five.
The Pro and Semi-Pro drivers put on a good show to wrap up the day as Leesmann and McNeil paced the field. The two ran nose to tail the entire time, McNeil grabbing the holeshot with Leesmann leading the rest of the nine laps. Just a sheet of paper separated them at the line with Leesmann taking the win. Lane held off Lerch for third with Langon charging back to fifth with the fast lap of the race after falling to seventh on the opening lap. Michael Leib (DR Kart) edged out Matias Podboj (CRG) for sixth, second in the S2 category, gaining five more points in the championship chase between the two.
Be sure to bookmark http://www.ekartingnews.com/live to listen in on the action at the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix for the final round of action of the Superkarts! USA California ProKart Challenge. Also make sure that you follow the eKartingNews.com Facebook and Twitter feeds for updates as they happen, including pictures and videos from the weekend. Action begins at 10:15am PDT with heat two events and the main events starting at 12:30pm. |
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