The Los Angeles Karting Championship contested Round Five at the CalSpeed Karting Center on June 17-18 (Photo: lakc.org)

The Los Angeles Karting Championship resumed its 2017 season by hosting the fifth event on Father’s Day weekend. A number of families celebrated the June 17-18 weekend at the CalSpeed Karting facility in Fontana, California, competing in the sport they can all love and enjoy. The ‘Nuovo’ clockwise layout challenged the racers with another weekend of hot weather. The new surface at the CalSpeed facility is providing the most grip racers have ever seen, compared to that of national-level and international events. LAKC continues to listen to the racers, implementing a new starting procedure for the rolling classes, which resulted in zero incidents over the weekend when the green flag waved. The Saturday evening LAKC Pro Show hosted the second edition, handing out more cash prizes to shifterkart drivers and adding more points toward the championship in the X175 Pro division with a trip to the IAME International Finals in Le Mans, France on the line.

The second edition of the LAKC Pro Show welcomed three Stock Honda categories taking part in the Saturday night event – Italcorse America S1 Pro Stock Honda, Top Kart West S2 Semi-Pro Stock Honda, and Musgrave Racing Company S3 Novice Stock Honda. Billy Musgrave led the entire distance, from qualifying to the final checkered flag to take home the $500 payday. Mathias Podboj was second with top S2 driver Josh Early scoring the third step of the podium. Robert Heck Jr. and Garrett McKelvie rounded out the top-five, also completing the podium in the S2 division. Prescott Campbell was the top S3 driver in the field, running away from Kent Hatada and Tyler DeGraff. The Empire Karts X175 Pro / X175 Master portion of the LAKC Pro Show saw five drivers taking part. Musgrave set fast time in qualifying, just two tenths off his time in his S1 machine. He then led all 10 laps of the Prefinal before coming under attack in the main event. Chandler Campbell got the jump on him at the drop of the green flag, with Henry Morse joining the fight. Campbell led all 18 laps for the victory with Musgrave able to beat Morse to the line for second. John Crow was the lone Master driver in the field.

Positions in the 18-driver Acceleration Kart Racing Mini Swift division were decided off the track. Carson Morgan swept the action throughout the day, en route to what was going to be his fourth victory on the season. He along with Cole Morgan, who placed second, were removed from the results following tech inspection. That promoted Daniel Inzunza to the top of the podium with Cooper Hicks and Steven Grafton joining him. Jesus Vasquez Jr. and Aden Dodge completed the new top-five.

The Ryan Perry Motorsport X30 Junior Expert class welcomed first time winner Alex Siragusa. Junior rookie Colin Queen set fast time in qualifying by eight thousandths of a second over Alan Tang with Siragusa in third. Queen led the shortened five-lap Prefinal with Siragusa up to second. The two went back and forth throughout the 18-lap Final, with Siragusa able to slip past on the final circuit, edging Queen at the line by four hundredths. Three-time race winner Joseph Daniele worked up to third ahead of Trey Brown and Tang. Cash Baxley became the third different winner in the Baldozier Racing X30 Junior Novice class. Baxley beat out Bentley Adams and Carson Mallett for the victory.

Parker DeLong was able to break up the three-race win streak for Logan Toke in the Tru Tech Racing Engines Micro Swift division. Toke set fast time in qualifying with DeLong able to win the battle in the Prefinal by 73 thousandths of a second. After leading the opening circuit, Toke dropped to second behind DeLong, who led the remainder of the 18-lap Final for the victory. Dane Idelson joined them on the podium in third with AJ Zarcone in fourth and Enzo Deligny fifth.

Billy Musgrave took home his second straight victory in the LAKC Pro Show shifterkart division (Photo: lakc.org)

The championship battle tightened up in the Mack Motorsports 206 Senior chase with Matt Johnson taking his second win of the season. Joey Paonessa scored the fast time in qualifying with Alyssa Yauney earning the win in Prefinal as the female drivers led the way. Veteran Matt Johnson picked up the pace in the Final, working past Paonessa and then Yauney on lap 12 to take over the top spot, driving away to his second victory of the season. Three-time winner Henry Morse followed him through to finish second, dropping Yauney to third and Paonessa to fourth while Jared Caylor placed fifth. Chuck Sanford took the victory in the iKart West Briggs 206 Masters class. John Crow led through qualifying and the Prefinal, retiring after lap four in the main event. Sanford took the lead and went on to win ahead of Travis Irving and Steven Campbell.

There was no sure bet in the Nash Motorsportz S4 Master Stock Honda division as the front of the field changed throughout the day. In the end, Round Four winner Gianfranco Casadei came away with the victory, stretching out to a two-second advantage over Prefinal winner John Crow and top qualifier Adrian Yong. The streak continued for Kalvin Chen with his fifth victory in PKS Kart Supplies S4 Super Master Stock Honda class. Chen dominated the day, sweeping the action en route to a 17-second margin of victory in the main event. Warren Kindberg and Carl Lewis.

Strong competition continues in the Motorsport Development Group X30 Intermediate category, welcoming the fourth different winner on the season. There was no clear cut favorite on the day with former winners Brendon Cramer and Brenden Delorto leading the way in qualifying and the Prefinal. Delorto retired early in the Final, with Cramer leading the first eight laps. Kyle Babida took over the point, and led the rest of the way to his first series victory. Cramer ended up second with two-time winner Eric Slivkoff in third. Lauren Adams and Matias Lopez rounded out the top-five. Jonathan Silva took home his first win of the season in the Mike Manning Karting X30 Master class. Silva swept the action, besting Steve Martin and Douglas Myers.

The 2 Wild Karting X30 Pro ran at the same time, with its lowest turnout of the season with five drivers. Championship leader Colby Dubato swept the day, lead at the end of qualifying, Prefinal and Final to claim his first victory of the season. Worawong Komarakul and Ethan Barrett made up the podium. AJ Matheson added his name to list of first time winners on the season, earning victory in Fleming Racing Engines Junior 1 Comer. Matheson, the top qualifier, fought with Kasey Gillis all day. Gillis took the win in the Prefinal, but Matheson led all 18 laps in the Final for the victory. Gillis crossed the line in second however was handed a DQ in tech. That promoted Hunter Hicks to second and Logan Ainsworth to third.

Other winners on the day include:

Slava Prikhodko: TM Racing USA 125 Open
Lauran Adams: Baldozier Racing X30 Novice
Troy Jones: Mad-Old-Nut Productions Briggs 206 Novice
Brayden Welter: Formula Works Honda Kid Kart Expert
Keagan Kaminski: Formula Works Honda Kid Kart Novice

The Los Angeles Karting Championship is back to the CalSpeed Karting Center track on July 15-16 in Fontana for Round Six of the LAKC points chase, and the third event of the LAKC Pro Show. More details regarding the Pro Show program can be found at the Los Angeles Karting Championship website – LAKC.org. Be sure to ‘Like’ them on Facebook and follow on Instagram.

Share on Facebook

Tweet