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Supernationals
EKN Trackside: SKUSA SuperNationals XV - Friday Report
Friday, 18 November 2011 00:00
It was an unusual day at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas as the SKUSA SuperNationals XV began wheel-to-wheel action Friday. Aside from battling the competition, everyone battled the weather with heavy wind action throughout the day with gusts up to 40mph at times. Thankfully, while most everyone survived the weather, the same couldn’t be said on-track as drivers established themselves as contenders through qualifying and the first round of heat races.

S1
Drama unfolded early for the S1 Pro Stock Moto class, having an impact on the event and the Pro Tour standings. Point leader and SuperNats favorite Daniel Bray (GP) broke the engine sprocket before completing a lap in qualifying, which put him at the tail end of the 24-kart field. At the top of the order was last year podium finisher - Dutch driver Indy Dontje. His 45.807 lap aboard his Energy kart put him on the pole position. The order was tight behind him with Jason Toft (GP) clocking in just seven-thousandths off his time and title contender Tom Dyer (GP) just off the mark as well. Defending Pro Tour champ Fritz Leesmann (CRG) and NorCal native Nic Leduc (Energy) completing the top-five.

Uncharacteristic of the S1 field, they bunched up in the second corner with Leesmann and others involved, most able to continue but out of contention. Out front, Dontje and Dyer hooked up and drove clean. Near the end, Italian Mirko Torsellini (CRG) pressured Dyer, only to see the two-time SuperNats winner take the spot back on the final lap to earn some crucial championship points. At the line, Dontje won by eight-tenths over Dyer with Torsellini third and Toft fourth. Bray showed why he is a championship leader, driving his way through the field to end up fifth in 12 laps.

KZ2
The KZ2 drivers showed the crowd in Vegas why they are the top drivers in the world of karting. Among the many European and World Champions in the field, it was Anthony Abbasse (Sodi) that emerged as the pole position driver for the category, laying down a 44.785 lap time. 2009 winner Bas Lammers (Praga) was just two-thousandths off his time with reigning WSK Euro Series champion Rick Dreezen and two-time SuperNats winner Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart) all within a tenth of one another. Jeremy Iglesias (Intrepid) capped off the fast-five.

Abbasse - always fast in Vegas but yet to win SuperSunday - is one step closer to the elusive win for the Frenchman. Able to get away early, Abbasse drove to a two-second win in the opening heat race. Behind him was some hard racing. Contact in the opening corners shuffled up the field with Lammers, Ardigo and Dreezen running second, third and fourth. Eventually, the two Tony Kart drivers worked around the former race winner, as did American Gary Carlton (LH) a lap later. The four drivers were nose to tail for much of the race until Beitske Visser (Intrepid) joined in at the tail of the pack. She challenged Carlton, and on the final lap Carlton suffered a bent axle. He muscled the kart to a seventh place finish, losing two spots. Ardigo bested his teammate for second with Lammers in fourth and Visser in fifth over Thomas Mich (Birel) and Carlton.

TaG Senior
With 80 drivers in the TaG Senior category, you never know what will happen. With troubles early in practice, veteran Eric Jones (Arrow) was put in the slower of the two qualifying groups. Posting a 47.775, he held the provisional pole as the second group hit the track. After six minutes of the 12-minute session, no one had bested the time until Canadian Phillip Orcic (Zanardi). His time of 47.453 put him on the pole position. 2010 winner Andre Nicastro (Italkart) recorded the second fastest lap with 2007 winner Joel Miller (FA Kart) in third. Jones time put him fourth overall, putting IndyCar Series driver Martin Plowman (Zanardi) down to fifth.

The first heat race was a great battle between Orcic, Nicastro and Felipe Fraga (Zanardi). Orcic and Fraga led the field early, swapping the lead until Nicastro joined in. He eventually worked his way around Fraga for second but Orcic held him off for the heat win. 2010 EKN Driver of the Year Daniel Formal (Intrepid) overcame a poor qualifying effort and drove to a fourth place finish over Adam Levi (Kosmic).

The second heat was all Miller. Getting the jump at the drop of the green, Miller drove away until a full course caution came out for a crash on lap three. Once the track was clear, the race resumed with a single-file start. The caution didn’t hurt Miller as he drove off to the win. It did benefit Nicolas Morales (Tony Kart), who worked around a gaggle of karts that were fighting it out and took the second position. Thursday’s fast driver Devin Lindsey (Tony Kart) fought up to third over IndyCar Series driver Jay Howard (Arrow) and Kyle Smith (PCR). Jones dropped to eighth behind TJ Koyen (Merlin) and Mason Marotta (Tony Kart).

KF2
The international-filled KF2 category provided some big action for the morning group, beginning with qualifying. A number of drivers held the provisional pole until it was Teemu Suninen (Intrepid) with the spot, posting a 46.192. Philo Armand (Tony Kart) was second, followed by Dennis Olsen (Energy), Sam Snell (Energy) and Yannick de Brabander (Formula K). Once the green flag fell, it was a great exhibition of driving by the field. Suninen was able to pull away quickly as they battled behind him. Lap after lap, his lead grew until the checkered flag when the margin of victory was over six-seconds. Dave Blom (Formula K) benefitted from all the contact early, moving into the top-five and eventually second over de Brabander, Phillip Orcic (Zanardi) and Nicholas Maranzana (Kosmic).

S2
Nick Neri appears to be the early front-runner in the S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto category this year. The Florida driver making his first SuperNats start has shown to the speed to compete. Neri put his Tony Kart on the pole position, posting a 45.921. He would go on to win his heat race in the A vs. B group. Scott Hargrove (Italkart) qualified second with another SuperNats rookie - Dutch driver Milan Dontje (Energy) in third. Last year’s S5 winner Daniel Langon (Zanardi) was fourth with 2010 podium finisher Josh Lane (DR Kart) in fifth.

Neri grabbed the holeshot for his heat race and led wire-to-wire in the 12-lap moto. Lane got a great jump from inside row two and kept pace for much of the run while championship contender Nicky Freytag (Intrepid) ended up third on Lane’s bumper. Sabre Cook (CRG) drove a great first heat, advancing up to fourth with Colby Yardley (CRG) in fifth.

Dontje showed he was a contender as well, driving to the victory in the C vs. D heat race. The story however was the drive put in by Kyle Hathcox (GP). The Pro Tour championship leader qualified outside the top-20 overall, but bounced back with a stellar run in his first heat to end up second. Langon finished third with title contender Cory Milne (GP) and Arie Luyendyk Jr. (Zanardi) in fifth.

S4
As he has shown all year, Jimmy McNeil (CRG) is the stud of S4 Master Stock Moto. After a few drivers challenged the provisional pole, McNeil put down a 46.680 to take the position. Bonnier Moulton (Tony Kart) was second with Logan Jones (CRG) making a late push to third. Texan Mike Jones (Sodi) was fourth with Brian Fisher (DR Kart) in fifth.

McNeil and Moulton started on row one with McNeil grabbing the holeshot. They were joined by Fisher out front. The three cleared the field and continued to exchange the fast lap of the race. On lap 11, McNeil broke the shifter lever in his hands. For the final lap, he drove shifting with the shifter rod at the chassis point. That left Moulton to take the win over Fisher with Eddie Olpin (Kosmic), Darrell Tunnell (CRG) and Jim Inglebright (GP) rounding out the top-five.

Jones proved to have the stronger setup in the C vs. D heat race. After Logan grabbed the holeshot, Jones pushed him around the track until lap six when he moved by for the lead. From there Jones drove off to the win. Behind him, Firestone was the man on the move, getting into the top-five as he worked his way up to third and eventually around Logan for second. Nick Galante (Trackmagic) continues to show well and placed fourth with PP Mastro (CRG) in fifth.

G1
A category dominated by international drivers over the last two years could see an American back on top in 2011. Jimmy McNeil (CRG) has been the top S4 driver all season and is making an effort to win two categories in one event. It’s looking solid so far as the SoCal driver posted the fast lap in qualifying, a 46.375-lap time to edge out Fernando Penna (CRG). Fabrizio Nannini (Energy) was third quickest over Guilherme Jacob (CRG) and 2001 winner Eduardo Martins (Tony Kart).

As the lights went out to start the opening heat, McNeil was slow off the line and dropped to fourth in the order. With the fast laps of the race, he would retain the point and take the checkered flag. Following the race however, McNeil was penalized three positions for jumping the start, as was Penna and Nannini. This gave Jacob zero points and the win, as moved McNeil to second, Antonio Canedo (CRG) to third, Martins to fourth and Penna and Nannini back to fifth and sixth.

TaG Master
What appeared to be one of the most competitive fields the event has seen in TaG Master, was a one-man show on Friday. Jim Russell Jr. (Parolin) has the rest of the field going to work overnight after a sweep on the day. The qualifying session was busy with action at the top of the order until Russell laid down his fastest lap on his tenth circuit, a 48.879 to score the pole position from Robby Mott (Margay). Filling out the veteran status up front, Trevor McAlister (Intrepid) was third quickest with SoCal’s Paul Bonilla (Arrow) and 2010 winner Leonardo Nienkotter (Kosmic) capping off the fast five.

After two false starts, Russell and Mott were moved to row two for the start with McAlister and John Crow (Tony Kart) now on the front row while Bonilla stalled on track before the end of the first warm-up lap. Once underway, Mott and Russell put themselves back to the front of the field, with Crow shuffled back and McAlister running third. Russell and Mott exchange the lead a few times over the course of the 12-lap event before Russell secured the spot as they took the white flag. Nienkotter took advantage, pushing Mott back to third a few corners later. At the line, Russell scored the win with Ethan Wilson (Tony Kart) and Chuck Gafrarar (Parolin) advancing into the top-five.

S5
Miguel Lopez (GP) made a statement on Friday in the S5 Junior Stock Moto division. A front-runner on the Pro Tour, the Texas driver has yet to score a victory. With one day in the books, he’s now the front-runner after putting his GP kart on the pole and scoring the heat one win. Pro Tour title contender Austin Schimmel (GP) kept pushing through the timed session, but come up 0.019-seconds short of Lopez’s time, missing out on the 10-bonus points for the pole position. Fernando Casillas Jr. (Italkart) was third quickest over Erik Nelson (Kosmic) and Italian Alessio Piccini (Tony Kart).

In the heat race, Lopez drove wire-to-wire for the win by 1.702-seconds over Schimmel. Point leader Alex Tartaglia (Intrepid) advanced from eighth up to third, putting Casillas to fourth and Nelson to fifth.

TaG Junior
The first group on the course for qualifying was the Russell Karting Specialties TaG Junior category. Split into two groups, Jake Johnston (Top Kart) set the pace for the opening drivers with a 48.587. The group also included three Pro Tour championship contenders with Bailey Murphy (CRG) and Austin Dement (DR Kart) inside the top-six for their group while Blaine Rocha (Wild Kart) struggled. Johnston’s time held for six minutes in the second group before his time was eclipsed. A number of drivers shuffled around the provisional pole until last year’s winner Joao Viera (Tony Kart) took over the position with a 48.080 lap time. Bruna Tomaselli (Kosmic) was second with Austin Self (Arrow) third. Matthew Graham (Zanardi) and Thiago Vivacqua (Energy) capped off the top five. Only two Americans made the top-10 in the session with Joel Jens (Tony Kart) joining Self, coming in at ninth in the session.

The opening heat for Groups A and B put Viera and Tomaselli on the front row. Contact through the opening corners allowed Connor Jupp (Energy) to take the point. Viera eventually worked his way to the point in what was a rough heat race throughout the field. Jens started on row three and drove to second, dropping Jupp back to third with Jake Johnston and Brendan Baker (CRG) rounding out the top-five.

Self and Graham lined up on the front row for the C vs. D heat race with Self taking control of the point early. Graham dropped back inside the top-five, eventually coming on late in the race to run down Self. The two swapped the lead through lap 11, resulting in contact in turn one. That gave Self the lead outright and he scored the heat win with Graham in second. Lance Stroll (Zanardi) advanced up to third over Mason Daughters (FA Kart) and George Russell (Intrepid).

TaG Cadet
Fresh off his win at the Rok Cup International Final event in Italy, Florida driver Logan Sargeant is putting that experience to work in Vegas. The Tony Kart driver posted the fast lap in qualifying for the category - 53.230 - and went on to win the opening heat race. Zane Smith (Top Kart) was second on the qualifying time sheets with 2010 SuperNats champ Patricio O’Ward (Tony Kart), Canadian Grant Quinlan (Birel) and Sofia Floersch (Top Kart) the fast five.

Sargeant was untouchable in the Avs.B heat race, driving away to an eight-second win in 12 laps. Floersch crossed the line second over Max Fewtrell (Top Kart) with Smith back to fourth ahead of David Malukas (Birel) in what was a clean race throughout the field.

The Cvs.D heat race saw a lot of contact early and throughout the 12-lap run. Much of that took place behind the leaders as four drivers put on a show. Juan Manuel Correa (Arrow) was able to work forward and score the win over O’Ward, 2010 Pro Tour champ Colton Herta (DR Kart) and Quinlan. Anthony Gangi Jr. (CRG) put in a good effort to advance up to fifth.