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| EKN Trackside: SKUSA SuperNationals XV - Saturday Report |
| Saturday, 19 November 2011 00:00 |
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The stage is set for the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals XV as the two days of practice, two days of competition are now in the books with everything leading up to SuperSunday at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Eleven categories will battle tomorrow on the 0.7-mile for the victory and to put their name in the history books as a SuperNationals winner. Also, the Pro Tour championships are on the line for the series divisions with those champions to be crowned on Sunday. S1 After scoring a podium finish last year in his debut, Dutch driver Indy Dontje is showing the American contingent how to power around a S1 Pro Stock Moto entry. Dontje completed the sweep up to Sunday as he scored the win in Heat 2 and Heat 3 to start from the P1 grid box. The Energy driver powered away to a three-second win in the opening run of the day over Italian Mirko Torsellini (CRG). 2010 Pro Tour champion Fritz Leesmann (CRG) was third over Jason Toft (GP) and current Pro Tour title contender Tom Dyer (GP). Torsellini ran second again in the third heat with Leesmann once again third. Dyer moved up to fourth with Nic LeDuc (Energy) in fifth. Point leader Daniel Bray (GP) had a tough day trying to move up from his 23rd qualifying position in both motos. The first run of the day, Bray was making progress until he made contact with the turn three barriers, eventually finishing 15th. The other heat race ended with more contact, this time on the final lap after nearly into the top-five. KZ2 With $10,000 on the line, mistakes need to be at a minimum, if not putting in a perfect performance to come out on top with the cash. For Anthony Abbasse (Sodi), he’s on that course in the KZ2 category. A regular front runner in the category for the past few years, Abbasse has yet to score that elusive win. Heading into SuperSunday, Abbasse is the driver to beat after sweeping the first two days. Abbasse continued his run at the front in Heat 2 to start out Friday’s action. Grabbing the holeshot, he felt pressure from Lammers throughout the run. Losing the lead on lap seven, Abbasse struck back on lap 10 to retake the position and score the win. Rick Dreezen (Tony Kart) ran to third with Beitske Visser (Intrepid) working around two-time winner Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart) for fourth. The third heat went easier for Abbasse as they battled behind him for the runner-up position as the Frenchman drove to a two-second win. Dreezen worked his way forward to second, edging out Lammers for the spot with Jeremy Iglesias (Intrepid) getting into the mix as Ardigo placed fifth once again. TaG Senior Former champions of the SuperNationals have certainly been in the spotlight in the first two days of the event. Joel Miller (FA Kart) being one of them as he put himself on the pole position for SuperSunday with a chance to add a second title to his 2007 win. The class began with what was the best race of the event through Saturday with Miller, Canadian Phillip Orcic (Zanardi), Pro Tour point leader Brett Felkins (Intrepid), and Danny Formal (Intrepid) putting on the show. Formal’s late-breaking moves put the crowd on it’s toes in turns one and three lap after lap as he knifed his way forward. Formal scored the win over Felkins with Miller playing it safe, moving to third on the final lap over Orcic as IndyCar Series driver Martin Plowman (Zanardi) ran back in fifth. Miller than capped off the day with a win in the B vs. C heat race, outrunning 2010 SuperNationals champion Andre Nicastro (Italkart). Chris Wehrheim (Top Kart) was third with Felipe Fraga (Zanardi) and Matheos Porto (Zanardi) rounding out the top-five. Orcic and Nicastro split the other two heat wins. Nicastro drove to a 1.482-second win over Fraga, Wehrheim, Eric Jones (Arrow) and Shawn Cricca (FA Kart) in the B vs. D heat run while Orcic claimed the win in A vs. D by two-seconds over a charging Formal, Devin Lindsey (Tony Kart), Jones and Plowman. S2 The racing in the S2 category has been solid with a number of young drivers showcasing their talents in front of the large crowd in Vegas. No one has done better however than Florida’s Nick Neri. The top driver on day one after qualifying on pole and scoring his first heat win, Neri finished off on day two with a sweep of the two heat races to score the pole for SuperSunday. In the first run of the day, Neri grabbed the holeshot over Milan Dontje (Energy) as they went 1-2. Mexican driver Fidencio Guzman (CRG) was third over Josh Lane (DR Kart) and Nicky Freytag (Intrepid). The A vs. D heat was a crazy opening laps but once it settled down, Neri found his way back to the point and score the win by nearly three-seconds. Sabre Cook (CRG) was impressive with a great drive to second over Freytag, Daniel Langon (Zanardi) and Cory Milne (GP). Scott Hargrove (Italkart) and Dontje were the other two winners on the day. Hargrove took the holeshot for the B vs. D run and ran a solid race to finish 1.7-seconds ahead of Patrick Cushenberry (CRG), Colby Yardley (CRG), Jordon Musser (Birel) and Milne. Dontje and Hargrove led the way in B vs. C until Hargrove broke the shifter on lap two, which gave Dontje a clear path to the win. Behind them was a crazy battle for second with Musser working his way to second over Cody Diede (Intrepid), Cushenberry and SKUSA Pro Tour point leader Kyle Hathcox all the way up to the fifth position after starting outside the top-15. KF2 The KF2 category could see its third different winner in as many years at the SuperNatinoals. Teemu Suninen (Intrepid) could be the name on the trophy tomorrow after the main event as he’s been dominant over the past two days. Qualifying on pole and taking the heat one win, Suninen scored the victory in both heats today for a perfect score. In the opening run of the day, Sam Snell (Energy) grabbed the lead early but Suninen retook it and stretched out to a solid win. Dennis Olsen (Energy) was second with Snell back to third ahead of Mitsui Duzanowski (Kosmic) and Nicholas Maranzana (Kosmic). The Heat 3 race started similar to Heat 2, this time with Snell and Philo Armand (Tony Kart) working around Suninen in the opening circuit. Once the tires warmed up, Suninen set it on cruise control, working by both and into the lead by lap five. From there, he took the third win over the two days by over a second. The driver to watch was Yannick de Brabander (Formula K) as he knifed his way forward with some deep out-breaking maneuvers on a number of occasions. After 12 laps, Yannick was second over Snell with Jake Lloyd (Energy) and Dave Blom (Formula K) all working around Armand. S4 Bonnier Moulton (Tony Kart) was a G1 SuperNationals champion in 2004. Since then, he’s been challenging the S3 - now S1 drivers in Vegas. This year, he moved back to the Masters category and has shown well with three straight heat wins to start SuperSunday from inside row one. Moulton earned win one on Saturday in the B vs. D heat race. He and Mike Jones (Sodi) drove away to the 1-2 finish. Jim Inglebright (GP) was third with PP Mastro (CRG) and Nick Firestone (Zanardi) rounding out the top five. His second of the day came in B vs. C, he drove away from the field for a 1.725-second victory. Jordon Musser (Birel) won the battle for second over Inglebright and Rob Logan (CRG) with Darrell Tunnell (CRG) in fifth. S4 Pro Tour point leader Jimmy McNeil (CRG) score the other two heat wins to improve his score after a DNF on Friday in heat one. The A vs. C race saw McNeil drive away to a 1.576-second win over Musser - who also improved on his point total with a DNF on Friday as well. Logan was third with Eddie Olpin (Kosmic) and Robert Marks (CRG) fifth. In A vs. D, Jones kept McNeil honest as the two swapped the lead early before McNeil took back the spot and edge out the Texan by just 0.015-seconds at the line, sizing up a possible photo finish for Sunday. Brian Fisher (DR Kart) was third with Olpin and Mastro capping off the top-five. G1 Not very many drivers can say they have won twice at one SuperNationals. S4 Pro Tour point leader Jimmy McNeil could be the second as he will lead the G1 field on SuperSunday. The CRG driver recorded both heat wins on Saturday to score the P1 grid spot. A two-second win over last year’s winner Fabrizio Nannini (Energy) was followed up by a one-second win over Fernando Penna (CRG). Penna will start from P2 with Nannini inside row two along with 2001 winner Eduardo Martins (Tony Kart) after scoring two top-five finishes on Saturday. Antonio Candedo (CRG) and Guilherme Jacob (CRG) fill out row three. TaG Master The competition level has been raised in TaG Master as the pressure is on all the drivers in the category, despite no chance not to make the main. It seemed that through the two heat races, drivers were more impatient then normal with a lot of contact throughout the field in the opening laps. Out front for much of the event has been Jim Russell Jr. as the Parolin driver added another heat win to his Friday victory, and will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday. Russell however found himself going backwards in heat two, the first round of action on Saturday. Robby Mott (Margay) was able to push him back and drive away to the win with Paul Bonilla (Arrow) trailing. The Kosmic drivers of Leonardo Nienkotter - last year’s winner - and Kip Foster - the provisional winner one year ago - drove forward late to end up third and fourth with Russell back to fifth. In Heat 3, Russell got away early as Mott trailed at the checkered flag, securing his outside row one position for Sunday. Foster again moved forward, placing third over Nienkotter with Trevor McAlister (Intrepid) scoring his best finish of the event in fifth. Pro Tour title contenders Brian McHattie (Kosmic), David Harwin (Tony Kart) and Larry Fraser (GP) will start Sunday in 10th, 37th, and 32nd. S5 Heading into the SuperNationals, the Pro Tour title chase in S5 Junior Stock Moto was one of the tightest battles on the series. With the results up to SuperSunday, it’s now even closer. Austin Schimmel (GP) has stepped up and scored enough points to put the pressure on leader Alex Tartaglia (Intrepid). Schimmel finished in the top-two through the three heat races to score the pole position for Sunday while Tartaglia experienced a terrible day Saturday and will start ninth on the grid. Schimmel will need to finish fourth or better in order to claim the championship. In the heat races, Schimmel took the win in the second run of the event over Italian Alessio Piccini (Tony Kart), Ryan Rudolph (CRG), Fernando Casillas Jr. (Italkart) and Micah Hendricks (Intrepid). Top qualifier Migel Lopez (GP) crashed while leading, but came back in Heat 3 to score the win over Schimmel, Casillas, Rudolph and Piccini. TaG Junior Austin Self (Arrow) established himself as the driver to beat for this year’s SuperNationals in TaG Junior. Scoring a win in the opening round of heat races after qualifying third, the Texas driver came back on day two with a sweep in his heat races. A very busy A vs. C moto saw Self drive away to a seven-second victory with a number of contenders running into trouble, including defending winner Joao Viera (Tony Kart) and Joel Jens (Tony Kart). Lance Stroll (Zanardi) drove to a second place over George Russell (Intrepid), Zachary Claman-DeMelo (Tony Kart) and Christian Munoz (Intrepid). The B vs. D group saw the top two drivers Kevin Lavelli (Top Kart) and Connor Jupp (Energy) hold onto the front two positions with Bruna Tomaselli (Kosmic) in the mix. Logan Bearden (Haase) won the battle for fourth over David Beckmann (Zanardi). Thiago Vivacqua (Energy) recovered from top-15 performance in his first heat of the day, showing the way in the A vs. D run. He along with Matthew Graham (Zanardi) and Viera battled out front, all crossing the line nose to tail. Jake Johnston (Top Kart) put in his best run of the event to finish fourth, as did Ashley Rogero (Tony Kart) in fifth. Self ended the day with the win in B vs. C heat race to solidify the pole position for SuperSunday. He and Tomaselli ran along out front until Tomaselli made contact with the apex barrier on lap six. That left Self alone out front for the win with Tomaselli able to hold on to second. Bearden ran third with Jupp and Mauro Auricchio (Top Kart) rounding out the top-five. TaG Cadet Last year, the top American driver from the Rok Cup International Final came to the SuperNationals and scored the inaugural TaG Cadet victory. This year, Florida driver Logan Sargeant (Tony Kart) won the October event in Italy and is primed to duplicate the same feat. With finishes of second and first added to his win Friday, Sargeant will start SuperSunday from the pole position. The first heat of the day for the class was A vs. C with a four kart break away with Sargeant, last year’s winner Patricio O’Ward (Tony Kart), Juan Manuel Correa (Arrow) and Sofia Floersch (Top Kart). After a great and clean battle, Floersch score the win over Sargeant, Correa and O’Ward with Pedro Fonseca (Kart Mini). Sargeant got his second win of the event in A vs. D after a race long battle with Pro Tour point leader Colton Herta (DR Kart) and Grant Quinlan (Birel). David Malukas (Birel) was fourth with Anthony Gangi Jr. (CRG) up to fifth. Quinlan and O’Ward were the other heat winners on the day. Quinlan won in the B vs. D run over Herta, Zane Smith (Top Kart), Max Fewtrell (Top Kart) and Jake Drew (CRG) in another great dice out front. O’Ward edged out Smith by just 0.079-seconds at the line in the B vs. C heat race. Fewtrell was close behind with Hunter Corbitt (Top Kart) and Kami Moreira-Laliberte (Tony Kart). |