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California ProKart Challenge
| Alcorn Hits Fifth Win in Round 5 of PKC NorCal |
| Friday, 15 August 2008 20:19 |
 The fifth round of the Superkarts! USA ProKart Challenge North program saw another great turnout at the Jim Russell International Karting Center under clear sunny skies this last weekend. The penultimate round of the series competed on August 9 utilizing the standard 3/4-mile national configuration of the Sonoma, California facility. Following a full day of practice and BBQ sponsored by Diede Construction the day before, drivers and teams continued chasing the championship in the eight divisions.Heading into the weekend, Jason Toft held the top spot in the two divisions, TaG Senior and S3. His shifter machine was near perfection in round five. After earning top honors in S3 qualifying, Toft ran second in heat one to Steve Reasoner – who was penalized three positions for jumping the start, thereby giving Toft the win. Heat two was a great battle with championship rival Marc Elliott, with a last lap for Toft for win number two on the day. A slow start dropped Toft to second on the opening circuit of the 20-lap final before assuming the top spot and going on to a 2.407-second victory for a clean sweep on the day. Elliott ran second with Brad Dunford completing the podium. In TaG, Toft began the day as the driver to beat – and the only one to record a sub-50 lap time in qualifying for the pole position. The battle for the win in heat one saw Will Martindale and Alex Speed joining Toft up front and finishing in that order. Starting from the pole in heat two, Martindale was able to get away clean from the rest of the field to take the win. Troy Diede joined the fight for second to cross the line in that position just ahead of Speed and Toft. The 20-lap main event saw the front shuffled – with Toft finding himself at the point following lap two with Martindale and Speed in tow. Toft would, however, not make it around for lap three as mechanical issues put him on the sidelines. This gave Martindale a clear track in front of him – with Speed on his bumper. The two never changed spots and went 1-2 at the checkered flag. Brett Buckwalter was a close third to round out the podium.  Speed then put in a sweep performance on the day in S1 -- for the third time on the season. Speed was top qualifier, then earned wins in the two heat races and the main event, where he stretched out to a 13-second victory over Jess Peterson and Derek Tillett. Rob Soares was also perfect on the day in TaG Masters. His second event back from a broken hand, Soares bested his competitors along with the TaG Masters Light drivers, won by Jim Zootis. Helmar Beregszaszy and Steve Elo joined Soares on the podium while Dolores Mosqueda and David Oroshnik stood alongside Zootis on the Light podium.S4 and G1 had near sweeps on the day, as well. Matt Alcorn has been near perfect all season and continued on this past Saturday. After earning the fast lap in S4 qualifying, Alcorn led all 10 laps in heat one. Sergio Machado stepped up his game and edged Alcorn for the heat two win. After a great run, Machado was unable to challenge for the main event victory as he never left the grid due to engine trouble. This allowed Alcorn to cruise to a fifth straight win of the season. Alex Keith was runner-up with Scott Mortensen running to third. Craig Corwin was looking to match Alcorn’s victory total with top honors in qualifying and wins in both heat races. Cruising in the final, however, Corwin pulled off on lap eight with a mechanical issue, ending his win streak at four. This allowed his championship rival Ethan Wilson to earn his first win of the year, ahead of Jim Kidd and Ron Tamba.  The competitive HPV 2 Junior category ran its second event toward the championship after joining the PKC class lineup late in the season. Championship leader David Vasquez was hooked up during the first half of the event, taking the top honors in qualifying while winning both heat races. In the final, however, Vasquez was shuffled back at the start and was trying to work his way back to the point until he was black flagged off the track on lap four for rough driving. This allowed Kiel Spaulding to assume the lead and go on to take the victory. Donavon Wheeler edged Kelsey Nilsson for second at the line in what was a rough battle. Following the event, PKC officials reminded all of the drivers – and their crews – of the SKUSA rules regarding on-and-off-track conduct.The sixth and final round of the inaugural PKC North season will take place September 13 on the reverse direction national configuration at the Sonoma circuit. The event will also mark the first event utilizing the MG Tire-FZ compound, which will be used at the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals XII in Las Vegas, November 20-23. Also on tap for the September finale will be a Jim Russell Racing Drivers School sponsored ‘drifting’ contest, with more details to be released soon. |