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California ProKart Challenge
| PKC SoCal Crowns Class Champions at Santa Maria |
| Friday, 05 September 2008 17:36 |
 The final round of the 2008 edition of the Superkarts! USA ProKart Challenge South program crowned nine class champions after a fun and successful sixth event of the season. The Santa Maria Kart Track played host to the PKC group for possibly a final time, as the facilities’ future is in question. The nearly 60 competitors in attendance took advantage of the chance for one more event at the popular course, while those in the championship chases focused on the tasks needed to head home with the title in hand.Qualifying in S3 Light was led by class newcomer Tommy Thompson as he edged series frontrunners Clinton Schoombee and Bobby Legate to post the fastest lap. Thompson got a bad start in heat one which allowed Schoombee and Legate to get around him, running the 10-lap race in that order. Schoombee would have his trouble in heat two, falling back on the opening lap as Legate paced the field, that is, until retired on lap five with mechanical problems. This allowed Patrick Cushenberry to assume the point after he got around Thompson. Starting the main event from the pole as a result, Cushenberry was able to get away from the field to lead all 20 laps en route to his second victory of the season. Schoombee battled back to second ahead of Thompson and Brad Dunford, with Legate ending up fifth after starting last. Legate would be crowned the champion of this class for the second year in a row, as he had the series locked up after Round #5. S3 Heavy championship leader Phil Conte was the driver to beat at the final round, topping the qualifying charts before going on to win both heat races. Conte was well on his way to his third victory on the year until he retired with just two laps to go. With championship contender Marty Henderson out of the race three laps earlier, Conte would still clinch the championship. Rob Whitley picked up the pieces to score his second victory, with Conte and Henderson classified in second and third.  Bryce Miller began his chase for a chance at the S4 Light title by taking top honors in qualifying. Billy Musgrave got the jump from outside row one, however, to lead all 10 laps of the opening heat race with Miller right on his bumper for the entire duration. Musgrave would repeat in the second heat as Miller fell to third behind championship leader Willy Musgrave until getting back to the second spot on lap nine. Billy Musgrave would lead the opening two laps of the main event until Willy took P1 on lap three, never relinquishing the spot to secure the class championship. Billy Musgrave settled for second with Miller running third.S4 Heavy was swept on the day by Bill Cox, scoring his first feature win on the year. Cox was fast all day, leading the way in qualifying, both heat races, and the main event. Peter Workum was second on-track, but was disqualified in tech for being too wide, moving Robert Morales up to second and Luke Bianco into third. Championship leader Ken Schilling clinched the title before the racing began, and lucky for him, as he was riddled with technical problems throughout the day. TaG Senior and TaG Masters both saw dominant performances by Andrick Zeen and Billy Cleavelin. Zeen won his second straight main event after earning top honors in qualifying and the two heats. Point leader Zach Dericco edged Larry Fraser at the finish line for second place in the feature to clinch the championship. Cleavelin’s fifth feature win of the year – outrunning Matt Kimball and Steve Wiener – earned him the Masters title by a hefty margin.  Steve Donia also earned his fifth win of the year in the G2 division to wrap up the point championship. Blair Chang got the better of Donia in qualifying, but Donia came back to win heat one and two along with the feature. Chang retired in the main event after one lap, allowing Roy Montgomery and Darrell Tunnell to join Donia on the podium. Jimmy McNeil and Nick Firestone led the way in S1 and G1, respectively, through qualifying and heat one before both recorded a DNF in heat two, putting them back of the starting grid for the feature race. This allowed Peter Abba and Steve Ferrario to pace their respectively classes in heat two and on to the feature wins. Abba outran Vivek Tandon and McNeil, while Ferrario finished just ahead of Troy Butts and Firestone. Following the point tallying, McNeil and Robert Marks were crowned champions in S1 and G1. |