Round Three of the Jim Russell Norcal Rotax Challenge

Round three of the Jim Russell Northern California Rotax Challenge was run at the Jim Russell kart track on the challenging Sprint track layout under mild overcast skies. 51 drivers came out for Race #3 equally the largest entry turnout that was set in April. 11 Junior Rotax drivers were entered, the largest Junior Rotax field in Norcal history.

Rotax DD2 summary – With seven entries, the 2 speed DD2 class proved to be very interesting. Glen Poy-Wing (Swiss-Hutless) took the pole ahead of David Arnstein (CRG) and David Polic (CRG). January Grove (CRG) took the third spot momentarily, but was 2 pounds light and sent to end of the field. In the Prefinal, Poy-Wing took the lead initially then was passed by Arnstein who then held the lead to the end of the 12 lap race. Grove worked her way back up to third only to come across the scales 2 pounds light again. Back to the pack for January. In the Main, Arnstein took the lead and started to pull out a slight lead. Grove made her way up to third in a few laps but could not make inroads in the lead of Arnstein or Poy-Wing. Then Glen spun and gave up 2nd to Grove but came back to over take the lady driver to claim 2nd overall by the end of the 18 lap Main. Grove finished 3rd, Polic 4th and Bruce Weir (Birel) 5th.

Junior Rotax summary – The largest field in Norcal history of 11 Junior Rotax karts took to the track this day. Race #1 winner Mikee Mejia (CRG) and Race #2 winner Donavon Wheeler (Birel) proved to very equal all day beginning with the Qualify where they turned in the same best lap with Wheeler getting pole due to his better 2nd best lap. Jordan Miller (Birel) returned to competition from a wrist injury and put down the 3rd best time in Qualify. At the start of the Prefinal, Andrew Wolocatiuk (Trackmagic) got spun around going through turn one and lost his great 4th place spot and had to charge after the pack once he got his kart pointed the right way, he eventually finished 10th. Wheeler led all the way, but just barely, as he took the win by less than a half second over Mejia. Miller was 3rd, Austin Root (Birel) 4th and Bryce Hylbert (Birel) was 5th. In the Main, Wheeler and Mejia checked out again, with the young lady Miller holding down a solid 3rd the whole 18 laps. But all the great racing was behind Miller as Joseph Keaton (Monza) and Brody Zink (Birel) both made their way past to take the 4th and 5th place spots by the end of the race. Wheeler pulled away near the end to win over Mejia to take his second win of the year and also take over the points lead in the class.

Rotax Masters Light summary – Veteran Rotax racer Joe Karrett was not planning to run this year, but just sitting around while others are racing was no fun. So Joe showed up with his tried and true Intrepid and pulled off the hat trick of winning pole, the Prefinal and took a 14 second victory in the Main. In Qualify, Mike Lawler (CRG) took 2nd and points leader Mark Pingol (Swiss Hutless) took 3rd. In the Prefinal, Pingol and Lawler switched positions in the final order behind Karrett.. In the Main, Lawler took over second on the start and held on for the 2nd place finish behind Karrett with Pingol another 6 seconds behind in 3rd. Irvin Sevilla (Tonykart) was 4th and Mary Beth Wilson (CRG) was fourth.

Rotax Masters summary – The 8 kart field Masters field had some great racing in the middle of the field all day long. In Qualify, Jerry Pretti (CRG) took pole ahead of Dan Dollosso (CRG) and 2007 champ David Carlisle (CRG). But in the Prefinal, the more seasoned Dollosso go the best of Pretti and took a 2 second win with Carlisle 3rd and Jay Brosius (CRG) 4th. In the Main, Brosius had a bit of a moment when he spun off and got some air over a small dirt mound. He returned to the race to take 6th overall. Dollosso controled the race and took the win by 3 seconds over Carlisle who got the best of 1st year driver Pretti, who finished in 3rd another 8 seconds back. In 4th was Chris DeBruine (CRG) and 5th went to Peter Boot (Intrepid).

Senior Rotax summary – 15 drivers took the track for what turned out to be a hard fought race day for the Senior Rotax class. Gregory Liefooghe (CRG) won both of the previous 2008 races, and he started out the day taking the pole over Jake Mottaz (Birel) and Cameron Pringle (CRG). In the Prefinal, Gregory cruised to a 3 second win over Mottaz who was another 4 seconds up on the 3rd through 5th drivers. But the battle for 3rd through 5th was where the action was with back and forth battling. In the end of the 12 lap Prefianl, Nikola Radosavljevich (Birel) took 3rd ahead of Raymond Bustamante Jr (CRG) and then Pringle. In the Main, Liefooghe pulled out to an early lead over Mottaz with Bustamante getting into 3rd and pulled open a gap over 4th. Nikola held onto the 4th spot but was under pressure from Pringle the whole way. It is worth noting that in 6th spot was the veteran of the class, David Arnstein (CRG). David not only won the DD2 class earlier in the day, but went from 11th qualify to 6th in the Main, not a bad days work. Also another driver to highlight is Jessica Harmon (Corsa). This was only her second Senior Rotax race, having come out of indoor karting at the LeMans karting center. She battled hard all day with some experienced Rotax drivers to take a well deserved 9th place. The hard luck award for the day has to go to Mathew Powers (Birel). After a 7th spot in Qualify, a 6th in the Prefianl, his kart would not start at the beginning of the Main. By the time they got the kart going, he entered the race 2 laps down and finished 14th, but he did not give up and recorded the 5th best lap time in the race.

Race #4 of the Jim Russell Norcal Rotax Challenge will be June 28 at the Infineon kart track. This will be a special race with the track layout being the never before run Reverse National track. Since the AMA motorcycle air fences will be used for this race, there will be only one practice day to run this track prior to Race #4 and that day will be June 27. Race #4 should be a very interesting race in deed.

For more information about the Jim Russell Norcal Rotax Challenge Series, contact race director Ric Shaw.