NorCal Rotax Racers Shine Once Again

Two of the outstanding drivers from the Jim Russell Northern California Rotax Challenge took another big step in advancing their racing skills this week at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma California.

Gregory Liefooghe (2008 Snr. Nor Cal Rotax champion and the Jim Russell 2008 Karter of the Year) and Matt Powers (3rd place 2008 Nor Cal Snr. Rotax) both won scholarship awards as part of the prize package in the 2008 Northern California Rotax Challenge. This included a three day Advanced Racing Course in the all new Formula Mazda race cars at the Jim Russell Racing School.

The weather wasn’t the best but taking the informative course at the same time gave these guys a good benchmark for charting their progress. The first two days only yielded one dry session but the third day, albeit cold by California standards, was a sunny day for racing. The third and final day was the mock race day and after qualifying, Greg had the pole position for the race and Matt was starting third. It was great to see these guys battle all year in the Rotax Challenge and then have the chance to watch them duke it out in the absolute best school environment in the country and one of my favorite tracks.

The Formula cars that Russell uses are the finest and most advanced school fleet available anywhere in the U.S. and I was very impressed to see how well Gregory and Matt preformed. One comment they both made to me was they were amazed how much they could feel the down force and how aware they had to be of the aerodynamics even in the braking zones. These cars are definitely the real McCoy and I was most impressed with Gregory and Matt’s smoothness and consistency. These guys have been battling all year for the top karting honors and as always, there was a lot of pride on the line so needless to say they were pushing at 110% all the time.

In the first race Greg took the advantage and a stretched it out to a good lead until he had a small bobble in turn seven that allowed Matt to close the gap. Greg held on for the win but it was apparent that Matt had found something and by the end of the race they were running at about the same pace. In the final session of the day Gregory and Matt fell back to second and third on the start but after one lap Greg had the lead and Matt was charging. Matt had caught back up and it was very interesting to watch the strengths of each driver as they made their way around the historic Sears Point Raceway. Unfortunately, Gregory’s’ car had a mechanic failure and the race between these two was cut short just as Matt had caught up and was looking for a pass. I would have loved to have seen more dicing between these two one more time and who knows maybe we will someday.

Gregory and Matt are on two different paths however, Greg is moving back to his home country of Switzerland and will be continuing to further his racing career in Europe. Matt will be flying out to Florida this weekend to compete in the famous Skip Barber run-offs in Sebring and has the chance of a lifetime to compete for a car ride in 2009. These customers represent some of the great talent coming up thru the Norcal karting ranks and especially from the Rotax series.

The Infineon karting center is the primary home to the Northern California Rotax Challenge and with the generous support of Jim Russell Racing Schools, drivers are able to live the dream of going from karting to race cars.

As reported by Kris Shaw. Photos: Kris Shaw