Class Championships still on the line after Race #9 of the 2009 Jim Russell Northern California Rotax Challenge

Round #9 of the Jim Russell Northern California Rotax Challenge struck it rich with an unseasonably, warm weather day for the last race at Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway. The event marked the final round for the 80 Shifter classes, while the Northern California Rotax Challenge still has one more race left to determine the class champions.

Championship positions in some classes were strengthened while in other classes, the chase is now even tighter as the series heads to the Kinsmen Kart Club in Dixon, California on Sunday, November 8th for the season finale.

Senior Rotax
Thirteen drivers of arguably the strongest talent pool in the country took the green flag in the hotly contested Senior class. With the first eight races seeing six different winners, the championship battle is coming down to just two drivers for top honors. 2008 champion Gregory Liefooghe held a modest lead over multi-time Junior Rotax Champion Jordan Jadallah at the race onset.

In qualifying, Jadallah set the pace taking the pole over David Harwin, Matthew Powers and Liefooghe.

At the start of the pre-main, Jadallah took the initial lead, but was challenged every step of the way by Powers as the drivers swapped the lead several times. On the final lap, the drivers ran side-by-side until Jadallah slipped by with two turns to go, taking a very close win over Powers. Harwin finished third with Larry Fraser and Liefooghe close behind.

Powers took the early lead in the main heading into turn two and led the field for the first seventeen laps. Jadallah was able to stay in contact with the strong running Powers as the two pulled away from the rest of the pack.

Behind the leading duo, Fraser moved into the third spot as Harwin dropped back to fourth. Liefooghe fell back to sixth as Nikola Radosavljevech moved past for fifth position. Harwin was able to re-pass Fraser, but a mechanical issue ended his run shortly thereafter. Radosavljevech challenged Fraser for third, but he too pulled off due to mechanical issues. Liefooghe continued his bid for the championship as he passed Fraser for third.

As the race entered the final two laps, all eyes in the crowd were riveted on the lead as Powers and Jadallah battled in every corner. With the white flag waving, Powers held a defensive line through turn one as Jadallah prepared for a run. Jadallah pulled alongside at the exit of turn one, where the two touched seeing Powers spin off track. Jadallah recovered, leading the final lap to the checkered, claiming valuable championship points. Liefooghe inherited second position from Powers with Fraser following through for third. A season's best run to fourth for Matthew Weiss with Ray Andrews, returning from a three year hiatus, rounding out the top five. The win moved Jadallah within twenty points of Liefooghe for the championship title.

Rotax Micro Max
Nicky Hays claimed another pole in Micro Max followed by Michael Michoff and Toni Breidinger in the field of five drivers. At the drop of the green flag in the pre-pain, Hays took the lead ahead of Michoff and Sarah Setzer, who moved from fifth to third after turn one. With some great driving, Michoff was able to get by Hays, holding the point to the final lap. Hays showed his skill as re-passed for the lead in the final corner.

At the start of the main Hays took the lead, but Michoff made a nifty pass to move into the lead early on. In a great battle, Hays was only able to find a way by Michoff at the end of the front straight on the last lap. Michoff tried to fight back, but Hays held on to pick up his fifth win of the year. Toni Breidinger grabbed the third spot in her strongest drive of the year followed by her sister Annie Breidinger who was able to just get by Sarah Setzer.

Rotax Mini Max
Points leader Drew Setzer took the pole ahead of Harrison Mills and JR Raczko in the 10-12 year old Mini Max class. Mills grabbed a short lived lead in the pre-main, however Setzer was able to retake the top spot as they entered lap two, holding on to take the win.

In the main, Setzer took the early lead and was never challenged. Mills came on in the early laps, but in the end settled for second. Raczko's mechanical problems continued as the driver had to pit again without making a lap. Going into the last race, Setzer has all but locked up the championship.

Junior Rotax
Brody Zink took the pole over an improved Josh Feiber who was less than one tenth of a second back, with Niki Luna in third. Pre-main action saw Zink taking the initial lead and never looking back. Feiber stayed close to come home less than two seconds back with Luna coming in third. The main saw much of the same as Zink again took the lead, however Luna was able to edge out Feiber at the start to grab the second position. The two battled for second for several laps until Feiber finally made a good pass move to take over the spot. Zink cruised home to a comfortable win, with Feiber second, and Luna third. With the win, Zink clinched the class championship in Junior Rotax.

Rotax Masters and Masters Light
A combined field of twelve drivers took to the track in Race #9. In qualifying, David Harwin took the pole ahead of Jack Arluck making it an all Masters front row. Row two had Light drivers of Mary Beth Wilson in third ahead of David Carlisle, the 2008 Masters champion returning for his first outing this year. Masters points leader Donald Durbin qualified in fifth just ahead of Light competitor Dolores Mosqueda.

In the pre-main, Harwin took the lead from the green, driving to a five second win.

Harwin again took the lead at the start of the Main, pulling out to a commanding lead in the early going. Arluck moved into second at the start followed by Carlisle and Mike Lawler (Light) who made a strong move at the green flag to move up from his sixth place starting position. On lap seven, Lawler challenged Carlisle as they went to the infamous tic-tac-toe turn when the two karts touched and hooked front ends. The contact pushed Carlisle off and Lawler back a few spots, allowing Durbin and Wilson to improve their positions.

By mid-race, the top three were Harwin, Arluck and Durbin, all Masters class karts. In close tow, karts of Light competitors of Wilson, Lawler and Stephan Gaudreau battled for the class win. Masters driver Andre Eriksen, who started the Main in nineth, did well to move up to the fourth place. In the end, Harwin took the race and Masters class win followed by Arluck (Masters), Durbin (Masters). Wilson claimed her first class win in 2009 followed by Gaudreau (Light), Eriksen (Masters) and Lawler (Light). The win put Harwin up by a substantial margin in the Master's championship points.

Rotax DD2
The two speed, direct-drive class continues to be the fastest group among the Rotax classes. Points leader Troy Castaneda took the pole ahead of 2008 class champion David Arnstein followed by Kyle Gimple and Bronson Eggert. In the pre-main, Castaneda took the lead at the green flag, never looking back en route to a six second win ahead of Arnstein.

In the main, the Rotax World Final bound Castaneda again controlled the pace of the race and came home over fifteen seconds in front of the rest of the pack. The real excitement was between Arnstein and Gimple as they battled for second the entire race. The two drivers exchanged positions several times until Gimple made the last pass late in the race, to claim second in front of Arnstein. Eggert finished fourth over January Grove and David Palic in sixth.

Race #10 of the Northern California Rotax Challenge returns to the Dixon track for the season finale Sunday November 8th.

Full race results including MyLaps data are posted on series website at http://www.norcalrotax.com.

Snapshots of the event have been posted at http://www.norcalrotax.com/multimedia/.

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