Cool Windy Weather but Some Hot Racing in Race #8 of the 2009 Jim Russell Northern California Rotax Challenge

The Jim Russell Northern California Rotax Challenge took to the Kinsmen Kart Club track in Dixon, California for Round #8. This was the second visit to the tough four-tenths mile long track and the Rotax drivers had their hands full with the cool and windy weather as well as the challenge of the track itself.

Rotax Micro Max
Five drivers took to the track and continued their year long battle for points in this first year class for Northern California. Nicky Hays took the pole in qualifying ahead of Michael Michoff and Annie Breidinger. In the ten lap Pre-Main, Hays took the lead at the green flag and never gave up the lead as he drove on to a six second win over Michoff with Annie Breidinger in third. In the twelve lap Main, Hays took the lead again at the drop of the green flag. Michoff stayed closer in the Main but was not able to challenge Hays for the lead. The best battle of the race was for third place with Annie Breidinger being challenged the entire race by her twin sister Toni Breidinger. In the end, Annie came home one-tenth of second ahead of Toni for third with Sarah Setzer finishing fifth.

Rotax Mini Max
Mini Max had four contenders including the first time entry of Garrett Dixon who was trying out the class. In Qualifying, points leader Drew Setzer took the pole just ahead of Harrison Mills. In the Pre-Main, Setzer took the lead at the start and was never challenged. Mills stayed close and finished less than a second behind Setzer followed by JR Raczko and Dixon. The Main was a repeat of the Pre-Main with Setzer controlling the race followed closely by Mills with Raczko and Dixon finishing third and fourth.

Rotax Masters and Masters Light
Nine drivers turned out to race, three Masters and six Masters Light. Dixon club driver Chris Rossi (Light) took the pole ahead of David Harwin (Masters), Andre Eriksen (Masters) and Andrea Delfanti (Light).

In the Pre-Main, the veteran Harwin took the early lead in Masters until his rear bumper came adrift and he had to pit. With Harwin's exit, the race came down to a battle of three Light drivers with Chris Rossi in first followed by Delfanti and Stephan Gaudreau. The Masters class win went to Eriksen who finished fourth overall just ahead Jerry Pretti (Masters). In the Main, Delfanti got in front of Rossi in turn one but disaster struck in turn two when the two Light drivers came together and Rossi flipped over Delfanti bringing out a red flag. The restart of the Main was minus Rossi and Delfanti.

At the restart, Gaudreau took the early lead ahead of Eriksen and Pretti. Harwin started the Main from last on the grid and started his drive to the front, but the task was made tougher due to the difficulty of making passes on the tight Dixon track. In the end, Gaudreau took the overall win and with it, the win in the Light class. Eriksen was less than a second back for second overall and his first class win in Masters. Pretti (Masters) was third followed by Harwin (Masters), Steve Weiss (Light) and Mary Beth Wilson (Light).

Rotax DD2
The DD2 class was a tight and exciting race with six drivers taking the green. In Qualifying, Bronson Eggert took his first DD2 pole ahead of Kyle Gimple and David Arnstein. Points leader Troy Castaneda had problems and had to start the Pre-Main in the sixth position. Eggert took the lead at the drop of the green flag followed by Arnstein and Gimple. Castaneda worked his way through the field and slid by Arnstein to take over second by the end of the race. The Main started off fine until turn one where Castaneda, Gimple and January Grove all spun. Eggert took the lead followed by Arnstein and Dave Moody. Castaneda, Gimple and Grove all recovered and gave chase. In the end, Eggert went on to his first DD2 feature win with Arnstein 1.7 seconds back. Castaneda worked his way up to Arnstein's rear bumper but could not find a way by thus settling for third followed by Gimple, Grove and Moody.

Senior Rotax
The Senior Rotax class was the largest class of the race with twelve drivers. In Qualifying, Jake Mottaz took the pole ahead of Nic LeDuc and Dylan Lupton. This was Lupton's first senior race having just moved up from Junior Rotax. In the Pre-Main, Mottaz was really on and took the early lead. By mid-race, LeDuc started to make his move to catch Mottaz and made the pass for the lead on lap seven. Now it was Mottaz's turn to look for a way by. Going into the last lap, Nic's lead was inches with Mottaz looking for an opening to make a pass. In the back turn, the two touched and LeDuc slowed to a stop. Mottaz recovered and went on to the win with Lupton second and Matthew Powers third.

In the Main, Lupton got into turn one first while Mottaz got sideways and spun taking Carlos Calderon and Jordan Jadallah with him. Lupton continued to lead followed by Nikola Radosavljevich and Powers. By mid-race, Powers moved to the front by out braking Radosavljevich into the hairpin turn. Powers now set his sights on the young Lupton. Powers looked for the opportunity and with only two turns left Powers made his move again at the hairpin turn. Powers went on to take the win, his first Senior Rotax feature win and the sixth different driver in eight races to win a Senior Rotax Main. Lupton finished second with Radosavljevich third, Larry Fraser fourth and Matthew Weiss fifth.

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Race #9 of the Northern California Rotax Challenge will be Saturday, October 24th at the Jim Russell International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway. The series returns to the Dixon track for the season finale Sunday November 8th.