Gatorz Sunglasses at Willow Springs: The Bus Drivers Dominate!
May 22, 2007 (Orange, Calif.) - The announcer for the all Gatorz Eyewear Golden State Karting Cup events, Tim "Chappy" Chapman, has coined a name for some of the series' serial winners.
They are the Bus Drivers - because, as he says, they're taking the rest of the field to school.
The Gatorz Karting Cup event at the Willow Springs Kart Track was the fifth round of the series' eight race championship season. Despite what other series may say, the Gatorz Karting Cup is the one karting series that really makes its presence known, on the track at Willow Springs, and off the track in local Rosamond and Lancaster. Adding to the weekend was the fact that this was the round which determined who got the cash prizes doled out by series sponsor Gatorz Precision Eyewear in the Alive Design Rotax International, Dave's Performance Rotax Masters, and MyChron4 Junior Rotax classes.
And, you could say, it was the Bus Drivers that took everyone to school and took their money at Willow Springs on Saturday.
However, things began on a somber note, as the Willow Springs event would be the first since the series learned that one of it's own, Brett Smrz, lost part of his leg following an off-track accident. Smrz had been proving his mettle in the SCCA Pro-MX5 cup of late, but to show that he was on the minds of his karting brethren, the series produced decals that were displayed on all the competing karts with Smrz' last name and his number, six.
First on track at the Fastest Road in the West was the combined G-Phactory TAG Senior, Metal Manipulations Club Rotax, and Precision Works DD2 classes. Russ Jordan grabbed pole for Club Rotax and for the group, followed closely by John Stewart and rookie Ari Baquet. Allen Svela took the TAG pole while Antoni Czerneiwski took DD2 pole.
Jordan, Stewart, and Baquet ran in a train for the first part of the pre-main until Ryon Beachner in his TAG kart overhauled the field and ran away with the overall win. Stewart worked his way past Jordan with two laps to go to take the Club Rotax win. Czerneiwski won in DD2.
In the group's main, Beachner ran away with the overall and TAG win, while Stewart cruised to his third Club Rotax win of the year. An early challenge from Jordan faded in the races' latter stages, and Jordan was overhauled by Baquet for second place. Joey Collins hopped into his DD2 kart to win the class handily.
The day's second race was MyChron4 Junior Rotax. Miles Maroney, winner of the last two Junior Rotax races, stomped the field by four-tenths of a second to take pole, ahead of Justin Coplen and Dylan Stalker.
The pre-main saw Maroney and Coplen take off, while Stalker faded to the back. Cameron Jocelyn, who was DQ'd after qualifying, stormed from the back to finish third.
Coplen made the start of the main work to his advantage as he took the lead from Maroney, and held him off for the first five laps. Coplen, however, lost the lead to Maroney with a pass in turn nine, then drove off the track trying to defend the position. He eventually rejoined in eighth place. Behind new leader Maroney, Jocelyn, Jacob Pearlman, and Lou Pagano disputed second place, but none of them would come near Maroney again. Maroney won his third straight MyChron4 Junior Rotax race of the season, followed by Jocelyn and Pearlman.
Those three wins were good enough to put Maroney on top of the points, earning him the $400 cash prize from Gatorz Precision Eyewear. Jocelyn is second, and earns $200, while Coplen's finish dropped him to third, but still with $100 in his pocket.
Grange MiniMax has been a season-long battle between Al Simpson and Dakota Dickerson, with Dakota taking the lion's share of the wins, while Simpson grabbed one at the Streets of Willow. He was clearly looking for two on this weekend, as he took pole from Dickerson by a mere .076 of a second. Michael Davis, who nearly won the Gatorz Karting Cup race at Fontana, was third.
Simpson put his pole position to good use in the pre-main, leading for the first four laps, but Dickerson made his way past on the fifth lap and stretched out nearly three seconds on Simpson before the end.
Dickerson would not relinquish the lead in the main, either, despite heavy pressure from Davis for the entire twenty laps. The win was Dickerson's fourth of the season and third in a row. Simpson grabbed the third spot on the podium.
Considering that he is the class' defending champion, it came as no surprise that Joey Collins took pole position for Alive Design Rotax International. What was a bit of a surprise was Chelsie Jackman putting in her best effort of the season to grab second on the grid, with Spencer Raine putting his trip from Oregon to good use by qualifying third.
A frantic start saw Jackman get shuffled back to fifth on the opening lap, with the beneficiary being Clark Sanchez-Figueras, who jumped into the second spot, chased by Michael Self. Jackman, Raine and Self battled for the third spot over the course of the pre-main, but Jackman took third for good on the fourteenth lap. Collins cruised to an easy win thanks to battle behind him.
The main, however, would not be so easy for Collins. A determined Jackman passed Sanchez-Figueras at the start and dogged Collins for each of the thirty laps. Sanchez-Figueras was similarly glued to Jackman's bumper, and the three would run in lockstep for the entire race. Collins won the race, his third of the season, but Jackman earned the distinction of running the quickest lap of the race. Sanchez-Figueras was third.
Along with his win, Joey Collins won the $400 cash prize for leading the points championship after five rounds, with Cory Pollock earning $200 and Spencer Raine's Willow effort thrusting him up to third, and earning him $100.
Dave's Performance Rotax Masters has been a tour de force for John Crow, as he has three wins to his credit thus far this season - the only blemish on that record was his second place to Waqar Meyer at last month's race at Grange. And at Willow Springs, he went right ahead to correct that as he grabbed pole, nearly a half-second ahead of Andy Seesemann and Meyer. Ian Thomas, who had a huge shunt at Grange last month, brought out a newly-rebuilt kart and put it fourth.
Crow got away cleanly at the start while Seesemann was bumped down to sixth. Meyer could not make an impression on Crow, who easily won the race, with Meyer in second and Seesemann working back up to third.
The final would be more of the same, as Crow simply waltzed away from Meyer and Seesemann. Seesemann would lose the final podium spot to Rob Whitley with eleven laps remaining, giving Whitley nearly enough time to catch Meyer for second. But neither would catch Crow, who simply owned the field again.
And, with his fourth win, Crow easily led the points and banked the $400 Gatorz Precision Eyewear prize. Meyer earned $200 for sitting in second, while Eric Von Zeipel sits in third and receives $100.
The Gatorz Karting Cup will next visit Buttonwillow Raceway Park on June 16th for their sixth event of the season. Buttonwillow's layout lends itself to plenty of passing, and might provide the venue for the bus drivers to take a backseat to some other drivers for a change.
The Gatorz Eyewear Golden State Karting Cup is the largest and oldest Rotax Max karting series in the United States. The series caters to the recreational racer and serious competitor alike, delivering competition, fun, camaraderie, and abundant track time. The Rotax Max karting series is the Official Karting Series of the Champ Car World Series. More information can be found at www.gatorzkarting.com or by calling Full Throttle Karting at (714) 289-0432.
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