Spread over two days, the race included a fifteen-minute hot pit qualifying session on Saturday afternoon before a catered dinner by Blue Agave was provided for all of the LAKC racers. Sunday would kick off with morning warmup and the first of two heat races.

Gatorz, the title sponsor of the Gatorz Karting Cup, was represented by owner Kerry Lynch who was on hand to provide all the class winners with gift certificates for Gatorz Eyewear, as well as hats featuring the new Gatorz logo for the top five in each class. MLP Imaging also provided free photos the top five in each class, while trophies were also given to the top five in each class.

Micromax

The lone Micromax entrant was a third-generation driver, Jimmy Busby III, entering his first race. He shared the podium with his father, Jim Busby Jr, his grandfather, former IMSA GTP racer Jim Busby, his uncle David Busby, and sister Sadye Busby.

MiniMax

Things had gone well for Adam Iavelli throughout qualifying, where he qualified second, and in the two heat races, which he had won. Top qualifier Nicky Hays was right on his bumper at the checkered in each heat, and the grid for the final would be Iavelli leading Hays, Blaine Rocha, Nick Ramirez, and Gatorz championship leader Royal McKee.

Iavelli maintained his lead at the start of the final while Hays was shuffled from his off-pole spot back to sixth as Rocha, McKee, Ramirez and Michael Womack all got by him. Iavelli, Rocha and McKee all ran in a line, while Ramirez and Womack battled for fourth until Womack spun and fell to the back. Rocha latched onto Iavelli’s bumper and waited until the final lap to make his move for the lead, while behind, Noah Grey, who had started in seventh, similarly waited until the final lap to make a pass on McKee for third. It was a frantic last lap, with Rocha pulling off a very strong pass in turn four to take the lead and hold it until the checkered. Iavelli had to settle for second, with Grey getting past McKee for third and fourth and Ramirez crossing the line in fifth.

Junior Max

Dakota Dickerson had run the table on this day at Calspeed, qualifying on pole and easily winning the two heat races. Jake Craig, Carlee Taylor, Jonathan May and Breanna Miscione would line up behind Dickerson for the main, and had battled throughout the day for the final two podium spots.

Dickerson held his lead at the start while Miscione was the victim of contact and fell down the order and out of contention. Taylor jumped around Craig to move into second, but it was short-lived as Craig retook second position a lap later. After that, all the excitement was over as Dickerson slowly but steadily opened a gap over the rest of the field to take the win and sweep the day, with Craig second, Taylor third, May in fourth and Miscione working her way back through the field to fifth.

Miscione, however, was given LAKC’s Driver of the Day award after recovering from her first lap contact.

Senior Max

Senior Max was stacked for the Gatorz / LAKC shootout, with former Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Phil Giebler taking pole position ahead of Louie Pagano, John Crow, Matt Ostiguy and Scott Saunders. It would be Crow, however, that would take both heat race wins in what were two very exciting eight-lap races.

The main, however, would take a different turn as Giebler forced his way past Crow on the opening lap, with their karts coming together a couple of times before Giebler got ahead and began to pull away. Crow kept Adam Zeen, Louie Pagano and David Thompson behind him for nine laps until Zeen got underneath and past Crow, with Pagano and Thompson coming through as well. Thompson would lose third to Pagano a couple of laps later before he retired, putting Crow into fourth.

Behind the leaders, the field broke into several groups that battled for position throughout the race. Most of those drivers, however, fell victim to a charging Chandler Campbell, who started last after a spin in the second heat race. She charged her way up to seventh at the end of the 20 lap final, setting fast lap of the race in the process.

At the checkered, Giebler won with a gap over Zeen, who had a similar advantage over third-placed Pagano. Crow finished fourth, holding off a charging Jeremy Kane who was fifth.

Rotax Masters

Put a bunch of 405 lb karts on track together in a Gatorz or LAKC race and the racing is going to be entertaining. Combine the two and it was no surprise that the Masters final, which closed out the day’s racing on Sunday, had more spectators than any other. Scott Falcone, making the trip from Colorado, qualified on pole ahead of Jim Busby, Jr., Steve Dzurilla, Ron Rossetti and Larry Hayashigawa.

Dzurilla, however, would win the first heat, while David Busby would win the second, with Jim Busby Jr. second and Falcone third in both of those races. Anticipation was high for the final.

Things got off to an exciting start with plenty of contact on the opening lap, which sent fifth-starting Hayashigawa to the back of the field and out of contention. David Busby also lost several positions, falling from pole position to fifth, while his brother Jim Busby Jr. took the lead and began to pull away from Rossetti and Jarrod Bradley. David Busby quickly passed Falcone and Bradley to move up to third, while Falcone took another lap to pass Bradley and begin to work on catching the leaders.

Halfway through the race, David Busby and Falcone both passed Rossetti, as Busby, Jr.’s lead began to shrink. With two laps remaining, David passed Jim in the infield hairpin, the two karts coming together as both battled for the lead before David pulled ahead. The battle allowed Falcone to get close but he was unable to make an attempt on Busby, Jr.’s second place, and David Busby took the checkered flag ahead of Jim Busby, Jr. and Falcone.

The nineteen-kart field also had several battles throughout the final, and more than a little bit of contact, causing the race to be finished under waving checkered-and-black flags. The official results are still pending.

Rotax DD-2

Matt Ostiguy and Kelson Penn, the lone entrants in the DD-2 class, finished in that order in the heats and final which were combined with the 125 shifter classes. Impressively, despite starting on the last row, Ostiguy and Penn drove up to eleventh and twelfth overall in their two-speed Rotax karts.

The Gatorz Karting Cup has two events remaining in the 2010 season; October 2 at Calspeed as part of the Pan-Am weekend, and the finale on October 9-10 at the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix.

For more information, visit www.gatorzkarting.com.

While heats and mains will be run on Sunday, qualifying will be held Saturday afternoon as each class will get a fifteen minute hot pit session that will set the grids for the following day’s heat race. The event will offer an increase in track time for the LAKC Rotax drivers, and it has also attracted drivers from outside the state with several drivers from Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada making the trip.

In Minimax, Gatorz Karting Cup points leader Royal McKee will face his biggest challenge from the winner of last month’s LAKC race, Nicky Hays, who recently made the move from MicroMax to Minimax. Noah Grey is also a front runner at LAKC events, while Blaine Rocha – Gatorz Challenge of the Americas champion in the class – will also attend the race.

Junior Rotax points leader Jeremy Kane has moved to Senior, leaving Dakota Dickerson as the points leader in the class. Dickerson also won last month’s LAKC Junior Rotax race, leaving him as the favorite ahead of Jake Craig, Breanna Miscione, and Nova Brown. A wildcard, as ever, is Nicholas Silva, who won the last Gatorz Karting Cup race at the Streets of Willow.

The most competitive race might come in Rotax Senior. With Louie Pagano and Jeremy Kane moving up to the class from Rotax Junior, the talented youngsters will face veteran John Crow – a former Gatorz Challenge of the Americas and Gatorz Karting Cup Masters class champion, as well as LAKC regular Brett Sheffer and Zach Woodsford.

Both series feature large groups of Rotax Masters racers and should provide for a very entertaining Rotax Masters group this weekend, which will likely be headed by brothers Jim and David Busby, as well as Steve Dzurilla. Dzurilla is the defending LAKC Rotax Masters class champion, while Jim Busby won the last Gatorz Karting Cup race at the Streets of Willow.

DD-2 will also be contested, with Matt Ostiguy expected to compete and win, as he is the defending Gatorz Karting Cup DD-2 class champion.

Live timing and scoring will be available on Sunday at LAKC’s website, at www.lakc.org.

Round 4 of the Gatorz Karting Cup will be held August 28-29 in a joint race with the Los Angeles Kart Club, while round 6 and the series finale will be held October 9-10 at the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix.

The decision to partner with the Pan-Am was based on a variety of circumstances, including minimizing travel for teams located far from Southern California who also plan on competing at the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix, which will be the series finale for the Gatorz Karting Cup. With the added hurdle of a crowded race schedule in September and October, and Pan-Am’s willingness to accommodate the Gatorz Karting Cup drivers, the decision was made to make Saturday a Gatorz points race.

“We looked at several different scenarios for making up our June round, but in the end this is the best solution for us and for the drivers, teams, and shops that support our series,” said Andy Seesemann, owner of the Gatorz Karting Cup. “Racing on back-to-back weekends will minimize the travel for our teams and shops that are based out of town that will be competing in Lancaster.”

“We appreciate that Joe Ramos willing to work with us and include us in his program, and we hope that our Gatorz Karting Cup drivers will race the Sunday round of Pan-Am as well. And now that our schedule is set for the rest of the season, we are looking forward to three exciting rounds of Rotax racing.”

Gatorz Karting Cup racers will be competing for free entries, including tires, to the 2011 Gatorz Challenge of the Americas. With three rounds of the six-round championship remaining, the final races at Calspeed and Lancaster will determine the season champions in each class. Drivers will have to compete in five of the six events in order to be eligible for the championship prizes.

For more information about the final events of the 2010 Gatorz Karting Cup, contact Full Throttle Karting at (714) 289-0432.

At last weekend’s Western Canadian Championship final at Stratotech Park in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Rotax Masters driver Blair Gautchi and MiniMax driver Mark Newson won their class championships and earned their prize of a free entry to the 2011 Gatorz Challenge of the Americas. The series looks forward to seeing them race in our series next year!

In the spirit of cooperation, Gatorz Karting has ensured that the dates for the 2011 Gatorz Challenge of the Americas will not conflict with other regional series – namely, IKF Region 7, Pro Kart Challenge North and Pro Kart Challenge South.

2011 Gatorz Challenge of the Americas

January 14-16                    Formula K Raceway                         Phoenix, Ariz.
February 11-13                  Calspeed Karting Center                               Fontana, Calif.
March 18-20                       Infineon Raceway                            Sonoma, Calif.

“Our big focus since we wrapped up this year’s Challenge of the Americas was to make the experience easier and more valuable for our customers and racers,” said series owner Andy Seesemann. “To this end, we are releasing our dates very early to allow our teams and drivers to plan ahead and book more reasonable rates for their flights and hotels. We also sat down with Art Verlengiere at IKF Region 7 and Tom Kutscher at Pro Kart Challenge to work out our schedules and ensure we are not scheduling on top of each other to ease the burden on the teams and shops that support all of our series.”

The 2011 Gatorz Challenge of the Americas will race at the same venues in the same order as the 2010 season, beginning at the Phoenix Kart Racing Association’s Formula K Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona before going to the CalSpeed Karting Center in Fontana, California and finishing at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.

“We were very pleased with our 2010 schedule and venues, as were the majority of our teams and racers,” said Seesemann. “Each venue provided excellent racing, and each race had several local drivers show up to test themselves against the drivers in our series. We are very excited for the fourth edition of the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas.”

The series will continue to provide direct qualifier positions to the Rotax Grand Finals in Rotax Junior, Rotax Senior, and DD-2, as well as direct qualifier positions to the US Rotax Grand Nationals in Micromax, Minimax and Rotax Masters. The series will also continue with Gatorz Trackside, providing live timing and scoring, video, and commentary of the race weekend.

For more information, visit www.gatorzkarting.com.

The 2009 Grand Nationals champion in Rotax Masters, Mike Daniel, returns to the Grand Nationals to defend his championship after winning the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas championship by the slimmest of margins. Joining him from the series will be CotA race winner Scott Falcone, as well as former national champion Andy Seesemann, Andre Eriksen, and Bruce McKean.

The Rotax Senior entry list at this weekend’s Grand Nationals has seven drivers who competed in Gatorz Karting series this season – including Challenge of the Americas race winners Mason Marotta and Joey Wimsett. Neil Alberico and Ben Schermerhorn will also be competing, as will two Junior drivers moving up to Rotax Senior – Challenge of the Americas champion Louie Pagano and Jeremy Kane.

Junior Max will have three Gatorz Karting drivers on the grid – race winners Kiel Spaulding and Nicholas Silva, as well as Dakota Dickerson. Three Gatorz karting drivers will be in MiniMax – Gatorz Challenge of the Americas champion Blaine Rocha, his teammate, Davey Manthai, Jr., and Trenton May .

Gatorz Karting will be represented in MicroMax by CotA champion Connor Robustelli, Annie Breidinger, Toni Breidinger, and Chloe St. George. In DD-2, the series will be represented by Derek Wang and by Jim Busby, Jr. in DD-2 Masters.

“Every year, I am proud to see the number of drivers competing at the Grand Nationals that also competed in our Gatorz Challenge of the Americas and Gatorz Karting Cup events throughout the year,” said series owner Andy Seesemann. “Whether we are their home series or not, they are coming to compete in Gatorz Karting for the elevated level of competition and the whole Gatorz experience.”

The Gatorz Karting Cup’s next event will be August 28-29 at the Calspeed Karting Center at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, in a joint race with the Los Angeles Kart Club.  The series will complete its season as part of the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix, October 9-10, in Lancaster, CA.

About the Gatorz Karting Cup

The Gatorz Eyewear Golden State Karting Cup is the premier Rotax Max Challenge in the United States. The Southern-California based regional series is home to both the serious karter, as well as the weekend warrior – as well as any karter who has a desire to race in a professionally run series that offers abundant track time. For more information, visit www.gatorzkarting.com.

The Rotax Pan American date at Newcastle Motorsports Park, which was held this past weekend one month before the Grand Nationals at the same facility, saw a large number of Gatorz Karting Cup drivers competing at the venue. To simplify logistics, many of those teams and drivers inquired about a date move for the Grange Motor Circuit to eliminate a cross-country trek with trucks, trailers, and karts, which would be necessary in order to answer the green flag this coming Saturday.

Closer to home, the pending IKF Grand Nationals at Willow Springs Kart Track led several local teams to ask the series about the possibility as well, as the IKF Grand Nationals, a hallmark event on the Southern California karting schedule, was putting an extra strain on local teams and drivers as well. This unique combination of circumstances led to the postponement of Grange.

“It is not typical for us to move or postpone a date, but our June 19 date at Grange was obviously going to be a problem for many of our series drivers and teams who have supported us throughout the year, and for several  years,” said series owner Andy Seesemann. “This year we have a special circumstance with the Grange date being right in the middle of Pan-Am and the Rotax Grand Nationals – which are only a month apart – and that would put a lot of strain on our drivers.  In times like these, we are going to bend over backwards to make sure that they are able to race and that’s what we have done.”

The series will make an announcement on the make-up date for round five of the Gatorz Karting Cup in the coming weeks.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDITIALY
CLARIFICATION
SIDE COVER BREATHER MUST BE FUNCTIONAL

Any effort to change “Breather” function will be a post race technical inspection item.

Violation will result in disqualification from competitive element involved.

To be clear, this prohibits folded hose on breather.

Don Moormeister
National Tech Director
United States Rotax Max Challenge
moormeister@aol.com