Race ROUNDUP: KARTING CHALLENGE RD 4

 

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (July 5, 2018) - The first race for the Clockwise National layout sanctioned by AMR Motorplex was held just over a week ago on Sunday, June 24th. The 4th Round of the 2018 Karting Challenge presented by MG Tires presented a different on-track feeling with the hottest air temperatures of the season.

tag mini: the jack jeffers show

A national champion and front-runner in Mini categories across the United States, Jack Jeffers definitely upped the strength of field in TaG Mini on Sunday. Local hotshoes Miguel Costa and Jakub Kolar both brought everything they had for Jeffers, even making a few lunges for the lead early on in the Pre Final and Final. However, the kid from Texas proved too tough to tame and swept every official session on the day.

an ugly battlefield in lo206 senior

An overall rough weekend for many in the Briggs & Stratton Senior class made it hard to gauge raw pace amongst the field. Overaggressive driving from a few severely hurt the overall race sessions, red flagging the Final and causing an early ending to the main event after not 1, but 2 flips. Juan Arenas emerged from the smoke victorious, joined by a pair of first-time podium finishers with Juan Baldrich finishing second and Bobby Ross coming in third.

alejandro ramirez makes the outside stick in lo206 junior

While the raceday saw multiple final lap passes deciding victory, Alejandro Ramirez's move will remain as one of the best thus far this season in his duel against SoFloKC's Ashton Chilton. The SLA Kart Racing driver worked together with Chilton nearly the entire Final to set up for a head-to-head fight for the top spot in the closing laps.

Chilton did everything he could to keep Ramirez behind, and was successful up until they arrived at the final hairpin on the racetrack, Turn 9. Chilton covered the inside line and braked earlier than usual to ensure he wouldn't slip off the groove. In a split-second decision, Ramirez pulled up to the outside of Chilton entering the corner and "rim-rode" the long way around to keep his momentum higher than Chilton's, allowing him to power by the Florida Keys resident before they got to Turn 10.

Chilton made one final dive for the win entering the final corner, but he could not complete the move and to avoid contact he kicked the rear-end around and spun out. He would come back to finish inside third but surrendered the second position to Vance Devine in the process.

surreal racing in tag senior

It is rare in karting that one driver is just head-and-shoulders above the field in pace that he/she is able to pull a gap and dominate a race. With that said, we often overlook some fantastic races due to the very fact that karting's nature makes them the norm. This weekend, though, the TaG Senior drivers put on a heck of a show from start-to-finish that featured everything the sport should be about: clean, hard racing.

Jason Angles struck first in qualifying, putting his Kosmic on the pole by over half a second. Unfortunately, a DQ in post-session scaling sent him to the tail end of the grid, surrendering the top spot to Manuel Troncoso. In the Pre Final, Angles wasted zero time cutting his way back to the front, making up lost time to both Troncoso and Pulice. While he didn't get all the way to the front, his drive forward set up what was an absolutely thrilling main event.

Manuel Troncoso would lead the field to the green, but almost instantly was under heavy fire from Orsolon Racing's Jordan Pulice. Angles quickly joined into the fight, which lasted nearly the entire first half of the Final before a chain failure sidelined Pulice and separated Angles from Troncoso. On the Final lap, Angles found himself positioned in the lead, before slipping on some rocks in the braking zone entering the first turn. Troncoso found his way around him and drove a flawless lap to hold on for his second victory of the season.

other notableS:

Beckham Jacir's winning streak continued in TaG Micro, scoring his third perfect day. Ashton Chilton scored a rebound win in TaG Junior, tying up the point standings with rival Alan Isambard. 

In LO206 Heavy, Pablo Materi scored his first career victory courtesy of a mechanical failure for Ryan Gordon, who dropped out of the Final in the lead with just about five laps to go. Collin Lloyd was an additional first-time winner on the day, taking the top spot in LO206 Cadet.

Finally, Stephan Isambard, who has been instrumental in reviving shifter kart racing in South Florida, took his first Shifter win in his first start. Allen Christy joined him on the podium with Hans Kullander P3.

 

Round 4 Results, Standings>>

UP NEXT: 
Up next is Round 5 of the Karting Challenge presented by MG Tires on July 15th.
For more information on the Karting Challenge club series, CLICK HERE>>