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RACER Staff
http://www.racer.com
07/17/2008 - 07:40 AM
Orange, Calif.
Dylan Stalker (9) was shadowed by Jacob Pearlman throughout the entire MSquared Rotax International final. (Go Racing Magazine) ยป More Photos
It’s pretty difficult to not see the fun in driving a kart at 87mph down the front straightaway at the Streets of Willow, site of round nine of the Gatorz Karting Cup’s 2008 season. The rate at which a Rotax kart is able to get around the full 1.8-mile version of the course is astounding – only a few cars are able to match or beat the 28 horsepower karts around the track that usually sees motorcycle or time trial competitions for clubs such as the Porsche Owners Club.
With its long straightaways and a number of fast, demanding corners, Streets of Willow becomes a chess game of drafting and passing. It’s like NASCAR at Talladega, except without the Big One, or beer bellied fans adorned with #3 clothing.
King Taco MiniMax
Michael Davis had more or less locked up the championship in this class ahead of this race, but Breanna Miscione knocked him off his perch in qualifying when she put her kart on pole by a tenth of a second over Davis. Blake Dunkleberger was third, ahead of Ryley Howe and Royal McKee.
The MiniMax drivers do not use the full 1.8-mile version of the Streets of Willow Course, but are still left with the long front straightaway to draft each other. Thus, Dunkleberger led the first two laps before Davis, then Miscione, worked past him. On the last lap, Miscione used the draft to her advantage to eek out a .013 margin of victory at the finish line to take her first heat race win since the Willow Springs Challenge of the Americas event.
Miscione held on to her lead at the start of the main before McKee jumped into the lead on lap three. The two traded positions until Davis jumped
Performance Racing Industry Junior Rotax
Lou Pagano grabbed his first PRI Junior Rotax pole of the season, ahead of a returning Race Liberante and first-year junior driver Dakota Dickerson.
Liberante and Marotta swept past Pagano on the first lap of the heat race, demoting him to third. Marotta would be the next driver into the lead, getting around Liberante on the fourth lap. It would be a short-lived lead, as Pagano drafted past on the next lap and held the lead until the end of the race, hanging on to a couple of kart-length lead over Marotta and a healthy twelve seconds over Dickerson in third.
As ever, the Junior Rotax final would not be without a bit of controversy. Sixth-starting Liberante got a rocket of a start to jump up to third, immediately behind Pagano and the leader Marotta. On the second lap, however, the two made contact, sending Marotta off and leaving Liberante in the lead of the race, which he would hold until the end. Pagano shadowed him until the end but was unable to make an impression on the former class champion. Nicholas Silva out-dueled Dickerson for the final spot on the podium.
It may have been the last step on the podium, but Silva’s third meant the world to him and his family, as he was racing in honor of his grandmother who had passed away earlier in the week.
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