Race Report: CalSpeed Summer Shootout presented by Sunrise Ford

With tickets to the biggest races in Las Vegas -the SKUSA Supernationals XXIV and ROK Cup USA’s ROK Vegas- and as much as $1200 bucks to help you get there, the CalSpeed Summer Shootout presented by Sunrise Ford had all the makings for some great racing action this past weekend. The drivers across the four classes on offer -Tag Mini, 100cc Junior, 100cc Senior, and 100cc Senior did not disappoint…

Ruthless Karting Tag Mini would kick things off for the day with the green-white-checkered qualifying, and it was Jackson Glendenning clocking the best time for the P1 Engines Pole award, and $100. That time would actually hold up for the Formula Works Fast Lap Award as well, making it $200 total for Jackson. The Pre-Final would see Glendenning carry his speed into the 12 lap contest, but would be challenged early by John Antonino, with the two going back and forth at the end, having gained an advantage via infighting from the drivers behind. Glendenning would take down the win over Antonino, carrying pole into the 20 lap final, but right from the start the challenge came from 3^rd place starter Tristan Murphy. Murphy immediately took the fight to the lead, with Glendenning and he going back and forth for the first quarter of the race, with the aforementioned Antonino getting swallowed by the pack after Luca Bruncati made the move for third. It would eventually be a three-kart race between Murphy, Glendenning, and Bruncati right at the end; both Glendenning, and then Bruncati took shots at Murphy, but the top tier Micro driver shined in his step up into Mini, fighting back and holding on to bring home the win.

Ruthless Karting Tag Mini

1. Tristan Murphy
2. Jackson Glendenning
3. Luca Bruncati
4. John Antonino
5. Jenson Sofronas
6. Ryan Gianetta
7. Zade Fimbres
8. Alexander Chartier
9. Bronson Koustas
10. Braydon Wagner

The Mike Manning Karting 100cc Masters category would see a dominant performance from veteran karter and former SKUSA national champion Matt Johnson, sweeping the day and bringing home the full $1200. While the P1 Pole Award and Formula Works Fast Lap Award were took down about as handedly as his pre-final win, drama would be how things started before the he even entered the track for the Final. As the field fired up on the grid and started to head out on the course, Johnson was left stationary with a loaded up IAME KA engine unwilling to clean out. Quick thinking by the crew found the issue though, and Johnson was able to join the field and line up just before the formation line out of the horseshoe corner. He wouldn’t lead the first lap, would take over on lap two, putting in quick lap after quick lap to go on and complete the sweep of the day with the win. Behind him was a battle royal for the final two podium spots, with contact removing both Brett Harrelson and Tim Meyer, promoting the rest of the field into a fight for hardware. Howard Combee would make a slick move and get 2 at once to take down 2^nd, while Matt Ostiguy bounced back to snag the final podium spot in third.

Mike Manning Karting 100cc Masters

1. Matt Johnson
2. Howard Combee
3. Matthew Ostiguy
4. Brian Phillipsen
5. Tom Nields
6. Richard Hensley
7. Ty Matta
8. Tim Meyer
9. Brett Harrelson

After a tough practice day that saw him searching for speed, Frankie Mossman raised eyebrows in the Empire Karts 100cc Junior class with a surprise pole position, and with it, $100 for the P1 Engines pole award. In the Prefinal however, his fortunes would switch, running out of room on the exit of the long beach corner on lap one to crash out prior to event completing a circuit. Instead, it was track record holder Alexander Gonzalez and Jesus Vasquez running away from the rest of the field, with the former crossing the line first for the Prefinal win. Gonzalez may have started from P1, but it would be Vasquez carrying the outside of the first corner on the start to steal away the top spot. The duo would run that way for several laps until Mossman would catch up with his fresh tires, first taking the fight to a patient Gonzalez to take second, and then attack Vasquez for the lead a few corners later. Mossman would immediately celebrate the pass, seemingly giving the invitation to Vasquez to counter attack, which he obliged just 2 corners later, with Gonzalez following him through. It looked like it was going to be another great 3-way battle for the win, until contact between Mossman and Gonzalez saw the latter spin exiting the Grande Hairpin corner. That cost Mossman too much time to be able to fight for the win, and also promoted Keagan Kaminski up to the third and final podium spot. Solace for Gonzalez though, as he would take home the $100 for the Formula Works Fast Lap Award. Out front however, it would be a comfortable win for Vasquez, bringing him a ticket to ROK Vegas, and $1000 from Sunrise Ford.

Empire Karts 100cc Junior

1. Jesus Vasquez
2. Frankie Mossman
3. Keagan Kamniski
4. Alexander Gonzalez
5. Christian Cameron
6. Payton Westcott
7. Saarin Rao
8. Preston lambert

Qualifying for the NASH Motorsportz 100cc Senior category would see track record holder Blake Nash back up his speed from earlier in the year, clocking fast lap in the green/white/checkered qualifying session. That lap would hold up for overall quick time on the day as well, scoring Nash both the P1 Engines Pole Award and the Formula Works Fast Lap Award as well. The racing would go Nash’s way in the Prefinal as well, getting a good start and staying ahead of the incidents behind him on lap one to cruise to a comfortable win, and a pole spot for the Final. Things didn’t go quite as smooth at the start in his quest for the Supernationals ticket and the $1000, as Oliver Calvo would get the best of him on lap one to lead at the line, although they would be in front of an incident that saw several drivers involved in turn 4. The action continued on Lap 2, as Colby Dubato took the fight to Nash who was able to counter, and then made his own attack on Calvo in the hairpin. Calvo attempted the over-under, and the two then made contact in the very next corner with Calvo into the wall. That put Dubato to the lead, with Ryan Vincent 2^nd and Nash back to third. It would take him a handful of laps to catch back up, picking off Vincent on lap 8, and then for the lead against Colby on lap 9. From there it was fast lap after fast lap for Nash, putting in consistent laps to pull out enough of a lead to claim the top spot, and the silver cup. Behind him it was Ethan Ho bouncing back from being knocked out of the prefinal on lap 1, working all the way up to 2^nd, while Ryan Vincent won out on a drag race to the line over Colby Dubato to steal away the third and final podium spot.

NASH Motorsportz 100cc Senior

1. Blake Nash
2. Ethan Ho
3. Ryan Vincent
4. Colby Dubato
5. Dante Yu
6. Tyler Ruth
7. Cody Diggs
8. Alex Siragusa
9. Cole Shcroeder
10. Brett Revetta