Familiar Winners at Los Angeles Karting champs Round 8

Penultimate event for Southern California karting program at CalSpeed Karting Center

The Los Angeles Karting Championship is winding down the 2018 season, hosting the penultimate event of the season on September 16 at the CalSpeed Karting Center. The Fontana, California facility welcomed racers for the eighth round of the championship chase. Racing at the LAKC events continue to be incredibly clean and exciting in all the categories, ranging from shifterkarts to TaG, Cadet and Kid Karts. The new IAME KA100 classes continue to see growth, and more are expected at the series finale as driver prepare for the upcoming Superkarts! USA Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix and SuperNationals 22.

Three straight wins for Edward Portz in the X30 Pro division (pic – @CaliforniaKartingLife)

Edward Portz is making a statement in the second half of the season. Portz came away with his third-straight victory in the Nash Motorsportz X30 Senior Pro class. Round Eight was a third sweep of the action as Portz led from qualifying, through the Prefinal and the Final. Portz led wire-to-wire in the Prefinal and all but one lap in the Final. Jim McKinney drove to the runner-up spot with Brendon Cramer earning his best result of 2018 in third. Championship contender Colby DuBato and Trey Brown completed the top-five.

Empire Karts Micro Swift category was once again the largest category of the event, this time with 17 drivers, showing the possible growth within the LAKC for the future. It was another near perfect round of racing for John Antonino. After recording fast lap in qualifying, Antonino led all 10 laps of the Prefinal. John would be challenged all race long in the Final by Max Repolust. Antonino led until lap 17 when Repolust took control. Antonino reclaimed the top spot on the final circuit, edging out Max by 57 thousandths of a second at the checkered flag for his seventh victory of the year. Caden Chrisman joined them on the podium with Keagan Kaminski fourth and Truly Adams fifth.

John Antonino won in the Micro Swift category once again (pic – @CaliforniaKartingLife)

Kasey Gillis is back into the championship chase thanks to a sweep of Round Eight in the P1 Engines Mini Swift division. Gillis set fast time in qualifying before winning the Prefinal over point leader Jesus Vasquez. Gillis then went on to go green-to-checkered in the Final, pulling out to a 2.5-second advantage after 18 laps for the second victory of 2018. AJ Zarcone beat out Izaac Gutierrez for the runner-up spot with Vasquez dropping down to fourth, ahead of Enzo Deligny.




Alan Tang helped to solidify his bid for the Ryan Perry Motorsport X30 Junior Expert championship with his fourth victory of 2018. Tang found himself sixth in qualifying as Bryce Stevens set fast time in the session. Stevens was shuffled back to third in the Prefinal with Dustin Salverria grabbing the win and Tang up to second. The trio continued their battle in the Final, all taking a turn at the lead until Tang secured the lead on lap six. From there, Tang led the remainder of the race, holding off Stevens on the final circuit after exchanging the top spot multiple times. Tang reached the line first by 29 thousandths over Stevens. Jacob Yesnick climbed up to third with Marcus Rodriguez and Ayden Aquino rounding out the top-five.

Alan Tang working around another driver en route to his victory in X30 Junior Expert (pic – @CaliforniaKartingLife)

Jonathan Silva was able to clinch his first victory of 2018 in the Mike Manning Karting X30 Master class. Silva set fast time in qualifying, only to have championship leader Brandon Bell score the win in the Prefinal with Silva back in fifth. Silva climbed his way to the lead by lap four in the Final, leading the remainder of the 18 laps to score the victory. Bell settled for second, helping to boost his point lead as title contenders Tony Rossetti and Steve Martin finished third and fourth. Chris Kneevers finished fifth.



advertisement


The Phil Giebler Racing Open Shifter division was one of two wins for Billy Musgrave on the day. Musgrave took on the largest field for the category on the season, sweeping the action. Musgrave was challenged all day by veteran Matt Jaskol, who is celebrating the finale week of his television show Castaways. Musgrave started the day with a new track record of 36.702-lap. He then outran Jaskol by four seconds in the Final with championship leader Slava Prikhodko in third. Vivek Tandon and Josh Lane completed the top-five.

Billy Musgrave recorded a new track record and two victories at Round Eight (pic – @CaliforniaKartingLife)

John Crow was another multiple winner, scoring victory in three classes. The first came in the PKS S4 Super Master Stock Honda division, where he won his seventh Final of the season. It was a round sweep, with Crow besting Warren Kindberg and Carl Lewis. The second was in iKart West Briggs 206 Master, where Crow earned his eighth straight over Mikey Griffin. Crow ended the day with the win in Superkarts! USA KA100 Master division. In his first start in the category, Crow swept the action, driving away to a six-second victory over Beau Tucker and championship leader Robert Perez.

The Kimball Williams Racing S4 Master Stock Honda class was able to welcome a new winner for 2018. Adrian Yong was P1 in qualifying, relinquishing the top spot to two-time winner Javier Colombo. After leading the first three laps of the Final, Colombo saw Yong slide past for the top position. Yong led the remainder of the race to score his first victory of the season. Colombo finished second, back by four seconds, with Chris Muecke in third. Emon Fazlollahi’s performance in the MRC S3 Novice Stock Honda division was perfect. Fazlollahi swept the action on the day to earn his second victory of the season. Chasing Emon all day was championship leader Eddie Tafoya, moving one step closer to the title with a runner-up finish with Vincente Salas ending up third on the podium.

Prescott Campbell came away with victory in the S2 Semi-Pro Stock Honda class (pic – @CaliforniaKartingLife)

The Mack Motorsports Briggs 206 Senior class welcomed a new winner for 2018. Maximilian Bui swept the action on the day, beating two-time winner Fred Kamphues with point leader Joey Paonessa in third. It was a battle all day long in the IAME USA West KA100 Senior class. Championship leader Luis Perez started out the day with fast time in qualifying. Steve Barros, making his first start in the category for 2018, scored the win in the Prefinal. Perez jumped out to the lead in the Final, leading the first 16 laps until Jared Caylor took the spot away. They battled in the final lap, with Caylor edging out Perez by 76 thousandths of a second for his first victory of 2018. Barros completed the podium in third.

Other winners on the day include:

Baldozier Racing S1 Pro Stock Honda: Billy Musgrave
Mad Old Nut S2 Semi-Pro Stock Honda: Prescott Campbell
2 Wild Karting X30 Senior Intermediate: Cody Diggs
Mike Manning Karting X30 Super Master: Larry Hayashigawa
Italcorse S5 Junior Stock Honda: Connor Robles
MDG X30 Junior Novice: Timothy Carel
Formula Works Honda Kid Kart Expert: Sebastian Hauser
Formula Works Honda Kid Kart Novice: Marcus Roy

The Los Angeles Karting Championship closes out the 2018 season with Round Nine, scheduled for October 21 at the CalSpeed Karting Center facility. For more about the Los Angeles Karting Championship program, please visit LAKC.org and ‘Like’ them on Facebook and follow on Instagram.



advertisement


Please share!