Pit Board 2010-12-30

WKA's Pit Board - 12.30.2010

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Chelootz takes TaG 2; Beasley, Quinlan add to win totals Thursday at Daytona

12.30.2010 - Sam Beasley and Grant Quinlan were the big winners once again during the final day of competition at the Margay Sprint Championships at Daytona Int'l Speedway. Both Beasley and Quinlan added two wins to their KartWeek total, bringing each to four triumphs over the two days of racing.

The results in the rest of this report are unofficial.

Beasley opened the day with his third win of KartWeek in Margay Racing Products Yamaha Supercan Heavy. The Arrow driver went wire to wire in the 12-lap main and crossed the finish stripe 1.4 seconds ahead of Cole Nelson. Beasley's teammate and mentor of sorts Gary Lawson was third, Bill McLaughlin Jr. advanced several positions form his starting spot to take fourth. Margay pilot Tony Jump rounded out the top five.

Quinlan matched Beasley in the next race, Grand Products / Top Kart Cadet Final 2. The Canadian won going away over Emerson Reed. The margin of victory was nearly four seconds. Behind Quinlan's Birel and Reed's Merlin were Tristan VanWieringen in third, Collin Campbell fourth and Zane Smith fifth. VanWieringen made it two Canadians in the top three spots.

Sixth through 10th read Kyle Tilley, Jared Cordova, Flinn Lazier, Nick Luedeke and Jacob McWhirter.

The most anticipated race of the day went out third. Orlando Kart Center TaG 2 featured numerous top names in sprint karting, as well as a couple big names in NASCAR and American motorsports. The exciting 12-lapper saw Top Kart wheelman Mason Chelootz drive a flawless race from the pole. Chelootz had a decent gap over second throughout most of the final; fellow Top Kart driver Chris Wehrheim was the only real challenge for Chelootz in the first few laps before Chelootz began to pull away.

Wehrheim ran second for most of the race before he fell prey to Jamie McMurray, who advanced from the fifth starting position to second. Driving a sleek red and white kart listed as a JM, McMurray moved into second with a few to go but couldn't close on Chelootz, who took the win. McMurray did set the race's fast lap at 41.574.

Atlanta's Wehrheim held on for third, Billy Lewis was fourth and A.J. Allmendinger had his best race of KartWeek to take fifth. Sixth through 10th were Sean Meier, Kyle Smith, Wes Phillips, Robert Bujdoso and Shawn Sharkey. Bujdoso started second; Smith and Sharkey were making their first starts in TaG at a Man Cup race.

Beasley would have started eighth, but dropped out on the warm up lap and did not take the green.

James Bennett won his only race at KartWeek with a 1.1-second triumph over Jacob Donald in Beasley Motorsports / Arrow Karts Komet Jr Lite. Bennett won on a Birel and was in control throughout most of the 12-lapper.

Joel Jens followed Donald across the line in third. Logan Bearden was fourth and Jared Thomas fifth. Raquel Martinez ended up sixth, Jeff Myers Jr. seventh, Gresham Wagner eighth, Zachariah Hawley ninth and Dominique VanWieringen 10th.

David Ilavia dominated the Mike Doty Racing Yamaha Rookie Final 2 affair. In the most dominating performance of the week, Ilavia won by 13 seconds over Grant Griesbach. Ilavia's fast lap was nearly a second better than any other driver in the field.

Joey Maffo was third, Luke Fineis fourth and Jack W Miller fifth.

John Dixon gave Tony Kart a win with a convincing drive in Viking Karting Products TaG Masters. Dixon started from the pole and led the entire 12-lapper, winning by several seconds over Brian McEvoy, who held off Steve Schiewer in a close race for second. John Ferris III passed Scot Carapellatti on the last lap to take fourth.

Beasley returned for Komet Heavy and netted his second win of the day and fourth of the week. Beasley won by a comfortable margin over TaG 2 victor Chelootz. Chelootz had to work through the top five to end up second, several seconds behind Beasley's Arrow. Shinya Michimi ran second early but had to settle for third. Ryan Stewart went off the track at one point and lost several spots, but recovered for a fourth-place result. Mark Boos rounded out the top five in what was the smallest class at Man Cup with 11 entrants. Beasley ended KartWeek winning four races in the seven he started.

Quinlan and Emerson Reed waged a spirited battle for the win in Kartlift Yamaha Sportsman Lite. The pair swapped the top position several times before Reed took the lead on the last lap. Reed looked good until the final corner, where Quinlan pulled alongside. The two raced side by side to the striple with Quinlan getting the win by a half kart-length. Reed took second, Tristan VanWieringen was third, Matt Solarczyk fourth and Hannah Roskopf rounded out the top five.

Sixth through 10th read Jared Cordova, Ryan Raffa, Jacob Zellner, Johnny Smith and Jacob McWhirter.

Quinlan ended the week winning four of the five races he started. Quinlan only lost Komet Sportsman on Wednesday, which saw Kyle Tilley take the win.

Austin Self drove to victory in the week's final race, MRP / Birel Yamaha Jr Heavy. Behind the wheel of an Arrow, Self led all 12 laps on his way to the win, finishing 3.8 seconds in front of Jacob Donald.

Brandon Jarsocrak had his best run of the week with a third-place effort. Jeff Myers Jr. was fourth and Mike McAndrews fifth.

Notes: Approximately 700 entries made it a record for Man Cup at Daytona. Wednesday's Yamaha Supercan Heavy final is under protest - Cole Nelson crossed the finish line first, Beasley second and Michimi third. Thursday's weather was the best of the week with temperatures over 70 degrees and sunny skies. Unofficial top 10 results for Dirt and Man Cup will be posted on WorldKarting.com Monday, Jan. 3.

-source: wka