World Superkart Challenge Laguna Seca qualifying report

Aussie invader frabs Laguna Seca pole; Warren McIlveen tops charts in World Superkart Challenge qualifying

SALINAS, CA - Australian Warren McIlveen put his name in the hunt for victory at the second annual World Superkart Challenge at Laguna Seca by turning the quickest time of the Friday afternoon qualifying session. Driving the Australian-made Stockman chassis with Honda RS250 power, McIlveen attacked the 2.238-mile Mazda Raceway course to post a blistering 1:27.103 that gave him the NDI Pole Award for Saturday afternoon's heat race. For his efforts, McIlveen picked up $500 from NDI USA.

Joining McIlveen on the front row will be Discovery Bay, CA's Tom Woods - The 125cc sprint veteran is an instructor for Skip Barber at Laguna and while he has extensive track knowledge, this will be his 250cc Superkart debut. Running a one-off rental ride in Eddie Lawson's back-up P1 chassis for owner Pat Yoshikane, Woods looks very comfortable and is focused on scoring the victory in his maiden 250 run. Woods clocked a 1:27.651 to take second ahead of Texan Robert McMillan on his own Nemesis chassis, which makes two domestically-built cars in the top five. McMillan took a focused approach at coming up to speed through the early part of the weekend, preferring to leave his motor package alone has he worked on dialing in their chassis set-up. A lap of 1:28.125 will position him on the inside of the second row for Saturday afternoon's heat race alongside the legendary Martin Hines on his brand-new Zip Eagle II. Coming of a successful two-win weekend at Donington earlier this month, the European has looked very quick and will be in the fight for a podium finish. The third row will see Australian champion Brian Stockman (Stockman) and multi-time 500cc GP motorcycle World Champion Wayne Rainey (P1).

Surprisingly absent from the top of the charts is Yamaha driver Eddie Lawson - the former 500cc GP champion who is reigning event winner and the outright favorite for the race win. Steering one of the Yoshikane's new P1 entries, Lawson suffered an ignition failure in qualifying and failed to score a time lap. This will put the ultra-quick driver at the tail of the field for the heat race, setting up will likely be a very entertaining drive back to the front. In the Saturday morning warm-up session, Lawson smoked off an unofficial lap in the 1:25 range, which would have put him decisively on the pole. Armed with this news, it would be hard to bet against Lawson come Sunday afternoon.

In the ICE 250cc Single class, Karl Reth set the paddock on fire when he clocked the eighth fastest time with his KR Racing Honda CR250 package to steal the $500 NDI Pole Award. Bolted to an Anderson chassis, Reth posted a stellar 1:30.318 to pull a 1.3 second gap over his closest competitor - Brad Davis (PVP). Jay Lewis (PVP) sat third after the time session with James Ingram (PVP) and Paul Poizner (Anderson) rounding out the fast five.

-wsc-