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California ProKart Challenge
| ProKart Challenge South Readies for Return to CalSpeed |
| Sunday, 22 June 2008 21:44 |
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The ProKart Challenge South, the foundation of the Superkarts! USA regional program, has reached the halfway mark of its 2008 season and will be heading to round four at the CalSpeed Karting facility in Fontana, CA on June 28, running the 3/4-mile Nuovo circuit in the clockwise direction. On tap for the weekend is the normal event schedule for the PKC competitors, which will include plenty of track time, both during the practice and race days, and a fun racing environment where drivers will compete against some of the best pilots on the West Coast. Many of those drivers will continue to rack up points toward the series championships, and a mid-season event such as this can be the start of a push towards the overall title. The series points program offers one drop when calculating the championship, so a drivers’ best five results will count. As such, the door remains open for anyone to grab hold of the class leads. All ten PKC classes will be in the spotlight this weekend, as a camera crew will be on-site to capture the action. The producers of a documentary staring the Star Mazda series will be focusing on the motorsports’ ladder system, of which karting is the foundation. Once again, SKUSA is working aggressively to promote the sport on all fronts, and this new promotion will certainly bring valuable exposure to karting in general. Heading into round four of six, the S3 Heavy division is virtually locked up, with two drivers tied for the lead and another racer just 40 points back. Marty Henderson and Phil Conte have gone back and forth throughout the first three rounds of the series, though Henderson has the advantage in the win column with two victories. Then again, Conte has hung tight for two straight weekends, gathering the most points in total. It’s a great fight. Grant Westmorland is lurking right behind in third, waiting for his chance to strike and take over the championship lead. In S3 Light, SKUSA WinterNational Series champion Bobby Legate had a two-win streak going to kick off his campaign, that is, until it was snapped during round three, closing his championship lead to just under 100 points over Clinton Schoombee. G2 is a tight battle between two drivers at the top that sees Eric Ortega leading Steve Donia by just 45 points. Donia has two wins, including a feature victory at Willow Springs in round three, although Ortega has collected the most points over the opening three rounds and will try to extend his lead with a second win on the year. The mark has been set for G1 as well, as Robert Marks has been near perfect, stretching out to a 223-point gap over Wally Wright. Either Marks will need a string of bad luck or the field will be required to step up in the remaining events on the year it they want a chance at the championship. Willy Musgrave is another driver who has been near perfect, heading the S4 Light division with three feature wins. Bryce Miller has kept it close, running in the top bracket so far this year, as well as earning the bonus points for pole position and fast lap in two of the first three races. S4 Heavy point leader Ken Schilling got a wake up call at Willow after a near sweep in the first two rounds. Schilling still holds a 128-point lead over Marc Segal with Mike Goebel, Jeff Krueger, and Alex King all within 60 points of each other. PKC welcomes back the Utah drivers that stirred up round three to return and kick a little more California butt. With other series running up against the PKC South the last two dates, entries have not been quite as high as expected in the TaG Senior division; however, that has not taken away from the quality of racing seen in the class. The top-three in the standings is proof to this high level of competition as Zach Dericco, Travis Whitehead, and Ryon Beachner had a great battle at Willow and will continue that fight at CalSpeed as they chase the title. TaG Masters has been all Billy Cleavelin, as the veteran has dominated the first half of the season, pulling out to a 225-point advantage over Matt Kimball in the standings with his three feature wins. Jimmy McNeil has won the last two features to take over the S1 standings, holding an advantage of 150 markers over Derek Tillett. The growing S5 Junior category should see its highest entry count at the upcoming CalSpeed event with Race Liberante leading the championship over Corey Neveau. |