George Kugler/Bridgestone Manufacturer’s Cup Series driven by Mazda Kalish would not get a shot at victory, however, as officials deemed the race official. Rogero and her Tony Kart triumphed over Kalish, Garrett Johnston, Jeff Myers Jr. and Tristan VanWieringen. New Jersey Sprint Series Yamaha Rookie Final 1 Ohio’s Jamie Williams broke Birel dominance in the Rookie division with a convincing win in Saturday’s Final 1. Riding a sleek-looking PCR chassis, Williams won his first Man Cup race of the season over BeaveRun Final 2 victor Ben Varner. Tommy Burke paced the field in qualifying with a 1:17.193 for the Streeter Super Stand pole award. Williams, Varner, Luke Fineis and David Ilavia rounded out the fast five, with Williams besting Verner and Fineis in the prefinal. In the final Williams led three Birels across the stripe with Varner, Burke and Alex Verhagen second through fourth. Arrow driver Samuel Paley completed the top five of 21 entrants, which marked the best Rookie Sportsman field of the season.
TaG-powered final of the day, the Leopardonly Parilla Leopard main. Wisconsin racer T.J. Koyen swept the Leopard class starting with his pole position. Thirty eight drivers hit the track for qualifying with Koyen topping the charts over Jacob Knueven, Mason Chelootz, Michael Politis and Arie Ouimet. Koyen started the final from the pole and scored Merlin its second win of the day and equaled Rios’s move when he went from third to first past Mason Chelootz and twotime Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon in turn 17. Wheldon worked all the way to the front from his 12th-place starting position and appeared to have the race in hand when he led the final circuit. But on the last straightaway, Mason Chelootz pushed Wheldon into the final corner, forcing the Tony Kart driver high on exit and allowing Koyen to shoot to the Grand Products / Top Kart inside. Chelootz was able to make the pass on Parilla Leopard Wheldon, but it ended up being for second TaG 1 saw Jesus Rios Jr. go from third to first rather than the win. Wheldon crossed third, in the last corner, and who would have thought Caleb Loniewski fourth and Mark Vielgut fifth. we’d see the same thing happen in the second Koyen talked about his second Leopard
20
win of the season. “I was in third, about five kart lengths back on the final straight of the last lap. Dan Wheldon was leading and he blocked the inside with Mason Chelootz on his bumper. I caught a bit of draft and while they stayed on the bottom I took the top line and crossed them both over as they slid wide on the final corner and drove across the line first. The weekend was great for me with the sweep in the Parilla Leopard class and a second and third-place finish in the two TaG classes,” Koyen continued. I just would like to thank Franklin Motorsports and the Merlin Nation for their great support all year, as well as my dad and grandfather who are my only mechanics. Winning is far more rewarding when none of your bodywork matches, your suit is dirty, and all the work was done yourself.” Adkins Speed Center Komet Sportsman David Malukas was the Komet Sportsman pole sitter with a time of 1:12.439, but after starting shotgun on the field Zane Smith
emerged as the prefinal winner. After numerous top-five runs throughout the season, Top Kart racer Zane Smith finally captured his first 2011 Man Cup win in the day’s secondto-last feature. The win couldn’t have come at a better time as the Californian entered the race not far back of three-race winner Ryan Raffa in the standings. Unofficially, the win should give Smith the Komet Sportsman title by a mere 11-point margin over Raffa, who struggled to a seventh-place finish in the 13-kart race. Smith had to fend off challenges from the season’s top feature winner Grant Quinlan to secure the victory. He passed the test, if you will, and held off Quinlan to the stripe in another terrific race. Ohio’s Emerson Reed took third while Matt Solarczyk earned his second top-five run of the day in fourth. Brandon Lemke rounded out the top five. TSRacing.com Komet Heavy Birel driver Patrick Olsen had been close to victory all season and the Wisconsin native finally broke through with a convincing victory in Komet Heavy over Mason Chelootz. Olsen won the Streeter Super Stand pole award, the pre-final and went wire to wire in the 12-lap feature, pulling away late for the win. Chelootz’s second-place result marked his third top-three finish in three races Saturday.