Motorsports Mondial
Red Line Oil Series Round #3 kicks off summer
Summer is approaching quickly and the weather forecast for next weekend’s race is looking great! Round #3 of the Red Line Oil Karting Championship opens the summer months on the very popular Reverse National configuration of the Infineon Raceway’s International Karting Center. Later this month Infineon Raceway will host the Nascar Sprint Cup Save Mart 350 but for now it’s all about the karters. Come on out June 11-12th and enjoy great weather and even better racing!
Saturday will be an open practice day from 10:30 to 5:30 with registration and pre-tech available on Saturday. We will have a slow session from 10-10:30 for engine break in or new drivers if anyone needs it. The Sunday race program will begin at 8:20 with one round of practice sessions, followed by qualifying, two 8 lap Pre-Finals and 15 lap Mains starting at 2:40. Admission for spectators is $10, $5 for kids 8 and under. Race Entry is $100, transponder rental $10 and Saturday Practice is $50. For more information on the Red Line Oil Karting Championship go to www.redlineoilkarting.com or contact race director Ric Shaw at [email protected]
Each race the series chooses one class to be the Go-Pro featured main event. The winner of this race receives a Go-Pro HD Hero mini camera. The Go-Pro featured class this race will be the ever competitive Senior Rotax class. Round #2 winner, Niki Luna, has his mind set on making it two wins in a row. It might not be that easy as Round #1 winner Carlos Calderon will be back in the field after a one race hiatus with some plans of his own. As always the Senior Rotax division has many drivers that could win on any given Sunday. Last years championship runner up, Raymund Bustamante Jr, is ready to bust out with his first win of the season. The return of TJ Fisher will be happening as well. TJ had that great run at the Gatorz COTA round #5 at Infineon in February when he took the impressive victory in the rain. Sean McDonald is now concentrating solely on the Senior Rotax class and has high hopes of returning to his top form. Fast improving Andrew Colombini and Jarret Lile will also try to keep moving up the leader board and try to put their karts in a position to log their first win at Infineon. The Senior Rotax race will, as always, have one heck of a battle brewing with the winner taking home a GoPro Hero HD mini-camera.
After only two races, the Sanzaru Games Mini-Max championship is shaping up to be the battle between 2010 champ Michael Avansino and Round #2 winner Michael Michoff. Add in the return of Scott Huffaker and the improving sister duo of Annie and Toni Breidinger this race will probably come down to the wire yet again. The Mini-Max race will again feature tough competition and of course the $50/$30/$20 cash prize money for the top three in the main.
Rotax Masters now has three drivers battling for top honors at this point in the season. After a convincing win last month from Jerry Pretti, he joins Cameron Evans and an improving Scott Ripslinger as the top drivers in this highly competitive class. Veteran Bob Hurst is quickly getting up to speed with his Rotax power plant so look to see Bob challenging for the top honors very soon. Series newcomer Ken Santos continues to get his grove back after taking several years off of kart racing and should be a contender to look out for. There has also been a rumor out there that highly decorated Masters driver Rob Soares will make an appearance. Rob likes the reverse layout and should be right there to challenge for the win as well.
The 80 Masters field is getting interesting with 2010 champ Tom Nelson getting some real competition from several drivers. Bob Lesnutt returned to winning form in Race #2 and Greg Richter rebounded from a rough Race #1 to take a second place last month and put his stamp on being a championship contender. Don’t count out Roger Cornwall when it comes to contending for the championship either.
The IAME TaG class has pulled in good entry numbers so far this year with Don Rocci taking the first two races. But look for the pressure on Don to come from Bryce Guzman after his 3 year lay off from racing. With Bryce’s strong 2nd place finish in Race #2, he is close to being in top form again and ready to contend.
As always the Reverse National layout should bring out several Stock Moto shifters to this event as usual. New to the Red Line Oil Karting Series this year is the addition of the SKUSA spec classes S2, S4, TAG senior, TAG junior and TAG masters. All classes run the SKUSA MG white compound. We should see good battles in S2 and S4 just like the last two races. The TAG classes have not gotten much play so far this year but the series will continue to support them knowing that there are a ton of Tag karts out there that need a good place to race. Infineon Raceway provides some of the best racing any where in the USA and we are finally starting to see some of the larger fields of old.
With only two more Norcal Rotax races before the Rotax Nationals in July, expect to see lots of Rotax drivers working hard to get into top race shape as they prepare for the first western US location of the Rotax Nationals in a few years. If you haven’t had the chance to try the Red LIne OIl karting series yet, come on out and see what you’ve been missing!