Motorsports Mondial

Dixon Northern California Rotax Challenge Recap – McDonald wins Senior Rotax Again

The Red Line Oil Karting Championship’s Northern California Rotax Challenge (NCRC) made its annual trip to the Dixon track to joins the Kinsmen Kart Club for one of their club races this past weekend. The weather was excellent and the track conditions were fast. As is years past, the Kinsmen Kart club made the NCRC racers feel very welcome. A couple of class championships were wrapped up at this event, but a couple of classes got even closer as the series wraps up at the Simraceway International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway this Sunday’s Red Line Oil Karting Championship season finale.

Sanzaru Games Mini Max

Four drivers took the track with Corrie Hiatt taking his first pole of the year ahead of Annie Breidinger and Horatio Fitz-Simon. In the heat race, Hiatt took the lead at the green with Fitz-Simon getting under Annie Breidinger going into turn one to take over second. Annie Breidinger stayed close to Fitz-Simon applying pressure until she could make the pass coming out of the back turn to re-take second position. Hiatt went on to the win, Annie Breidinger second and Fitz-Simon third. In the main, Hiatt again took the lead at the green and again Fitz-Simon slipped by Annie Breidinger going into turn one. Unlike the heat race, Annie Breidinger could not find an opening to get by. In the end, Hiatt drove to his first RLOKC Mini Max win, Fitz-Simon second and Annie Breidinger third. For the win, Hiatt took home the Sanzaru Games cash prize of $50, Fitz-Simon received $30 and Annie Breidinger $20.

Rotax Masters & Rotax Masters Light

The Masters and Masters Light classes ran together, but with a split start. The Masters class was in the front group due to the fastest qualifying time of Cameron Evans (Masters) with Jerry Pretti (Masters) starting along side. In the front row of the Lights class was David Carlisle and Mary Beth Wilson. In the heat race, Evans took the early lead with Scott Ripslinger moving into second. Pretti made a move early to take back second place and this race order held to the checkered flag with Evans taking the win, Pretti second, Ripslinger third. In the Lights class, Carlisle lead Wilson into turn one and the two ran nose to tail for the entire ten laps. In the end, Carlisle took the win, Wilson second and Stephan Gaudreau third. In the main, Evans again took the early lead and was never challenged to drive onto his sixth win of the season. Pretti stayed close, but had to settle for second with Barry Lee moving up to third when Ripslinger’s kart dropped off in power and had to settle for fifth. The win wraps up the class championship for Evans. In the Lights main, Carlisle took the early lead and again Wilson was close behind looking for an opportunity to make a pass. Unlike the heat race, Gaudreau was right on Wilson’s bumper and she had to split her attention between trying to pass Carlisle and not get passed by Gaudreau. In the end, Carlisle took the win, Wilson second and Gaudreau third.

Junior Rotax

Five drivers took the green with 2010 Mini Max champion Michael Avansino making his first Junior Rotax start. In qualifying, last month’s winner Zack Dante took the pole ahead of Avansino and Maxx Marian. In the heat race, Dante took the lead followed by Avansino and Marian. Avansino stayed close but was not able to see a way by and had to settle for the runner up position. In the end, Dante took the win, Avansino second, Marian third. Things heated up in the main when Avansino got a small jump on the start with the two front row karts bumping and grinding all the way down the straightaway. Avansino got into turn one first and Dante tried a pass midway through turn one. The two karts came together and Avansino went off into the weeds. Dante maintained the lead and drove on to the win followed by Marian and Will Preston. Avansino returned to the track and was making a run to catch up, but had to pull off on lap six. The race ended with a black flag and checkered flag. An official decision on the spin in turn one penalized Dante four positions for his portion of the incident. Thus, Maxx Marian was moved up to the win, Preston second and Jaden Conwright third.

Senior Rotax

With a seven kart field, Carlos Calderon took the pole ahead of Sean McDonald, Jarrett Lile and Niki Luna. Luna entered this race with the points lead, but Calderon was looking to get back into the championship hunt with a sold win. In heat race, Calderon controlled the race from the front with McDonald close behind and Luna making up one position. In the main, Calderon took the early lead again with Luna slipping inside McDonald to take over second with Lile in fourth. Lile’s engine lost power early on forcing him to pull off. With three laps to go, Calderon’s race and championship bid went up in smoke when he dropped a rear wheel coming out of the “bowl” turn. He shot across the track and spun. Luna was close enough that he had to turn hard left to avoid Calderon and spun into the weeds. McDonald drove by the Calderon and Luna to take over the lead with Calderon recovering to take second place. Luna was stuck in the weeds for over a lap, but got back on track in sixth place. In the end, McDonald took the win, Calderon second and Andrew Colombini came home a well deserved third. The points lead that Luna had coming into this race is now gone and he and Calderon will face off head to head on Sunday at the RLOKC season finale for the class championship.

DD2 Masters

The two-speed DD2 Masters field had three karts with Michael Ostrowski taking the pole ahead of Bob Olson and Dave Moody. In the heat race, Ostrowski took the lead and never looked back. Moody got inside Olson going into turn one and held off the determined Olson to take second. In the main, again Ostrowski took the early lead and cruised to the win. Olson got by Moody early on and pulled away a bit to take second place with Moody third. With the win, Ostrowski all but wraps up the class championship for this class.

One can find all the results on MyLaps (Rotax Dixon Race dated Oct 29th) and see updated championship points in the results section at www.redlineoilkarting.com. The next RLOKC event is Sunday, November 6th at the Simraceway International Karting Center at Infineon Raceway, where the 2011 season will come to an end. For more information about the RLOKC, go to www.redlineoilkarting.com