San Diego, California
July 26, 2008
VIDEO RACE REPORT
The cool breezes of San Diego were a welcome summer retreat for ProKart Challenge competitors as they series headed south for Round 5 of the top kart racing series in the Southern California. With Championship battles coming to a head, drivers and teams were set to battle in the cone lined course at Qualcomm Stadium. The FX Racing Makita Team brought the pack of Conte, Barnes, Wiener and Sabiani to take the fight to competitors across several PKC classes.
Conte Picks Up the Pace for the Win
Philip Conte (Monster Energy/Makita/Trackmagic/Mid-Cities Honda) has waged a season long battle with Marty Henderson for top spot in the S3 Heavy championship and it was no different in Round 5. Heading in to the weekend Conte led the championship by a slim margin of just 10 points, both competitors sized up the San Diego track a week prior in a club race with Conte getting the better.
Qualifying set the scene with only 0.04 separating the top two drivers. Starting in the combined field has proved to be a challenge all season with the risk of strong drives being blunted by getting stuck behind the lighter drivers. Heat 1 served up a perfect example of this risk. Thinking fast, Conte moved into conservation mode, holding position in P2 and saving his tires for the next heat. Heat 2 shaped up a bit stronger with a better start for Conte, but Henderson proved a bit too tough and took the win.
The 13 kart field lined up for the start of the long 20 lap main. As the lights went out on the tree, the field charged hard for turn 1 with Conte almost left behind. He held his ground, but had 3 karts between him and race leader Henderson. Henderson began stretching his lead to over 4 seconds, while Conte was stuck in a battle with other karts – it looked to be over for the Monster Energy/Makita driver.
The Trackmagic chassis setup jumped to life 8 laps in and Conte started making moves. Slipping past traffic, Conte started reducing the lead and quick. Moving right up behind Henderson, Conte put a pass on him going into turn 6. Pulling away from Henderson, Conte carried serious speed, running up through the light competitors. Ending the weekend in San Diego Conte put another 10 points in the bag and heads into the final round at Santa Maria with a 20 point lead.
Sabiani Scores a Solid Finish
In just his third start (and just getting in a kart in January), S4 driver Allen Sabiani (Monster Energy/Makita/Trackmagic) had a strong run to grab a 4th place finishing position. Sabiani found himself falling short in Qualifying, cutting his flying lap short with just two corners to go due to a broken chain, delivering a disappointing 12th among the 17 karts. Strong starts moved the driver up through the pack finishing in 8th and 6th respectively in Heats 1 and 2.
Sabiani continued the charge picking up two spots early on in the main. The Trackmagic driver held on to stay ahead of tough competitor John Cram to claim a spot just off the podium. Sabiani went on to say, “The FX crew gave me a great kart and great support. Things got really loose there at the end, but I was able to hold on.
Nuts Behind the Wheel
FMF driver Jim Barnes (Monster Energy/Makita/Trackmagic/EnVista) was feeling strong heading into San Diego. Coming off the first practice session and the wide-open straights, Barnes “This place is awesome.” Balancing business between ontrack sessions, Barnes picked up the pace as soon as he slapped on a new set of MG’s with times at the top of the charts.
Qualifying felt good, picking up another 0.8 over his practice times, but was only good enough for 5th on the S4 grid. Barnes worked his way up to third at the start of Heat 1, before slipping two spots in the final laps. A bad start in Heat 2 put Barnes to the back of the field. He worked his way back up to finish 7th.
The Main did not get off well with confusion over the lights caught Barnes rolling forward. Barnes fell immediately back and started running mid-pack, fighting for positions lost. A spin dropped the driver to back of the field and later steering wheel hardware worked itself loose causing the driver to pull off on lap 12. Barnes still sits 4th in season points.
Wiener Brakes the Brake
After a decent finish in Round 4, Steve Wiener(Monster Energy/Makita/Trackmagic) was looking forward to his home track in San Diego. Friday’s test day was on its regular plan, but ended abruptly with a lower rod-bearing failure. Thanks to a special overnight repair by Hi-Rev Engineering, Wiener was set and ready to go for race day.
Wiener picked up the pace for qualifying, landing him 4th in the TaG Masters field. The first heat ran well, however an off-course excursion as the laps dwindled moved the driver back. In Heat 2, Wiener and tuner Kyle Kuntze hit things right, moving forward again to gain a 4th place finish. The positive run did not last long in the Main as a brake pad failure ended his run just 2 laps in.
The tour continues up the coast to Santa Maria for the PKC finale for late August where Conte’s contending for his second PKC title in three years. Stayed tuned to the FX Racing Makita team for news and be sure to check out the new Makita Action Sport website at http://www.makita.com/action/
FX Racing USA, LLC is a professional motorsports and marketing organization with headquarters in San Diego, CA offering programs ranging from auto and kart racing to corporate team building and training. For more information, visit www.fxracingusa.com. |
