There can only be one word to describe what happened at Octane Raceway, Tuesday from 6pm to 10pm. Awesome!!! That so happened to be the night that the Fall Sport/Pro leagues opened up their 10 race series. Sport leaguers showed up in mass for their 5:45pm check in and extra security was standing by in case all 28 spots sold out and the crowd became shall I say unruly. Never happened and the RED alert was downgraded to green. 24 Sport league racers and 18 Pro league racers came together for a night of fast and furious fun. League racer caps are at 28 racers each so we have room for you and your friends to join us. We do split the leagues into 2 groups of 14 each and by the time the Mains roll around the fields are pretty evenly matched.
Nearly 100% of the Pro league racers are carried over from the Spring or Summer league which ended Sat Sept 9th with Chaz Baca Jr taking down his 8th League Championship in a row. What do we have to do to slow this young “Master of Speed”? Flatten a tire, put him in a Jr kart, blindfold him? I need answers people and I need them now before he…oh well, you know the rest.
Blake Leuty was about the only “New” guy even though he has raced with us before and due to work schedules could not make the 5:45pm check in time for the Sport league. Good thing because he did so well Tuesday with the Pro league that I probably would have asked him to step up into the Pro league.
Having both leagues on the same night has huge benefits as the racers from both can intermingle and learn from each other. A mutual sharing of how to be fast and how to get faster. I myself was able to get info from the driver coming out of the same kart I was in for the Main and I shaved about .5 seconds off his best time based on the info provided by the less than happy with the kart driver. Thank you SL who just so happens to have the same initials as me.
Eighteen racers joined race #1 of 10 in the Pro league.
Group 1 Qualifier/Heat had Kyler Repella take the win over Tony Rolfson and Chaz Baca Jr.
Group 2 Qualifier/Heat had Jason Burstein take the win over Steve Lattanzi and Josh Sarchet who was closing fast but ran out of laps.
Reset the fields and draw new karts for the “A” & “B” Mains. We see Chris Wynne on pole for the “B” Main. Scott Lodding starting second with Cody Gutierrez in P3.
Right from the green flag drop Scott Lodding is lagging and Chris Wynne pulling away. The rest of the field is nipping at the rear bumper of Lodding who seems to be struggling with left turn issues and one by one then in mass the field gets by Lodding to drop him from 2nd starting position to 9th. Quite unusual for such a talented driver such as Lodding.
Chris Wynne takes the win and advances into the “A” Main. Scott Lodding falls to 1 lap down and .5 seconds off pace to the leader. One very happy racer and one very unhappy racer. I’ll let you guess who’s what!
Finish Order of the “B” Main with Total points scored overall:
Chris Wynne (to “A” Main)…44
Cody Gutierrez…42
Philip Schroeder…40
Charles Crowe…38
Mike McClaran…38
Brian Landry…46
Ronald Jones…35
Krystal Wright…33
Scott Lodding…35
Now we move onto the “A” Main where we have Kyler on pole, Jason Burstein P2 and Tony Rolfson starting 3rd. Where’s Waldo…I mean Chaz Baca Jr?
Due to a 3rd place finish in his Q/Ht he gets to start from 6th, but understand this the only threat of Baca Jr not winning is to have him in a different race.
We go green and on the very first lap and at the back left hander Tony Rolfson makes an inside passing move on Burstein, who kindly gives Rolfson enough room to hit Repella and send him nose first into the barrier and basically out of contention for the win. Tony incurs a Black Flag drive thru penalty which also ends his quest of fame and fortune in race #1. My GoPro recorded the not well thought out move and luckily for this and many other drivers made the move around and thru the bottleneck. Meanwhile now Lattanzi is turning decent laps and has got the no left turn kart figured out to extract the best it can deliver until the Baca Jr and Sarchet party arrive to make my stay in 2nd place a short one. Baca Jr is now chasing Burstein and Sarchet is hanging onto his bumper but slowly but surely Baca pulls away and goes after Burstein for the win from 6th place. Sarchet and Lattanzi stayed close and by race end had Burstein in their sights but ran out of laps. From what I hear there was a bit of a conga line backed up behind Josh Lambeth. Chris Wynne did not move thru the field as he intended but still scores “A” Main points for 10 place. He ran a total of 100 laps in the Mains on Track 1 which would have most of us begging for the Checkered Flag. We now call him “Ironman”.
Finish Order for the “A” Main with total points scored overall:
Chaz Baca Jr…55
Jason Burstein…56
Josh Sarchet…53
Steve Lattanzi…53
Josh Lambeth…50
Kyler Repella…52
Tony Rolfson…50
Keith Sears…46
Blake Leuty…46
Chris Wynne…44
What a great way to start the 2012 Fall Sport/Pro league season.
I wish to Thank all of you for taking the time and resources to be involved in the best league series around.
If you are just thinking about doing the leagues think no more come join us and see for yourself. For the rest of you competition karting enthusiasts see all or most of you Tuesday Oct. 9 for Race #2 of 10.
Sport League Check in by 5:45pm…driver meeting/kart draw…racing starts on Track 2 by 6pm. Weight equalized and only $40.00 for 55 laps of racing. 5 lap Qualifier into 20 lap Heat…30 lap Main.
Pro league Check in by 7:30pm…driver meeting/kart draw…Racing starts approx. 8pm on Track 2. Weight equalized and only $50.00 for 70 laps of racing. 5 lap Qualifier into 25 lap Heat…40 lap Main.
Steve "Kandyman" Lattanzi
Team Titanium of Octane Raceway
Competition Director
Offsite Specialty Events Coordinator
Lead Instructor for the Raceology 101 Jr Kart Racing School
317 S. 48th Street . Phoenix, AZ 85034
(d) 602-427-4416 / 602-302-7223 (t) 602-321-2035(m)
Octane Raceway - Your Phoenix Destination For Adrenaline-Packed Outings
Arizona's Premier Indoor Karting & Entertainment Venue
Seasonal Leagues, High Level Competition Events, Public Racing 363 Days A Year
Two Indoor Tracks, 45+MPH Karts, Billiards, Trackside Bar & Grill.
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