Report: ROK Sonoma Race #5 Presented By Sanzaru

Another amazing, sunny California day for Race #5 of the ROK Sonoma, presented by Sanzaru at Simraceway Performance Karting Center.

We had two VP Fuel Featured Classes this race with the combined classes of Junior ROK Shifters and 80 Masters taking the track.

In the Junior ROK Shifter class Ron White Racing team driver, Aidan O'Neill stole the pole position in qualifying from The Karting Collective team driver, Bryson Lew with a 46.734, followed by All Star Karting drivers Cole Shade and Seth Huntley. In Pre-main 1, Shade would edge out Lew at the start for 2nd position. O'Neill continued to hold his lead while Shade and Lew battled for 2nd. At lap 10 of 15 Lew would pass Shade at turn 2 and attempt to catch O'Neill. With a faster lap time of 46.95 Lew would run some fast laps but O'Neill had too much of a lead and could not be caught.

At PreMain 2 of the drivers would once again start as they qualified, however Lew would immediately get shuffled back to 4th. Nevertheless, within the first three laps Lew would make his way past Huntley and Shade to take 2nd and attempt to catch the rapid O'Neill. Unfortunately, at lap 9 with the fastest lap of 46.997 he would spin out on his own at Monaco, leaving Shade with no chance of catching O'Neill and finishing 2nd.

The Main was set to be a real battle with O'Neill on Pole followed by Lew, Shade and Huntley. After turn one we would find Lew coming out in the back of the pack giving the Formula Speed race car driver a tough job to do. He would fly past Huntley when Huntley went off track due to a mechanical. Then he would catch Shade and pass him at Kramer during lap 5. Now he had to catch O'Neill who had a large lead. His chance came at lap 14 when O'Neill would come up on lapped 80 Masters traffic, giving Lew time to catch and ultimately pass O'Neill. Then they would clear traffic to race hard for the win. At the white flag O'Neill out-braked Lew and drove underneath Lew taking the lead at the checkered flag. They were followed by Shade and Huntley.

The 80 Masters drivers would share the track with the Junior ROK Shifters along with Allen Miller qualifying on Pole to be followed by the amazing Roger Cornwall, Geoff Provo, new comers Nick Chivello and Tim Booth. The class's top points leaders Mat Kattanek and Tom Nelson would qualify 6th and 7th. At the PreMain Provo would take a DNS due to a mechanical. Cornwall made the hole shot to take the lead in front of Miller followed by Booth while Kattanek would drive off the track with an issue. Chuck Hastings who missed qualifying due to a flat tire at the starting grid, jumped from 11th to 4th at the green flag. At lap 2 he would pass Booth at Kramer then would catch Miller at Laguna on lap 9. Hastings caught Cornwall at lap 12 where they would continue trading positions three times in four laps with Hastings taking 1st at the checkered flag.

PreMain 2 again started the same as the PreMain. Cornwall and Miller would take off with Provo close behind. The rest of the pack would all shuffle positions several times between laps 1 and 4 bringing Nelson to P4, Hastings to P5 and Booth to P6. Kattanek spun out during lap 3 to end his session. Hastings would pass Chivello at the Esses racing to catch the front of the pack. It would take him six laps to catch Provo and pass him at Monaco but not enough time to catch Miller in 2nd and Cornwall in 1st.

The Main would start with Cornwall P1 followed by Hastings off Pole, Miller, Kim, Provo, Booth, Nelson, Chivello and Kattanek. Hastings had the hole shot ahead on Cornwall with Miller following close behind. Kattanek came from last to 4th in the first turn. They were all close after that. At lap 10 Cornwall would pass Hastings at Kramer but two laps later Hastings would maneuver back around at the same spot. During that same time Miller would pass Kattanek at the kink, then switch again at the Esses. The race would end six laps later with Hastings, coming off a two race break due to back injury, to take the win followed by Cornwall, and Kattanek. Great racing from a group of drivers whose average age is 50 years older than the Junior 125 RoK shifter drivers! A special recognition should go out to Roger Cornwell who has proved that he is without doubt the fasted driver over 70 years old in the world!

We would also like to thank Ron White for coming out and to challenge the Senior ROK Shifter class, Ron as expected took the top spot on the podium for the day. The value of Ron's experience and speed being shared with the aspiring drivers in 125 Senior RoK is an amazing opportunity for all the drivers to learn from!

We have a new photographer, Mike Doran of http://mikedoranphotography.com. To find your driver on his website, click on the tab marked Photo Ordering to view the race photos, grouped by kart number. You can buy individual photos or packages and pricing for driver packages are $75 for images of a single driver for one race delivered via Dropbox. $250 for all images for a single driver for the remaining 5 races delivered via Dropbox. If you would like specific pictures taken of your driver contact Mike at [email protected], (415) 606-9171 or talk to him at the track on race day.

The VP Feature class for Race #6 will be Master ROK.

ROK Sonoma Presented by Sanzaru Games Round 5 Results

VP Kid Karts
1st Cypress Andruss $30 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd Zoquan Holbrook
3rd Kari Huntley 

VP Micro ROK
1st Anthony White $50 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd Casey Moyer
3rd Nico Sarphati

VP Mini ROK
1st Stephan Eisert $50 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd Ethan Nascimento
3rd Derek Domingos 

VP Junior ROK
1st William Ferguson $50 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd Oliver Reed
3rd Brenden Ruzbarsky

VP Senior ROK
1st Michael Avansino $50 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd Ryan Tate
3rd Bijoy Garg 

VP Master ROK
1st John Breidinger $50 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd David Palic
3rd Allen Dolph

VP Junior ROK Shifter - FEATURE CLASS
1st Aidan O'Neill $100 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd Bryson Lew $50 Sanzaru Bucks
3rd Cole Shade $30 Sanzaru Bucks 

VP Senior ROK Shifter
1st Ron White $50 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd Zach Pettinicchi
3rd Rene Pettinicchi

VP Master ROK Shifter
1st Michael Guasch $50 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd Travis Bowles
3rd Jeff Smith 

VP 80 Masters - FEATURE CLASS
1st Charles Hastings $100 Sanzaru Bucks
2nd Roger Cornwell $50 Sanzaru Bucks
3rd Mat Kattanek $30 Sanzaru Bucks

All results and points can be seen on the series website at www.sanzarukarting.com.