7/21/05
ITALIAN MOTORS SCORES BIG AT CHILLIWACK ‘STARS’
Vancouver, BC, Canada — Italian Motors’ drivers scored big at ‘Stars’ Chilliwack event with three wins, six podiums and nearly a dozen top 10 finishes.
SATURDAY
ICA
ICA qualifying session was run in the wet and saw a four-way battle for the pole between Italian Motors drivers David Jurca, Tyler Dueck, Colby Jenn and Tony Kart’s Joel Miller. Miller led the early portions of the session until the Italkarts moved to the front with Jurca taking the point. The excitement came at the end of the session with the checkered flag flying as Miller crossed the stripe with a 1:02.853 second lap to take the provisional pole. Two karts later, Jurca tripped the lights 0.1 seconds faster and won the pole for the day. Miller joined him on the front row. Dueck ended the session third while Giebler was in fourth. Rounding out the top five was Jenn.
The opening laps of the ICA Prefinal saw a trio of Italian Motors drivers- Jurca, Dueck and Jenn running in the top three. They were putting some space on the field while Miller and Glover were battling for fourth. Near the halfway point, Jurca dropped out with an undisclosed mechanical problem. That left Dueck the win by nearly eight seconds. Glover and Miller continued their battle and eventually overhauled Jenn. Glover went on the finish second with Miller in third. Jenn crossed fourth and Justin Anfinson (Tony Kart) finished in fifth.
In the final, Dueck had built a big lead with Miller second. Jurca was coming through the field and moved into fourth and began stalking his teammate Jenn. Eventually, the Federal Way Washington-based driver got to second, making easy work of Miller and Jenn. It was clear by this point that his TM-powered Italkart was the fastest kart on the track. With about three to go, Jurca pulled the trigger and took the lead. Over the final laps, he built a 2.5 second gap over Dueck. At the checkers, it was an Italian Motors 1-2 with Miller’s Tony Kart third. Cole Whitt (Italkart) had a strong run to fourth and Jenn crossed in fifth. It was an impressive performance as 5 Italkart's powered by IM Tuning all placed in the top 6.
ICC
After starting in 11th place, Jurca picked his way through the field and once by White, set his sites on Speed and then Funakoshi. The laps would run out for Jurca as he set the fastest lap of the race by nearly half a second. It was an impressive drive for Jurca as his pace would get quicker and quicker as the race went on. Jurca would go on to finish second as a driver would be disqualified for being under weight.
IM's Jake Thompson (Italkart) had a great showing as well. After nearly a 3 month lay off from karting, Thompson was able to jump back in and battle his way to a very respectable 4th place position.
JICA
In the pre-final, five drivers going hammer to tong virtually the entire distance. The fight was up front between Smrz, Duerson and Rossi. The lead swapped several times with Smrz heading the group for much of the race. Towards the end was when the lead pack expanded to five. Smrz eventually took the flag as the winner with Saavedra in second and Duerson in third. Rounding out the top five were Rossi and Jacob Neal (CRG). After fighting mechanical gremlins, in qualifying, Hogg had his work cut out for him as he battled his way to the front.
Off the line in the JICA Final, Smrz led the procession but eventually, he lost the lead and the battle was on for Langlois, Duerson, Saavedra and Rossi. Duerson and Langlois had a good scrap going particularly in the closing laps and the lead was passed back and forth. Off the final corner, Langlois dropped to the inside on the track and made a move for the win. At the stripe, it was Duerson, both hands in the air taking the victory aboard his Italkart/Parilla IM Tuned package!!!
Sunday
ICC
Once on the track, Mandarino went to the top of the charts but his time there did not last long as Italian Motors' David Jurca (Italkart) took the pole position in the headline class with a 49.216-second lap. Gary Carlton (Trackmagic) continued to run well as he has all season with the second fastest time, just .06 seconds off of Jurca. Mandarino settled for the third fastest time while reigning National Champion Alex Speed was fourth. Rounding out the top five was John Zartarian (KRT).
The ICC drivers put on the best show of the day in the Final as drivers were dicing right from the drop of the flag. Mandarino got the holeshot and Carlton was aggressive off the line moving to his right in front of Jurca for second. Those three checked out on the field and began to build a serious gap before they began dicing for the lead.
At the halfway mark, all the action happened at nearly the same time. Jurca pulled the trigger and moved to the lead.
From there, Jurca cruised to the win while Carlton was able to get by Mandarino for second. Jaskol was fourth and Bowles salvaged a fifth place for the weekend. As was the case yesterday though, the race wasn’t decided when the checkered flag fell. Once in the tech shed, the motors were given a thorough review by Scott Evans and Jurca was disqualified for a spark plug protrusion issue. This moved Carlton into the win with Mandarino second and Jaskol in third.
ICA
With clear skies and a dry track, the ICA times came down significantly and tightened the field as the top 12 drivers were separated by only a second. Leading the way in the early portions of the 15-minute session was Joel Miller (Tony Kart) but yesterday’s winner David Jurca (Italkart) and the rest of the Italian Motors team sat waiting until later in the session. Once they hit the track, Jurca quickly headed to the top of the charts. After setting the quick time, he bested his own pole time on a couple of occasions.
Miller stayed on the track trying to find the speed he needed to retake the pole but was unable to mount a challenge. Jurca’s 50.255-second lap stood and he would line-up P1 for the Prefinal, beside him on row one would be Miller. Row two saw Tyler Dueck (Italkart) and Kevin Glover (CRG) lining up for the Prefinal. Rounding out the top five was Cole Whitt, another Italian Motors driver.
After a few attempts to start the pre final, the third time was a charm and Jurca took the lead over teammate Dueck with Miller in third. There would be no changes in the order although Miller made several attempts to get around Dueck. Jurca took an easy win with Dueck in second and Miller third. Grant Hebner (CRG) finished in fourth while Phil Giebler (Intrepid) finished in fifth after being involved with a first lap incident with Nicholas Tonkin (Birel). After the race, Jenn was penalized for causing a collision and was sent back behind Glover.
The ICA Final was completely dominated by Italian Motors driver Jurca. Leading off the line from the drop of the green, Jurca's Italian Motors tuned TM and Italkart were never seriously challenged.
On the final lap, Dueck held second but Miller was looking for a way by. Dueck was defensive in every corner allowing Miller to get better exits off the turns. In turn eight, Miller dove under Dueck and took second. Jurca took his second win of the weekend followed by Miller and Dueck. Rounding out the top five were Hebner and Matt Johnson (KRT).
JICA
The JICA Prefinal was all Saavedra as he took the lead from the drop of the green. The battle for second was a fairly good with Mackenzie Johnson (Margay) and Hayden Duerson (Italkart) dueling it out. Duerson came out of the fight on top to claim second. Rounding out the top five were Langlois and Michael Hogg (Italkart).
Just like the Prefinal, the JICA Final was all Saavedra as he built a gap off the start and was never challenged for the lead. Hogg (Italkart) made a great start and charged in to the second spot which he would hold on to until the last lap. Johnson had a run and dove down the inside at the end of the straight away. Exiting the corner, Hogg ran too close to the rear tire of Johnson and jumped on to his tire sending him back a few places. However, it was a great drive for the IM youngsters as they placed a respectable 4th and 5th place.
JUNIOR 1
Hayden Ritter and Remo Ruscitti pulled everything together for the final on Sunday. The two Italian Motors Jr.1 drivers battled in to the top ten and placed 6th and 9th respectively. As always, Jr.1 was a very close race and Haden and Remo demonstrated their developing race craft.
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