Archives - Norcal Karters

Earlier this Year the Jim Russell Racing Schools were bought out by an Investment group called Emotive, who is owned by a London based group called BMD who has ties with the Original Jim Russell racing Schools of England. Emotive is determined to make changes throughout the entire facility for the better. Since the beginning of the Infineon Kart Track the races have been organized and run by an outside promoter in Sierra Race Promotions and Ric Shaw. Beginning in 2008 Jim Russell Racing Schools want to begin to have all Kart Racing events taking place at the Kart Track to be run by the Russell Team.

Mark Wolocatiuk has worked with the Jim Russell Racing Schools for many years. In 2001 Mark worked with Russell racing Schools starting the construction of the track and organizing the Programs of the facility and is now going to be the Direct Contact for Organizing all Kart Track Events in 2008. As we met for the meeting Mark immediately put some of the rumors to rest. The Kart track was never thought of being shut down nor was it ever going to be dedicated to Corporate events only. The Jim Russell Racing Schools is dedicated to bring the newest Racing stars through their Facility and it Starts with Karts. In fact their main goal is to make the Kart Racing bigger and better for 2008.

Currently the main talk of the Kart Track are the future plans of the facility. There has been talk of replacing the current portable buildings with Garages trackside. The Racing would consist of less classes and leaving higher kart counts in less classes instead of lower kart counts in more classes. With the interest building of having a new series coming to Norcal such as Pro Kart, Infineon wants to keep their racers to among the club level, leaving the Bigger events for the heavy hitters. Building young talented drivers to move up to the bigger cars on Infineon's Full Size Track and soon into the professional series.

As for many of the extra classes, the belief is the equipment that cannot be run at Infineon will be sold to the other Norcal Kart tracks customers that can run the equipment. Thus leaving one day races packed with the hottest talent in the Norcal area getting set to move up into the higher level, faster bigger cars. The Jim Russell group is focused on building from the bottom up. Providing more awards pointed in this direction. Giving the Champions of the Kart racing a chance to move up to that level much like now.

More info to come regarding classes and schedule in the coming days.

Kartel Motrsports Announces formation of a Race team dedicated to winning. In the 2008 season Kartel Motorsports is planning to race the IKF Region 11 series, as well as being the Stars of Karting Grand Products race Team. Assembling a team to only focus on winning. Leading the Charge for the Grand Products/Kartel team will be long time Industry Specialist Les Hand partnered with Son, and newly signed Grand American Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Driver, Joey Hand, while managing the operation will again be Erik Bartolero. All three of these gentlemen hold many years of Kart Racing experience both as drivers and tuners.

Kartel Motorsports has a shop and store front in the future as they plan to continue their winning ways of 2007. For the season of 2008 Kartel already has a team of drivers with proven success. Currently Ashlie Couch and Luis Tyrell will be racing Jr 1 for Kartel, while Brendan Phinny will be racing Jr. 2 for the team. Neil Alberico will be moving up to the Sr. ranks to join Chris Scribner. All will be poised and focused to bring home wins in both Stars and IKF Region 11 Competition in 2008.

Recently the team traveled down to Las Vegas for the Skusa Supernationals XI as Scribner, Alberico, and Phinny all faced new challenges. Scribner being his first race on a Top Kart with Kartel was in stellar form, he was top Five nearly every practice session, and scored 8th in the final. Neil, in his first race as a Senior Driver, accompanied Chris at the front. His 4th place heat finish was his highlight of the weekend, as he was crashed out in the final. Both will be contenders at every event in 2008. Brendan Phinny got into the new Junior 125 Stock Honda Moto (S5). With only 3 Practice sessions given to the S5 class, chassis set-up, and Kart preparation were crucial. Brendan came out of the box just like he tested-Fast! Qualifying P1, and Winning heats 1 and 2 Phinny was able to start P1 for the final. From the green light Brendan went on for a 13.6 second Win. All this at the most competitive race of the year.

Kartel Motorsports is set to do business next year as they will be the Nor-Cal Grand Products dealer for Top Karts, Bridgestone tires, MiR Racewear and Comer. Other products brought in by Kartel are Motul, Gatorz Eyewear, Afam Sprockets, and more coming soon. Currently Kartel is assembling their 2008 Race team. Inquiries for Arrive and Drives for STARS or Region 11 IKF, or to test a Top Kart are urged to call Erik at 916-217-2181.

This weekend (Friday night, Saturday) at the Hawthorne Suites in Sacramento the Track delegates and the Norcal Board will be meeting for the yearly Norcal meeting where rule changes and scheduling will take place. This year the meeting has been expanded to the Night of Friday from 5pm to 9pm. The reason for the expansion is for the proposal discussions. In recent years the proposals have dominated the meeting leaving quicker decisions of other changes. This year with the expansion, Proposals will be only be voted on during the Saturday meeting, leaving the proposal discussion on Friday only. After the meeting Friday night, all are invited for a reception in the hotel lobby. Saturday the meeting will be from 9 am to 6 pm. The first hour of the meeting however, will be closed doors for Executives only, therefore the meeting will not open to the public until 10 am. Lunch will be taken at 12 noon and will be an hour long.

Public meeting hours are: 5pm -9 pm Friday
10 am to 12 pm-1 pm to 6 pm Saturday

Below are all the current proposals to be discussed Friday night. Discussions regarding proposals will be very limited Saturday so all who want to let their voice be heard regarding the rule changes is urged to attend Friday evening.

Proposal #1
From Curt Baker NNKC

Proposed weight change in National Cup MASTERS from 390lbs to 375lbs.

Proposal #2
Curt Baker NNKC
Consider another tire compound for NCM,s

Proposal #3
Eliminate spec spark plug rule and run open spark plugs.

Steve Dow NNKC:

Proposal #1-Eliminate the YJL tire and re-instate the Formula 80 class(senior)

Proposal #2-Eliminate the throw away in the series

Proposal #3-Increase Formula 80 Masters weight to 385 from the current 375lbs

Proposal #4- Increase the weight in formula 80 senior/limited to 375lbs from 360lbs

Proposal #5- The regional 8 race series be held at Dixon, Davis, Stockton, Atwater,Redding, Medford, Reno and salinas

eliminate Praire City from the schedule due to Prairie City's promoters being un-co-operative

(arguement to long to post)

Phillip Cole:

Add HPV 3 Senior and to Region11

Lance Grimm:

Change region 11 125 national Cup Masters weight to 375lbs from the current 390lbs

Jason Toft:

Allow larger after market radiators in 125 national Cup to better cool motors

Ron Perry:

Take a better look at the Kid kart program and make Kid Karts a regional championship class

Brian Glascow:

#1 - Terminate spec fuel in region 11 racing, allow driver to purchase their own fuel.

#2 - Add HPV3 to the regional race program

Tom Agan:

Decrease the weight in Norcal Briggs World formula class to 365lbs from the current 390lbs

Ed Diederich:

#1 - The NCTA BOD should review ans make recommendations for any and all proposals submitted

for consideration

#2 - Retain Jr Tag and HPV4 jr for the 2008 NCTA Series(Region 11) to allow enough time to develop

into a viable Jr2 competion class

#3 - Reduce the weight in the from the 100cc national Cup class senior to 350lbs from the current 375lbs

Chris Scribner:

1)- Replace 100cc National Cup with Stock Moto Light

2)- Switch Super Sportsman heavy to Masters and convert super sportsman to formula Y

3)- Add stock moto heavy to saturdays schedule

4)- change qualifying to one lap

Rick Scribner:

1)- Elected officers must attend all regional events- only personal family emergencies can be excused for not attending

2)- 5 minute qualifying groups with no more than 10 karts at a time. No hot pit adjustments to kart allowed

Craig Nilsson:

Tags Masters to run under TAG usa rules age 30+/Tag senior same rules and weight

Ed Diederich:

Proposes F1 qualifying/5 min qualifying best lap of session sets grid

Tim Weaver:

Proposes to change weight in National Cup heavy/Sumo to 400lb-415lb class

Jessica Luther:

Implement the formula Y class

Tony Rodriquez:

Lower National Cup masters to 375lbs keep spec plug leaves tires YHC.

Change tires on Formula 80 masters from YJL to YHC

Carol Brown:
Create "Generic" entry form at beggining of season for all regional events.

Tony Rodriquez:
This proposal has to many "Items" listed on it. All rebutal/arguements towards existing proposals.

Kartel Motorsports Stars of Karting Junior driver Brendan Phinny headed to the Stars of Karting finale in Las Vegas at the Speedway. Early in the weekend Phinny laid down some fast laps in practice. When Qualifying came Phinny backed it up grabbing the pole position. With the three heat race format Brendan would start all three races on pole. With that and the tuning of Kartel, Phinny won all three races to again start on the pole for the Final.

In the Final Brendan Phinny ran in the lead for most the race until late carburetor problems dropped him to fifth. Taylor Miinch made his Stars of Karting debut with a Kartel prepared Top Kart at Vegas. He too showed much speed throughout the weekend. Miinch was able to grab the second position in the Final.

Next up at the Prairie City club race Finale, Kartel fielded some drivers for the racing. Ryan Phinny and Neil Alberico both raced in the Tag Light class. Phinny and Alberico qualified 1-2. This is the story for the day as they teamed up in the final for the top two spots in the main. Meanwhile in the comer and HPV-1 classes Ashley Couch gathered two second place finishes while running fast time as well. The newest Kartel Top Kart experience was with Shelby Sanders. Never running a Top Kart, Shelby practiced it Friday and liked what she felt. With the help of Skylon Audio and Kartel, Shelby fielded the kart for the Sunday racing action. Shelby dominated the day getting a win in her Debut.

Currently Kartel is testing for the Supernationals in Las Vegas. Kartel will be fielding both Brendan Phinny and Taylor Miinch in the new S5 class (125 Stock Moto Jr.) and Neil Alberico will be making his National Sr. debut in TAG Sr. teaming with Kartels newest Sr. Driver yet to be announced.

Heading to Spain was a big opportunity for myself as a driver and one that I couldn't hardly pass up. To race for Jim Russell Specialties in Spain was an honor as I was not only representing my country, but the leading IAME distributor in the world. Leaving Northern California early on a Wednesday morning, we would travel across the country and arrive in Barcelona Spain Thursday Morning.

The city of Zaragoza was a three hour drive in our diesel van stick shift. We got to the hotel after some interesting directions by the navigation. The rooms were small. Two twin beds pushed right up next to each other( they were touching, Im glad my roommate was my father) and the bathroom was cramped as well. Small 15" flat screen monitor for TV, and a window view of a basement being dug out and the top of the Zaragoza Chapel.

When we arrived at the track all of us drivers looked like kids at Toys R Us for the first time. The track was wide, Stands capable of holding around 800 people, the restaurant and bar were under the stands, as well as bathrooms, kart shop, meeting room, and registration. The pits for the teams were under a large garage without walls. Each pit was separated with 3' tall iron fence. The back drop was Chain link with the countries flag. Two FA Alonso Karts equipped with a Parilla Counter Balanced X30 with a 15,500 rev limiter. The pit has a tool box filled with tools and four chairs so 4 of the 6 drivers could be lazy and sit (typical drivers).

Each team got four sets of Vega tires. One we used up in practice as the others we conserved for the race. All of USA drivers were fast. Mark Dismore and Devon Sandeen were my teammates. Devon qualified Saturday morning giving us a 17th place starting spot. The top 17 were all within 6 tenths of a second. We had a drivers meeting much like Press Conference style. The Race directors sat at a table in front of the room with a Microphone. First the Spanish, then the English. No Questions til the Directors had their speech. When driver questions were complete, Only Team managers were left to ask questions as all drivers had to exit.

I started the first stint and got us up to 12th position. We pitted early as we didn't want to pit while others were filling the pit so our strategy was to get off sequence with everybody else. After the first round of pit stops our team was in 8th. As the day went on our pit stops were nearly flawless. At the end of the day we were sixth. After the first day of racing finishing in the sixth position was great considering how conservative we were to be sure not to break. When we arrived the next morning we were informed there were penalties to a few of the other teams and were bumped to third.

The second day we were a bit off the pace as with the amount of changes we made, we could still not get the chassis close to be as fast as the others. At the end of the day we were 5th. Again a solid finish. we were looking good to make a podium finish overall, but unfortunately one of the last stops we made, Sandeen was left out one lap too long, and we received a one lap penalty, dropping us to ninth on the second race, but fifth overall, keeping us off the podium for Team USA. Although we were the top Team from USA, all of us drivers were after the podium and a silver cup. The loss left us all empty.

The learning experience was grateful. When you go to another continent, whether it is to race or vacation, the things one can learn are incomprehensible. The culture of those in Spain is nothing like we have in America. The amount of belongings such as unnecessary accessories much of us Americans buy was little. The price on such belongings were quite expensive, however those things that were not so unnecessary were not so pricey. The Coca Cola taste different as if there was less syrup. The McDonalds had all the food renamed and the dress of those who worked in the city had a different style. The police sirens were similar, as were many of the restaurants, stores and shops. When you ordered coffee, you didn't order a cup of coffee, you got a cup of cafe. Cafe was a half cup of really strong coffee. Now so im clear on this, the coffee I drink every morning is almost syrup, cafe WAS syrup. All the cream and sugar to dilute it.

The cars were all diesel and stick shift, many intersections were Round Abouts so you could pick your direction, and they had a protest outside the courthouse Friday morning. Many of the buildings were so old the electrical was routed outside the buildings. The most important thing I learned in Spain, was respect those of the country showed.

Wherever I went the people were kind, polite, but not so forth. They didn't go out there way to be kind or personable, but they acknowledged you for as you are. The Spanish culture was genuinely respectful. I didn't speak much Spanish (actually none) but they didn't move on to the next customer or the one who did speak their language, they put forth the effort to work with me and figure out exactly what I was trying to get across. They were simply kind people.

Race Report: Jim Russell Shifter Sunday Series Race #7 � October 21, 2007

For the last race day of the year, the weather could not have been any better, warm, mid 70�s and no breeze. And the racing was just as good as a few class championships were still to be determined. With 48 entries, this is one of the lighter turnouts of the year. But this did not take away from some great raceing.

Infinity Karting Services 125 Stock Honda Heavy
Matt Alcorn enters this race with only one goal, do not get a DQ. If this is accomplished, the champioship is his. 6 drivers turned out with Mark Drennan taking the pole over Alcorn, followed by Alex Keith and Ed Restrepo. In the Prefinal, it was Drennan again on top, followed by Alcorn, Ken Cornwall and Ed Resttrepo. In the Main, Drennan continued his dominance and took a 13 second victory. One reason for the large margin of victory was that Alcorn�s countershaft gear came off on the warmup lap and he had to watch the action while sittin on a tire wall in the infield. Alex Keith had to come from last to take 2^nd place, followed by good drives from Ken Cornwall and Ed Restrepo. Alcorn raps up the championship followed by Drennan, a tie for 3^rd between Donald Durbin and Ken Cornwall, with Alex Keith 5^th.

Cameron Karting ICC/Moto Masters
Going into Rrace #7, there was a tie for the class lead between the 2006 Champions JP Cadoux and the 2005 class runner up Jm Kidd. This race would determine it all and everyone one expected a terrific battle similar to the Richardson-Kidd battle in Race #7 of 2005. But in Qualify, things started to turn, Kidd lost his motor on lap 2 and thus had to start the Prefinal in 6^th position. Cadoux won the pole. In the Prefinal, Cadoux took an early lead and Kidd got up to second in short order and was cutting into JP�s lead, then the shifter linkage on Kidd�s kart came adrift. In the Main, Kidd started 7^th, Cadoux on pole. Again, Cadoux took an early lead, but Kidd took longer to get through the field this time and by the time he got into second place, JP�s lead was sizable. In the end Cadoux wins by 7 seconds and with it the Championship. Kidd finished second in both the race and the championship. Third went to Ron Tamba followed by James Syar and Ethan Wilson. In the Championship, 3^rd went to Tamba, 4^th to Domenic Merlino and 5^th to James Syar.

Fastech Racing Senior 80 and 80 Heavy
Robert Porter needed a clean race and strong finish and the class championship was his. Eddie Veyl wanted to fin ishthe year with at least a class win. Then Travis Duhn join the race. The Veteran IKF racer came to Race #7 to run his 125 Honda, but sore ribs forced him over to his 80 kart instead. In Qualify, Duhn took pole ahead of Veyl and Porter. In the Prefinal, Duhn took a 3 second victory with Porter narrowly beating Veyl. In the Main, Duhn took the lead, but Porter and Veyl went at hard just behind. Finally Veyl got clear of Porter narrowed the gap with Duhn, but ran out of time. Duhn took a 1 second victory over Eddie Vehl, followed by Porter and then Ryan Madsen. Aldo Martinez was the Heavy winner finishing in 8^th place. In the Championship, Robert Porter takes the crown, Veyl 2^nd, Nathan Brietling 3^rd and Ryan Madsen 4^th. Grant Heatherington took the 80 Heavy crown ahead of Aldo Martinez.

KLS Racing 125 Stock Honda Light and ICC
9 karts showed up to race, but one of the ICC karts did not make it out of practice. This left Derek Tillett the only ICC kart and the obvious class winner. 7 Stock Lights lined up to race, but missing was class champion Brad Llyod who sat out this one to get ready for the SuperNats. In Qualify, Tillett took the pole in his ICC kart with last months Lights winner Matt Hauff taking the top spot in the 125 Stock Lights class. Joe Hammill and Steve Libby were 2^nd and 3^rd in Qualify. In the Prefinal, Tillett drove to an 8 second victory, with Hammill 2^nd and leading the way in the Lights. Hauff dropped to last on the start of the Prefinal and had to play catch up for the 8 lap Prefinal, only working his way up to 5^th. In the Main, Tillett broke at the start of the race and had to pull off. This left the race to the Stock Honda Lights karts to battle for the win. Steven Reasoner got his kart working much better in the Main, and proceeded to drive to the front in short order. But as it turns out, Reasoner had a SoCal spec Stock Honda engine, the engine that is allowed at the SuperNats, thus the real Stock Honda battle for the win was going to be for 2^nd overall in the race. And this battle shaped up to be a got one. Steffan Maus got to the front and did not make a mistake and held off a strong Joe Hammill to take a 1 second win, Staffan�s first feature win in the Lights class. Following Hammill was Steve Libby, another second back. Matt Hauff never returned to the speed he had in Qualify and had to settle for 4^th. Tillett takes the ICC class Championship. Brad Llyod is the Stock Honda Lights Champion, followed by Joe Hammill, Steve Libby, Matt Hauff and Steffan Maus.

Fastech Racing 80 Grand Masters
Going into the last race of the season, three drivers are in contention for the championship. All points leader Bob Lesnett needs to do is finish ahead of Tom Nelson and Steve Peterson, Tom Nelson needs to beat Bob by a few positions, and Peterson needs a few prayers answered. In Qualify, Lesnett and Marc Stanley tied for the fastest lap, but Bob took pole with best second fastest lap. Bill Wages, Tom Nelson and Rob Mullaney filled out the top five in Qualify. This was Mullaney�s best effort of the year. In the Prefinal, Lesnett took controll of the lead of the race with Stanley right on his heels. Bill Wages edged Nelson for 3^rd, 3 seconds back, with Roger Cornwall taking the 5^th spot. In the Main, it was again Lesnett taking point ahead of Stanley, but Lesnett battled much harder than one would have expect given what was at stake. On lap five, Vincent Parker and Bill Wages and three other drivers all had a scrum in turn ten. When the dust settled, Wages and Parker were broke, the other three restarted and continued on. All the while, Stanley is chasing Lesnett. In the end, Lesnett won his third race of the year and the Championship. Marc Stanley took second, less than a half second back, with Tom Nelson 3^rd, 4 seconds backs, followed by Cornwall and Bill James. The class champion is Bob Lesnett, followed by Tom Nelson, Bill James, Steve Peterson and Bill Wages.

ICC/Moto Grand Masters
The last race of the day had the most confusing championship battle. 4 drivers all had a chance at the class crown, 3 of them who had not won one race during the Year. Geoff Provo had the points lead coming into the race, Tom Fallon and Lionel Lafite were close behind, and 3 race winner Brad Shaffter could also steal the crown with a win and some luck. In Qualify, Shaffer took the pole ahead of Provo, John Coyle and Ray Guzman, Fallon and Lafite. In the Prefinal, Shaffer dominated, John Coyle was 2^nd followed by Fallon, Guzman and LaFite. Provo had shift linkage problems and fell back to 8^th. Going into the Main, Fallon is in the best position to win it all, he just needs to get by Coyle. On the start, Fallon over heated his clutch and got off last, and with it his chances for glory. Coyle was not able to make the start, good for Provo, LaFite and Fallon, bad for Shaffer. At the Green Shaffer took the lead and never gave it up, and went on to take a 14 second victory. Ray Guzman moved up to second and came home in solid control of the runner up position. This was Ray�s first race of the year and in the Main, the veteren Guzman came through. Lafite got into third and held it for the distance, but he needed a second to win the tilte. Fallon charged back through the field and passed three drivers in front of him to get into the fifth place spot, but he needed a 2^nd to win it all. Provo also put on a charge, picking up one position at a time, until he got into 4^th place. Then the checked flag, just in time for Provo since the hard charging Fallon was less than a second behind him. Provo knew what he needed to do, a 4^th place and the crown would be his. In the end, the Championship came down to the closest finish of the top four drivers of any class in the Jim Russell series history, 35 points separating 1^st to 4^th. The champ was Geoff Provo with 810 points, Shaffer with 800 points, Lafite with 795 points and Fallon with 775 points. Geoff Provo becomes the first champion to win the crown without winning a race. A great race to end the season.

What a great way to end the year, outstanding weather, great racing and tight championship battles. One could not have written a better script.

Jim Russell Rotax Saturday Race #7, October 6

With sunshine and a dry track, what better way to run the final race of the year and bring the 2007 season to an end. But not until some class champions are to be crowned and the final end of year award positions to be determined. With a turn out of 70 drivers, the Rotax Saturday race day continued to be the largest of the three different race days in 2007.

Junior 1 Comer
Coming into the last race of the year, Bobby Tifft had the championship locked up, but second and third places were at stake. The 10 kart entry is one of the largest fields of the year. In Qualify, Doug Braddock Jr took pole in his second race at Infineon followed by Grant Erath and Tifft. In the Prefinal, the veteran field got around newcomer Braddock with Bobby Tifft taking first followed by Brody Zink, Erath, Dain DaViro, Conner Ford then Braddock. In the Main, Tifft took the lead with Zink, Ford and Erath in close pursuit. The fast train of Jr 1 karts were nose to tail for the entire 15 laps and it all came down to the last straight away with Zink and Ford hooking up to draft by Tifft at the line to take the top two spots, followed by Tifft, Erath, Braddock and DaViro. The top 6 drivers had fastest lap times that were all within one tenth of a second of each other. This was the first feature win for Zink. Tifft takes the championship followed by Zink, Erath, Luis Tyrell and DaViro.

AMD/Marin Karting Rotax DD2
Bring their first year at the Infineon track to a close, eight DD2 karts took the green flag. Michael Ostrowski took the pole ahead of Glen Poy-Wing, newcomer David Arnstein and January Grove. The Prefinal saw the same 4 drivers finish in the same order, but Glen was putting pressure of Ostrowski at the end of the 8 lap Prefinal as was Grove putting pressure on Arnstein. At the start of the Main, Arnstein and Grove hooked wheels prior to turn one and went off in a high speed slide. Arnstein was able to restart and continue, but Grove had to park her kart for the rest of the race. Ostrowski held a slim lead throughout the race over Poy-Wing who just could not get close enough to mount an attack for the lead. In the end, Ostrowski took the win with Glen less than a half second back. Arnstein recovered and drove himself all the way back to third followed by Gary Scharlach and Chris DeBruine. In the Championships, Gregory Liefooghe won both the Jim Russell DD2 and the AMD/Marin Karting Norcal Rotax Cchampionships. Glen Poy-Wing took second and January Grove third in both of the championships.

TaG Masters Heavy and TaG Masters Light
19 karts took the green flag on this day, 10 Lights and 9 Heavys. Both TaG Masters Light and Rotax Masters Light had good participation in their first years at Infineon. Expect to see these two classes back next year. In Qualify, Randy Wetmore (Heavy) took pole followed by two Light class drivers Scott Mortensen and Bob Hurst, then Heavy class Joe Ramsauer with his best qualify of the year followed by David Oroshnik (Lights). In the Prefinal, Mortensen took the win over Wetmore, Hurst, Ramsauer and Oroshnik. At the start of the Main, Mortensen fell back a few spots and then had another problem later during the race which put him way back, he would eventually finish 9^th, 4^th in the Lights class. Wetmore took the lead at the start of the Main and controlled the race most of the way. Tim Clelland (Heavy) worked his way from his 6^th starting spot to finish just 2 hundredths of a second behind Wetmore. Hurst held a steady third less than a second back and took the Lights class win. In his best race of the year, Ramsauer took 4^th overall and 3^rd in the Heavy class. After some jumped start penalties were handed out, Oroshnik took 5^th overall and 2^nd in the Lights class and also the Lights Championship. Ray Wetmore took 6^th overall and 4^th in the Heavy class, Grant Heatherington 7^th overall and 3^rd in the Lights class. In the championships, Randy Wetmore took the Heavy class crown, followed by Woody Poynter, Tim Cleland, Dave Moody and Rick Starr. In the Lights class, David Oroshnik is the class champion, followed by Grant Heatherington, Herman Ip and Marc Pingol.

AMD/Marin Karting Junior Rotax and California Kartworld HPV-2
Both of these new junior classes have shown very good support in 2007, with the Junior Rotax more than tripling over 2006 and HPV-2 having 5 entries per race in their first year at Infineon. The anticipated Junior Rotax Championship shoot out did not materialize as contenders Neil Alberico and Cameron Pringle did not race. Thus points leader Jordan Jadallah had the championship in the bag, as long as he drove a smart race. In the Qualify, Jadallah put his kart on pole a half second faster than Jake Mottaz. The first 5 karts were Rotax, with 6^th on the grid being the top HPV-2 kart of Donavon Wheeler. Wheeler had the HPV-2 championship locked up, but wanted to put in a sold race against the Rotax karts to finish the year. In the Prefinal, Jadallah took a 2 second victory over Raymond Bustamante Jr and Kierstin Gee. In HPV-2, Wheeler was took the class win, but was under pressure most of the way from Jarrett Lile and Kathryn Cornell. In the Main, Jadallah got spun around on the start of the Main and had to play catch up for the entire race. Mottaz went to the front for awhile then Bustamante took the lead, then Gee, then Bustamante. Jadallah got into the mix by lap 10 and now it was a 4 kart battle. In the end, Bustamante took his first feature win, Gee second, then Jadallah and Mottaz. In the HPV-2 race, Wheeler picked up the pace and pulled away from the other 3 karts in the class and took a 5 second victory over Lile with Bryson Guzman taking third in his first HPV-2 race of the year. Wheeler won the HPV-2 Championship followed by Lile and Cornell. In the Jim Russell Junior Rotax Championship, it was Jadallah the winner followed by Gee, Bustamante and Mottaz. In the Norcal Rotax Championship (which includes 3 Dixon races), Jadallah also won the championship and with it the AMD Ferrari laptop computer, followed by Jake Mottaz, Mikee Mejia and Cameron Pringle.

AMD/Marin Karting Rotax Masters and Masters Light
For most of the year, the heavier but more seasoned Masters karts have dominated the Rotax Masters/Masters Light races. But not in this last race of the year with the first 4 karts in Qualify being Masters Light karts. Raymond Bustamante Sr took the pole, followed by Bill Brosius and Mert Solis. The top Masters driver was Dan Dollosso in 5^th place. In the Prefinal, Brosius took the win over Solis and Jo Montes. Joey Delostrinos was the top Masters driver in 6^th followed by Masters Chris DeBruine. Dollosso had problems and fell back to 13^th. In the Main, Brosius took the lead and while there was a great battle behind him going on, he just drove fast to take a 9 second victory at the end of the 15 lap race. Dollosso worked his way through the field to take second overall and the Masters class win, followed by Solis (Lights), Vivex Diy (Lights) and David Carlisle (Masters). In the class championships, David Carlisle wins the Jim Russell and Norcal Rotax Championships in Rotax Masters. In the Rotax Lights class, Emmanuel Cellestino wins the Jim Russell Championship, and Raymond Bustamante Sr. wins the Norcal Rotax Championship.

AMD/Marin Karting Senior Rotax
Coming into the last race, 4 drivers had a shot at the Senior Rotax class crowns, so the tensions were high going into the last race of the day. Troy Castaneda returned to the last race of the year and took over Wes Phillip�s kart to take pole, followed by Joe Karrett, Gregory Liefooghe, Michael Ostrowski and Mike Hill. Karrett, Liefooghe and Ostrowski were in contention for the class championship and all had good runs in Qualify. The fourth driver in contention was Clayton Snow, but he was at the Stars race in Las Vegas and would not run in this last race. In the Prefinal, Castaneda took a convincing 4 second win. But the championship trio battled hard to take 2 thru 4, with Liefooghe, Karrett and Ostrowski in that order. At the start of the Main, some bumping through turn one at the start allowed Nikola Radosavljev to take second behind Castaneda with Karrett, Ostowski and Liefooghe close behind. Castaneda again dominated the race and crusied to a 10 second win, but the battle for 2 thru 5 was classic and went right down to the finish line dash on lap 15. About lap 10, Liefooghe and Ostrowski toughed and Liefooghe went off, but recovered to take 8^th. Karrett finally got by the surprising newcomer Nikola and in the dash to the finish line Ostrowski also nipped Nikola to take the 3^rd spot with Nikola taking 4^th. David Arnstein filled out the top 5 with a fifth place finish. In the Championships, the Joe Kareett won the Jim Russell crown by 5 points over Michael Ostrowski, followed by Liefooghe and the absent Clayton Snow and Carlos Calderon. In the Norcal Rotax Championship, Liefooghe takes the crown by 4 points and with it the the AMD Laptop, followed by Karrett, Ostrowski, Snow and Glen Poy-Wing.

The 2007 Rotax Saturday Series in now history. 2007 proved to be a great year for this one day series, with entries up about 40% over 2006, and 4 new classes (Rotax DD2, TaG Masters Light, Junior HPV-2 and Rotax Masters Light) taking hold in 2007 and having promise to expand in 2008.