Hamilton, Ontario – August 28, 2008 - Just over a month from capturing the Stars of Karting ICC Eastern Division Championship in Shawano, Cameron/CRG driver Michael Vincec took the Western Division as well this past weekend when the schedule wrapped up near Seattle, Washington. One among five Cameron/CRG drivers racing in the West, Vincec was joined by Curtis Fox in ICC, Miles Maroney and Chad Grunow in JICA, and Scott Saunders in TaG. Though he entered with the outright point lead in the headlining class, Vincec was actually tied for top spot with fellow Canadian Jordy Vorrath when a single series’ drop was applied and the head-to-head winner on the weekend was set for the Championship, barring catastrophe. Each faced qualifying and three heats before a pair of main events, and as always, Vincec had a strategy going in. “The plan was to qualify up front since the track was tight and small,” he said upon his return, “both in timed qualifying and coming through the heats to qualify for the mains.” After clocking fourth and running to third and second in the first two heats, all was according to plan beginning heat three when the temp track jumped up and bit him. “In heat three, halfway through, I clipped a barrier in turn three which bent a few things and I started to fall back a little,” Vincec recalled of the final run Saturday. “Then I got caught in a wreck in turn eight and eventually finished tenth.” Though not ideal, it wasn’t complete disaster as he still qualified third on heat points. Vorrath was tenth heading to Sunday, but Vincec was focussed much more on what lay in front of him. “To be honest I didn’t even think about where he was starting,” Vincec said of Vorrath’s position for the first main. “All I was focussed on was getting a podium finish.” Amid strong runs by Gary Carlton and Clayton Snow, Vincec ended up in a battle for the final podium spot with Vorrath - a battle Vorrath won with pass under braking late in the race. It created a five-point differential for the Western crown with one race left to run - then the rain came. “I thought the rain was good!” Vincec said of preparing for the final run. “I knew I’ve been pretty strong this year in the rain so I didn’t mind it. I thought I had a pretty good chance of winning going into the second final so I didn’t concern myself with the title. All I knew is I had to finish ahead of Jordy.” Vincec slotted second from the start, and never looked back. Gaining ground with Carlton out front, Vincec was clear by the time Vorrath worked his way to third and was not to be caught. They ended tied in points, with the Cameron/CRG driver taking his second Division Championship based on having a win from the Mazda race of the Americas. He will now head to the National Final at Las Vegas carrying 450 points from his Eastern Championship while Vorrath enters with 430 points from the west and Carlton sits at 419. Curtis Fox will also be at the Series finale in October after running the division finals on both coasts. For the second time the veteran was quick out of the trailer and gained time throughout the weekend. After posting 27.8 in qualifying and heat one, Fox dropped to 27.7 in heat two and was down to 27.6 in heat three when he crossed in third place. He qualified fifth on heat points and raced to eighth and fourth in twin mains. Solid runs considering they came from just his second weekend in ICC this year. After competing throughout Ontario in Rotax DD2, Fox developed a three-race plan to prepare for SuperNationals and his rounding into form. The best Cameron/CRG qualifying performance from the heats in Seattle was turned in by JICA driver Miles Maroney. After the Californian posted P7 from the timed session, he raced to fifth, sixth, and third in the heats to qualify on the front row for Sunday mains. A pair of top tens followed as Maroney was seventh in the first final and ninth in the final Western start. Maroney was among the quickest karts in the paddock in dry conditions come race time as he turned a best lap of 29.282 seconds in final one, a lap that would have put him mid-pack in TaG! Fellow JICA driver Chad Grunow enjoyed one of his best JICA weekends to date as from timed qualifying to the first final he went quicker in every session. From a 30.042 Saturday morning the Saskatchewan native was down to 29.681 by the time the first final saw checkers. He was eleventh, fifteenth, and tenth in the heats and crossed eighteenth in both mains. TaG driver Scott Saunders returned to the scene in Seattle and the Australian promptly dropped another pair of top-ten runs. Fourth from the timed session, Saunders fought his way through the heats in eleventh, fourth and nineteenth to start P9 Sunday. Improving both in dry and wet conditions, Saunders crossed seventh in both mains. |
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