K1 Speed Carlsbad Challenge GP
K1 Speed Carlsbad held round two of its Challenge GP Race series this past Sunday. A packed house full of some of San Diego’s top indoor kart drivers with a good mix of Los Angeles racers were all chasing after the top qualifying spot in the A Main. It wasn’t until round 2 when the drivers really started to get into their groove, and Shawn Walker would be the man of the evening, posting a very fast 27.825 second single lap time, almost breaking the current lap record of 27.80 seconds. The rest of the group kept qualifying pretty straight forward and most of the racing action came down to the main events.
The B Main would start off the night with new comer to the GP series Justin Cope on pole followed by local resident Jon Simms and Stephen Robertson in third. Justin brought the group around for the green flag rolling start and was able to hang on to the lead for the first couple of laps but it was long before Jon and Stephen were able to find a more consistent way around the track, Justin would end up getting sideways out of the hair pin corner and that’s where Jon was able to make his move and take over the lead and he never looked back. Stephen followed Jon’s line and got around Justin and the rest of the pack stayed in tow working to try to catch the top 3 but it wasn’t going to happen. Jon would take the win followed by Stephen in second and Justin would finish out in third.
A Main drivers took to the track with pole sitter Shawn Walker leading the group and when the green flag dropped it wasn’t long before everyone was freight training with each other all trying to find some room to pass on the driver in front of them. Eventually something had to give and a few drivers found them selves getting ping-ponged between each other. The group would spread out a bit, but unfortunately for Shawn he had lost a number of positions and dropped to the back. Thomas Litton was right there to take advantage followed by Matt Merrill with Jordan Robertson making his way through the field. Shawn was able to get his kart swapped out since it was starting to slow down, but it was too late and he had to settle for finishing in the back of the pack after the re-start. It looked as though Matt may be able to hold pace with Thomas, but Thomas seemed to have the fast line dialed and he pulled away from Matt finding a quicker way through some of the more technical sections. Thomas would end up coming out on top, followed by Matt Merrill in second. Jordan ended up dropping back a few spots after doing some rubbing with Kirk Messse. Kirk and Jordan seem to have a magnetic attraction when they are racing close cause both of them seem to get into trouble when they get within a few feet of each other. Justin Davenport would wind up in third with the hard charging David Messimer following closely in 4th.
K1 Speed in Carlsbad offers the best indoor kart racing in San Diego with our technical track layout offering multiple spots to pass around the course, drivers are finding the good line and getting faster each week.
Don’t miss out on our next Challenge GP race at K1 Carlsbad September 19th and join in on the racing action.
K1 Speed Ontario Challenge GP
K1 Speed in Ontario ran the latest installment of our standard direction, Super-track Challenge GP this past Sunday. Qualifying remained straight forward, as up and comer Tyler Pope held on for a second straight month to his first place throne, finishing in first after qualifying in with a time of: 54.29. Trailing Tyler by tenths of a second for the entire night was Jonathan Wright who placed second, after qualifying with a time of: 54.47. The heated competition came in the fight for that 3rd spot on the podium. Joon Maeng qualified in third with a time of 54.81, followed closely by Matt Shane and John Perry. Matt lost position early, and John and Joon battled fiercely for that 3rd place trophy, but a clutch move by John Perry during the 5th lap landed him in the 3rd place spot, and he held on to finish out the top 3.
Congratulations to our top 3 finishers and to all of our competitors for a great event!
Don’t miss round 3 coming September 12th, our Super-track configuration is the most challenging technical indoor kart track in the Inland Empire, giving racers the best competition in the area.
Stay on top of all happenings at K1 Speed Ontario by visiting our Facebook page
K1 Speed Seattle Challenge GP
K1 Speed in Seattle Washington hosted round one of their Challenge GP Race series last Sunday. The season opener brought on new challenges with the recent track changes, making drivers work for the number one qualifying spot. Luke Hopton took the top qualifying spot with a 17.347 second lap time, he was followed by Thomas Kraft with a 17.72 second lap time. Saundra Price took the third qualifying position with a 17.936 second lap time.
The main event for the night was pretty straight laced. The green flag rolling start brought the drivers down the main straight away in freight train fashion and it would stay that way the entire race with Luke taking the win followed by Thomas and Saundra finishing in the same positions they qualified in.
The season opener is just the beginning of this six race series, and will five more rounds to go this could be any ones game for the overall points leader.
Don’t miss round II on September 12th, which drivers will be battling it out again for the top spot on the podium.
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K1 Speed Irvine Challenge GP
K1 Speed in Irvine California, held their second round of the Challenge GP Race series last Sunday. A packed house full of drivers all looking for that top spot in qualifying made for some great racing. Taylor Hays would be the top seed for the night posing a 40.883 second single Super-Track lap time, breaking the old record in doing so, to put him on the overall pole position. Qualifying remained relatively uneventful, and the main events would be where most of the racing action ensued.
D main competitors had a lot of new faces in house, all gunning for the top three spots on the podium. First time K1 GP competitor, Ioan Trayanov had an impressive showing taking the 2nd podium position, fighting off a tight nit pack of drivers, but was unable to catch Todd Lewis who took the first place spot with ease. Paul Akers would wind up in third to round out the top three from the D main.
The C main seemed to have the most racing action of the evening. On lap three, drivers were starting to thin out a bit, but unfortunately for Sergie Maffei, he was pushed into one of the walls by another driver which damaged the kart. The kart was swapped out for another and the group was restarted with a green flag rolling start which put everyone bumper to bumper with each other once again. It was difficult for anyone to find a place to pass, with drivers racing nose to tail with each other. Mike Kerkes would take the number 1 spot on the podium, followed by Shane Geivet in second and John Perry would wind up in third. The entire field would all finish within 1 second of each other making for the closest racing of the night.
Since qualifying was full of so many racers, a lot of the Challenge GP regulars wound up in the B main making it look like the main race of the night. The race remained pretty straight forward. A first time competitor, Christopher Heinrich would take the top spot on the podium away from well known racer Toby Rodriguez who finished in second place at the drop of the checkered flag. Michael Tekstra had an impressive showing taking the final spot on the podium away from a great competitor Bill Kreig. Bill is one to watch, as his time is coming for him to make a podium appearance.
A Main race action saw Taylor Hays take it from green flag to the checkered, to be the top driver of the night, basically running away from the group and not giving an inch to anyone who challenged him for the position. John Tanaka, who is another Challenge GP regular, would finish out the night in second place and Deward Bergenholtz would close out the night finishing in third. The rest of the group would finish in the same order that they qualified in, making for a very conservative race for the group.
This was a great night for all that participated, and this was one of the more larger groups to come in and race in the Challenge GP Series at K1 Speed Irvine. Our indoor electric racing karts combined with out Super-Track configuration makes for the best and most competitive indoor kart racing in Orange County.
Don’t miss out on round three on September 5th, which will be the half way point for this 6 race series at our location.
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Challenge GP Series at K1 Speed in Torrance
The Challenge GP Series at K1 Speed in Torrance, California got kicked off last week on July 25 with a number of talented drivers on hand to take on the technical concrete race track. With a large number of participants in house and the points even for everyone, anyone was game for who would come out on top.
Qualifying remained straight forward with little incident, and Michael Arnold would prove to be at the top of his game, posting the overall best lap time with a 26.820 lap placing him on pole for the A Main. He was followed by Alton Arnold qualifying in second place with a 27.032 second lap. KC Cook would qualify with a 27.038 second lap creating a close nit field for the top 3.
B main racing action would kick off the main events for the night, with Jon Fitzsimmons on pole leading the group around for the green flag rolling start. He was followed by Derek Esquibel who stayed right on his heels along with Christopher B. who had qualified in third. The rest of the pack would freight train around with each other till 4 laps into the race when Jon would spin out and drop back a few places finishing out the evening in 5th. Derek Esquibel would remain in second place for the duration of the race, but was unable to catch Adam Akers, who originally qualified in 8th position but had worked his way up to first. Christopher B. worked to remain in third but dropped back a spot, giving up the position to 4th place qualifier Adam Langsdale who would round out the top 3 on the podium.
The A Main would finish out the evening with Michael Arnold on pole bringing the pack of racers around for the green flag and would be upset 2 laps in, when the tight nit group got a little too tight coming into a technical section, and Michael ran out of room. He would drop back to the tail end of the field as he had to wait for the group to pass him before he could get moving again. Alton Arnold also got wrapped up in the spin out and dropped back as well, but was able to work his way back up to 5th overall for the night. KC Cook who initially qualified in 3rd was able to avoid the incident and make his way to second but was unable to catch the veteran GP driver John Tanaka who initially qualified in 4th but had worked his way up to first place to take the win for the main event. Paul Ciralli would work his way up as well, as he started in 6th position and moved up to third overall for the evening to finish out the top 3 for the night.
The Torrance Challenge GP race series kicked off the 6 race series with a great night of competition for everyone that participated. This is a great location in the heart of Los Angeles, that gives a unique style of racing on our concrete racing surface and the use of electric indoor racing karts. Don’t miss out on the next Challenge GP race coming in August 29th which is open to all participants 58″ and taller.
Keep up to date with all happenings at K1 Speed in Torrance California by becoming a fan of our Facebook page
K1 Speed Carlsbad Challenge GP
K1 Speed in San Diego kicked off its second half of the Challenge GP race series for 2010 this past Sunday. With an all new track layout, and all the points reset to 0 for every driver this was going to be good. Plenty of new faces were in the mix of many returning Challenge GP racers made for a great qualifying session. With qualifying karts picked via a lottery system giving everyone as equal of an opportunity as possible – Matt Merrill showed his track day racing experiences with his full size car, would be difficult to match posting a 28.185 second lap time to take the overall pole position. Johnny Miller would qualify second overall posting 28.194 second lap time. Justin Tolman would wind up qualifying 3rd posting a 28.237 second lap time. The rest of the drivers all qualified within a full second of Matt, which pushed drivers to the edge trying to find a way to shave off tenths of a second from their qualifying times trying to make the A Main.
The B Main drivers would kick off the main event action for the night with Stephen Robertson sitting on pole. He was followed by Olivia Ma, and sitting in third was Stephen’s son Jordan who is very good at protecting his line. Also in the mix was Kirk Messe, and Ivan Maric along with a number of others all trying to make a run at Stephen for the top spot. On the green flag rolling start, Stephen kept the group at bay and started to take a slight lead over the rest of the pack. Unfortunately Olivia was unable to keep pace and some how dropped back to the rear of the group 2 laps into the race. At the half-way point, Stephen was working to keep the hard charging Ivan Maric and Kirk Messe from getting past him with Jordan right in the middle. Heading into the last chicane before the final turn there just wasn’t enough room, and Jordan collected the wall and the rest of the group pulled away. The group would get slowed down, and Jordan was allowed to catch back up to rear of the pack and the race was re-started. Unfortunately 2 laps after the restart, Kirk was victim to the same chicane and got sideways, and he had to wait till everyone drove past him before he could turn around. Jordan somehow worked his way back up front within 3 laps. With just one lap to go, Stephen bobbled a bit in turn 2 and Jordan took the opening and ran with it coming out with the win. Stephen was able to hold onto second place and Justin Finegan had worked his way up into third.
A Main race action would close out the night with Matt Merrill bringing the group around for the rolling start, and it was a freight train of karts heading into turn one. The pack would get away clean for a couple of turns but in the back of the field Jon Simms would end up going into the new key-hole corner and getting spun out. Mean while Matt would run away from the field and was basically out for a Sunday drive as his smooth driving helped him gain a comfortable lead over the rest of the field. Johnny Miller would also maintain a distance over the rest of the group to remain in second, but was unable to catch up with Matt who was over a half second in front of him. The real battle was going on for third, fourth, fifth and sixth as Alex Rodrigues, Justin Tolman, Orlando Rodrigues, and Thomas Litton would go back and forth with each other trying to find a way to best one another. Taylor Wynne was in the mix as well as he and Jon Simms had caught back up to the group and worked to try to find a way around the other drivers. Alex was able to hold everyone off and take the third podium spot but it didn’t come easy as the other drivers were all working to find ways to catch and pass him. Fortunately for Alex the checked flag came out, and the other drivers ran out of time.
This was a great event and the drivers that attended really created some great racing performances on the track. The new track layout offers new challenges for drivers as they are still looking to find the fast way around the week old track design.
Don’t miss out on our next Challenge GP event in Carlsbad on August 22nd. This event is open to anyone and all are welcome to come out and give this new fast technical course a try.
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K1 Speed in Carlsbad and Torrance Challenge GP
K1 Speed fans – its time to put your racing skills to the test this Sunday! K1 Speed in Carlsbad and Torrance are holding their first rounds of the Challenge GP Race series events. Drivers from all over San Diego and Los Angeles are going to be in attendance at either location put their skills to the test.
K1 Speed Carlsbad has an all new track layout that now combines multiple high speed sections, a very tight hairpin corner that is going to create an all new driving experience for competitors.
Our Torrance location has our unique concrete racing surface with a recently changed track layout that creates a technical driving course that will keep the racing action tight.
Which one will you choose? Both locations will offer the best in indoor kart racing with our electric racing karts, all the points are reset to 0 so everyone comes into this race even – it will be something you don’t want to miss as the pace will be set for the over all points leaders early on in the series.
If your a fan of K1 Speed don’t forget to become a fan on our Carlsbad or Torrance Facebook pages to keep up to date on all happenings at each location .
Carlsbad Torrance
Carlsbad wraps up its Challenge GP Race Series
K1 Speed Carlsbad wrapped up its Challenge GP Race Series this past weekend with the final round of racing for this six race series at the North San Diego location. Qualifying was a back and forth battle that began with Matt Merrill originally taking the over all pole position with a 25.657 second lap. The rest of the field was kept pretty tight-nit but it didn’t last long for Matt, as GP regular Khalifa Alasiri took the pole position after the second round of qualifying with a 25.465 second lap taking away Matt’s moment of glory. New-comer to the series Thomas Litton took the second over-all qualifying spot with a 25.638 second lap. Merrill’s first round qualifying performance placed him in the third qualifying spot with his 25.657 second lap time.
The B Main racers would be the first on the tracK for the trophies, and this was a bit of a bumpy race. Pole sitter Jared Buccola brought the group down the front straight-away in freight-train fashion. Unfortunately he got a little sideways collecting the wall before turn 2 along with a few other drivers allowing most of the field to move up before the first lap was done. Jared had to work quite a bit throughout the race to get back up to the podium positions but it wasn’t his night. Meanwhile the battle up front was back and forth as second qualifier William Hastings had a battle going with Carlsbad resident Jon Simms and new comer Phil Laird. William ended up getting bumped and spun around, allowing Simms to take over the lead and he would remain there for the rest of the race. Half way through the race the drivers all seem to catch up with each other, and all kept about an inch from each-other for a good 6 laps. Eventually the pack began to thin out, with a lot of rubbing back and forth between the drivers. Stephen Robertson worked his way up from qualifying 5th and avoiding a lot of the close calls to finish in second place. William was able to hold onto third after dropping back a bit to round out the top three in the B main.
A Main race action was interesting. It started with the drivers wanting to reverse the starting order, which put pole sitter Khalifa Alasiri starting in the back of the field and it put Krystal Wright up front to lead the group around for the start. Unfortunately for Khalifa he was un-able to do any better than 7th place to finish out his night. Krystal was able to hold onto the lead for a couple of laps, but it didn’t last long as she had Paul Ciralli working his way up through the pack followed by Jordan Robertson, Matt Merrill and Chris Vaughn. Paul and Jordan eventually got around Krystal, she tried to hang on but spun out and dropped back to 8th before she could get the kart collected and going again. Paul and Jordan began to come up on lap traffic with about 3 laps to go and Paul was able to use that to his advantage to keep the lead over Jordan. Unfortunately for Jordan he didn’t see Johnny Miller and Thomas Litton were having their own battle and caught Jordan by surprise, passing him coming out of the final corners and dropping Jordan down to fourth. The group would finish just like that, with Paul Ciralli taking the over all win, followed by Johny Miller and Thomas Litton to round out the top three.
Our over-all points champion would be Khalifa Alasiri followed by Jordan Robertson in second and Kirk Meese would take the third spot for the six race series.
This was a great event and it couldn’t have been done without the level of participation we have at K1 Speed in Carlsbad. Keep an eye out for the next race series starting in July of 2010, and with an all new track layout in the works, you can be sure drivers will have their work cut out for them, as everyone goes back to being even in points for that first race.
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Ontario GP finishes
K1 Speed Ontario wrapped up its 6 race Challenge GP series this past weekend with some of the best driving seen yet. All the top drivers in the Inland Empire Area came out to participate. Khalifa Alasiri was able to qualify in the number one spot with a single lap time of 50.540 seconds. He was followed by Matt Shane, who was keeping pace but was only able to post a 50.830 second lap time. Joon Maeng took the third qualifying position with a 50.859 second lap time just a hair off from Matt. San Bernardino local Garrett Reagan showed up late in the game but was able to qualify 5th overall in the late qualifying session.
Khalifa brought the group around for the rolling start, and when the green flag dropped he never looked back, pulling away from the pack in his usual fashion. Most of the race action happened in the final laps, as Joon was making an attempt to keep pace with Khalifa but was unable to catch him and they would finish with Khalifa taking the win, and Joon holding down the second position. John Tanaka was working his way through the pack and started battling it out with Matt for the final podium spot, and ran out of room entering a corner. John caught the apex, and got hung up as Matt pulled away. Three turns later, Matt entered a corner too quickly, and he spun the kart, allowing Tanaka to catch and pass him to take over third. Matt would drop down to 6th before he was able to collect the kart and get going in the right direction again and by that time the checkered flag had dropped.
Khalifa Alasiri would end up taking the overall points win with 220 points followed by John Tanaka with 208 points and Garrett Regan would take third with 204 points.
This was a great start to the 2010 racing program for K1 Speed in Ontario, be sure to check back for the schedule of the second half of the season on our website www.k1speed.com – which should be in July.
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Irvine wraps up race series
It was a great weekend of racing as K1 Speed in Irvine, California wrapped up its 6 race series on June 6th. The reverse ran, super-track configuration has given the best in Orange County great competition for all to enjoy. Qualifying remained pretty straight forward, with all the drivers staying apart from each other for the duration of the races to try to best one another and grab the overall pole position. Taylor Hays was able to stay on top and take the overall pole position in the A Main. Toby Rodriguez would take the second starting position and Michael Arnold would qualify in third.
The A Main had most of the pack battling back and forth for positions with the exception of Taylor Hays who remained in first place for the duration of the race to take the win practically unopposed. Toby Rodriguez also remained in second but was unable to catch Taylor with his driving efforts. Michael Arnold tried as best as he could to keep Kirk Messe from passing him but was unsuccessful, and Kirk would finish out in 3rd to round out the top 3 podium finishers.
B Main racing action remained tight on the start as pole sitter David Kelmenson would bring the group around on the single-file rolling start for the green flag. Brad Roberts had qualified in second position and Troy Roberts qualified in third. The pack of drivers would keep the pace with each other with no-one allowing anyone to get around them. The top 3 qualifiers would finish the same way they qualified with David Kelmenson taking the top spot on the podium, followed by Brad Drew, and Troy Roberts would round out the top three.
Toby Rodriguez would be the overall points champion for K1 Speed in Irvine as well, finishing out the 6 race series with 278 total points. He was followed by Khalifa Alasiri with 218 points and David Kelmenson would take the 3rd position in points over all with 210 points.
This was a great race series and a great start to the 2010 race season. The next 6 race series will begin in July at the start of the month. make sure you keep watch for the new race dates on www.k1speed.com.
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