May 10th, 2008 Gatorz Calspeed
GATORZ KARTING CUP: Backwards in Fontana
May 13, 2008 (Orange, Calif.) – The Gatorz Karting Cup’s regular season kicked off on Saturday at the CalSpeedKartingCenter, located at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. For the first time, the series would be running the backwards configuration of Calspeed. This was also to be the seventh round of the Gatorz Karting Cup, as the double-race weekends that comprised the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas count as the first six races of the Gatorz Karting Cup’s regular season.
With numerous out of town drivers that competed in the Challenge of the Americas not competing in the full season, there would be a new complexion to several of the series classes. This weekend would also mark the introduction of the new Club class, for more recreational drivers who want the Gatorz experience.
MSquared Rotax International
The MSquared field would see some new faces at the front on this weekend, beginning with the make up of the first two rows following qualifying. Dylan Stalker took his first Gatorz Karting Cup pole, ahead of Mike Herda, Cameron Jocelyn – moving up from Junior Rotax for the first time – and Matt Ostiguy.
Herda and Jocelyn got the jump on Stalker at the start, but Stalker passed Jocelyn one lap later and retook the lead from Herda on the third tour. He held the point until the twelfth lap, when he was absolutely freight-trained by the rest of the field, dropping him to sixth. Jocelyn was the victor, with Cory Pollock ending the race in second and Herda in third. The race was red-flagged, however, when Jarrod Bradley crashed in the track’s fast turn two, collecting Bayan Salehi.
The final, however, saw Pollock storm past Jocelyn at the start into the lead, and begin to check out on the field. Pollock was the winner at this event last year and seemed poised to repeat the win. However, at the race’s halfway point, Pollock’s kart broke, leaving him a spectator for the race he was winning. Jocelyn inherited the lead, ahead of Ostiguy and Herda. The three ran to the end in that order, with Jocelyn taking his first win in his first International race.
Behind him, Erik Jackson and Stalker finished in fourth and fifth after the original fourth-place finisher, Jacob Pearlman, was penalized for rough driving, and was awarded sixth.