10/10/2011
On October 1st, three members of Team PIM participated in the Super Series Grand Prix at Cal Speed Karting at Auto Club Speedway. Round 8 of the Super Series would be run on the Classico track configuration. This race would be the final race before the Machismo 500 and a chance for some drivers and teams competing in Machismo to get some time in the karts and possibly much needed momentum.
After morning practice all 72 drivers took to the track for the qualifying rounds. Team PIM members Taylor Hays and Matthew Widner would take the top2 spots in the qualifying. Hays would blister the track with a fast 50.697 lap. Hays was 3 tenth of a second faster than the rest of the 72-kart field. Widner would qualify with a strong 50.952. Rounding out the top 5 in qualifying was Miles Calvin, Dave Messimer and Mike Kai. Team PIM member John Perry would qualify 5th in his qualifying group and 18th overall with a time of 51.543. After qualifying the top 24 were separated by just under a second. The gap from 2nd to 32nd were all covered by a second as well.
Next on the days schedule were the heat races. Hays won heat 1-A race from position 1 running away with the win. 2nd was Derek Zimmerman, Mike Kai was 3rd, Patrick Britain was 4th and Nick Johnston was 5th.
Widner finished second .176 behind heat 1-B winner Jon Kimbrell. The closest battle was for third place as Diego Morales, Sam Brumley and Perry swapped the third spot for the entire 10-lap heat race with Morales crossing the finish line in 3rd followed closely by Brumley and Perry rounding out the top 5.
Miles Calvin would win heat 1-C by .052 of a second over Rene Moreno. Dave Messimer would win heat 1-D.
The closest finish for a position in the first heat races would go to Steve Hansen nipping Sergio Bravo for 4th place in heat 1-D by .005 of a second.
After a short break, the second heats would start up. Hays would start from P1 but would fall back through the field with a bad kart. Kai would take the heat 2-A win. Zimmerman, Alton Arnold, Bill Kreig and Isabella Busalacchi would round out the top 5. Hays would end up finishing 7th getting beat to the line by .001 of a second by Steve Hansen. Perry was 10th in heat 2-A.
Heat 2-C saw Widner start from P1 but was handed kart #2 for the race. Widner would fall through the field despite his best effort finishing 7th. Jon Kimbrell would take the win .267 over Jay Schreiber. Morales, Britain and Kirk Feldkamp would complete the top 5.
Heat 2-B would be won by Miles Calvin. Heat 2-D saw Dave Messimer take the win by a dominate 4.349 seconds.
The B-Main was full of fast drivers not used to being in the b-main. With a loaded field the racing was intense. Alton Arnold would run away with the win and advance to the A-Main. Second was P1 starter Sergio Bravo. Third was Logan Calvin after starting deep in the field. Robby Stanovich drove from 14th to 17th and then to finish 4th. Rounding out the top 5 was C-main winner and 7-time IKF National Champion Nick Johnston who went from last to round out the top 5. John Perry started the B-main in 4th but wound up finishing last after serving a black flag penalty for contact.
In the main event, Miles Calvin would lead the field to the green. M. Calvin would drive away with the victory 3.930 seconds ahead of Diego Morales. Sam Brumley crossed the finish line third to round out the podium. Taylor Hays would start the race 7th only to fall back to 10th during a hard fought race. Matt Widner would finish 13th after some bad luck. Widner was running mid pack while going through the difficult Esses section of the Classico when two karts came together causing Widner to check-up to avoid making contact with a spinning kart.
Taylor Hays currently sits tied for 7th in the Super Series Grand Prix points with Rene Moreno and three points ahead of Diego Morales with one grand prix remaining.
