The seventh round for the Los Angeles Karting Championship was completed on August 25 at the CalSpeed Karting circuit. Teams and competitors took to the ‘Classico’ layout of the Fontana, California facility, located just outside the Auto Club Speedway. Round Seven welcomed a number of drivers sweeping the action, in addition to others extending win streaks and a few witnessing their runs come to an end against some of the best karters in Southern California.

The sweeps began in the opening race group, featuring the Formula Works Kid Kart Expert and HPD Kid Kart Novice classes. It was a fifth win on the season for Zate Legend in the Expert division, nearly pulling off a sweep. Keegan Rabicoff edged out Legend for fast time in qualifying by 85 thousandths. Legend came back to win the Prefinal and led all 10 laps of the Final for the victory. Nixon Ellsworth and Keegan Rabicoff completed the podium. Oscar Padilla grabbed his third win of the season in Novice, sweeping the action over Jaxon Porter and Gavin Lewis.

The win total in Sanner Racing KA100 Junior division was extended to five for Cole Morgan. It was a near sweep after Morgan set fast time in qualifying, clearing the 15-driver field by two tenths. Morgan led the first nine laps of the Prefinal, only to get shuffled back to 14th at the checkered with Tyler Ruth earning the win. It only took Morgan half of the 18-lap main event to get back into the lead. Morgan knifed his way from the back and into the lead by lap nine, leading the remainder of the race for the victory. Jacob Yesnik was second with Kasey Gillis in third. Ruth ended up dropping back to the sixth spot after leading early.

After missing the last two rounds, G3 Argyros won his second main event of the season in the Empire Karts Micro Swift. Argyros swept the event, clearing the field in qualifying by three tenths before leading all 10 laps of the Prefinal. Truly Adams challenged early in the main event until he retired, allowing Argyros to break away to a 3.6-second victory. Two-time winner Alexander Gonzalez was second with Rocky Moran in third.

The next race group featured four classes, with only one driver able to record a sweep. John Crow earned his sixth straight victory in Nash Motorsportz G1 division, sweeping the day over Brett Harrelson and Carl Lewis. Billy Musgrave’s win streak in the Baldozier Racing Pro Shifter 1 class came to an end at the hands of former SKUSA Pro Tour champion Jake French. Musgrave set fast lap in qualifying and won the Prefinal, only to have French run away with the victory in the main event. Musgrave settled for second with Keawn Tandon in third. It was a similar format in the Mad Old Nut Racing Pro Shifter 2 and Phil Giebler Racing Open Shifter classes. Connor Robles led throughout the day, searching for his first victory on the year. He led in the main event until an issue on lap 14, allowing Emon Fazlollahi to earn his third on the season. Round Five winner Micah Hendricks was second with Carlee Taylor in third. Vicente Salas made his first start in the Open category, and set fast time in qualifying before winning the Prefinal. An issue for him in the Final put him off the track before the halfway point, allowing Vyacheslav Gutak to win in his first start of 2019. Five-time winner Slava Prikhodko was second with Zoli Sule capping off the podium.

The following race group were all sweeps. Vincente Salas earned his sixth victory of the year in MRC S3 Novice Stock Moto with a sweep over Luca Bortone and Vincent Trommer. Mathias Coito continued his win streak in the Kimball Williams Racing S5 Junior Stock Moto. Coito is seven for seven on the year, sweeping this round over Ansel Baldovin and Jacob Yesnick. Michael Kordory ran uncontested in the DMG Motorsports S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto division.

There was no clear cut favorite throughout the day in the Mack Motorsports X30 Junior class with the 10 drivers putting on a very competitive show. Maximilian Opalski made his second start of the 2019 season, setting fast time in qualifying. The top four were within 41 thousandths of a second, including Blake Nash, Frankie Mossman and Cole Morgan. Mossman took over in the Prefinal to win the race and pole position for the Final. The top spot was shuffled around in the opening five laps until Nash was able to secure the position. He led the last 13 laps for his first victory of the season. Opalski was second with Mossman earning fast time in his third place performance.

Alex Siragusa was en route to his first victory of the season in HRT KA100 Senior division. Siragusa was quickest in qualifying and won the Prefinal. Leading the first 14 laps, Siragusa was overtaken by Luis Perez. That was the winning move as Perez held off Siragusa for his first victory of the season. Dakota Tate recorded the fast lap of the race, placing third. It is now seven for seven for John Crow in the Fleming Racing Engines KA100 Super Master category in 2019. Crow swept the round ahead of Howard Combee and Terry Giffen. Edison Noboa won his first victory in Ruthless Karting KA100 Master class over Callie Hayner.

Earning a second straight victory in the P1 Engines Mini Swift class was Izaac Gutierrez. He found himself in third after qualifying behind John Antonino and Jesus Vasquez. Antonino fell to fourth with Vasquez first and Gutierrez in second at the checkered flag for the Prefinal. Four-time winner Vasquez led the majority of the Final, with Gutierrez able to pull off a last lap pass for the victory. Vasquez settled for second with Evan Reuben in third.

Some heavy hitters battled in the 2 Wild Karting X30 Pro class throughout the day. The top five in qualifying were separated by only 83 thousandths with SKUSA WinterNationals winner Christian Brooks on top. Two-time LAKC winner Billy Musgrave led the majority of the Prefinal for the win, and was able to lead the last 13 laps in the Final to claim his third on the season. Round Four winner Jake Drew ended up second, just ahead of Brooks. In the same race group, Wolfgang Kladde won his fourth of the season in the MDG Karting X30 Intermediate class, in front of Travis Mitchell and Ian Bland.

The final class on the day was the Tru-Tech Racing Engines X30 Master division. Brett Harrelson had a three-race win streak going into the weekend, and was en route to fourth. Harrelson set fast time in qualifying and led all 10 laps of the Prefinal. Leading early, Harrelson was shuffled to the back of the field on lap four, allowing John Crow to take over the lead. He led the remainder of the race to cross the line in first, only to be penalized one position for on-track action. This moved Alex Gutierrez to the top of the podium for his first victory of the season. Crow was placed into second with Steve Martin in third while Harrelson worked back up to fourth.

The penultimate round for the Los Angeles Karting Championship is set for September 15 at their home of the CalSpeed Karting facility. Registration remains open for Round Eight of the 2019 championship program. For more about the Los Angeles Karting Championship program, please visit LAKC.org and ‘Like’ them on Facebook and follow on Instagram.

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About the Los Angeles Karting Championship (LAKC):
Since 1985, the Los Angeles Karting Championship series, a true 501(c) (7) non-profit organization, has provided a family-friendly, sprint kart racing environment for all ages in the Southern California region. Our mission is to provide the most competitive, largest sprint kart classes in the region at the lowest prices in the industry. We are extremely proud of averaging of 2,400 competitive entries per year. Our series operates from the CalSpeed Karting facility located in Fontana, CA. For more information about the Los Angeles Karting Championship please visit www.lakc.org.