InsideGroove - Race Report

SOUTHERS AND COPELAND SCORE LATE RACE WINS AT RED BLUFF NATIONALS

Red Bluff, CA -- In the right place at the right time, Red Bluff Intermediate champion Brian Southers from Paradise led just the final two laps to score a $500 win in the 30 lap Open Outlaw Kart A Main as the three day West Coast Nationals concluded on Sunday afternoon. Friday night winner Pete Johnston had led from the start and was still out front coming to the white flag despite losing both his tail piece and rear nerf during the event. A broken piece in his carburetor brought Johnston to a stop as he raced towards the white flag. Southers led those final two laps and won ahead by 3/5 of a second over 9th row starter Steven Gannon. Saturday winner Tyler McCain was third in front of Brent Hamilton and Brian McCain. Ten year old Tyler Reddick, a teammate of Johnston, was able to take advantage of a tangle between leaders Dillon Silverman, Keith Bloom Jr and Mason Moore to get his first ever Open Intermediate A Main win in that 30 lapper. The Corning resident was chased to the victory by Nevada female star Mackena Bell. Bell was just 1/5 of a second behind at the checkered flag. Southers enjoyed a big day as he ran third in this class. Division champion Moore did bounce back to get fourth. The 250 feature was also decided late. Kyle Larson had led the entire race from an outside front row start, but darted high to miss a spun kart on lap 29. Colby Copeland was able to drive underneath him for the lead. A restart with one lap to go and Copeland stayed in front of Larson for the $225 win. Larson got $125 for second and Thomas Bruckenstein ran third ahead of Oregon charger Seth Nunes. Dillon Aldred came out of retirement to race in the 125 class at the West Coast Nationals and he won the 30 lap feature for that class ahead of Max Adams and a very busy Trevor Cristiani. Ukiah's Cristiani raced here on Friday, returned to Lakeport for their final point race on Saturday afternoon, then made it back here in time to tag a B Main on Saturday night. Winner of the Friday night qualifier, Tyler Seavey added the 30 lap Box Stock A Main win on Sunday, finishing 2.5 seconds in front of Kyle Tellstrom. Ukiah's Tellstrom had a busy weekend as he raced into the Box Stocks, 125s and 250s. The winner's younger brother, Logan Seavey, was third in the Box Stock A after being division rookie of the year during the regular season. Chico's Bryce Acquistapace capped a breakout season with a win in the Beginner Box Stock feature action. Devin Lee from Maxwell was second ahead of Chase Majdic. Paul Baker followed up his win in the Friday night qualifier with a 20 lap main event win on Sunday in the F200s. Cody Smith was 1/2 second behind in second and Tony Mills was the final lead lap finisher in third. Wanting to get an early conclusion to the long weekend, Sunday racing started at 10 AM and the day was over by 2 PM.

The Open Outlaws started their day with an 18 lap D Main. Idaho's Cory Lockwood beat fellow long tow Travis Higby by a half-second with Tyler Ritcheson third over Mark Porter. The busy Cristiani was 7th in this race. Ritcheson also managed to transfer out of the 20 lap C Main as he finished third. A J Kerns won this race by 2/3 of a second ahead of Jason Schuppert. Scott Morton got the final transfer and just missing were Camron Mendes, Lockwood and Alex Cartwright. Oregon's Brian Osterman got tangled up with Daniel Becker as they dueled for second. Osterman had turned the fastest time in the race at 8.915. The toughest transfer of the weekend found 18 karts chasing the final two A Main slots in the 20 lap B Main. Gannon and female star Emalee Ramirez ended up in the valued 1-2 slots. Gannon ran the fastest times in the race at 8.816 and was 1.6 seconds ahead of Ramirez at the checkered flag. Derek O'Bannon just missed in third ahead of Beau Perkins, Michael Hubert III, Cody Braund and Oregon's Jake Claasen. Kerns also got into the 8's at 8.941, but could only manage a 10th as 15 karts finished on the lead lap. The front 16 starting spots in the 18 kart, 30 lap A Main had been determined by points earned in the action on both Friday and Saturday. Johnston had earned the pole with his dominant effort on Friday night. The track was very dry by the time this race happened and only Johnston was able to get a lap in the 8's as he ran a 8.907 very early in the event. A lap 5 incident when Larson's kart broke ended the day for both Larson and track runnerup Tyler Wolf. M Bell went out on lap 17. Southers worked his way into second early in the race, but gave way to B McCain. A lap 20 red flag for a flipped Silverman saw Johnston running without his tail piece. The outlaw karts run sprint car style nose pieces, wings and tails to make them look like race cars. When the officials stopped Johnston to check on his missing tail piece, they found a loose rear nerf and removed it. He continued to race in the lead without the missing pieces and Southers was able repass B McCain in turn 1 to retake second. Coming off turn 4 to get the white flag, Johnston's kart suddenly coasted to a stop with his carburetor issue. Southers found himself out front and he won ahead of an incredible drive by back row starter Gannon. T McCain was third ahead of Hamilton, B McCain, Sean Becker, Ryan Foster, John Michael Bunch, Andrew Cumpton and Jonny Lentz. Moore also finished lead lap. Southers best lap was a 9.058 and Gannon ran a 9.023. S Becker clicked off a 9.042.

The front 16 starting spots in the Open Intermediate A Main had been determined in the Saturday preliminary action when Bloom, Silverman and Southers had finished 1-2-3. Only two additional A Main slots were available in the 18 lap B Main that had a dozen starters. Michael Forslund won the B Main by one second over Nevada's Cameron Millard. Robert Marcos lost a photo finish with Millard for second. Josh Keheley ran fourth ahead of Nevada's Daniel Thorson and Chad Pace. D Thorson had the quickest lap at 8.963. Reddick lined up in the second row for the 30 lapper, but slipped into the infield on the start. When he pulled back onto the track, it triggered a large melee and a restart. Garrett Mills, Colby Copeland and Shane Graham were all eliminated on lap 1. Silverman raced into the lead over Bloom and Moore. The three leaders all tangled and Reddick found himself out front. Reddick fought off the fierce challenges of M Bell, Southers and Moore for the win. M Bell was just 1/5 of a second back, Southers just 2/5 of a second and Moore 2/3 of a second. Reddick turned the quickest lap in the race at 9.060, M Bell ran 9.092 and Silverman a 9.098. Matthew Davis ran sixth ahead of Kenny McArthur, Jake Park, Silverman, Millard, Mendes, Forslund and Cumpton. Those 12 finished on the lead lap with Bloom falling out on lap 27.

A small six kart, 15 lap B Main determined the final two starters in the 250 A Main. Cristiani won by 1.5 seconds with a best lap of 9.095. Mallorie McGahan nipped Nicholas Bellamy for second as Stephanie Yannazzo ran fourth. Using an engine loaned to her by the Jason Mittry team, Oregon's Marena Starr claimed fifth. Nevada's Zachary Heinz had the quickest lap at 8.889 but broke late in the race. Graham and Larson had earned the front row assignments for the 18 kart, 30 lap A Main with their Saturday efforts. Larson passed Graham on the opening lap for the top spot and was still in front of C Copeland when the spun kart in turn 1 on lap 29 forced Larson to dart high. Copeland saw the opening down low and was able to take the lead as they raced through the incident. The yellow fell with one lap to run, but C Copeland stayed in front of Larson for the win. Larson ran second ahead of Bruckenstein, Nunes, Max Adams, Bloom, Jake Morgan, Reddick, Cristiani and Chase Hill as 15 karts finished on the lead lap. C Copeland ran a 8.826 and Larson a 8.819. The 9.100 for Nunes was third best in the race. Mittry and James Edens were eliminated just before midway. Graham ran 12th behind Kenny Allen.

Red Bluff normally combines the 125 and 250 classes into the Intermediate class, but gave the 125s their own action on this special weekend. Dana Evans won the qualifying night feature on Friday night ahead of Cristiani and Tanner Thorson. D Aldred was 8th that night. Thirteen karts started Sunday's 30 lapper and D Aldred was easily the fastest as he ran a quick lap of 9.111 to win by 1.6 seconds over Max Adams. Cristiani was another one second back in third. Cody Eskew ran fourth ahead of Evans, Dayne Amyx, Cameron Millard, David Chaves and Vinnie Marsili. Those nine finished on the lead lap. Thorson had the second best time at 9.238, but fell out with 7 laps to run. Millard had a 9.257 and Cristiani a 9.265.

The Box Stocks had the second largest turnout of any class so 16 karts battled in the 20 lap B Main for the final two starting slots in their 30 lap A Main. Austin Pace and David Lee ran 1-2 in the B and turned the quickest laps in that race. A Pace won by nearly two seconds and ran a 10.071 best. Lee clicked off a 10.035 and just nipped Tanner Thomson for that final transfer. Keith Combs was fourth ahead of Britney White and usual Beginner Box Stock racer Zachary Rushing. Nevada's Samantha Schultz was 7th in front of Taylor Baker. T Seavey beat Casey McClain, Tanner Thorson and James Edens in Friday night's feature and T Seavey returned to click off a very quick 9.535 best lap as he won the 30 lapper by 2.5 seconds in front of Tellstrom. L Seavey was third ahead of T Thorson, Lain Baker, Beginner Box Stock champion Richie Carrel, Mason Millard, Beginner Box Stock winner Bryce Acquistapace, Chase Majdic and Wesley Dougherty. Those ten karts finished on the lead lap, but everyone else was still circulating at the checkered flag except for McClain. Edens and A Pace finished one lap down despite having best laps of 9.766 and 9.782. Tellstrom ran a 9.795. L Baker was second quickest at 9.701.

Fifteen of the 16 Beginner Box Stocks that ran the preliminary action on Saturday returned for the Sunday finale. Acquistapace had run second to Brian Hubert on Saturday, but posted Sunday's feature win ahead of Saturday sixth place finisher Devin Lee. Majdic had to drive through the pack on Sunday, but ran third ahead of Michael Call. Zachary Rushing combined a fifth with his fourth from Saturday. Cory Combs was sixth and a disappointed B Hubert ran 7th ahead of Carley Dougherty, Katina Baker and Jesse James Colwell. K Baker was third behind B Hubert and Acquistapace on Saturday.

Sunday's 20 lap F200 main had nine starters. The three lead lap finishers all broke into the 9's. Winner P Baker ran a 9.817 and won by a half second over C Smith, who had a 9.786 best. T Mills was just 1.6 seconds behind the winner and ran a best of 9.994. Vic Hannan ran fourth ahead of Danyail Kienzk, Chad Hembree and Jim DeArmond.

Summary F200 Main-Paul Baker, Cody Smith, Tony Mills, Vic Hannan, Danyail Kienzk, Chad Hembree, Jim DeArmond, Ashley Lusk, Jeff Smith. Beginner Box Stock Main-Bryce Acquistapace, Devin Lee, Chase Majdic, Michael Call, Zachary Rushing, Cory Combs, Brian Hubert, Carley Dougherty, Katina Baker, Jesse James Colwell, Morgan Sandhagen, Conner Sousa, Jessica Chambers, Ryan Robinson, Lucas Tellstrom. Box Stock B Main-Austin Pace, David Lee, Tanner Thomson, Keith Combs. Britney White, Zachary Rushing, Samantha Schultz, Taylor Baker, Brian McGahan Jr, Mason Crowell. A Main-Tyler Seavey, Kyle Tellstrom, Logan Seavey, Tanner Thorson, Lain Baker, Richie Carrel, Mason Millard, Bryce Acquistapace, Chase Majdic, Wesley Dougherty, James Edens, David Lee, Pace, Zachary Heinz, Brandon White, Tony Rossi, Michael Call, Casey McClain. 125 Main-Dillon Aldred, Max Adams, Trevor Cristiani, Cody Eskew, Dana Evans, Dayne Amyx, Cameron Millard, David Chaves, Vinnie Marsili, Jacob Bell, Kenny Allen, Tanner Thorson, Kyle Tellstrom. 250 B Main-Trevor Cristiani, Mallorie McGahan, Nicholas Bellamy, Stephanie Yannazzo, Marena Starr, Zachary Heinz. A Main-Colby Copeland, Kyle Larson, Thomas Bruckenstein, Seth Nunes, Max Adams, Keith Bloom Jr, Jake Morgan, Tyler Reddick, Cristiani, Chase Hill, Kenny Allen, Shane Graham, R J Johnson, Kyle Tellstrom, M McGahan, Wyatt Pruitt, Jason Mittry, James Edens. Open Intermediate B Main-Michael Forslund, Cameron Millard, Robert Marcos, Josh Keheley, Daniel Thorson, Chad Pace, Jeffrey Rivers, Patrick Dills, Cory Lockwood, Leslee Pierson. A Main-Tyler Reddick, Mackena Bell, Brian Southers, Mason Moore, Matthew Davis, Kenny McArthur, Jake Park, Dillon Silverman, C Millard, Camron Mendes, Forslund, Andrew Cumpton, Keith Bloom Jr, Derek Copeland, Alissa Geving, Garrett Mills, Colby Copeland, Shane Graham. Open Outlaw D Main-Cory Lockwood, Travis Higby, Tyler Ritcheson, Mark Porter, Matt Whittaker, Chris Marquis, Trevor Cristiani, Keith Curl, Steve Evans, Brett Bell. C Main-A J Kerns, Jason Schuppert, Ritcheson, Scott Morton, Camron Mendes, Lockwood, Alex Cartwright, Clint York, Jeff Bell, Higby. B Main-Steven Gannon, Emalee Ramirez, Derek O'Bannon, Beau Perkins, Michael Hubert III, Cody Braund, Jake Claasen, Kenny McArthur, Dean Bare, Kerns. A Main-Brian Southers, Gannon, Tyler McCain, Brent Hamilton, Brian McCain, Sean Becker, Ryan Foster, John Michael Bunch, Andrew Cumpton, Jonny Lentz, Mason Moore, Pete Johnston, Ramirez, Brandon Aldred, Dillon Silverman, Mackena Bell, Kyle Larson, Tyler Wolf.

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