Team Top Kart USA and Kartel Motorsports rolled into New Castle for the Stars of Karting East vs. West racing looking to continue their early season success. Surviving the massive storm that hit the teams Friday night, the team was poised and ready.
Brendan Phinny and Taylor Miinch continued to lead the way for Team Top Kart USA and Kartel Motorsports in JICA. Brendan showed strong in both heats earning him a fifth place starting position in the finals. Taylor unfortunately had a dnf in the second heat and was forced to start twelfth. Though Taylor did not win the race, it belonged to him. Tearing through the field he methodically made passes in every part of the track to finish an impressive third. Brendan again challenged for the win all race long and finished fourth. Final Two, saw Taylor involved in an incident, but set the fastest lap of the race. Brendan had his best race of the year just nearly missing out on his first win of the season finishing second. Brendan now sits second in the West championship.
Kyle Wiegand led the team all weekend in the TaG category finishing third in both finals. Chris Scribner also had a good weekend finishing in sixth and fifth, which gives him a strong points lead in the West. Chris Wehrheim who came into the weekend leading points had a dismal weekend scoring only a twelfth place finish. He now looks to return to the title fight at Shawano where he scored a victory in ICA last year.
Pulling double duty, Wiegand also competed in TaG Shifter. Setting the pace early in practice, he continued to show the way by grabbing pole position in his first weekend with the package. Final One would go all his way controlling the race from the start. Final Two went very well, but just missing the setup Wiegand would have to settle for second.
In one of the most hotly contested classes in Stars, Mason Chelootz scored two top five finishes keeping him in National title contention. Luis Tyrrell returned to the top five in Final one and finished in the top 10 in Final two. Garett Grist also came away with a top ten finish.
“This was another great weekend for our team,” stated team owner Mike Tetreault. “We have shown we have one of the top 100cc karts in the market and now we look to close out the regional championships.”
With the strong weekend, Team Top Kart USA sits securely in third in the constructor standings and moves even closer to second position. Next up for the team is the last round of the East Championship in Shawano, WI. For more information on the team please visit www.grandproducts.com and www.kartelmotorsports.com.