X30 Senior Race 3 Recap

X30 Senior Round 3 at Sepang Recap

Xander Clements January 18, 2015

As the Sim Karting World Championship IAME X30 Challenge checks past the halfway point in its 2015 season, it enters the new year on a different continent. In fact, it starts the new year on the opposite side of the globe in Malaysia, at the Sepang International Kart Circuit. At a world-renowned racing facility, all drivers on the roster were looking to punch their name as the next winner in the season, and to be the first driver to knock J3 Competition off of their winning streak. After capturing two back-to-back victories at the start of the season, it appeared that 2015 would become the year of the Comp Kart. However, with some added pressure and a brand new build that wiped all setup databases clean, a fresh slate has given new life to the Constructor's Cup battle.

Starting the day off with qualifying, Comp Kart driver Corrie Hiatt (Comp Kart) sat his J3 Competition chassis on pole by a slim margin over Italkart KartSport driver Ryan Harris (Ital Kart), with only a mere .08 separating the pair. Together, they still had over a two tenth gap on the rest of the competitors, which initially looked like a great setup to an old-fashioned Sepang duel. However, Hiatt had to pull out of all other race sessions due to outside constrictors, which allowed Ryan Harris to claim the pole spot in Heat 1, and look to set himself up for a pole position in the final. Preliminary third place qualifier, Brenden Baker (Comp Kart), was able ot move into the second spot after the shakedown, and would lead the Heat 2 field down to the green flag.

In heat 1, Harris got a solid start and built up a comfortable gap, ending the race with a victory margin of about 4.5 seconds. The focus in the race was on the battle for second place, which consisted of constant swapping of positions throughout each lap between PSL Karting driver Adam Rylance (CRG) and Alex Frazer (Praga) of IPK Racing Team. Frazer came out the victor of the position by about two tenths over Rylance at the finish line, with Connor Tebbe (FA Kart) locking himself into his first final of the season, and Ian Bushey (Ital Kart) rounding out the Top 5. Heat 2 ran in a similar fashion, with Baker pulling out a good gap to an easy victory, and KartSport North America teammates Andre Castro (FA Kart) and Xander Clements (FA Kart) having a good battle of their own. Clements came out on top with a second place finishing result, forcing Castro to third with SKWC Rookie Austin Hervias (CRG) finishing fourth and Gresham Wagner (FA Kart) taking the final transfer spot into the Final.

Braden Eves (Comp Kart) and Carson Clements (FA Kart) led the field to the green in the first LCQ appearance for both drivers. Eves got out to an early lead, with Clements falling victim to hard racing and dropping down to fourth place early on. Michael Avansino (Praga) had a problem in his heat race like Eves, and initially worked his way into the second of the two transfer spots. However, Cory Hayes (Ital Kart) made a last-minute entry into the session, and starting from the tail of the small field, worked his way around Avansino to take over that second place spot and lock himself into the Final.

In the Final, the first turn was a bit rocky with a near 180 degree hairpin and 12 different drivers all trying to make up positions. Contact between teammates Andre Castro and Xander Clements caused a mild stack up, with their teammate Gresham Wagner catching the worst of the damage, being forced to nurse a severely hindered kart around the rest of the race. While this was happening, Brenden Baker got away early to try and hunt down Ryan Harris. Ryan's Ital Kart was on rails, though, and by the end of the race he had pulled a nine second gap over the J3 Competition driver. This clinched his first SKWC Career win and brought Ital Kart back to the top step of the podium, with the chassis's last win coming at the hands of team owner Cory Hayes back at Circuit Luis P. Serra in San Jose, in Round 3 of the 2014 KF J Program.

Adam Rylance followed Xander Clements through the first few laps as they maneuvered around Alex Frazer, until finally with five laps to go, Rylance made his move on Clements and took over the third spot. Clements attempted an early pass back into turn one, dragged his rear bumper, and ended up doing a half spin with the bumper digging into the ground. This had him fall behind Braden Eves, who worked his way all the way up to fourth place by the end of the event, starting from eleventh place. Clements would hold on to a Top 5, finishing off with another solid result towards his Driver's Championship campaign.

3rd Place Finisher: Adam Rylance (PSL Karting) "I'm definitely pleased to finally have a podium finish in an official SKWC race. I'd say it's good for me as a driver and good for the PSL Team as a whole. This has always been one of my stronger tracks and I've been looking forward to racing here for a long while. I was desperate to make up for lost ground in the points after not being able to make the last round at DKC, and I'm glad that I managed to do that today. For the first half of the race I had a pretty good battle with Xander, until he was hit with some bad luck. From that point onwards it was a fairly steady race, just trying to stay as clean and consistent as possible. Now I just need to carry this speed into the upcoming races ahead."

2nd Place Finisher: Brenden Baker #109 (J3 Competition) "Overall, it was another successful weekend for myself and J3 Competition. We once again proved our strong pace through each driver on team, with another two top five finishes, and pole in qualifying. As of now, I'm very happy with the way the season is going so far, especially retaining the championship lead in both drivers and constructors points. Hopefully we can continue moving forward for Moran."

1st Place Finisher: Ryan Harris #122 (Italkart KartSport) "It's great to get my first win in SKWC! Coming into this round I knew I was in the top three for championship points so I knew a solid result would keep me in contention. I felt this kind of track really suited my driving style with long sweeping sections so I really enjoyed this track. Its was a shame that Corrie had to withdraw, seeing as we were the only two that were upfront in quali but this was just an opportunity. As always the ItalKart was hooked perfectly, thanks to some hard work testing by teamates. Great race meeting overall!"

Official Results:

1st) Ryan Harris #122 (ItalKart)

2nd) Brenden Baker #109 (Comp Kart)

3rd) Adam Rylance #140 (CRG)

4th) Braden Eves #141 (Comp Kart)

5th) Xander Clements #136 (FA Kart)

6th) Ian Bushey #137 (Italkart)

7th) Andre Castro #104 (FA Kart)

8th) Connor Tebbe* #114 (FA Kart)

9th) Austin Hervias* #177 (CRG)

10th) Gresham Wagner #105 (FA Kart)

11th) Cory Hayes #111 (ItalKart)