There is nothing sweeter than beginning the new year with a victory, as it not only puts a smile on your face, but it also sets the tempo and direction for the upcoming season. The Team Aluminos squad traveled down the Californian coast to contend the opening round of the SKUSA ProKart Challenge South program at CalSpeed Karting in Fontana and its first win of the season was the immediate result. Seven drivers piloted Aluminos-prepped machines under the tutelage of the team’s experienced staff, including in-house spec Honda engine builder/tuner and data analyst George Tavares. Also on hand for the event was new GP Kart importer AJ Noud of Rocky Mountain Kartworks to tend to the needs of the GP drivers under the Aluminos tent and he was joined by veteran chassis/engine tuner Vince Mandarino.Highlighting the event was the feature victory and heat race win by new Aluminos recruits Peter Workum and Jeff Smith in the S4 division. Workum led the way for Aluminos in S4 qualifying by posting the third quickest time, just ahead of Smith, while Jonathon Allen was eighth on the time charts. Both Workum and Smith had poor opening laps in the first heat, falling back to fifth and sixth, respectively. Smith would advance up to third after 10 laps while Workum held fifth, one spot ahead of Allen. In the second heat, Smith would benefit from the polesitter retiring on lap two, taking the lead the following circuit and going on for the heat win. Workum advanced one spot to fourth with Allen maintaining sixth.
The main would be a dog fight with Smith aboard an Aluminos GP kart and Workum piloting an Aluminos Intrepid, making up a the lead trio that including one other driver. After swapping the lead multiple times during the first half of the race, the trio settled in with Smith and Workum running second and third. On the final lap, Smith was able to muscle by for the lead and take the checkered flag while Workum followed him through for second for an Aluminos one-two. The series officials penalized Smith for rough driving, however, docking him two positions that left him with a third place classification. This handed Workum the victory, as he would take the top step of the podium at day’s end. Allen would end up finishing eighth in only the second sprint race of his career.The S3 division is seeing more and more top-quality drivers make the switch to the spec Honda program, increasing the quality of the fields. The Aluminos drivers of Brad Dunford, Harley Owen, and Kyle Hathcox took on the challenge of besting some pretty big names, including Aluminos driver/tuner coach Lorenzo Mandarino aboard his Vemee chassis. Mandarino secured the pole position in qualifying by just 15-thousandths of a second to set the tone for the class. Dunford recorded the eighth best lap of the session while Owen and Hathcox were 14th and 15th. Mandarino’s engine would lose power with an electrical issue in the opening heat race, however dropping him to 12th in the order, but he bounced back to second in the second heat. Dunford would go on to finish fifth and eighth in the heat races, while Owen ran to 14th and 12th. Hathcox was 13th in the opening heat, but recorded a DNF in the second and was forced to start at the tail of the main event.
In the feature, Mandarino led the way until lap seven when Mandarino fell to fourth following some contact. A few laps later, more contact ensued and Mandarino was black flagged off the track for the incident. Dunford was battling for a position the top-five when he was shuffled back on lap nine. Meanwhile, Hathcox was on the charge, moving into the top-10 by the halfway point. Hathcox would fight to the end, managing to gain two more spots to cross the line in eighth. Dunford ended up 11th while Owen finished 13th in the season opener.Team Aluminos will take the next month to prepare for the second round of the 2009 ProKart Challenge South series, which is set for Willow Springs Raceway on February 28.
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