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CRG America travels to Beaverun for the WKA Manufacturers Cup CRG America Nationals
Dave, Jeremiah and the guys made their way out to Wampum, PA for the 4th round of the Manufacturers Cup Series at Beaverun Motorsports Park.
Making his WKA debut with the CRG America squad was Cabot Bigham from Weston MA, racing in KPV light and heavy. Cabot joined WKA regulars Trent Hindman, Arie Ouimet and Thomas Appleton making his second WKA start. Unfortunately, Kristina Vorndran was on holiday in Germany with her family and was unable to join us in Beaverun. Appleton, Hindman and Ouimet all competed in TAG 1, TAG 2 and Leopard. All four drivers earned a lot of track time.
Cabot was the first of the CRG America crew to hit the track to qualify in KPV Junior Heavy, competing against other drivers with many years of experience. Cabot qualified 34 out of a field of 38. Not bad when you consider that Cabot has only been karting for a year and had never driven a KPV engine. Then add that this event is the first time that he had ever worked with tuner Brian Keck, it was an impressive first outing.
In Cabot's prefinal he gained 9 positions finishing 25 and that is where he finished in the final as well. A very respectable first time out, the kart came back in one piece.
In TAG 1, the trio of Appleton, Hindman and Ouimet qualified in 21st, 6th and 4th respectively. Trent and Arie's experience at Beaverun was a big benefit in qualifying. The prefinal saw Arie and Trent maintain there top 10 positions and Thomas improved to 19th. The feature race in TAG was a CRG affair with Ouimet finishing 3rd, Hindman 7th, and Thomas Appleton charging his way up to 12th from 19th. Another notable performance was CRG driver Nick Rivilinni out of Virginia with a 6th place finish. Four CRG's in the top 12 of a class that had 34 competitors.
Parilla Leopard class saw the duo of Hindman and Ouimet qualify in 4th and 6th respectively and Appleton just miss the top 20 with a 21st place qualifying. As with TAG 1, the Leopard prefinal saw Ouimet and Hindman maintain their top 10 positions with a 6th and a 7th, although Appleton had a tougher time with a 23 finishing position out of 33 racers. The Leopard class final finished with Arie in 5th, Trent in 8th and Thomas improved to18th. A couple more top 10's and a top 20 is a good finish in this class.
On Sunday the trio of Appleton, Hindman and Ouimet only had one class to race so it was an easier day for them. Cabot had KPV Junior Light to race on Sunday.
Arie, Trent and Thomas hit the track first on Sunday with Arie qualifying 4th, Trent had the exhaust flex break during qualifying which resulted in a 26th starting spot and Thomas was in 32. Sunday's race grew to 42 competitors from all across the U.S. The prefinal saw Trent make up 11 spots in just 8 laps, he was not to be denied a better starting spot in the feature. Thomas was right there with Trent improving from 32 to garner an 18th starting spot and Arie stayed in 4th place. In the feature, Arie took advantage of some chassis changes that allowed him to move into second with his sights set on the leader, but a miscalculation in tire pressures slowed his progress to the front and resulted in a third place finish. Trent was a rocket as well flirting with a top 10 but had to settle for a 12 place. This would later be changed as Trent was penalized 2 spots for rough driving. That was the first time in his career that he has lived up to his nickname "The Hitman". Thomas was making good progress through the field until he was given the "meatball", a black flag with an orange circle that tells the driver to come off the track because something on his kart broke and it was unsafe to continue. Notable, Nick Rivellini, had a 7th place finish in TAG 2, giving CRG 2 in the top 10. Way to go!
The newbie Cabot had a better qualifying session, than on Saturday with a 31st qualifying position. His prefinal saw him improve to 22nd. Then while Cabot was flirting with a possible top 20 finish, his inexperience bit him. Cabot mistakenly came off the track for a black flag. The flag was for kart number 77, Cabot was kart number 7, what a shame.
All in all a good outing for the CRG America crew, the next and last race of the Manufacturers Cup Season will be in September at New Castle Motorsports Park. If anyone would like to join the CRG America Crew in New Castle, contact Dave Davies or Mark Ouimet at 781-843-0100
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