After a 40-minute practice session in the morning the 29 drivers took to the track for qualifying at noon and the first of three heat races to finish off the day.
Qualifying took the format of three separate 12-minute sessions to allow each category of car to have dedicated track time; SR3 1340cc, SR3 1500cc and finally the turbo-charged SR10 class…
Starting with the SR3 Pro 1340 class, some final lap heroics gave Vaughn Glace of Proper Performance the pole position with a 1:54.283, ahead of the reigning Radical Cup North America 1340 Champion, Brady Clapham, and reigning Radical Cup Challenge Arizona champion, Jace Bacon.
Up next were the more powerful SR3 Pro 1500 class, also combined with the Gold class for drivers aged over 30. A competitive grid of 12 cars with 6 nations represented, and featuring the reigning Radical World Champion, Ian Aguilera, going up against the local favourite of Radical Cup North America Champion, Raiden Nicol. However, it was the Dutch LMP3 driver Max Van Der Snel (Valour Racing) who claimed pole with an impressive 1:49.529, ahead of Nicol (Primal Racing) and Denmark’s Jonas Axboe (Cameron Racing). In the Gold class the pole went to Brandon Rambo (Spring Mountain) in his previous generation SR3 XX, ahead of Chris Huhn (Primal Racing) and Britain’s Andy Lowe (JBR).
Finally the most powerful Platinum SR10 class took to the track, drama quickly struck giving the drivers only 3 laps to make their mark and Group-A Racing’s Steve Jenks’ time of 1:47.129 would have given the American pole position however was later disqualified due to a technical infringement. This gave pole position to JBR’s Scott Wagner ahead of his two JBR team-mates of Louis Schriber and Gregg Gorski.
The first of three heat races would be a 30-minute sprint to the finish line in ideal dry conditions. However the race took a more dramatic turn with leaders in all classes changing hands and a full-course yellow half way through to stir things up even more…
Despite starting at the back due to the qualifying disqualification, Group-A’s Steve Jenks was to take the chequered flag after successfully navigating his way through the pack, finishing ahead of JBR’s Louis Schriber and ONE Motorsport’s Wayne Williams, the recently crowned Radical Cup North America Platinum Champion.
In the Pro 1500 class, Raiden Nichol took the lead in the second lap and led for 8 laps before a technical issue forced the American to retire early, leaving Max Van Der Snel to take the class win by just 0.64s ahead of Jonas Axboe. Third place went to Valour Racing’s Jack Yang after starting back in 14th place.
The Gold class honours went to Primal Racing’s Chris Huhn, who climbed an impressive 9 positions after starting in 19th position. Brandon Rambo came in second with Andy Lowe just behind to take third in class.
In the Pro 1340 class, Canadian Brady Clapham started in 23rd position and gained 10 places to finish 13th overall but more importantly first place in class. Vaughn Glace took the second spot on the class podium, with Jace Bacon in third.
The second heat race will reverse the top 6 qualifying positions, before a third heat race on Sunday morning which includes a mandatory pit stop to introduce a further strategy element into the mix. The points scored from all three heat races will set the grid for the all important winner-takes-all Final race on Sunday.
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