TAG MASTERS – Round 3 – BACK TO BACK FOR PHILLIPSEN
Wed 18 Apr, 12:52 PM
Beaumont residents woke up in the morning of Saturday, April 14th with the distinctive and screaming sounds of TAG machines as Moran Raceway hosted Round 3 of the Tri-C TAG MASTERS World Championship, the world most watched sporting event.
“They are too loud and my ears hurt. I can’t talk on the phone because no one can hear me on the other line but engine noise. When they go by that corner my entire house shakes – glasses fall down and pictures can not be hung on the wall anymore. They should ban these guys from racing here” said Maria Guadalupe, a Beaumont resident living 127 blocks away from the track. However, the same could not be said from another local resident Lewis Palmer.
“Oh no, it doesn’t bother me at all, I love it! It is a privilege to live in Beaumont because we get the opportunity to see the best drivers and the best teams in the world – 5 times this year. Yes, it is true that when they go by everything inside the house shakes and a few things fall on the floor but I love it. The fact that this series race here in Beaumont has increased property value in the area by about 578%. I bought my home last year for $206,433 and just last week some broker representing a Russian buyer offered $1,399,615 in cash in addition to a 365-day paid vacation on a cruise around the world. That is insane, I can’t believe that my 2-bedroom 745 sf is worth this much.”
Local residents are getting used to the noise - TAG Engines and Fire Jets
Life in local region has changed since the arrival of TAG MASTERS. It’s the ruthless competition - the fastest drivers in the fastest machines in the world competing for every inch of the track – and that is what race fans around the world saw as Speed Canal transmitted the race live worldwide on Saturday.
Race -
Heavily favored to win by odd makers in Las Vegas casinos, Ty Matta appeared set to win his first race in the series as the Filipino-Mexican-American pilot comfortably set the fastest lap in qualifying, taking his second consecutive pole. However, as it occurred last month, the Renawlt has proved to be outstandingly fast but also unreliable – leaving the door open for the 8-time world champion, Brian Phillipsen to set the race fastest lap of 1:07.032 and to score another win – second consecutive win of the year.
The race started with a fantastic move from Kurt Burris. The American hero made a daring move on the outside of turn 1 to take over the lead from Matta while Brian Phillipsen and Jack Kirkpatrick following closely. The Japanese super star, Hayashigawa, did not have a very good start and allowed Kirkpatrick to go by while Larry Rochelle, Alex King and John Passon followed.
Outpaced by Burris at turn 1, Ty Matta quickly programmed himself to regain the lead of the race as he settled down in second place in the first lap of the race. However, the Renawlt proved once again to be unreliable and let the Filipino-Mexican-American down in the downhill S.
“I did not have a very good start but I knew I was faster than Kurt and was getting ready to make a move on him when the kart suddenly stopped running in the downhill S. I thought it was an engine problem but I quickly realized that the throttle cable was the issue. It is disappointing because I was expecting to win today and we will have to re-group to try again next month.”
The race was primarily dominated by the Pensque team with Kurt leading the first 4 laps of the race, until the 8-time world champion, Brian Phillipsen, made a conclusive move to the lead, as Phillipsen explained.
“Once Matta went out I only had Kurt in front of me and I knew it was a matter of time until I could make a move on him. So, I waited for the right time and once I was by him, it was just a matter of maintaining my position and managing my lead. I never felt any pressure from either Kurt or Jack – they were never a threat.”
Kurt Burris could not disagree more with Phillipsen in regards to his assessment of the race. “Absolutely not. I had brake problems and you can check it for yourself. Had I not suffered brake problems, there is no way in this world that Brian would have made a move on me. With Burris Tires, my kart had a much better handle and was a lot more consistent than Brian’s kart. It didn’t happen today but my win will come.”
Suffering break problems, Burris had to let Kirkpatrick by and eventually settled down to third in the race with his fastest lap of 1:07.352.
One of the hottest topics in the paddock was the reliability (or lack of) in regards to the Pherrari’s engine. As previously reported, Kirkpatrick suffered a major engine explosion while leading the race last month and blew up another engine only a few days before Saturday’s race. Speculations were that Pherrari set a rev limit on Kirkpatrick’s engine and could be the reason for Kirkpatrick being unable to fight for pole and a relatively poor showing at Heat 1.
“The kart sucked at qualifying and we had to change the engine prior to the race because my engine was dead. I could not go past 20,000 rpm” said Kirkpatrick.
Roger Pensque (Pensque) and Ronaldo Denis (MakLaren) were not happy with the fact that Race Officials allowed Kirkpatrick to change the engine prior to the Main Heat. “The rules do not allow the driver to change engines unless there is a significant issue with the engine” said Pensque. Dennis also added “not been able to go past 20,000 rpm is not a significant issue to me. It basically means that Kirkpatrick wants an engine that will go past 20,000 rpm and Pherrari is using its influence to bend the rules. This is outrageous.”
A hearing has been schedule for April 28th in Geneva as Pherrari and MakLaren are both expected to formally protest against Pherrari’s engine change before Tri-C World Counsel.
Regardless of the change, the Irish, Jack Kirkpatrick did not seem to be able to mount a challenge for the lead as Phillipsen won the race over 3 seconds ahead of him.
“It was a difficult race for us today” admitted Kirkpatrick. “We did not set up the kart right for qualifying and we paid the price. We did have engine issues at Heat 1, contrary to what many are saying and the engine change is legal. It is true that I had a rev limit of 21,000 rpm as we didn’t want to take any unnecessary risk. Finishing in the points today was important and finishing in the podium was crucial for the driver’s championship. We will do better next month – you can bet on that!”
Indeed it was an important finish for the Irish as he collected valuable points as a second place finisher with his fastest time of 1:07.630.
The Japanese super star, Larry Hayashigawa, was very lucky to salvage a fifth place finish in the race. After a poor start, Hayashigawa had intense pressure from the second Pherrari driver Larry Rochelle.
“I think Hayashigawa was much wider than 55 inches” said Rochelle. I was faster than him but just could not go around him. I just didn’t have enough space to go around his kart.”
Japanese fan shows her support for Larry Hayashigawa
Rochelle was desperate to go by the Japanese as it would take crucial points from Hayashigawa in the driver’s championship and from MakLaren in the constructor’s championship. However, the more experienced driver, Hayashigawa defended well his position and forced Rochelle into a mistake at turn 1. Hayashigawa stated “I went backwards today in terms of set up. Things were looking very good in practice and in qualifying but the changes I made did not help and I had no grip, so I was off pace and forced to defend my position.”
Hayashigawa’s teammate, Alex King was following the battle of Larry vs. Larry closely ahead of him and saw Rochelle go off in turn 1 right before his eyes.
“It’s a very fast turn and I was closing in into Rochelle and adding the pressure so I think he wanted to get by Hayashigawa as fast as he could and was over aggressively at turn 1 and went off. In the process, an unidentified material or part flew off Rochelle’s kart and hit me. Luckily, I turned my head down and only my helmet was damaged – it was going straight to the visor and that could have been a problem.”
Once King went by Rochelle, he challenged his teammate for a position and eventually went by at the hairpin. However, King’s race pace dropped dramatically by lap 7 due to fatigue and he eventually lost fourth place to Hayashigawa.
The third round of the world championship was the stage of a new record breaking - Rochelle and King had the closest race finish – only .002 set the two apart with Rochelle finishing in fifth and King finishing in sixth.
“I could have done better today” said Rochelle “but I made mistake at turn 1 and later I spent a lot of time behind Alex. I think I was slightly faster than him but he held me up.”
King admitted at the post-race press conference that he held up Rochelle. “It was a valid position and important one and I tried to defend it. TAG MASTERS is very physically demanding and I was felling the demands of it. I overly exhausted and could not concentrate on racing anymore, so I tried to do my best to hold my position.”
John Passon finished in 7th place and had one of his personal fastest race lap – 1:07.880. The Mucca Rosso driver did not have a very good start and spent the entire race behind the battle of Hayashigawa, Rochelle and King.
“It is disappointing because I was faster than the three of them today, but I just couldn’t go around them. We were really evenly matched today in a way. I do think that Alex was holding both Rochelle and I and had he let us gone by we could have probably worked together to pass Hayashigawa. Today’s race was very encouraging for the team because we have improved our time and hopefully we will continue that next month.”
The remaining three spots in the top 10 were taken by Rick Holevas (8th), James Bratton (9th) and Brad Bowman (10th). All three drivers battled each other out for most of the race.
Holevas had a very respectable performance as he qualified in 13th place and gained 5 positions. “It was an enjoyable race today. The vast majority of the race was pretty much me, James Bratton and Brad Bowman fighting for a position and in the end I overcame them both. It was not easy.”
Toyoda’s leaves the race with more problems than they came with. James Bratton is simply unable to find the straight line speed needed to be competitive at Moran Raceway. “I don’t have it, I simply don’t have it. The engine basically slow downs right before turn 1 and I still don’t have grips. So here we are again, a month later with the same problems we had last month. Nothing that the team has done worked today.”
The Sawber driver, Brad Bowman, continue to satisfy team sponsors as he finished in the top 10 once again – for the second time in the year. “Very pleased with our race today. It was a hard battle with Bratton and Holevas and unfortunately, it did not turned too well for me, but it could have. So, I could have finished 8th today and that is motivation for us, for the Sawber team to continue to push and work harder.”
Another 6 divers were able to complete the race. Steve Thompson (11th), David Ayotte (12th), Craig Pfeifer (13th) and Donald Amigliore (14th) all finished very close to each other. Thompson had a very ill handling kart and could only manage a personal best lap of 1:09.667. Ayotte followed closely with his personal best lap of 1:09.929. Behind Ayotte came Pfeifer who was actually faster with a personal best lap of 1:09.804 but simply lacked the horsepower to make pass at Moran Raceway. The second Sawber driver, Donald Amigliore had a best personal lap of 1:09.681.
The veteran Eric Lazar finished in 15th and appeared optimistic with his result. “We have been working very hard for the past 24 months developing a new steering wheel for me and it is finally here. All of the kart controls are within the reach of my hands so it is much easier to drive now. The steering wheel follow the example of a Formula 1 steering wheel and with time, I will certainly pick up speed.” Mike Taylor had the honor to cross the finish line in last place (16th). Taylor’s engine was misfiring from the very beginning of the race but the team decided to keep going and use the race as a testing stage for the next race.
Once again, George Gallardo had to withdraw from the race. As occurred in March, the Italian complained once of severe cramps and it is not yet known if that was the real reason for his withdraw. Jeff Green and Cory Murdock did not officially communicate to Race Officials of their intend to withdraw and both have been fined $250,000 for a DNS.
The total of two drivers did not finish the race. As previously reported, Ty Matta had a broken throttle cable while he was in second place. Art Laski suffered a broken exhaust spring while in 10th place and was forced to retire.
Tri-C TAG MASTERS World Championship will return to Moran Raceway once again on May 12th and race fans worldwide can expect a very exciting race – perhaps the most exciting of the year. Brian Phillipsen has already 2 race and Jack Kirkpatrick has one. However, Ty Matta and Kurt Burris have both proven to be extremely fast. Larry Hayashigawa continues to lead the driver’s championship and is determined to strategically win the championship. Rochelle, King, Passon and Bratton all have similar speed and are fighting to establish dominance within this sub-group. They desperately need to move up and fight with the front runners to keep hoping for a driver’s title. All other drivers, including but not limited to Holevas, Bowman, Thompson, Ayotte, Laski, Gallardo, Lazar, Greene are working extremely hard with their respective team to gain an edge over the other. Round 4 will be one of the most competitive race of the year – all drivers and teams are expected to be on their limits.
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