Velocity Karting Dominates at F100 Race

Saturday July 26, 2017 Velocity Karting brought out its team to participate in the F100 race at Apex Racing in Perris, CA.  This race was a modifyed event as the promoters changed at the last second so the day was different than most races.  The most substantial change was that qualyfing was determined through a raffle rather than on the track.  A driver would pull a number and that is where he would start the first heat race.  Then the second heat race would be started in reverese order of the raffle.  The Main would be determined by the average finish of the two heat races.  This format would only hurt one driver on the Velocity Team.

Velocity brought out 7 drivers to participate in this race over three classes.  In the Cadet class Velocity had defending Champion and undefeated F100 driver Hayden Huelsman and rookie phenom Brett Revetta.  In the Intermediate class we sent veteran racer Brian Smith, 2^nd year drivers Brian Parji and Phillip Ramirez and making his racing debut was Ryan Goff Jr.  In the Masters division the team had Stephen Huelsman representing Velocity.

Normally these blog post start with the Cadet division.  Today however we will start with the Intermediate division.  Before the race day began Velocity was confident that they would win the Intermediate division.  Veteran racer Brian Smith was racing a new motor on a track that he has won on many times so he was the favorite.  Brian Parji was making his second start on his new Italkart chassis and he believed that he could take the day. 

In Heat 1, Smith’s motor would fail as he entered the track and would not take the green flag.  Parji, Ramirez and Goff would start the race and performed great in the first half of the race.  At one point Parji would be in second, Ramirez in third and Goff in fifth.  As the race progressed though, Parji would find himself off track as would Ramirez and the rookie driver Goff would be the only Velocity Finisher in the race.  He would end up in 3^rd.

In Heat 2 the bad luck would continue for Smith.  Smith again rolled on to the track before his motor would quit and again he would miss the green flag.  The other three would take the flag.  This time Parji had to battle back from the rear, with Goff on the Pole and ramirez in the midpack.  As the flag would fly, Goff would fall back to about 5^th.  Ramirez moved into the top 4 and Parji started his run to the front.  Halfway through the race, Goff would have to pull off the track with a broken exhaust pipe.  Parji and Ramirez would finish the race in the top five.

Finally the Main Event was ready to start.  Parji was starting outside Pole, Ramirez and Goff would be mid pack and Smith would be at the rear.  As the flag flew, Parji slotted into 2^nd place.  Ramirez moved up to 5^th place, Goff had a throttle cable issue and had to pit for a moment and went a lap down while Smith’s kart finally ran and he took the flag.  At the mid way point of the race, Parji would be hard on the leaders tail, with Ramirez in 4^th fighting for a podium, Smith moved up to 6^th and unfortunately Goff spun off the track and his rookie race was behind him.  With about 5 laps to go Parji would make a great racing move to dive to the inside of the hard, slow u-turn and drive into the lead.  On that same lap, Ramirez would make a mistake that would crash him out of the race for the night.  Smith would take over 5^th with a motor that still wasn’t humming on all cylinders.  With the laps ticking away, no others changes would happen and Parji would take home his first career victory.  Smith battled a bad motor and took home 5^th.  Parji has been coming on strong and he is on the verge of moving from a mid pack driver to a perenial podium contender.

The Cadet division was great racing as always.  Velocity Karting has never not won an F100 cadet race and this night would be no different.  At the teams home track and two of its top drivers in the field, we only needed to figure out who on the team would win.  Huelsman would start on the Pole with Revetta on the outside in the Main.  Into turn one, Revetta would take the lead with Huelsman hot on his tail.  Revetta has never finished in front of Huelsman so this was exciting to watch.  Through the first 4 laps Revetta would hold the lead but Huelsman would make a couple looks inside turn one for a potential pass.  On lap 5 Huelsman would make a run down the straight away and pull to the inside of turn 1.  Revetta wouldn’t give up without a fight and held the outside throughout the corner.  Hayden would make the pass but to this observer I do not know how Revetta stayed on the outside without driving off the track. 

Revetta would tuck in behind Huelsman and wouldn’t let Huelsman get out to far in front.  At lap 8 Revetta would get a run coming out of the hairpin and down towards the pits.  Huelsman left a little bit of track open on the inside and Revetta dove into it.  They would make contact and Revetta would come out with a 5 kart length lead.  Huelsman wouldn’t get irritated about the contact but rather refocus his efforts on getting the lead back.  Two laps later Huelsman was back on Revetta’s tail.  As Revetta led the pack down the long straightaway, Huelsman drafted behind him and at the 2/3^rd’s mark of the straightaway pulled out to make the pass.  Revetta wouldn’t give it up easy again and held tight against Hayden through the turn but the pass was made.  Huelsman would hang on to the lead and Revetta would take home 2^nd.

At this point we had two classes raced and two classes won with only Velocity’s most experienced driver left to race.  In Masters Huelsman drew the 15^th starting posistion for Heat 1.  Not a great place to start.  As the flag flew, Huelsman pulled out to the inside of the group and started making passes.  Unfortunately there was a new flag man at the track that was standing in the line of Huelsman’s kart.  Huelsman had to lock his breaks up to avoid a collision and was relegated to last palce.  The Heat race was only eight laps and Huelsman was able to make up some positions.  Ultimately he fell to 17^th after the incident and battled back to 11^th. 

In Heat 2 Huelsman started in 4^th position.  During the pace lap he realized he had a flat left rear tire.  The choices at that point was to either pull off the track and finish last or see what happens.  Rather than take the last place finish, he decided to battle the issue.  On straightaways and right turns the kart handled fine.  On left handed turns the kart would push out of the racing line exposing the inside.  Although the kart and motor was fast, the inability to turn left caused Huelsman to finish that heat in 8^th, which isnt too bad considering.

Going into the Main Huelsman was slated to start in 11^th.  As the green flew he held his spot through the first corner.  His kart was fast on the straightaways but still wasn’t great in corners.  As the laps ticked away Huelsman picked off 1 spot at a time.  By the final lap he had made it to 6^th place.  Coming off of the final corner though a kart passed him by an inch or two at the line and relegated Huelsman to a 7^th place finish.  Not the day the he expected.  Huelsman is in a slump this season, not yet winning a race.  He hopes to change that on Saturday night August 5^th.

F100 is Coming to Our House

The next race for Velocity Karting is just 2 weeks away and F100 is coming to our home track.  There is no track that we race more at than Apex in Perris and on July 22 F100 is visiting.  We expect that we will win every class we enter. 

To start, we will enter 4 karts in the FJ1 Comer class.  In this class we have won every race we have ever run in F100.  We dominate this class and we expect to do it again on the 22nd.  Defending Champion Hayden Huelsman will be a favorite at this race, as will Ahkil Bhakta who is a dominate driver at Perris.  Lets not forget Brett Revetta and Bela Richard either as each of them have plenty of laps at this track and have both won at the track.

In FK2 we will have 3 drivers entered with Brian Smith, Bryan Parji and Phillip Ramirez representing the team.  Parji's best race ever was at this track and he is starting to show signs that his first victory will come any day.  Smith has won many races at Perris including a pair of victories in 2017.  The money line would have him as the favorite for this event.  Ramirez has taken some time off this season but will be back in the kart for this race.

Finally in FK1 Masters Stephen Huelsman will be out for a victory.  Huelsman hasn't won a race in 2017 and traditionally will win 5 to 8 per season.  If it wasn't for bad luck he would have no luck this year but he has worked hard and is ready to win at a track that he has won at many times. 

Brett Revetta Race Video

Pacific Association of Karting

Round #5 Race Preview

 

Saturday Night May the 20th Velocity Karting will be racing under the lights at Perris for Round 5 of the PAK racing series.  This is the series that Velocity spends much of their time and efforts in to win.   As a team we have 4 class wins this season at Perris and we plan to add to that number on the 20th.  As usual the entire team should be at this race, but in the F100 class there may be some new drivers joining us.  These drivers aren't officially Velocity team members, but they are guys who we have gotten to know and want to help them get racing.  If all goes well we could have 3 or 4 guys racing for their first time.

Ahkil Bhakta



In Comer A, we will have Hayden Huelsman and Ahkil Bhakta challenging for the win in this always tough division.  The fields haven't been huge this season in the A division but every driver in that class have stood atop the winners podium this year and have many wins under their belts.  Bhakta has been really fast this season, especially at Perris so he would have to be a favorite.  Huelsman hasn't quite been able to keep up with Bhakta at Perris, but his tuner has put together a plan to get him to the front this month.  The A class is always a roll of the dice when picking a winner as on any given race day local drivers may be the only guys to show up or you could have National Cahmpionship drivers in the field. 

Hayden Huelsman





Bela Richard

Comer B will have Bela Richard, coming off of his first win of the season and Brett Revetta.  Velocity Karting owns the Comer B class.  If it wasn't for a little bad luck, Velocity would have 2 more wins in this class already this season.  Both Revetta and Richard have the karts, motors and drivers to win this race and we expect a one, two finish.  It will not be too much longer until these drivers move up to the A division. 



Brett Revetta

Ahkil Bhakta will do double duty again at this event as he also competes in the Mini Swift division.  This is the fastest Jr 1 Division around.  Bhakta has taken to this class like he has been driving it for years.  His win this season came in this division and he is always with the lead pack when he races with this package.  It is a tough class to win, but we believe that Bhakta can do it.

In the F100 division Velocity plans to sweep the podium.  If Robert Melzer shows up, we will have our work cut out for us.  Velocity has not won a Perris race yet this season when he shows up, but Stephen Huelsman, Brian Smith and Bryan Parji have all put in the work necessary to win this class. 

Bryan Parji

In addition, we are hoping to see Phillip Ramirez back in his kart again at this event.  He hasn't been out since taking 2nd place two months ago at Perris.  As mentioned earlier we expect a few rookies to join us on this night and also we may see Joe Sino and Patrick Lonnee from F100karters.  No matter who shows up, it should be a great night of racing.  We look forward to seeing you at the track.

 



F100 Round 2 Race Report

 

Saturday night was the first night race of the season and Velocity had a really good showing.  The fields were large as always so wins are never easy with F100.  Velocity had 6 drivers racing in 3 different classes 4 of which were in the Cadet class.  Velocity is undefeated in the Cadet class in F100 going back 2 seasons.  This night would be no different.

 

With reigning Champion Hayden Huelsman in the field of cadets, all the drivers knew they had their hands full winning the race.  Huelsman also calls Adams his home track and won both races there last season.  Akhil Bhakta would throw down the gauntlet early as he would grab the Pole with a 51.839 over a second faster than Huelsman who ran a 52.954 and Bela Richard who ran a 52.969.  Into the Heat race, Bhakta was forced to the rear of the field due to an equipment change.  This gave Huelsman the Pole.  Huelsman would pick up the pace in the Heat race and lead every lap and improved his time to 52.442.  Bhakta would battle from the rear to finish 2nd with Richard rounding out the top three.  As the flag dropped for the Main Huelsman jumped to the lead through corner one.  He would pull out to a sizable lead by the midway point of the race with Bhakta in 2nd and Richard in 3rd.  Heading into the corner 14, Richard would loop the kart and fall to the rear of the field.  Velocity's Brett Revetta would take advantage of that and move into 3rd place.  The second half of the race was all Bhakta.  His kart would come in and he would lay down the fast lap at 51.653 a half second ahead of Huelsman.  As the laps ticked away Bhakta would cut into Huelsmans lead.  When the white flag would fly Huelsman would only be a kart length in front.  Bhakta would do all he could do but to no avail as Huelsman would take the win.  Bhakta would take 2nd with Revetta rounding out the podium and a sweep for Velocity.  With the win, Huelsman would be the 4th Velocity cadet to win this season.



In the Masters Division Stephen Huelsman was the sole Velocity driver and would have to manage a field 19 drivers deep.  Hueslman won this race last season so hopes were high for him.  In qualifying he would grab the 4th spot with a 48.980 but that was 7/10ths off the Pole Sitter Stu Hayner who ran a 48.243.  As the Heat began, Huelsman would find a good push on the outside as the green flew and move his way into 3rd place.  Although slightly slower than the Top 2 drivers, Huelsman was in what appeared to be a great position going into the Main.  However, you never know what is going to happen in racing and with two laps to go, Huelsman would make a mistake and drop two tires off the track.  This could have led to a crash, but Huelsman kept his composure, held the steering wheel straight and found his way back on the track only giving up two positions in the process.  He would finish the Heat in 5th.  Going to the Main, although sitting 5th, Huelsman thought he could still win the race or at least find the Podium.  Unfortunately it didn't work out.  The green would fly and Huelsman would slot into 5th place.  He would battle for 4th throughout the 1st half of the Main before finally making the pass.  Once he did, he put his head down chasing the leaders who by now were 10 kart lengths in front.  He would cut the lead to about 5 kart lengths but would run out of laps.  He would have to settle for 4th and turn his attention to next months race. 

Probably the most exciting Velocity drive of the day was with Bryan Parji.  Coming off a major crash a week earlier, Parji was in a back up kart provided by the team.  This was a nice Italkart, but a kart that he had never driven.  Practice, Qualifying and the Heat race all went poorly for Parji and he find himself starting the Main in 15th.  As the flag dropped, Parji finally found the handle for the kart and started to make moves.  In the first 3 laps, Parji would move to 12th position where he would stay unitl lap 5.  Over the remaining 9 laps he would gain a position a lap with the exception of two laps where he stayed in his spot.  This would take him from starting 15th to finishing 7th.  By races end, the entire Velocity Team was in the pits cheering him on as we got a chance to watch him bloom as a driver.  Later this month he gets his first shot at Grange.  One of the fastest tracks we race and a chance for him to put the club on notice that he is a contender now.  We look forward to seeing him do just that.

Velocity Karting was competitive in every class we race on this night.  The team work and dedication shown by each driver is starting to pay dividends.  F100 is the club that we want to dominate and although we aren't dominating every class yet, we are getting close.  Grange is in 3 weeks and we expect to win a minimum of two class on that day.       

CHAMPIONS HAVE BEEN CROWNED

Saturday night F100karters crowned their 2017 season Champions and Velocity Karting took an entire podium.  2016 was a great F100 season for the entire Velocity Team, but no class did better for us than the FC1 Comer class.  Hayden Huelsman went undefeated in the class and took home his first career Championship.  

 

He wasn't the only success story for the team though.  Bela Richard had a great season as well and took home the 2nd step of the podium.  Although he didn't earn a win during the 2016 season, he had multiple 2nd place finishes.  None better than the Round 2 race at Grange when he paced Huelsman lap for lap, leading some of them only to make a slight mistake with 2 laps to go and giving Huelsman the edge.

 

Standing on the 3rd step was Akhil Bhakta.  Bhakta didn't enter every race during the season or else he would have been a contender for more than the 3rd step.  In round 6 at Adams, Bhakta led the entire Main event until the 2nd to last lap.  A late pass was made and he had to settle for 2nd place.  Although that was his closest victory, he was a contender every time he hit the track.

 

Congrats to the Velocity Karting Cadet corp of drivers.  It will be nearly impossible to top 2016, but we expect that Velocity will again compete for victory every time they hit the track.  With the addition to Brett Revetta to the team in 2017, the fight for the podium will be that much tighter.      



A Strange Day at the track in Round 4 of PAK

 

Round 4 of the Pacific Association of Karting was a wild day at the track for Velocity Karting this past Sunday.  The results were very good but they could have been so much better.  We did however end up winning two classes and took a podium spot in every class we entered.  The results weren't the issue, it was how we got there and what could have been.

 

Lets start in the Sr division with the F100 class.  Velocity Karting had the 3 fastest karts in the field.  Stephen Huelsman took the Pole, Brian Smith was outside Pole and Brian Parji started third.  Three Velocity drivers in the top three positions.  As the Main began, Parji jumped to a great start from the 3rd position and took the lead in corner 1.  Huelsman fell to 2nd with Smith falling to 4th.  Joe Sino who is not a Velocity driver was considerably faster than days past and slotted into the 3rd position. 

 

Huelsman would follow Parji for the first 6 laps until the craziness started.  Parji took the pit road corner a little quicker than his kart could hold and drove the left side of his kart into the wall.  The resulting crash would knock Parji out of the race and send his kart to welder.  Huelsman would take the lead and it would have appeared that he would drive home to victory.  But like we said craziness was on the agenda.  Around lap 7 Huelsman's kart started to make a large howling sound that continued to get worst.  This sound ended up being a broken header stud which eventually would break off the kart.  With a black flag on lap 9 for Huelsman his night was done.  Smith would find his way around Sino on lap 10 and take home the victory for Velocity.  It was Smiths first win of the season.  Sino would hang on for 2nd and get his best finish of the season.

 

Comer A was a lot less crazy.  Akhil Bhakta qualified 3rd with Hayden Huelsman starting 4th.  A last second carburetor tune on Huelsman's motor would eliminate him from contention before the race started. Upon leaving the pits his kart would not show any power and Huelsman would put around the track for a last place finish.  Bhakta on the other hand would have a great start into turn 1 and take over 2nd right out of the gate.  He would have nothing for the eventual winner Troy Hageman, and have to settle for 2nd.  Wyatt Vidovich who is not a Velocity driver would round out the top three.

 

The craziness continued in the Comer B Division as Brett Revetta took the Pole for Velocity with Bela Richard starting 3rd.  As the race started Revetta would take the lead followed closely by Gavin Decuir (non velocity driver) with Richard in 3rd.  Revetta and Decuir would drive away from Richard and battle noise to tail for half the race.  Decuir would make an aggressive move entering the tracks hairpin on lap 8 and take the lead for a moment.  Revetta from the outside would try to go over/under to take the position back.  They would collide stopping both of them for about 45 seconds.  This would allow Richard to take over the lead.  With a clear track in front of him, Richard would race to his first ever victory while Revetta would have to settle for 5th.

 

Finally Akhil Bhakta would be the teams only entry in the Mini Swift class that had some tight racing.  This class only had 4 entries but the fastest kart was running a 45.1 and the slowest kart was running only 3/10ths off with a 45.4.  Bhakta would have be very competitive in this race running a 45.3 but finishing 3rd.

 

All in all it was a great day of racing for Velocity.  4 classes entered, 2 victories, 1 2nd and 1 3rd.  Next stop is F100 on Saturday night April 29th at Adams.  This race will see the team enter 7 drivers in 3 classes.  Last season at this race Velocity won in both classes they entered so we expect a great day at the track.