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.