Success in Shawano, WI and Cascade Locks, OR

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July 25, 2005:

Saturday

David Jurca, Tyler Dueck and members from the Italian Motors Karting team traveled to Shawano, Wisconsin to compete in the Eastern Snap on Stars of karting event over the weekend. After taking two victories a second and a third at the last Stars West round in the ICA category, the team decided to travel to Shawano since there would be a long layoff in August.

On Saturday in quick succession, Steve Welk (Merlin) took the top spot with a 1:00.000 before David Jurca (aboard his Italkart Supersonic) came calling, crossing the line with the first sub 60-second lap of the day. Throwing his hat into the ring was Johnny Johnson (Kosmic), who closed on Jurca’s time with a 59.850. Jurca responded however with a series of 59-second laps, culminating in a pole-winning 59.613 run which was amazingly only 3-tenths off the pole in ICC. Welk maintained his position with a third, ahead of Jurca’s Italian Motors teammate Tyler Dueck (Italkart).

Just as the qualifying session was a wild ride, the ICA Prefinal was equally exciting. Jurca (Italkart) grabbed the early lead, and after a bit of dicing behind him involving Welk, Johnny Johnson (Kosmic) and Joey King (Margay), things settled down with Jurca building a big lead. Welk dropped out with a stuck motor while the battle for fifth was raging between Dueck and Tony Loniewski (Birel). On the back part of the track, Dueck went inside but Loniewski held tight. The two ran side-by-side to the final turn where contact sent Dueck off track forcing him to retire 2 laps later.

Holding to the previous sessions, the ICA Final was a barn burner in the wet. Jurca led off the line with Larson putting big pressure on the Italkart early in the race. Eventually, Larson would fall back, but moving up to keep the heat on the leader was Phil Giebler (Intrepid). After failing to finish the final, Dueck put in the most impressive drive of the year coming from twenty-fourth in the pre-final to fourth., a brilliant run for the IM driver to say the least.

Giebler moved to second and began pressuring the leader. He made his last corner move before the white flew but was wide on exit and Jurca retook the lead. On the last turn of the final lap, Giebler tried again but was unable to make the move. Jurca took his third Stars ICA win piloting his Italkart Supersonic/Italian Motors TM with Giebler in second.

Sunday

The higher temperatures and humidity may have led to overall slower times, but it was all relative as everyone faced the same track conditions. Heading out late in qualifying were Italian Motors’ drivers David Jurca and Tyler Dueck. Running in tandem, they rolled forward and up the time chart. On his first flying lap, Jurca jumped to the top of the order and on his second set his fastest time at 1:00.433. At the time, Jurca’s pace was an impressive 0.6 seconds clear of Johnny Johnson (Kosmic) in second. Johnson woudl manage to close the gap but had to settle for second. Qualifying third was Italian Motors Dueck (Italkart) and joining him on the second row was Caleb Loniewski (Margay).

Off the line in the Prefinal, Jurca put his Italkart into the lead. Johnson followed him through despite aggressive moves by Dueck. Jurca proceeded to build a good lead, winning the pre-final, while Dueck fell back and eventually finished ninth.

When the field took the green to start the final, Jurca exploded out of the blocks to take over the top spot, pulling away by ten kart lengths over the opening laps. Johnson jumped quickly to second while Joey King (Margay) assumed the third spot with Giebler on his bumper. King would be quickly helped off the track, rejoining in seventh, advancing Giebler to third. The Intrepid driver however, would not last there, as he retired just two laps later with a brakeing problem, bringing Welk up to third where he would begin an unsuccessful battle with Dueck for third. Jurca looked strong but the day belonged to Johnson, as he moved by the Italkart driver by the halfway point to assume the lead. Jurca remained in hot pursuit but had nothing for the new leader and would have to settle for second as Johnson scored his second main event win of the year. Dueck would take third while Welk finished up in fourth.

Watch for the Shawano, WI event on the outdoor network in September and on Speed Channel in November.

Cascade Street Race

David Jurca Clinched the Cascade Street race aboard his Italkart/Leopard package in Portland, Oregon.