Scorching pace in hot climate for US Open qualifying

It’s a very small group of drivers in Rotax Senior this weekend, with only 10 entries. Oregon’s Luke Selliken was a last minute entry but topped the charts by posting a time just 0.03 seconds quicker than NOLA race winner Oliver Askew. Even closer was the gap between Kellen Ritter and Austin Garrison in third and fourth – a mere 0.013 seconds.

Notably, Trenton Estep is absent this weekend, surrendering second in the championship race and moving the focus for the Rotax Grand Finals ticket down to Ritter and Garrison (Askew is already qualified).

The front four in Rotax Micro-Max were separated by only a tenth of a second, with Carson Morgan working closely with New Orleans winner Diego Laroque in the timed session to top the charts over Josh Pierson by 0.059 seconds. Laroque himself was just 0.074 back from polesitter while Branyon Tiner was fourth, 0.103 seconds behind.

From there it was a big gap to fifth as James Egozi and Alex Powell were the other only drivers within a second of the fastest time.

Next up on the order was Rotax Junior, the largest category of the weekend with 29 karts entered. Manuel Sulaiman put down a serious flyer to earn pole position by 0.165 seconds ahead of Ryan MacDermid followed by Hannah Greenemeier and Zoey Edenholm, this trio only 0.012sec apart. Aidan Keel rounded out the top five while championship leader Nick Brueckner was ninth.

It doesn’t appear that Canadian Jeff Kingsley will have any competition issues this weekend as he was more than half a second quicker than his closest competitor in Rotax DD2 qualifying. His closest rival was Alessandro Bizzotto, who is making his US Open season debut, with Dev Gore and Michael McCarthy chasing in third and fourth. Nathan Mauel was the fastest of the DD2 Masters, ranking fifth overall for the New Orleans winner.

Jak Crawford laid down his best time of the session on his opening lap to secure the pole position in Rotax Mini-Max. Jeremy Fairbairn and New Orleans winner Tyler Gonzalez were within two-tenths of Crawford, while Joey Brienza and Aidan Fox rounded out the top-five.

Travelling over from France for his US Open debut, Jeremie Charon just edged out Mike Rolison for pole by 0.029sec in Rotax Max Masters, with championship leader Billy Cleavelin third, only 0.084 seconds off.

Like round one in New Orleans, the two Shifter categories are competing together this weekend and it was newcomer Kyle Kirkwood who is showing the way. Tyler Bennett and Nick Neri were close in qualifying to rank second and third with Sabre Cook and Alex Yates rounding out the top-five. Ryan Kinnear was the quickest of the Shifter Masters, ranking ninth overall.