By Rob Howden (www.indoorkartingnews.com)

 

Nov 8, 2009 - This year’s U.S. Indoor Kart Championship SuperFinal was all that everyone could have ever expected. Heading into the main, the point totals at the top of the standings were tight and the primary combatants had all put themselves in the position to win. At the end of the 90-minute SuperFinal, Dromo 1’s Jon Kimbrell emerged as the star of the show, completing a stellar weekend of competition by steering his kart to second place in the race, securing the championship in the process. F1 Race Factory’s Truman Godfrey won his second straight USIKC SuperFinal and would finish in the runner-up overall position, just one point ahead of ’08 US Champion Mike Smith (Apex Karting), who waged a valiant effort with a tough kart pick to come up just short in his bid to defend the title.

Despite the fact that the SuperFinal was certainly in the minds of many at the beginning of the day, there were still three one-hour enduros to put in the books before we would have a field set for the main event. The F1 Race Factory crew completed the track re-configuration in the morning, opening up the layout to the full GP track. These enduros would feature 20 drivers in each race and they would also be the most important events of the weekend thus far. For those close to the final transfer position, it was all or nothing. During the down time between the end of the last enduro and the start of the SuperFinal, the tension was palpable. The tie breaker for the final 20th transfer position into the SuperFinal had obviously disappointed the three drivers who did not make in it by tie-breaker, but for Aaron Downs, who took the final position, it was a bright light after a tough run in his enduro. Once the field was set and everyone had come to grips with the reality of it all, it was time to go racing and everyone lined up trackside to enjoy the action.

Prior to qualifying for the 90-minute test, Mike Smith made a calculated but risky move to swap karts, unhappy with the number that he drew from the bag. It was a risk, but a bad kart in the SuperFinal can easily be the death knell for any championship aspirations. In qualifying, Kimbrell was provided the best news when he rocketed around the GP track to take the pole, putting him in the strongest position to take the title. The points saw Smith in the lead, and Kimbrell tied with Kellerman just one point back. Godfrey was five points behind Smith, so he would need a little magic if he wanted to take the top step of the podium. Kimbrell would take the pole position ahead of Godfrey and Grimm to begin the fight. Smith would struggle in 16th, definitely not what he wanted to see from his swap, while for the second straight year, Kellerman would come up on the short end of the kart pick, drawing a ride that he could not push to the front.

When the race got underway, Kimbrell bolted out from the pole position to lead the early laps, but it became very apparent that Godfrey was the driver to beat in the SuperFinal once again. Godfrey quickly reeled in Kimbrell and took over the top spot, walking away for the remainder of the race to score his second straight win in the USIKC’s main event. However, just as things played out last year, it would not be enough for the veteran frontrunner as Kimbrell was in the power position. With Smith charging from the tail of the field and Kimbrell in a strong kart, he need only remain in second place, always keeping track of where Smith was in his attack on the front of the field. For his part, Smith pushed hard, steering what was obviously not the kart he needed. Saddled with a kart that had a stuck throttle, working the brake to manage speed, Smith pushed very hard, driving with the aggression that should be expected in a national championship finale, Smith somehow worked his way into the top-six, coming up short in his bid to defend the title. Godfrey would win by a large margin over Kimbrell, who secured the championship by just two points over the race winner. In the final standings, Smith would finish just one point behind Godfrey in third. On-track, Wallace would come home in third, running alone on the track. The fight for fourth was between Tanner and Downs, with the former taking the position. Downs finished up fifth overall, quite a ways ahead of Smith.

It was an amazing weekend for Kimbrell, and if there were a point in the event where he stepped up, it would have been the second heat race on Friday. After drawing a kart that many deemed to be a dog, Kimbrell showed his true mettle, muscling the rock up to second at the end of the 70-lap contest. When challenged with a kart others believed to be bad, he did not complain, he just delivered. And that’s the mark of a true champion.

And that’s exactly what he is. Jon Kimbrell – the 2009 U.S. Indoor Kart National Champion.

U.S. Indoor Karting Championship
Final Points
November 6-8, 2009
F1 Race Factory - Phoenix, Ariz.

Pos.	Driver	Home Track	Day 1 Pts	Day 2 Pts	Day 3 Pts		Total Points
1	Jon Kimbrell	Dromo 1	49	49	48		146
2	Truman Godfrey	F1 Race Factory	45	50	49		144
3	Mike Smith	Apex Karting	52	45	46		143
4	Ben Wallace	Apex Karting	42	46	49		137
5	Jordan Pembleton	Victory Lane Karting	50	46	39		135
6	Adam Kellerman	Sykart Indoor	48	51	35		134
7	Dan Burke	Victory Lane Karting	46	46	39		131
8	Fred Ogrim	Victory Lane Karting	48	49	33		130
9	Mike Robertson	F1 Race Factory	49	51	29		129
10	Joey Tanner	Sykart Indoor Racing Center	38	46	45		129
11	Austin Kipp	F1 Race Factory	39	43	42		124
12	Cody Robnett	Victory Lane Karting	44	39	40		123
13	Blake Ledesma	Dromo 1	44	40	35		119
14	Miles Calvin	Dromo 1	45	38	33		116
15	Aaron Downs	Dromo 1	40	43	33		116
16	Scott Gaarde	Sykart Indoor Racing Center	46	41	28		115
17	Mike Grimm	Velocity Indoor Karing	42	33	39		114
18	Jerott King	Race Place Motorsports	38	42	31		111
19	Mike Kai	Dromo 1	36	50	24		110
20	Kevin Bligan	Lehigh Valley Grand Prix	37	36	37		110
21	Logan Calvin	Dromo 1	39	43	13		95
22	Jeff Saiani	Dromo 1	42	33	20		95
23	David Fox	Sykart Indoor Racing Center	40	34	21		95
24	Diego Morales	Dromo 1	35	37	22		94
25	Garron Selliken	Sykart Indoor Racing Center	33	40	19		92
26	Steve Lattanzi	F1 Race Factory	42	37	12		91
27	Chad Arndt	Velocity Indoor Karing	36	36	18		90
28	Randy Bell	Apex Karting	35	42	12		89
29	Tony Rolfson	F1 Race Factory	33	38	18		89
30	Jay Schreiber	Dromo 1	41	32	15		88
31	Jessi Dana	Apex Karting	36	36	16		88
32	Ryan Gleeson	Victory Lane Karting	39	36	13		88
33	Rob Holubar	Velocity Indoor Karing	33	40	14		87
34	David Messimer	Dromo 1	36	38	12		86
35	Anthony Razo	Dromo 1	36	36	14		86
36	Patrick Britain	Dromo 1	28	39	18		85
37	Andrew Von Fange	Victory Lane Karting	34	36	15		85
38	Eddie Pardo	Xtreme Indoor Karting	36	33	15		84
39	Mike Davila	F1 Race Factory	34	29	20		83
40	Hans Soneson	Victory Lane Karting	37	31	14		82
41	Sergio Bravo	Dromo 1	35	29	17		81
42	Andrew Hopwood	Victory Lane Karting	34	29	17		80
43	Joe Carter	Velocity Indoor Karing	35	31	12		78
44	Bily Tallichet	Dromo 1	32	29	16		77
45	Keith Sears	F1 Race Factory	34	30	12		76
46	James Jasperson	Sykart Indoor Racing Center	26	37	12		75
47	Jean Hoy	Xtreme Indoor Karting	31	31	12		74
48	Mitch Milnar	Sykart Indoor Racing Center	36	25	12		73
49	Taylor Hays	Dromo 1	29	32	12		73
50	Luis Arrieta	Dromo 1	31	30	12		73
51	Andy Wolverton	Velocity Indoor Karing	31	30	12		73
52	Pete Liwanag	Dromo 1	24	32	13		69
53	Dennis Kimbrell	Dromo 1	27	29	12		68
54	Jameel Nassar	Victory Lane Karting	27	26	12		65
55	Oliver Widger	Sykart Indoor Racing Center	25	25	12		62
56	Larry Isenhower	Victory Lane Karting	25	24	12		61
57	Derek Leibert	Velocity Indoor Karing	24	24	12		60
58	Joshua Teegarden	Sadler's Indoor Racing	30	25	0		55
59	Kenneth Robinson	N/A	24	24	0		48
60	Khalifa Al-Asiri	N/A	24	0	0		24