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Mini M
PSL West Mini Max Saturday Report
Issues rose early in the qualifying session for championship contend-
ers Marco Kacic (PSL) and Payton Durrant. Kacic’s battery would not
turn over his Rotax engine, while Durrant (Tony Kart) snapped his brake
rotor in half on the opening circuit. In true sportsmanship, Durrant took
off his battery and provided it for Kacic. On track, Mini Max rookie
Jak Crawford (Tony Kart) gain the five bonus points toward the cham-
pionship chase with fast lap in the session – a 54.285-second lap.
Local driver Grant Langon (PSL) was second quickest, with champi-
onship contender Sebastian Alvarez (PSL) in third. Austin Torgerson
(Tony Kart) and Round One winner Griffin Dowler (Kosmic) made up
the fast five.
The front row drivers slid wide at the start of the Prefinal, and that
was all Alvarez needed to score the race win. Both Crawford and Lan-
gon went wide, and Alvarez slid inside and bolted out into the lead.
A large group fought for second behind him the entire 13-lap event,
with Alvarez scoring the win by just under a half-second. Langon won
the fight with Filip Niemkiewicz (Zanardi) up to third after starting
seventh. Torgerson ran fourth with Payton Durrant coming all the way
up from 18th to fifth, just ahead of Crawford.
What could have been a three driver fight for the win, ending up on
the lap of Durrant in the final two laps as the Koene USA driver scored
his second victory of the season. The PSL West drivers of Langon and
Alvarez ran up front with five drivers making up the lead group. Craw-
ford moved himself into third and the top three pulled away from the
rest of the drivers. They ran consistent, but fast laps by Durrant once he
was alone in fourth kept them looking back. When they began mixing
it up for the lead, as Crawford attempted to break up the CRG duo,
that brought in Durrant. More fighting continued and with two laps
remaining, Crawford and Alvarez got together. Langon was caught
up and went the wrong direction, while Durrant shot around the other
side to take over the lead. Clear on the final circuit, Durrant took his
second straight victory. More contact on the final lap in the same turn
10 as the previous circuit sent Crawford off in the grass as Alvarez
fell to fifth. That allowed Torgerson to slide through for second with
Langon edging Hannah Greenemeier (Kosmic) for third at the line.
Alvarez was given a 10-second penalty for his contact with Crawford,
moving Niemkiewicz to fifth.
Payton
Durrant