Phillip Arscott
Holeshot Driver Systems Senior Max Sunday Report
Matt Johnson (ART GP) was the provisional pole position holder after the first session
for the Senior Max category, looking to stay within the top-10 of the final order after
the second group hit the track. Just three laps into the second group, drivers began
bettering the time, with a host of drivers shuffling the top spot. eKartingNews.com TaG
Driver Rankings #1 driver Louie Pagano was the top pilot early on, putting his Sodi Kart
in the provisional top spot. Drivers hit the pit lane after the halfway point, but no one
toward the top of the order were able to better the time set previously. Pagano’s time of
51.054 held on to the very end, edging out Jake Craig (Tony Kart) by 16 thousandths
of a second. Senior rookie Jim McKinney (Tony Kart) was just a few hundredths off in
third. Joe Criscione (FA Kart) had his best Challenge qualifying effort in fourth with
defending champ Phillip Arscott (Kosmic) placing fifth. Saturday winner Phil DeLaO
(Arrow) could only muster an 11th place in the session, leaving work to be done mov-
ing forward on the day. An amazing stat after the session was the fact that the top 24
drivers were within a half second of each other, showing the true competitiveness of the
Challenge in 2014.
It was a clean start for the Senior Max prefinal event, aside from about six drivers
getting mixed up in the opening corner. Pagano and Craig got away with Arscott up
to third over McKinney with Criscione fifth. Craig would eventually take over the lead,
with Pagano dropping back all the way to the fourth spot by lap three. By that time,
Johnson had worked his way to the fifth position, working around Criscione. He would
post the fast laps of the race to close up on the front four. McKinney tried a move on Ar-
scott on lap 15, and that allowed both Pagano and Johnson to move past for position.
At the end of the straight, Johnson took over the third spot from Pagano. They would fin-
ish that way with Craig holding a three tenths advantage over Arscott. Johnson, Pagano
and McKinney completed the top five with Criscione pressuring at the end. DeLaO was
able to climb up to seventh, putting him in position to challenge in the main event.
The start was not as clean as we’ve seen throughout the weekend, with drivers get-
ting shuffled off, including Pagano and McKinney, as they both dropped to outside
the top-20. Out front, Johnson used the inside row two position to secure the lead on
the opening lap ahead of Arscott with Craig falling to fifth behind DeLaO and Senior
rookie Blaine Rocha (Kosmic). Lap three, both Arscott and Craig moved past Johnson
for position, with Craig leading as they completed the circuit. As they measured each
other up, the top eight ran together. Johnson moved into the second spot, and helped to
push he and Craig away from the fight for third with Arscott fighting off DeLaO and Ale-
jandro Fernandez (Energy). Johnson would push until lap 13 when he took over the top
spot from Craig in turn one, putting the 2 Wild Karting driver in the runner-up spot. They
ran that way until the final circuit, when Johnson began a defensive line. Craig found
just enough space in turn five, with a little contact, and moved into the lead. Arscott
was able to slide past for second, as Johnson ran wide. No attempts were made in the
final corners, with Craig scoring his first Challenge victory in Senior Max. Arscott and
Johnson completed the podium with Senior Max rookie Luke Selliken (Kosmic) coming
through with a solid end to the weekend in fourth, moving past DeLaO in the late stages
of the race, with RPG teammate Rocha in sixth. Pagano was able to move up to the 15th
position with McKinney pulling off early with a broken rear bumper.
Sr. Max
