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Jr. Max
Rolison Performance Group Junior Max
Saturday Report
Two groups made up the Junior Max qualifying session, as
the 23-drivers were split down the middle after the final practice
session on Friday. The opening group saw Mason Cohen (OTK)
set the provisional pole position with a 52.542-lap. The second
group was where the quick drivers were, with Nick Brueckner
setting the tone early. The Orsolon Racing driver posted a lap
more than a half-second quicker than the time he laid down in
the final session on Friday. Sting Ray Robb (Tony Kart) was the
fastest in that session, and was able to get behind a big group
of drivers after making some changes, and was able to eclipse
Brueckner’s time, putting them as the only drivers into the 51-sec-
ond range. Three minutes remaining, Brueckner was able to find
clean track and moved back into the pole position aboard his
Tony Kart. The Texan was able to go even quicker on the final
lap to secure the pole position with a 51.840-second lap. Robb
was off by just 76 thousandths of a second. Kellen Ritter put two
BBR Karting drivers into the top-three, as the Canadian was third
in the session on his Tony Kart. Junior rookie Trey Brown (Tony
Kart) was fourth in his first qualifying session on the full size kart
with David Rafailov (Kosmic) rounding out the fast five.
The start to the Prefinal was clean in the first half of the field with karts spinning in the second half. Everyone continued on their
own power, with Brueckner and Robb pulling away out front. Early on, Robb challenged for the lead, but was never able to take
over the spot. Brueckner eventually pulled away to a one-second advantage after 17 laps. Ritter and Brown held their positions
with David Ilavia (CompKart) up from eighth to fifth, with a group of drivers fighting for sixth.
Brueckner retained the lead at the start of the 25-lap event with Robb tucked in. He brought Ritter with him on the second lap,
moving past Brueckner. By the end of the lap, the Orsolon Racing driver was back into second but Robb had extended a good
lead. The top two were able to pull away from Ritter, with Brueckner inching his way closer to Robb. On lap 20, Brueckner was
right on the bumper of Robb, and attempted a pass but saw the door shut. It put Nick back six tenths, giving Robb enough real
estate to drive to the victory. Brueckner landed the second spot on the podium with Ritter an impressive third for his first podium
at the Challenge. The fight for fourth went down to the wire with Ilavia scoring the position ahead of Brown.