Now 4-time champion, Jordon Musser sat on top of the time charts all weekend. The result was a finals win over
the only other birel in the DD2 field.
Impressive Results for Birel Drivers At Rotax Grand Nationals
Two dominating victories and several Top-5 results transfer drivers into World competition.
When it was all said and done at the Champ Car Rotax Kart Challenge Grand Nationals this past weekend, several Birel racers left with a sense of great accomplishment, and a ticket to the Rotax Max World Finals in Portugal. The Grand Nationals, held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI saw 152 drivers competing for only 25 spots, five in each class, for the U.S. team.
In DD2, Jordon Musser became the first 4-time US Rotax Max Champion aboard his HardRadio.com/3Gs Karting/MRP Birel with a flawless weekend. The driver started on pole and overcame a broken shift cable to make his way back to the front in the final to take the victory. Joining him was HardRadio.com/MRP-Birel teammate Justin Melton, a 3-time Rotax Champ in his own right. Melton switched to the Birel for this race and the speed showed as he set the fastest lap of the race and made it a Birel 1-2 finish in the 19-kart field.
The Junior Max class showed a dominating victory of the weekend at the hands of Timmy Megenbier on his MRP Birel. The young driver, who is still the highest finishing American driver in Rotax World competition in 2004, pulled out to a 5-second victory while setting the fastest lap of the race. David Holland took 5th aboard his birel though he ran as high as 2nd for some time to qualify for the World Finals.
With 36 karts, the Rotax Senior class was the largest of the weekend. Joey Collins would steer his MRP Birel to 2nd place to qualify for the Worlds event. Zach Woodford, another birel pilot would run third for the first half of the race before troubles pushed him back. He would soldier on to finish 8th.
The Masters class showed a lot of potential for Birel drivers as 2004 National Champion, Andy Seeseman, Florida Champ, John Brown and Waqar Meyer all were in the hunt for the podium all weekend. Unfortunately the luck ran out for all three drivers as Seeseman and Brown were taken out in separate incidents. For Meyer battled on to finish 5th only to be DQ’d for a violation giving that spot to another Birel driver, Ian Thomas.
Birel had three drivers in the top ten of the MiniMax final, more than any other brand. Steven Kowalski, Vinny Masters and Dore Chaponick finished 7th, 8th and 10th.
“It was a long weekend, but we had great results,” said Tim Lobaugh, MRP-Birel AMERICA Engineer and the first US RotaxMax Champion. “We took more wins and transferred several people onto World Finals competition and we are very happy about that. I can’t thank all of the loyal birel customers that support us enough. Everyone that was here this weekend put so much hard work in to make our products look great.”
Overall, six Birel drivers have qualified to be part of America’s Team for the Rotax Max World Finals to be held in Portugal.
“What a great weekend for all the Birel drivers,” said Marc Miller, Director of Brand Development for MRP Motorsport/Birel. “We showed some dominating performances and more importantly, strong chances for podiums and wins in every class. That says a lot for the versatility of the Birel product line and the hard work and dedication of all of our dealers and customers.”
