Radical racers were greeted by sunny skies and a dry track Saturday morning as they took the first green flag of the season. For the first wheel-to-wheel action of 2023, Jon Field (ONE Motorsports) led the Platinum class to the green flag at NOLA Motorsports Park while Danny Dyszelski (WISKO Racing) was the pole position winner in PRO 1500 ranks. Jace Bacon (Crown with Apex) looked to convert his PRO 1340 pole position into a race win and keep his father Seth behind him.
It was a clean start and a long run down to the first corner as Field handily maintained his position at the front as all pole position winners from Saturday held station. It was Dyszelski who made some quick moves around the slower Platinum class drivers to slot into the fourth position overall, first in class. Field had stretched his gap to nearly 2s by the end of lap five with Alan Miller (ONE Motorsports) and Louis Schriber (RYNO Racing) engaged in a battle for the second position.
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A pair of caution periods slowed the race but when the green flag was in the air again, wheel-to-wheel battles were intense throughout the field. Young guns Dyszelski and Nick Persing (Cameron Racing) had an epic battle for the win in PRO 1500 with Dyszelski leading early before Persing took the point on a restart. Dyszelski would not be outdone getting back to the lead before the caution flag flew late in the race for a pair of cars — Robert Soroka (RySpec) and Jack Yang (Group-A Racing) — which made contact and spun off course after battling Aurora Straus for a top-five result in the PRO 1500 ranks.
Young Bacon led the Pro 1340 class early but an issue late in the race relegated him back to the fourth position despite scoring the fastest lap of the race.
The Bacon family still had reasons to celebrate. Despite Jack not finishing at the front, it opened the door for his father Seth who earned the PRO 1340 race win.
As the late race caution slowed the field once again, the race finished behind the pace car with Field taking the first Platinum class race win of the season ahead of Schriber and Alan Miller while Wayne Williams (Esses Racing), in his Radical Cup debut, crossed the line fourth ahead of Alain Derzie (ONE Motorsports) in fifth. Dyszelski reigned supreme in the PRO 1500 class climbing to the top step of the podium with Persing and Gregg Gorski (ONE Motorsports) joining him in second and third. Radical Brand Ambassador and ONE Motorsports driver Straus finished fourth ahead of 2022 PRO 1340 Vice-Champion Mike Anzaldi (RYNO Racing). Seth Bacon scored the first race win of the season with Ken Savage and Kevin Poitras celebrating with him on the podium in PRO 1340.
After caution periods slowed the field in race one, race two was run from start to finish under green, but not before some drama leaving the pits. Platinum driver Miller broke an axle and was unable to make the start which opened the door for drivers behind him. The ONE Motorsports team went to work and replaced the axle allowing Miller to rejoin the race and only lose one lap on his way to a fourth-place result. At the start, Schriber got a jump on Field while in the PRO 1340 class while Jace Bacon was hit from behind and forced to pit early. Dyszelski continued where he left off in the PRO 1500 race one as he shot out to the lead and never looked back.
In the Platinum class, it was Field and Schriber who battled tooth and nail all race long and without the assistance of a caution period, both drivers had to push 100 percent of the time. In a back-and-forth seesaw battle, it was Field that came out on top for his second win on the day. Schriber finished just over 0.6s of a second behind him while Derzie had a great push to third to celebrate on the podium for the first time in 2023.
Just as Field did in the Platinum class, it was Dyszelski who doubled up on race wins in the Pro 1500 ranks as a dominating performance saw him score the race two win by a commanding 22.883s. It was Gorski that was the best of the rest as P2-P4 finished within 0.6s behind the leader. Persing, in third, scored his second podium result of the day. Canadian Robert Soroka recovered from a difficult race one to finish fourth, 0.033s behind Persing and ahead of fellow Canadian and reigning PRO 1340 Champion Austin Riley (Racing With Autism).
With Jace Bacon to the pits on the opening lap, Seth Bacon gave way to Ken Savage at the point as it was a spaced-out PRO 1340 battle. En route to the race win, Savage scored the race’s fastest lap by 0.005s over the second-place finisher and race one winner Seth Bacon, who celebrated on the podium for the second time on the day with the third-place finisher Poitras.
With the day’s on track activity complete, Radical teams and racers went to work to prep their equipment for the third and final race of the weekend on Sunday morning from 9:35-10:25 a.m.
Follow along via Live Time here. Qualifying and wheel-to-wheel races will be Live Streamed here.
Be sure to stay tuned to the Blue Marble Radical Cup social media pages for news, information, photos, and results from the 2023 season.
Blue Marble Radical Cup events are open to all local and regional Radical racers with eligible cars. More information, including links to register for events and obtain licensing, can be found at www.radicalmotorsport.com.