Castaneda Takes Win in Most Exciting Race this Season

Sacramento native, Troy Castaneda, took his 6th win of the season in one of the most exciting races this year in Sonoma, CA at Infineon Raceway.

Troy qualified his ’06 CRG DD2 .048 seconds off of pole position. Starting on the outside of turn one for the pre-final, Castaneda made a decent start, but was forced to slot into 3rd position coming out of the corner as a fast moving inside row got ahead. Quickly overtaking second place, Troy was hot on the bumper of the leader. Troy got a run out of turn one heading into a tight hairpin and made the move. They were side by side entering the corner and at mid corner Castaneda had the position. Unfortunately the other driver tried to close the door a little late and their tires made contact lifting Troy’s kart in the air bending his axle. The ensuing result was a DNF for both drivers.

“It was really weird. By mid-corner I had the position and I began to accelerate out of the corner, but for some reason he turned right down on to me and our tires made contact,” explained TC. “It’s really unfortunate because the kart felt great, but we still have the final so I’m very much looking forward to that!”

Starting 7th in the 18 lap main, Troy was not going to let the incident distract him. By lap 7, TC was in the lead and stormed away from the field setting the fastest lap of the race and of the weekend in the process.

“That was a great race! Everybody was battling really hard and clean,” said Castaneda. “The kart and motor felt pretty strong and I knew that I had a package that could take me to the front. I just put my head down, played it smart and worked my way through. I’d like to give special thanks to Diego Valverde for working with me this weekend as he always works hard and helped me take the win!”

TC is supported by April Phillips Design Works (www.apdw.com), Marin Karting (www.marinkarting.com), Mtrsprt.com (www.mtrsprt.com) and De Anza Services (www.deanzaservices.com).