Hebner wins at Buttonwillow

Grant Hebner won the International Karting Federation main event race in the Touch and Go class April 2 at Buttonwillow.

The 16-year-old Fallbrook driver inherited the lead with five laps remaining in the 18-lap race. He won by a margin of 1.276 seconds and also posted the fastest lap time for the class.

The race completed a Spring Break which included seven days of racing or practicing at four different tracks in nine days. Hebner practiced at the Moran Raceway karting facility March 25 and then raced a Golden State Gatorz Cup kart race March 26 at The Streets of Willow Springs. March 27 was a travel day, and from March 28 through March 30 Hebner made the switch from karts to cars for a three-day course at the ESPN Russell Racing School where Hebner raced Formula Mitsubishi and Formula Mazda vehicles.

“It was an excellent racing school, and you learn a lot,” Hebner remarked. “They teach you a lot of useful information.”

March 31 was a travel day; the Hebner family arrived in Buttonwillow that night where engineer Travis Irving had the kart ready for Hebner.

The transition from racecar to racing kart was no problem for Hebner. “I don’t think I had to get used to it. It was the same as it always has been,” he said of returning to the kart.

April 1 was a practice day at Buttonwillow, and April 2 included the qualifying, heat races, and main events. Hebner also competed in the HPV-3, or 100 cc dry clutch, class, although he finished 13th in that main event. He qualified third in the Touch and Go class, which runs 125 cc water-cooled engines with a dry clutch and an electric start, after posting a qualifying lap of 50.917 seconds on the 7/10-mile road course.

The top three TAG drivers all qualified within just over 1/10 of a second of each other. The fast qualifying time was 50.807 seconds while the second-place qualifier posted a lap of 50.808 seconds.

Hebner began the 12-lap heat race on the second row, although on the first lap two drivers passed him on the outside and he fell back to fifth. “I worked my way back up to third,” he noted.

His third-place heat race finish put him on the second row to start the main event, and after the first corner he was in second place. Joey Barros soon passed both Hebner and leader Cory Pollock to take the lead and return Hebner to the third position.

Pollock, who lives in Murrieta, is a long-time friend of Hebner. “When I first started racing, we raced together every weekend,” Hebner said. “I really like racing with him, and I respect him a lot and he respects me a lot.”

That respect resulted in clean racing, although Hebner was close behind Pollock. “I was right behind him,” Hebner noted. “I just got behind him waiting to make a mistake, and he did.”

Pollock’s mistake on the 11th lap put Hebner into second. “I pulled away just a little bit,” Hebner said.

With five laps remaining, the side pod of Barros’ kart fell off and he received a black flag to send him into the pits. That put Hebner into the lead. After taking the lead, Hebner posted a lap of 50.272 seconds for lap 14, which would turn out to be the fastest lap of any driver in the main event.

Hebner defeated Pollock by 1.276 seconds. He finished 4 1/2 seconds ahead of the third-place driver and 15 seconds in front of the fourth place finisher.

The Buttonwillow race was his third IKF race of the year in the TAG class and his second win. Hebner won the February 5 main event at the California Speedway Karting Facility in Fontana, and he started the Moran Raceway main event March 5 on the pole and led the entire race until a chain broke on the last turn of the final lap.