Hebner wraps up IKF Region 7 championship

Grant Hebner sealed the International Karting Federation’s Region 7 Touch and Go (TAG) Class championship September 9 with a second-place finish in the main event at Willow Springs.

The second-place showing September 9 was Hebner’s fifth podium finish in six Region 7 races. Three of those races — two at the Calspeed Kart Track in Fontana and one at Beaumont’s Moran Raceway — were winning efforts for Hebner.

“A championship is a great thing to have,” Hebner said.

Hebner had won other karting championships but had not previously won an IKF season championship. Clinching the championship with one race remaining allows Hebner, a 2006 Fallbrook High School graduate who is now enrolled at Cal State University San Marcos, to miss the final IKF Region 7 race due to college activity. His next race will be the Supernationals in Las Vegas October 19-21.

Hebner practiced at Willow Springs September 8 and had the fourth-fastest time during the September 9 qualifying session. “It wasn’t that disappointing,” he said of his fourth-place time.

Hebner explained that several top karting drivers participated at Willow Springs. “A lot of people showed up,” he said.

“There was a lot of quality,” Hebner said. “Fourth wasn’t that bad because the people who qualified ahead of me, I know they’re good drivers.”

Hebner was also without his usual engineer, Travis Irving. Hebner’s only crew member at Willow Springs was his father, Bryant. “It was kind of a cool thing to have my dad there again,” Grant Hebner said.

His qualifying position gave Hebner a second-row start in the 12-lap heat race, and he finished second. “I was catching the leader, but there just weren’t enough laps left,” he said.

Hebner started the 18-lap main event on the outside front row but lost a couple of positions on the start when he had nowhere to advance. “It was just a bad start,” he said. “I had to work my way back up.”

He returned to the second position and was catching up with the leader. “I just didn’t have enough power to pass him anywhere, so it was kind of a frustrating race,” Hebner said.

Hebner noted that he lost ground on the straightaways. “We had a good go-kart and everything,” he said. “It just didn’t have enough.”

Hebner was hoping to clinch the championship with a victory. “It was a bit of a disappointment that I didn’t win,” he said.

On the other hand, the winner was not in contention for the championship. “I knew that if I got second I’d win the championship,” Hebner said. “I didn’t want to risk being too aggressive.”

Hebner doesn’t plan to return to the IKF series in 2007. If he gets the necessary sponsorship he will run the F2000 automobile racing series. If that financial support does not materialize he will return to the Stars of Karting series.

Hebner notes that a track championship proves to sponsors that a driver can be a steady finisher on different tracks. “People can see that you can perform anywhere you go,” he said.

Hebner’s karting career began as a spectator at the La Jolla Amago track. In December 2000 Bryant Hebner bought a kart for his son as a Christmas present. Grant Hebner practiced in 2001 and attended the Junior Driving School that year but did not race.

In 2002 Hebner began his racing career with a limited schedule in Go Karting, IKF, and San Diego Karting Association races. Despite missing four of the 15 races, he finished second in the San Diego Karting Association’s HPV2 100 cc junior class. He also drove in local karting races at Amago, Perris, and Cajon Speedway, and his final 15 races of 2002 included five wins, six second-place finishes, and two third-place results.

The 2003 season was Hebner’s first full year in karting. He won the Apex 2002/03 winter series championship in Perris and won all seven Go Karting races to win the championship. He missed two of the eight IKF races, but he also won the California Junior State Championship at Perris in 2003. Hebner began racing in the Stars of Tomorrow series, which is now called Stars of Karting, in 2004.

In 2005 Hebner finished third in the IKF Region 7 standings. He also finished fifth nationally in the Stars of Karting series last year.

Hebner’s IKF racing is sponsored by Dopamine Clothing, Douglas Wheels, Fallbrook Auto Gallery, Go Karting, and Grand Products, which is the distributor of the TopKart chassis Hebner uses.