December 6, 2007
Italkart Dominates World Class Event
Aboard his Italkart Supersonic V, Michael Valiante withstood the pressure from Buddy Rice and the impressive charge of Gary Carlton to capture Friday night's Snap-On All-Stars Karting Classic.
Starting from the outside of Row 1 next to pole-sitter Nelson Philippe, Valiante led all 50 laps around the tight, twisting course erected outside the Convention Center and, after fighting off Rice for the first 25 laps, cruised to an easy win.
It was a good night for Valiante
and his Italkart Parilla package, the former Toyota
Atlantic star who never got a shot in CART but is now with 
Wayne
Taylor's Grand Am team. He'd loaned
his kart to a younger competitor for the Stars of Tomorrow feature and
it promptly got badly damaged. A quick thrash to repair the suspension
had Valiante on the grid and he did the rest.
"I wasn't sure what to expect because my Italkart was pretty beat up but my guys did a great job of putting it back together and it was a dream to drive," he said.
| 1. | 95 | Michael Valiante | Italian Motors USA-Italkart | Italkart/Parilla | 50 | - | 14.503 |
| 2. | 151 | Gary Carlton | SSC East | CRG/Rotax | 50 | - | 14.571 |
| 3. | 1 | Buddy Rice | Tony Kart USA | Tony Kart/Rok TT | 50 | 4.130 | 14.477 |
| 4. | 84 | AJ Allmendinger | SSC East | CRG/Rotax | 50 | 6.392 | 14.585 |
| 5. | 6 | Tyler Dueck | Champion Racing-Intrepid | Intrepid/Parilla | 50 | 7.992 | 14.449 |
| 6. | 26 | Jamie McMurray | SSC East | CRG/Rotax | 50 | 8.288 | 14.449 |
| 7. | 39 | Christian Fitipaldi | Champion Racing-Intrepid | Intrepid/Parilla | 50 | 9.508 | 14.546 |
| 8. | 14 | Joel Miller | Tony Kart USA | Tony Kart/Rok TT | 50 | 11.996 | 14.516 |
| 9. | 29 | Phil Giebler | Team Sparco USA | Sodi Kart/Parilla | 50 | 12.827 | 14.532 |
| 10. | 401 | Josef Newgarden | SSC East | Zanardi/Parilla | 50 | 13.130 | 14.550 |
| 11. | 7 | Bryan Herta | Team Top Kart USA | Top Kart/Parilla | 50 | 13.918 | 14.626 |
| 12. | 13 | Heath Voss | Franklin Motorsports | Merlin/Parilla | 48 | 2 Laps | 14.823 |
| 13. | 8 | Nelson Phillippe | SSC East | CRG/Rotax | 47 | 3 Laps | 14.488 |
| 14. | 459 | Ron Capps | Motorama Kart Part-Birel | Birel/Parilla | 47 | 3 Laps | 14.855 |
| 15. | 1 | Matt Jaskol | Team Top Kart USA | Top Kart/Parilla | 46 | 4 Laps | 14.452 |
| 16. | 92 | David Jurca | Italian Motors | Italkart/Parilla | 45 | 5 Laps | 14.536 |
| 17. | 11 | Jan Heylen | MRP-Birel America | Birel/Parilla | 43 | 7 Laps | 14.475 |
| 18. | 26X | Marco Andretti | Team Top Kart USA | Top Kart/Parilla | 14 | 36 Laps | 14.751 |
| 19. | 3 | Eddie Lawson | Tony Kart USA | Tony Kart/Rok TT | 13 | 37 Laps | 14.617 |
| 20. | 99 | Steve Johnson | FirstKart.com | First Kart/Parilla | 11 | 39 Laps | 16.797 |
| 21. | 41 | Scott Speed | MRP-Birel America | Birel/Parilla | 0 | - | No time |
| 22. | 457 | Lake Speed | Motorama Kart Part-Birel | Birel/Parilla | 0 | - | No time |