Hebner wins Stars heat at Moran, fourth in main

Grant Hebner earned his initial Stars of Karting heat race victory April 23 at Beaumont’s Moran Raceway and then earned a fourth-place finish in the following day’s main event.

“We actually did very well, and we did very bad,” said Hebner, who crashed during the April 23 main event.

The Fallbrook driver’s trip to Moran began with a practice session April 22. “We were pretty fast all day Friday,” Hebner noted.

The April 23 activities included another practice, a qualifying session, a heat race, and a main event. Hebner qualified second, behind only former Formula 3000 driver Philip Giebler. He qualified half a second faster than the third-fastest qualifier. “That was really cool,” Hebner said.

Hebner started the 12-lap heat race in the second position alongside Giebler. Hebner obtained the initial lead and was in front for six laps before Giebler gained the lead. “He was just in the draft,” Hebner explained.

With two laps to go, Hebner regained the lead. “He made a couple of mistakes, and I benefitted from that and caught back up to him,” Hebner noted.

Hebner then positioned himself into Giebler’s draft on the straightaway and made the pass for the lead.

Hebner crossed the finish line 0.084 seconds ahead of Giebler. “Me and Phil had a good race,” Hebner remarked. “He was right behind me.”

The heat race win was the first in Stars of Karting competition, which was known as the Stars of Tomorrow series last year when Hebner began racing on the circuit. “We were really excited. We were so fast,” Hebner said.

Hebner credits the victory to his kart. “Travis Irving, my tuner and engineer, he really set the go-kart up good,” Hebner noted.

Hebner also acknowledged the assistance of Marc Zartarian of High-Rev Engineering, who built Hebner’s engine. “I had awesome power on my motors,” Hebner remarked.

The heat race win gave Hebner his first-ever Stars main event start on the pole. However, the second-row driver put his bumper underneath Hebner’s chassis and pushed Hebner off the track in turn one of the first lap, sending Hebner to the back. Hebner worked his way back through the field until he crashed, and he did not finish the race.

The drivers returned for the April 24 competition. “Second day was a little harder because it started raining off and on,” Hebner explained. “We didn’t really know whether we should be on rain tires or dry tires.”

Hebner qualified 12th in the April 24 session. “Sunday qualifying we were just slow,” he said.

He started the heat race in the sixth row but fell to 14th by the end of the heat race shortened from 12 to 10 laps due to the delays caused by the rain earlier in the day. “It was just kind of wet like a slick track,” he noted. “We were just slower.”

His heat race position gave him a seventh-row start in the main event. The rain delays shortened that race from 23 to 18 laps, but he gained ten positions during those 18 laps.

“That was an awesome race. We were the fastest car every single lap except for lap 17,” Hebner said. “We worked our way past just really good guys.”

The track was dry during the main event, and with one lap to go he caught up to the three leaders who were in a pack with each other, although Hebner was unable to pass them. “We were really fast,” Hebner remarked.

Had the entire 23 scheduled laps been run, Hebner might have finished higher. “I think with those five laps we could have given those three leaders a run for their money,” he opined. “We were definitely faster than them.”

The fourth-place finish matches his highest finish ever in a Stars main event; he also finished fourth in the only other Stars event this season, the Race of the Americas, which was held March 13 in Norman, Oklahoma.

“I have a great engine builder right now, and I have a great chassis tuner and engineer, and I think we have all the right things to put together a win,” Hebner said.

The only other driver to post a faster lap than Hebner was Giebler, whose 17th lap on the 1.1-mile road course took 1:03.997. Hebner’s fastest lap came on the 13th lap, which he covered in 1:04.226.

“We were consistently running 1:04.2’s,” he said. “We were running so strong.”

The season points standings allows drivers to discard their two worst races, so Hebner can afford one additional failure before his early exit April 22 would count against him. “I have a feeling that we’ll do very well,” he remarked. “If we can just complete the season without any failures, then we should be in the hunt for it.”

While the Western Division championship is within reach, his more immediate goal is to earn a main event victory. “We think we have all the right materials to win,” he said. “Hopefully we can get a win this season.”