Superkart News!
(If you have any 250 Superkart news to share
with the world, email it to me!)
TV Coverage From Australian Championships
Australia's Speedweek channel has put
up the video from the Rockpress Australian Superkart Championship which took place the
weekend of August 14-15. It can be seen here.
USSK Gears Up For 2010 Final
Event At VIR
The USSK final at VIR with the SCCA!
By: Joseph West
Time rushes forward and as the days get shorter the USSK will be finding it’s way to
Virginia to be a support race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) for the SCCA’s
Pro Racing World Challenge & Trans Am Series in front of 50,000 people and televised
on Versus* (check your local listings).
Jayce Haghighi, Scott Fiesler and Andy Kiker continue to battle it out for the podium
placements in the S1 Class. Mark Croslyn, Donnie Souter and Bobby Butler are tight in
points going into the final round for the S2 class. Brad Cain and Joey West have locked up
their respective classes in SS and F/125. However, West Racing has built a CR250 and Joey
will test his skills against the reigning SS Champion.
With less than one week left for pre-entry and grid spots becoming scarce, remember to get
you’re entry in. You can mail the forms in, contact a Board Member or pre-enter
on-line at http://www.theussk.com/schedule.htm
See everyone at the track!
*The SCCA race will be televised. The Board has not been updated on whether the USSK
support race will receive any coverage.
Thank You, Thank You, VIR!!!
I just want to say thank you on behalf
of the 250 Superkart Community, and especially The USSK, to Virginia International Raceway
for the recent promotion they gave to the sport with the flyer they e-mailed to their
memebers and those on their e-mail list. It is promotion like this that the sport really
needs and appreciates!!
See the flyer ad that they sent here.
USKGP Results From Miller
Motorsports Park
Ryan Kurpiewski (Anderson/FPE) took the
win in the 250 F/E class at the USKGP race followed by Jim Ingram (Anderson/GasGas) in
second and Johnny West (Anderson/RS Honda) in third. Johnny West won the Run What You
Brung (RWYB) class.
In the IC/E class it was Erik Johnson with the win, Larry Dobbs second and Mark Jauregui
in third.
Full details are sketchy now but will put up a full report at a later time.
Few Spots Still Open For
Corkscrew Invitational!
I know it's busy this time of year,
Bernie and the USKGP at Miller the end of August, the USSK at VIR two weeks later and
Laguna Seca the week after that. Making all three may be impossible but for those of you
"West Coasters", especially the ones not going to Miller, you should really give
this your serious consideration and most definitely if you have never been there. It will
be a weekend to remember!
A special thanks goes to Chris Horsley of Horsley Vineyards who is the 2010 sponsor of the “Stars of Superkarts” at the “Corkscrew Invitational” and to John Stafford of "Droffat'S Garage" who is the 2010 awards sponsor of the “Stars of Superkarts.”
From the NCK website (www.nckroadracing.com)
2010 “Corkscrew Invitational” at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on September 18th-19th Presented by “The Stars of Superkarts” and hosted by “Northern California Karters”. Please see registration instructions at the bottom of this page.USSK VIR Daily Schedule
The following is the daily schedule for
the USSK weekend with SCCA Pro Racing at Virginia International Raceway September 10-12
with (Firouz let the cat out of the bag) "maybe," "hopefyully,"
"this would be the greatest thing ever," TV COVERAGE of the race!!! :)
Negotiations are ongoing. Keep your fingers crossed!! :)
Daily Schedule:
Friday, Sept. 10
8:40 - 8:55 USSK Practice
11:25 - 11:40 USSK Practice
2:10 - 2:25 USSK Practice
6:15 - 6:30 USSK Qualifying
Saturday, Sept 11
8:00 - 8:15 USSK Practice
11:00 - 11:15 USSK Practice
5:20 - 5:50 USSK Pre-Final
Sunday, Sept. 12
7:45 - 8:00 USSK Practice
10:35 - 10:50 USSK Practice
12:30 - 1:00 USSK Final
(Full weekend schedule and other info is at www.world-challenge.com
under the VIR event)
Australian Championship, Final
Round, Day 2
(Ed. note: McIlveen and Hossack ended
up in a tie for the points. Because Hossack won the final race, he was declared the
winner)
Darren Hossack Wins Rockpress Australian Superkart Championship
By Mark Jones, 16 August 2010, 12:35 PM
After an exciting weekend of ups and downs at Round 7 of the Shannons Nationals Motor
Racing Championships at Morgan Park Raceway, all three classes were in question until the
final race of the season. After that final race Warren McIlveen, Martin Latta and Steven
Tamasi were the winners of the Rockpress Australian Superkart Championships.
A devastated series points leader Gary Pegoraro (Dunlop/BRC Engines/Anderson Racing Karts
Anderson-BRC) dropped out of the running during Race 3. Warren McIlveen's pace for much of
the weekend was irresistible. For three races his pace was untouchable and he took a five
point lead in the final race. The only driver that could stop him was 2008 champion Darren
Hossack. Hossack made a brilliant start and raced away unopposed to victory in the final
race but second was good enough for McIlveen. Warren McIlveen's Soundy's Retravision/
Mac's Marine Stockman slowed with one of his two Honda cylinders faltering. Team mate and
outgoing champion Sam Zavaglia slipped into rear gunner mode once McIlveen started to drop
pace. When Jason Smith sailed past in a blistering charge through the field in the Fuji
Xerox/Middleton's Printing Anderson-FPE the calculators came out. Third place would leave
the points tied.
McIlveen and Zavaglia were quickly caught by the third of the Stockman Superkarts, the Top
Torque MR2 of Jason Laker with Ilya Harpas in the Internode/Davtec Zip-BRC in close
company. As the four karts scrapped their collective pace was further slowed and Steven
Murray (East Coast Lubes/R&R Powersports PVP-Honda) and Chryss Jamieson (Coach Design
Anderson-Honda) joined in the fight.
Hossack and Smith took the top position's with Smith staggering across the line with a
failing engine. With his team mates keeping pursuit at bay McIlveen finished third,
winning the Australian championship on a countback four wins to Hossack's two. Zavaglia
finished fourth ahead of Laker, Murray, Jamieson and Harpas.
Pegoraro had enough points to remain in third place. Zavaglia's rush of Morgan Park
results placed him fourth in the championship, passing Harpas for the position after race
three. Smith's second placed moved him into sixth place ahead of absent Irish driver
Trevor Roberts. Chryss Jamieson finished eighth in the points with Jason Laker's Morgan
Park performance winning ninth place on a countback over West Australian driver Mark
Hanson (Phoenix Dental Laboratory Zip-BRC).
Australian Championship, Final
Round, Day 1
By Mark Jones
Warren McIlveen has struck the first blow as he attempts to reel in a fifteen point
deficit to series points leader Gary Pegoraro at the final round of the Rockpress
Australian Superkart Championship.
It was a lights to flag victory for the Soundy's Retravision/Mac's Marin Stockman-Honda,
establishing a lap record for Superkarts at 1:13.2737. Series points leader Gary Pegoraro
(Dunlop/BRC Engines Anderson-BRC) was able keep in touch with McIlveen until the hit
lapped traffic, afterwhich McIlveen was able to build a gap ahead of an eight second win.
After having an engine failure in qualifying, second expanded his points lead to seven
points over Darren Hossack who finished third in the Safe Evolution Anderson-Safe.
Jason Smith had a poor start from the second row of the grid, dropping to seventh position
at the end of the first lap. The Fuji Xerox Anderson-FPE driver quickly picked off
Kristian Stebbing before hunting down the dicing duo of Ilya Harpas and Sam Zavaglia.
Smith passed both drivers across the start-finish line at the end of the third lap.
Harpas (Internode/Davtec Zip-BRC) finally got the better of his fight with Zavaglia on the
final lap. Both karts were wounded, Harpas was losing power with clogged injection jets
while Zavaglia had a broken upright adjuster on the front left suspension, leaving one
corner of the SZR Stockman-Yamaha only able to contribute modestly to the karts grip.
Kristian Stebbing spun twice on his way to eighth place in the Suburban Accounting
Stockman-Honda, still suffering some brake issues from Friday. The second spin allowed
Jason Laker (Top Torque Stockman-Honda) into seventh. After running as high as seventh,
Steven Murray faded to ninth in the East Coast Lubes/R&R Powersports PVP-Honda. Rod
Prickett (Rocket Race Engines Anderson-Safe) rounded out the top ten.
Russell Jamieson was at one point fighting for second place with Pegoraro and Hossack
after a superb start from the third row in the Coach Design Stockman-Honda, but the young
Queensland spun in the turn 11-12 switchback after hitting the kerbs slightly too hard.
His team mate Chryss Jamieson did not make past the first corner in his Coach Design
Anderson-Honda as engine dramas continue to cause him stress.
Three races will feature on Sunday's program at Round Seven of the Shannons Nationals
Motor Racing Championships. With 65 points on offer in each of the three classes, all
three championships are still open.
Points after Race 1 Round 2: Gary Pegoraro 92, Darren Hossack 85, Warren McIlveen 80,
Trevor Roberts 64, Ilya Harpas 52, Anton Stevens 46, Sam Zavaglia 45, Jason Smith 43,
Chryss Jamieson 39, Rod Prickett 25.
CIK-FIA Race Report From Assen
Bennett dominates but Payart
still in Championship contention
CIK-FIA European Superkart Championship, Round 2, Assen (NLD), 6-8/08/2010
UK’s Gavin Bennett (Anderson-DEA) dominated this event from start to finish. He was
fastest in both qualifying practice sessions and his time of 1’37’’3 (168.5
km/h) in the 2nd session was the quickest Superkart lap all weekend. So he would start
both races from pole-position.
In Race 1 he was away stunningly quickly ahead of fellow front row starter Rob Chilcott
(Anderson-FPE), and 2005 Champion John Riley (Anderson-FPE) soon passed Chilcott for 2nd
place. 3-4 laps into the race, Riley closed to within 0.5 of a second of Bennett and
looked to be ready to mount a challenge. But Bennett pulled away strongly and from that
point his only challenge was to negotiate the backmarkers he would lap in the later stages
of the race. His winning margin was 6 seconds.
Yet, impressive as this was, the drive by Frenchman Damien Payart (PVP-FPE) was perhaps as
good. The former double Champion (2003/4) steadily made his way forward from his lowly 7th
row 15th place starting position and into the Top 10. He had a great battle with the 2008
Champion, Germany’s Peter Elkmann (MS Kart-VM), to claim 4th, then forced an error
out of Chilcott for 3rd before finally taking Riley’s 2nd place later on. “I
didn’t know where I had finished”, he said. “I didn’t know how many
were in front of me, and there were many lapped Drivers. I am very satisfied with 2nd
place in all the circumstances. We had the set up wrong in qualifying practice but I knew
the engine was fast, and so it proved.”
Riley just held off Chilcott for the final podium place. Elkmann was worth his 5th place
and Carl Hulme (GBR - Anderson-FPE) drove from row 7 to a good 6th place. Germans Daniel
Hentschel (Anderson-DEA) and Guido Kleinmeyer (Anderson-BRC) were 7th and 8th in front of
the Dutchman Marcel Maasmann (MS Kart-VM) with Englishman Paul Kennings (Anderson-FPE)
completing the Top 10. The only lady in the race, Priscilla Speelman of Holland (MS
Kart-VM), drove well to finish in the Top 20 but the only non-European, Andy Kiker from
the USA (Anderson-DEA), went out on the 4th lap. The biggest disappointment was Northern
Ireland’s Trevor Roberts (Anderson-BRC). The winner of round 2 at Silverstone had his
clutch fall off at the start.
In Race 2 there was a much more even break with Riley and Chilcott side by side with
Bennett, Riley even getting his nose in front. But half way round the opening lap Bennett
had established an advantage which he built on throughout the race. Indeed his winning
margin this time was a massive 9 seconds.
Once again there was good racing behind him with Payart repeating his Race 1 effort to go
from the 8th row to 2nd place. This time he had a tougher task to get past Adam Kout (MS
Kart-VM), Elkmann and Lehtinen who were having a great race in 5th, 6th and 7th place. But
the Frenchman was equal to the task and richly deserved his 2nd runner-up spot of the day.
That points tally is sufficient for him to take a lead into the final event in his native
France.
Roberts showed what might have been with a terrific drive into 3rd place exemplified by
his battle with Chilcott which saw them trade places three times. Chilcott can count
himself unlucky to have missed the podium by a fraction of a second for the second time.
Germans Elkmann and Hentschel were solid if not threatening to challenge for the podium
and Hulme once again drove into the Top 10 from downfield. Priscilla Speelman again made
the Top 20 and American Andy Kiker found himself in the Top 20 just after the mid-race
distance.
“The circuit was greasy early on”, said Bennett, “so I took it steady. I
felt the kart went really well and I have been in good form coming into this event,
especially my victory in the British GP last month. I tried to overtake the backmarkers on
the straights and with my advantage I was able to back off if I needed to. I love Assen,
and obviously I have loved this perfect weekend.”
Roberts was philosophical in 3rd place. “Obviously I was disappointed this morning,
but in all honesty I am not on the pace of these two (Bennett and Payart). I take my hat
off to both of them.”
What would have happened if Payart had qualified at the front? We shall never know but he
gave us a great race coming through the field and clearly these two Champions will be at
the forefront of the battle for the 2010 Championship title.
All this took place in front of an official attendance of 58,000 packing the home straight
grandstands on the traditional Rizla Racing Day.
So Damien Payart takes a narrow 6 points lead into the final round at Le Mans on 22-24
October.
All the classifications and selected photographs can be consulted on www.cikfia.com.
It's Bennett Again, But Andy
Finishes!!
In what was declared a wet race (I had
it on live and no one had umbrellas up) Gavin Bennett once again showed the way by making
it a clean sweep of both races in Round 2 of the European Championship by crossing the
finish line nine seconds in front of second place finisher Damien Payart. Trevor Roberts,
a second back of Payart, rounded out the podium in third.
There was some dicing going on upfront early as John Riley was second at one point with
Roberts and Rob Chilcott there as well as Payart. Riley obviously had problems as he
dropped down to finish in 20th.
The big news of the day is
that our lone U.S. presence in race, Andy Kiker, not only finished the race, but for a
while had a terrific drive going on. He started last, in 52nd place, but by the end of the
first lap had moved up to 34th. He then went to 30th, 27th, 24th, 21st and then to the top
20. From there on some kind of problem must have set in as he started going the other
way.....first to 22nd, then 23rd and finally ending up finishing 33rd; but at least he
finally got to run 10 laps and finish a race!! Congrats Andy, you did us proud just by
being there!!
(There were some other big guns who finished behind Andy such as Thomas Marggraf, 37th;
Ulli Sieker, 38th; Tony Ahlgren, 42nd; Stefan Malm, 45th; and Malcolm Crowe, 47th)
Final order of the finish for
the top 10 was:
1. Gavin Bennett, GBR, fast lap, 1:38.2
2. Damien Payart, FRA
3. Trevor Roberts, GBR
4. Rob Chilcott, GBR
5. Peter Elkmann, DEU
6. Adam Kout, CZE
7. Vesa Lehtinen, FIN
8. Daniel Hentschel, DEU
9. Carl Hulme, GBR
10.Paul Kennings, GBR
Point standings going into the final Round 3 at LaMans in October has Damien Payart with a six point lead (76) over Gavin Bennett with 70 followed by Trevor Roberts with 41.
Bennett Wins Wet Race 1
The rain didn't stop Gavin Bennett from
continuing his domination at Assen as he crossed the finish line six seconds ahead of
second place Damien Payart in Sunday's Race 1 at Assen. To Damien's credit, he had a
superb drive starting 15th, finishing 2nd and setting fastest lap at 1:38.8. Britian's
John Riley rounded out the top three.
The big question is what happened to Trevor Roberts and our own Andy Kiker. Roberts is
shown with zero laps completed (a first lap coming-together with another kart?) while Andy
only recorded three laps before retiring and one can only guess he is having some major
engine issues. Finland's Marko Laine, who has been our source for news this weekend, who
was hoping for better things himself, only completed one lap in the race.
The top ten finishers were:
1 Gavin Bennett
2 Damien Payart
3 John Riley
4 Rob Chilcott
5 Peter Elkmann
6 Carl Hulme
7 Daniel Hentschel
8 Guido Kleinemeyer
9 Marcel Maasmann
10 Paul Kennings
Race 2 coming up later today, presumably another wet one.
European Championship-Assen,
Q2
Gavin Bennett was still the fastest
grabbing the pole for Sunday morning's Race 1 at Rizla Race Days Round 2 of the European
Championship. Bennett knocked two seconds off his Q1 time. (so it obviously stayed dry) It
was basically an "All-Brit" show as he was followed by fellow Brits Rob Chilcott
and John Riley for the top three places followed by Erik Gjertsen (Norway), Paul Kennings
and Trevor Roberts for the top six spots.
Those having problems were Frenchman Damien Payart who dropped from 7th to 15th in Q2 and
our own Andy Kiker who was shown as "No Time." Let's hope Sunday is a
better day!
Tomorrow's races (first race of the day) are at 4:10 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) and 11:50 a.m. EDT. (last race of the day) Live timing of the races can be seen on the CIK/FIA site for both races here. Tomorrow's forecast calls for 70 degrees with a "few showers."
European Championship-Assen,
Q1
The first round of Saturday quallifying
was held this morning with Brit Gavin Bennett showing the way with a lap time of 1:39.2.
Our own Andy Kiker is obviously having some problems as he was 20+ seconds off the pace
and only turned four laps where most were doing 10-12. Hopefully things will be better
when they have Q2 this afternoon (11:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time) although the weather
forecast is calling for rain.
Top five qualifers from Q1:
1 1 Bennett, Gavin GBR Anderson / DEA / 1:39.234
2 10 Roberts, Trevor GBR Anderson / BRC / 1:40.139
3 3 Elkmann, Peter DEU MS Kart / VM / 1:40.299
4 84 Chilcott, Robert GBR Anderson / FPE / 1:40.339
5 5 Hulme, Carl GBR Anderson / FPE / 1:40.602
USSK-VIR Daily Schedule
The Virginia International Raceway USSK
race daily schedule is as follows:
SCCA Pro Racing Sports Car
Wars Weekend
World Challenge Championships Round 10 & 11
SCCA Pro Trans-Am Round 9
SCCA Pro Spec Racer Ford and Formula Enterprise Rounds 9 & 10
Porsche 944 Cup and USSK Super Karts
Virginia International Raceway
September 10-12, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
8:40 AM 8:55AM USSK Super Kart Practice
11:25 AM 11:40 AM USSK Super Kart Practice
2:10 PM 2:25 PM USSK Super Kart Practice
6:15 PM 6:30 PM USSK Super Kart Qualifying
Saturday, September 11, 2010
8:00 AM 8:15 AM USSK Super Kart Practice
11:00 AM 11:15 AM USSK Super Kart Practice
5:20 PM 5:50 PM USSK Super Karts Pre-Final
Sunday, September 12, 2010
7:45 AM 8:00 AM USSK Super Kart Practice
10:35 AM 10:50 PM USSK Super Kart Practice
12:30 PM 1:00 PM USSK Super Kart Final
The full weekend schedule can be seen here.
UPDATED - SSK Non-Membership Fee To Be Waived
The USSK has issued the following Press
Release:
Pursuant to discussions of the Board
Members during the Mid-Ohio Race, the USSK is pleased to announce the Non-Membership Fee
of $50.00/$100.00 for joining a USSK Race will be waived for the remainder of the season.
With high demand for Virginia Race and grid limited to 50 karts, Pre-Entry Is Mandatory. Online Pre-entry will be up shortly at (this link).
Each entry fee will include:
* Practice on Friday
* Qualifying on Friday
* Practice on Saturday
* Race 1 on Saturday
* Practice on Sunday
* Race 2 On Sunday
* Drivers Pit Pass
* Two Crew / Spectator Pit Passes
Should you have any questions, please direct them to your nearest Board Member.
(who can be reached here.
Ed.)
Yea, What He Said...(From
Mid-Ohio)
Jeff DeMello wrote on the EKN forum,
"The way JR ran yesterday I would think he got a 1 and Andy a 2nd. Those two were
fast."
And they were still fast and that's the way it was looking to end up until on about the
5th (?) lap Andy didn't come around (motor went south) and then a couple three laps later
no J.R.....(fuel line came off) Johnny had come in on lap two with carb problems so that
left Jayce, Nevil, Scottie and Mike Soh of the front runners left to battle but that is
the way they finished.
(bet Ted doesn't forget to nytie the fuel line next time!! :)
It was a great weekend. The guys put on a great show for the NASA group and I have to believe they were truly impressed by the performance of the Superkarts; especially since they were the fastest vehicles on the track!!
Mylaps Sunday results are here
Wow! What A Weekend!! (And
Records Broken (And Set)!!!)
Well, I'm back...... The mainstays of
the ex-GoodTimes Racing Team (i.e., me and my bro Doug) went to Mid-Ohio this weekend to
see all the old guys and meet new ones and had a blast!!! (apologize to those who may have
been looking for updates.....coulda, woulda, shouda......but we went to have a GoodTime
and drink beer!!!)
So, better late than never,
here are the results for the weekend:
(more on the weekend later.....)
Fast Qualifers from Fridaly
S1 J.R Osborne
S2 Bobby Butler
SS William Schmitt
F/125 Joey West
(wasn't there Friday and what I was given didn't have the times....)
S1
1. Jayce Haghighi FT 1:26.7
2. Nevil Algie
3. Scott Fiesler
S2
1. Bobby Butler FT1:31.8
2. Mike Hurdzan
3. Mark Croslyn
SS
1. William Schmitt FT136.3
2. Ron Kuhn
3. Mark Kupper
F/125
1. Joey West
2. Sid Swift
3. Dennis Bernier
As far as the broken record is
concerned, J.R. Osborne was from my perspective, not only on fire, he looked like was on
rails.....
Saturday's race, on the 'regular' track with the Chicane into the Keyhole, he broke the
elusive "25" number with a 1:25.7. That is awesome J.R., congratulatons and good
driving!
Now, there is a 'new' elusive.....24!! (if Superkarts ever run the 'Pro' course again)
Sunday's times had J.R. within a c*^t hair of doing it.....1:25.01
Mylaps Sunday results are here
(UPDATED!!) USSK Daily Schedule For Mid-Ohio
(Changes in the Sat./Sun. schedule are
noted by ** )
The daily schedule for the USSK race at Mid-Ohio the weekend of July 23-25 is as follows:
Thurs:
Gates Open at 6PM – open 24 hours thru Sunday.
Fri:
9:00a - 9:15a - USSK Practice #1
11:20a - 11:35a - USSK Practice #2
1:55p - 2:10p - USSK Practice #3
5:10p - 5:25p - USSK Qualifying
Sat:
**9:35a – 09:50a - USSK Practice#1
**11:40a – 12:00a - USSK Practice#2
**2:50p – 3:20p - USSK Race#1
Sun:
**9:35a – 09:50a - USSK Practice#1
**11:40a – 12:00a - USSK Practice#2
**2:30p – 3:00p - USSK Race Final
New Mid-Ohio Track Config For
NASA Race
The USSK Superkarts will be the first
karts (to my knowledge) to ever run the "Pro Course" when they compete duting
the Mid-Ohio NASA weekend July 23-25. Although they will be running the traditional track
on Friday for practice/qualifying and Saturday's race, the Pro Course, which eliminates
the chicane going into the Keyhole, will be used for Sunday's race. Seeing they will be
running flat-out from Turn 1 to the Keyhole, it will be interesting to see how much of a
difference it makes in the lap times.
USSK Heartland Park Sunday
Race Report
Kiker Wins Heartland Park As Jayce
Haghighi Moves Into First Place
By Joe West
Race 1
Another blistering hot day was in store for the USSK members as the heat index surged past
110 degrees Fahrenheit to 116 (47 Celsius). To give the readers an idea of how hot it
truly was, the optimum operating temperature range for 250 engines is about 120 Degrees
Fahrenheit, so ambient temperature was just below what we strive to race the engines at.
The start of Race One saw one of the tightest packed and cleanest starts ever with Andy
Kiker, Jayce Haghighi and John West going three wide towards turn one. Andy tucked behind
John and Jayce took the fastest line thru the turn, with Scott Fiesler and Jim Russell Jr.
coming thru behind rounding out the top five. The first few laps were led by Jayce
Haghighi until Andy was able to overtake him and hold him off thru the checkered. Jim
Russell, Jr. kept pushing Scott Fiesler threatening to take third place, however, Scott
continued to close the door on him holding on to third. Johnny West, still suffering from
fuel issues, rounded out the top five. J.R. Osborne, current point’s leader, was
unable to attend Heartland Park due to a schedule conflict with the SCCA at Road America.
In the S2 class Mark Croslyn took the win edging him closer in the points to current
point’s leader Bobby Butler who was unable to make the race due to the Gulf of Mexico
Oil Spill. With Donnie Souter hot on his heals the S2 class is still up for grabs.
Joey West, the sole entry in the F-125, race was cut short due to a short in the ignition
coil.
Practice on Sunday opened up with much cooler temperature, relatively speaking, with heat
indexes in the low 90’s. While Johnny West sorted out his fuel issues, Andy, Jayce,
Scott and Jim focused on minor modifications, looking for an edge to take the win.
Race 2 opened up again with Andy, Jayce and Johnny going three wide towards turn one and
again Jayce took the fast line stuffing Andy behind John with Scott and Jim rounding out
the top five. The five raced together for several laps before Andy and Jayce started to
pull away from the pack. Johnny, while going over 2 seconds a lap faster than his
qualifying time, was unable to continue the pace and Scott and Jim opened distance. Again,
Andy over took Jayce about halfway thru the race. Jayce kept him honest the entire time
pushing to retake the lead. They came down the front straight on the final lap nose to
nose with Andy taking the win by .2 seconds in an exciting conclusion of the S1 race.
Scott was able to fend off continued attempts by Jim forcing Jim to settle for fourth with
Johnny securely in fifth rounding out the top five.
In S2, Mark Croslyn dominated the S2 class taking first place after lapping the class.
Donnie Souter and Mike Payne (who was mis-classified) rounded out the podium.
Troubles continued for Joey West in the F-125 as he pulled into the pits after only 6 laps
to find his spark plug was broken, ending his weekend early. Even still, after this race,
he has locked up the points for First Place in the F-125 class.
With Heartland Park completed, the USSK now looks to Round Four at Mid-Ohio Sports Car
Course. The Race will be held with the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) on July
23-25*. We look forward to racing with you there!
*Round Four at Mid-Ohio with NASA is a replacement race as Bluegrass was canceled. Entry
forms are available now at www.theussk.com. Please note: you MUST pre-enter for this race.
Entry forms and payments are due by July 16. The USSK is working currently to accept both
PayPal online payments as well as Credit Card payments to make pre-entry fast and simple.
As an additional incentive, the USSK is waving the annual membership fee for this race
only!
USSK Heartland Park Sunday
Results
This info is from I picked up from
mylaps.com, but without a race report yet, I can only gather that there must have been a
really good race between Andy and Jayce since Andy only won the race by two tenths of a
second!! In horse racing they call that 'winning by a nose'!! (hopefully one, or both, had
a camera mounted!!)
Scott Fiesler rounded out the top three 16 seconds back.
The rest of the finishing order was:
4. Jim Russell, Jr.
5. Johnny West
6. Firouz Haghighi
7. Mark Croslyn (1st in S2)
8. Donnie Souter
9. Mike Payne (1st in F/125)
10. Ardy Sadaghi (obvious problems, only 8 laps)
11. Joe West (obvious problems, only 5 laps)
Heartland Park - Day 2
(Mini-Report)
"New Reporter" Ardy Sadaghi
passed along the following info and said it would be followed up with a full report from
Joe West but I thought I'd pass along what is available so far from Saturday's race. From
Ardy:
S1
Andy Kiker 1:35.3
Jayce Haghighi 1:35.6
Scott Fiesler 1:36.3
Jim Russell 1:37.5
John West 1:37.5
Firouz Haghighi 1:40
(Jim Jr. did great to catch back up...He forgot to plug his battery for the water pump and
pulled to the pit just as we formed for the rolling start. He stopped in the pit, plugged
the battery and re-joined just as the group went by.)
S2
Mark Croslyn 1:42.3
Donnie Souter 1:42.0
F/125
Mike Payne 2:02
Joe West 1:54
(I'm presuming all lap times can be seen on mylaps.com)
USSK Heartland Park Day 1
Report
By Joe West
The USSK opens round three in the Heart of the USA in scorching heat of Topeka, Kansas.
Practice and qualifying occurred today at Heartland Park with KART with heat indexes of a
blistering 110 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s 43.3Celsius). We would like to extend our
thanks to KART and all their supporting crew members.
Today saw the return of Andy Kiker to the grid. The returning I/CE Champion was forced to
miss Round 2 at Texas World Speedway and has his work cut out for him as he is behind the
proverbial 8-ball in the point standing. Jim Russell, Jr. returns to the USSK for his
second event looking to continue to cut his way thru the competition. With Jayce Haghighi
and Scott Fiesler neck and neck things are getting interesting.
Practice today found Johnny West chasing a ghost in the fuel system, which continued to be
an issue for the entire day. Donnie Souter is still shaking the bugs out of his home built
chassis while Mark Croslyn and Jayce Haghighi continue to make adjustments to their new
chassis.
Pole Positions for Race 1
S1 Andy Kiker with a 1:34.802
S2 Donnie Souter with a 1:43.296
F-125 Joseph West with a 1:51.219
Tomorrow looks to be another blistering hot day. Full times can be viewed on mylaps.com
USSK Mid-Ohio Entry Forms
The entry forms for the USSK race with
NASA at Mid-Ohio July 23-25 are now available on the USSK site in the message board area. This link will
take you directly to the entry form page. Print it out and return it with payment to:
The USSK, Inc., 8143 South FM322, Palestime, TX 75801.
Please remember the forms and payment are due by the 16th of July.
(Don't wait until the last minute, the Waiver Form has to be Notarized!!)
Aussie Invitation To Race At
Bathurst 1000
The Aussies are extending an invitation
to Superkarters world-wide to join them February 4-5, 2011 at the famed Mount Panorama
circuit during the weekend of the Bathurst 1000. This is the first time that Superkarts
will ever run at the track during the most popular racing event in Australia. Entries will
be limited to the fastest 56 qualifiers.
Further info can be found at the Queensland
Superkart Club site or the Superkarts Australia site.
USSK To Race With NASA At
Mid-Ohio
The USSK will be joining with the
National Auto Sport Association (NASA) Great Lakes Region for their race weekend at
Mid-Ohio the weekend of July 23-25. This change is the result of the Blue Grass track in
Kentucky not being finished due to lack of funds.
Entry forms will be up shortly on the USSK website. Entry forms and payment are due by July 16th and everyone
must pre-enter for this race.
Aussie Championship:
Pegoraro Wins Race 4, Championship Points Leader
Points leader Gary Pegoraro's BRC powered kart got to the finish line first in the fourth
and final race of the Australian Championship thereby giving him the overall weekend win
at the Phillip Island track.
He was followed across the line by Darren Hossack in 2nd, 3rd, Trevor Roberts, 4th, Warren
McIlveen and Sam Zavaglia in 5th.
The top five point earners were:
1 Gary Pegoraro, 75
2 Darren Hossack, 70
3 Trevor Roberts, 64
4 Warren McIlveen, 60
5 Anton Stevens, 46
(8) SamSavaglia, 33
The second and final round of the Australian Championship will take place August 14-15 at Morgan Park Raceway in Queensland.
Dunlop Australian Superkart
Championship:
Hossack Takes Roberts At Last Corner To Win
by Mark Jones, 2 May 2010
Trevor Roberts led for much of race 3 on a drying track at the Dunlop Australian Superkart
Championship but heading into MG corner for the final lap a half loose Roberts allowed
Darren Hossack to pounce and the 2008 Australian Champion lead the race for only one
corner, the last one.
Gary Pegoraro powered through the field after stumbling on the warm-up laps to claim third
position with Sam Zavaglia similarly recovering after a disappointing weekend for the
reigning champion to take fourth. Ilya Harpas continued a brilliant recovery by the young
South Australian driver to finish in fifth position ahead of Kristian Stebbing finally
putting chassis problems behind him for a sixth place finish.
Warren McIlveen lost power in the early running but hung on to seventh position while
Anton Stevens and Chryss Jamieson started well on wet weather tyres but faded rapidly as
the track dried to finish eighth and ninth positions. Stevens in particular had a terrific
start which almost ended where it began as a closing gap between the two front row karts
he out-launched became a sidepod banging affair, but all karts continued. Jason Smith
climbed back into the top ten after failing to finish race 2.
Points after Race 3:
250 International
Gary Pegoraro 50, Darren Hossack 48, Trevor Roberts 44, Warren McIlveen 42, Anton Stevens
36, Ilya Harpas 29, Chryss Jamieson 24, Sam Zavaglia 19, Jason Smith 16, Kristian Stebbing
16
Dunlop Australian Superkart
Championship:
Pegoraro Splashes to Wet Race 2 Win
by Mark Jones
The weather turned on the Dunlop Australian Superkart Championship at round 3 of the
Shannons Nationals Australian Superkart Championship, but it did not bother the Dunlop /
BRC Engine Anderson of Gary Pegoraro. The local driver mastered the wet weather to pull a
gap on the Superkart field for his first win of the title to go with yesterday's pole
position.
The race was pulled up behind the safety car for two of its five laps after an opening lap
collision at Southern Loop eliminated four karts on the spot including the front running
karts of Jason Smith (Fuji Xerox Anderson-FPE) and Yianni Harpas (Internode / Davtec
Zip-BRC). Darren Hossack started well picking up spots after wounding his ignition system
in qualifying, found pace in the wet and picked off Trevor Roberts for second position.
After stopping and having to restart the kart himself on the warm-up lap, Anton Stevens
charged through the field to finish third in a lightning drive. Warren McIlveen faded to
fourth with the Stockman brigade losing time in the wet generally.
Ilya Harpas finished in fifth position in a sterling drive to take fifth over a fading
Trevor Roberts while Wayne Sprostan was initially classified seventh but later given a
penalty for over taking during the brief safety car period. Luke May claimed seventh in
his 250 National class kart ahead of David Yuill with Chryss Jamieson and Greg Bass
completed the top ten.
Aussie Championship - McIlveen
Wins Race 1
by Mark Jones
Warren McIlveen (Soundy's Tamworth Stockman-Honda) won the first race after an
entertaining four kart scrap which saw Gary Pegoraro lead early until hunted down by
Trevor Roberts. McIlveen slowly reeled in Roberts as the race went on to win ahead of
Roberts. Gary Pegoraro finished third ahead of Anton Stevens.
Qualifying: Pegoraro Secures Pole Position
Gary Pegoraro has taken pole position at the opening round of the Dunlop Australian
Superkart Championship after recording a 1:33.9613 lap time in the Dunlop / BRC Engines
Anderson at a picture perfect Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for round three of the
Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships. The experienced local recorded the only
'33' of the day in the first qualifying session and his nearest rivals in the Stockman
Superkarts team could not pick up the three tenths gap in the second session.
(ed. Aussie Champ Sam Zavaglia was in 3rd on the fourth lap of the five lap race but
ended up as a DNF)
USSK Texas World Speedway Race
Report
Jayce Haghighi Takes Texas!
by Joseph West
The USSK opened Texas World Speedway with the South West Racing Association (SWRA)
welcoming its newest members, Jim Russell, Jr. with Russell Karting Specialties, Inc,
Arnold Bodenheimer, Darryl Bertram and Dale McCollum. As always the SWRA did a fantastic
job hosting the race and a special Thank You goes to them. You really are some of the best
people to race with.
The track conditions were in a word, bumpy. There were several failures due to how rough
the track was, from broken frames to electrical wiring. Many USSK drivers commented on how
they loved the layout but wished the track itself was smoother though some of the turns
and transitions. Rumor has it that the track owners are working on repaving some of the
rougher sections, which will be greeted with much applause when it is completed.
Friday Practice opened with clear skies and decent weather. With the USSK members tuning
their Superkarts and preparing for qualifying later on, the weekend was looking good.
Qualifying opened at 4:00pm which saw J.R. Osborne set the fast time at 1:41.7 for the S1
class, Donnie Souter (Souter/GasGas) recorded a 1:56.2 for the S2 class, David Lirette
(Nemisis/CR450) set the mark for the SS class as 1:55.3 and Joey West (MSR/Pavesi) had
fast time in the F-125 class with a 2:16.6.
Saturdays practice saw overcast skies and the threat of rain. With J.R. Osborne
(Anderson/GasGas) at pole and Scott Fiesler (PVP/GasGas) next to him on the grid, they
started the parade lap. When the green flag dropped, the action began. Going 3 wide into
Turn 1 Jayce Haghighi (Anderson/GasGas), Johnny West (Anderson/Honda RS 250) and J.R.
Osborne fought for first, with Jayce winning the fight. While Jayce and J.R. continued to
battle for first with J.R. edging out Jayce, the man on the move was Jim Russell, Jr.
(Anderson/GasGas). After struggling with wiring which kept breaking due to track
conditions, Jim Russell, Jr. in West Racing’s GasGas package went from 15th on the
grid to 5th place in 2 laps. He continued his pursuit overtaking Scott Fiesler and Johnny
West for third place which he held onto to reach the podium. Jim’s run through the
field wasn’t the only great showing in racing this day. Bobby Butler (Anderson/PVP)
in his new Viper built package showed the S2 class that he is going to be the man to beat.
Donnie Souter, Marc Croslyn (PVP/GasGas) and Mike McAlister (Anderson/GasGas) raced
together switching positions several times between the three. Brad Cain (Nemisis/CR450)
and Arnold Bodenheimer (Anderson/CR450) raced nose to tail for the entire race when Brad
made a beautiful move to pass Arnold for the win and Joey West and Darryl Bertram
(Anderson/CR250) diced the entire time with Darryl taking the checkered by .6 seconds.
Dale McCollum continued his shake down of his custom built 4stroke and kart and is
confident in with a few more test sessions he will have it all sorted out.
Sunday was mired by rain all day long. Due to this, everyone put on their rain tires and
prepared to race in the rain. With the grid lined up, it was clear the rain was affecting
almost everyone. A slight mist during the race and the wet track made for interesting
racing. Jayce took the lead and held onto it for the entire race while Jim pressed him
from behind. They opened up a 12 second lead on the rest of the field as Scott Fiesler cut
his way through to third place. The closest battle of the race goes to J.R. Osborne and
Johnny West who were in competition for 4th place. Johnny in 5th chased down J.R. Osborne
in 4th catching him with 3 laps to go. After dicing back and forth the two drivers came
across the finish line .02 seconds apart with Johnny edging out J.R. at the finish line
for a spectacular photo finish.
Final Podium placements are as follows
S1 Class 1. Jayce Haghighi, 2. Jim Russell, Jr., 3. Scott Fiesler
S2 Class 1. Bobby Butler, 2. Marc Croslyn, 3. Donnie Souter
SS Class 1. Brad Cain, 2. David Lirette, 3. Arnold Bodenheimer
F/125 Class 1. Joey West
With last years IC/E Champion Andy Kiker and 3rd place F/E winner Jimmy “Santa”
Brannon missing out they will need to be on top of their game to keep up in the points
standings. F/125 drivers Dennis Bernier, Harry West and Rich “The Doc” were in
attendance for Friday practice but due to circumstances beyond their control they had to
leave early.
Next up is Heartland Park in Topeka Kansas with the good folks of KART on June 25-27! We
look forward to another great race and more stiff competition going into this race. With
the points standings tightening up, it’s still anyone’s season!
European Champions To Join
Aussie Superkart Championships
by Mark Jones
What is already promising to be the most competitive season of Superkart racing in years
will be enriched further next month when two Superkart Champions join the best and
brightest of the Australian scene. The opening round of the Australian Superkart
Championships, May 1-2 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, will feature a field of
over 50 based on pre-registration numbers.
Fresh from race victory at the latest round of the European Superkart Championship, 1995
Superkart Champion Trevor Roberts will be joined by Danish veteran constructor and dual
World Champ Poul V. Petersen. Roberts is coming to Australia as part of a friendly swap
arrangement with reigning Australian Champion Sam Zavaglia but there is no mistaking his
intent.
Roberts' entry is part of an international "swap drive" with Zavaglia. Zavaglia
drove with Roberts' team at the Assen round of the European Championships last year.
"We actually agreed to a fee from Sam to us and from us to Sam of $1," Roberts
said. "Sam still hasn't paid up, so I guess the only way to get our $1 back is to
come and race!" Joking aside, Roberts said he will be racing to win, and he
does not intend to let unfamiliar equipment stand in his way. (comon' Sam, at least borrow
a buck from Brian and pay Trevor or at least buy him a Fosters!! :) ed.)
"I have never even sat in a Stockman Superkart and have never raced a kart with an
ex-GP bike motor," said Roberts, who will be driving a Stockman MR2 run by Zavaglia's
team. "However, I have won many races and championships in many different classes
throughout my career.... I know plenty of top notch equipment will in use at the meeting,
by top notch drivers, all of whom will be wanting to win as much as I do."
For Petersen, who said that at the age of 61 he is "over his best time as a
driver," the trip is a blend of pleasure and business. "I have several customers
in Australia I would like to say hello to," Petersen said, "and maybe I can help
some of them if they have some questions about the PVP kart and motor." Among the
existing customer base in Australia for Petersen's PVP Karts are Carlo Chermaz, Anton
Stevens and Vince Livaditis. Petersen's first international title came back in 1979 with a
European Championship with a pair of World titles following in 1985 and 1988.
Last year Petersen sponsored Queensland based driver Chermaz in the European Championship
held at Magny-Cours (France), Most (Czech Republic) and Assen (Netherlands). Chermaz was a
regular top ten race finisher by seasons' end, claiming ninth in the series pointscore as
well as finishing second in a non-championship event in Zolder, Belgium. PVPs are a
familiar sight across Europe with several new karts finding their way to Australia for the
2010 season. Petersen will drive the PVP of another Queensland driver, Troy O'Brien, at
Phillip Island.
The opening round of the 22nd Australian Superkart Championship will form part of the
Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships event at Phillip Island with four
championship races over two days of qualifying and racing.
Jayce Takes Race 2 In The Wet
With a little help from Jim Russell, who looped
it coming onto the front straight, Jayce Haghighi was the first to cross the stripe and
take the victory in the USSK's Sunday Race 2 at Texas World Speedway. With Russell's quick
work on the clutch, he was able to keep the engine running and came home in 2nd. Scott
Fiesler finished 3rd. J.R. Osborne and Johnny West rounded out the top five. Russell
had the fast time for the day.
F/E 1. Jim Russell, 2. J.R. Osborne, 3. Johnny West
IC/E 1. Jayce Haghighi, 2. Scott Fiesler, 3. Mike McAlister
SS 1. Brad Cain, 2. David Lirette, 3. Arnold Bodenheimer
S2 1. Bobby Butler 2. Mark Croslyn (no transponder)
F/125 1. Joe West
Ardy Sadeghi obviously had problems all weekend with a DNS for both days as did Firouz Haghighi, who only made it around a few laps each day.
USSK Texas World Speedway
Saturday Race
Colorado's J.R. Osborne came home in first in
the USSK's Saturday race at TWS followed in second by Jayce Haghighi (who had the fastest
lap time) with Jim Russell in third. Scott Fiesler and Johnny West rounded out the top
five.
F/E 1. J.R. Osborne, 2. Jim Russell, 3. Johnny West
IC/E 1. Jayce Haghighi, 2. Scott Fiesler, 3. Mike McAlister
SS 1. David Lirette, 2. Arnold Bodenheimer, 3. Brad Cain
S2 1. Bobby Butler, 2. Donnie Sauter, 3. Mark Croslyn
F/125 1. Joe West
Race Report, European
Championship At Silverstone
Details of last weekend's Round 1 of the
European Championship at Silverstone by Vince Caro can be read here.
Roberts Wins Race 2, Payart
Leads The Chase
The Brits return with a vengence in Race 2
claiming the first four positions at the checkered flag led by Trevor Roberts, Gavin
Bennett, Malcolm Crowe and Rob Chilcott. Fifth place was taken by Race 1 winner Damien
Payart so his 1st and 5th will no doubt give him the lead in the championship as the Brits
were no where to be found in Race 1 and getting no points. Trevor Roberts is 2nd in points
with Gjertsem, Bennett and Morgan tied for 3rd.
Roberts with his BRC and Bennett with his VM must have had a pretty good race of it as
Roberts only won by 1.176 seconds but 3rd place Crowe was 15 seconds behind them.
Round 2 is August 7-8 at the Assen circuit.
Qualifying and race results can be seen at the CIK-FIA site here
Payart Wins Race 1
France's Damien Payart won the first race of the
European Championship round being contested at Silverstone on April 4th. He was followed
by Norway's Erik Gjertsen and Sweden's Tony Ahlgren. The UK's heavy-hitters had a tough
race as none were in the top 10.
USSK And WCC At VIR
The USSK will be racing with the World Cup
Challenge at VIR the weekend of September 10-12 which should be a BIG weekend for the
Superkarts. Not only will this be the first time running with the SCCA Pro Series, but
this WCC event will draw thousands of spectators and have TV coverage on Versus. (It would
be nice if the Superkarts could get some of this TV coverage like they do in other
countries but it will probably be limited to the Touring Car and GTS/GT classes. Sure do
hope I'm wrong!!!!!)
Nonetheless, there are going to be a lot of people who will get to see 250 Superkarts race
for the first time and I have a feeling when the little IndyCar bodied karts hit the
track, the fans will be hitting the fences for a better look at "the best bang for
the buck" in open-wheel racing!
Hopefully, if the fans get all fired-up about the karts, maybe it could be the beginning
of some joint events between SCCA and USSK. I was looking at their 2010 schedule (www.world-challenge.com) and of
their eight races, five are east of the Mississippi, including Mosport and "the
Glen," two tracks USSK has not run.
I'm not a betting man, but I'm going to say 'our guys' will have the fastest lap times for
the weekend. (hope! :) Or, if not, it will be back-straight horsepower that makes the
difference but they will be close. Should be a great weekend!
USKGP At Miller In August
Bernie Adamson has announced that the
USKGP will be running at Miller Motorsports Park during the weekend of August 27, 28, 29.
The USKGP.com web site will be updated shortly with entry forms, etc. The daily schedule
can be viewed now in the 250 Superkarts forum at EKartingNews.com under the heading of
Miller 2010.
Daytona Day 2 Results
Brian Wilhelm picked up were he left
off from Race 1 and won again in Race 2. The results from Wednesday's race day two for
Unlimited at Daytona were as follows:
1. Brian Wilhelm
2. Mitch White
3. Bobby Butler
4. Carl Goutell
5. Jim Farr Jr.
6. Gary Schenkel
7. Chuck Bunnell
8. Michael Lattos
9. Larry Davis
10. Tris Gour
Daytona Day 1 Results
Not much of a report...couldn't find
anything on Mylaps, but did pick this up from the WKA site,
"Brian Wilhelm returned to the track after scoring his Formula 125 win and proceeded
to dominate Unlimited. Wilhelm won by 48 seconds over Carl Goutell while Jeff Metter
rounded out the top three." (Wilhelm ran a fast lap of 2:00.355 in the 125 race
and won by over a minute)(Bobby Butler and Chuck Bunnell were 4th and 5th)
Rent-A-Kart For Dubai 2010
(The following was sent by Creventic,
the race sponsor, www.creventic.com)
Interested in driving a Superkart race in the
pre-program of the 24h of Dubai on 14/15 January 2010?
During the 5th anniversary of the 24h race for Touring and GT cars in January 2010,
Superkarts will come in action with 3 sprint races. Superkarts are the fastest category in
kart racing. At some circuits, Superkarts are the outright lap-record holders, at others
they run at around Formula 3 lap times.
Rent a Superkart at Red Speed Racing (England)
You can rent a Superkart (Red Speed Racing) (www.redspeedracing.com) and the entry fee,
incl. transport to Dubai, is 4200.00 pound, about EUR 4650.00. (Approx. $7,000 US) This
price is excl. tyres and fuel. If you want more information, please contact us (Dasian@superkarts.eu ). John Riley (Red Speed
Racing) is one of the top teams in Europe.
Rent a Superkart from Marcos Racing International (The Netherlands)
You can also rent a superkart at Cor Euser.
For detailed information contact:
Cor Euser
Email: info@coreuser.nl
Phone: +31 653301758
* Please note if you have an international race license (for race cars). Just request your
local ASN for an international superkart license (2010).
**The leather race suit, can be a motorbike-leather race suit (also ask for the eventually
rent possibilities).
Race Report From Road Atlanta
By Joey West
After being doused by Mother Nature Friday and Saturday, the USSK competitors were eager
to get onto the track Sunday when practice began. It consisted of three rounds of practice
with the final round being the qualifier for the first race of the 2010 season.
As people sorted out issues in the minimal time making adjustments the qualifing session
came about quickly. With JR Osborne the clear leader with a fast time of 1:26.8 and 2nd
through 6th place within 1 second of each other, tension for the race began to mount.
During the Qualifying session Andy Kiker’s transponder was not working. Due to this,
he was required to start at the rear of the pack for the race.
From the drop of the green flag to the wave of the checkered JR Osborne dominated the
field. With fast laps of 1:26.2 he was clear and gone. Andy Kiker, despite starting at the
rear of the field, within three laps moved from last place and firmly grasped a hold of
2nd place. Scott Feisler, Chad Dokken and Guido Kleinmeyer (in Jim Ingrim's Gas Gas) ran
hard together for the entire race, swapping third place between them several times as they
round out the top five finishers in the S1 class.
Juergen Reinke (in John West's RS Honda), like JR Osborne, was clear and gone in the S2
class. With fast laps of 1:29.6 he out paced second place by 6 seconds a lap before the
radiator shroud brackets broke on lap 18 causing a cooling issue. Not wanting to tempt
fate, he pulled into the pits allowing Mark Croslyn to snatch up the first place spot with
Bobby Butler, Donnie Souter, Juergen Reinke and Mike Payne rounding out the top five S2
finishers.
Brad Cain, in the SS Class showed determination to keep pushing even though no others
raced in his class.
During the parade lap, Dennis Bernier’s engine loaded up and he was forced out of the
race prior to the start giving the F125 race to Joey West.
USSK Announces 2010 Rule
Changes
By Joe West
The new class structure for 2010 USSK is as follows. While the rules for the 250 Single
and Twin karts will remain the same, the points structure will be modified to break racers
up, not by kart type but by age brackets.
The S1 Class is for all drivers 54 years of age and younger who run any 250cc two stroke
engine, regardless if it is single or twin or any 500cc four stroke engine regardless if
it is a single or twin. S1 class champion will be reworded the US PLATE.
The S2 Class is for all drivers 55 years of age and older at the start of a season, who
run any 250cc two stroke engine, regardless if it is single or twin or any 500cc four
stroke engine regardless if it is a single or twin. A driver that meets the criteria to be
in the S2 class has the option to race in the S1 Class if they so choose.
The SS Class will remain unchanged from the 2010 season and will provide trophies and
podium presentations if there are four or more racers registered for a particular race.
End of Year Points will calculated regardless of how many entries there are at a given
race.
The F-125 Class will remain unchanged from the 2010 season and will provide trophies and
podium presentations if there are four or more racers registered for a particular race.
End of Year Points will calculated regardless of how many entries there are at a given
race.
The S1/S2 change from the FE/ICE was proposed to help create excitement and generate more
competition in the USSK. It was met with some apprehension by members. When put to a vote,
a majority of the members voted in favor of the change, stipulating a trial period of 1
year or special request vote to return to the FE/ICE standard.
ALL OF 2010 USSK EVENTS WILL BE RAIN OR SHINE.
Road Atlanta Final Results
At the USSK's Saturday night banquet
during the Road Atlanta weekend, the following received awards for their accomplishments
in the 2009 season. Congratulations all!!!
F/E
1. John West
2. Mark Croslyn
3. Jim Brannon
IC/E
1. Andy Kiker
2. Jayce Haghighi
3. Scott Fiesler
Formula 125
1. Joey West
The final results for the USSK's first
race of the 2010 season run Sunday, Nov. 1 are:
S1
1- JR OSBORN
2- A. KIKER
3- S.FIESLER
4- C. DOKKEN
5- GUIDO KLEINMEYER GERMANY
6- F.HAGHIGHI
7- M. MCALISTER
8- J. LONG
9- J. WEST
10- J. HAGHIGHI
11-A. SADEGHI
S2
1- M. CROSLYN
2- B. BUTLER
3- D. SOUTER
4- J. REINKE GERMANY
5- M. PAYNE
6- J. BRANNON
F125
1- JOEY WEST
2- DENNIS BERNIER
SS 250
1- B. CAIN
Osborne Takes Road Atlanta Win
After Saturday's rainout, Colorado's
J.R. Osborne won the Sunday race, which is actually the first race of the 2010 season.
Andy Kiker, who started last due to transponder problems in qualifying, moved up to second
on the track, but problems again arose and scoring shows him in 8th, only completing 20 of
the 22 laps with Scotty Fiesler in 2nd and Chad Dokken in 3rd. I "heard" that
Scotty was on the podium in 3rd so I think since everyone knew Andy was in 2nd, despite
the transponder issue, he was awarded the 2nd place finish. Have to wait for the
"official" results including IC/E results.
USSK Road Atlanta Sunday
Qualifying
It's obviously dry enough to get on the
track and Ardy sent the following qualifying results:
(interesting to note that J.R. Osborne, who I thought switched to GasGas, was over 2
seconds quicker than second place!! and no time for Andy Kiker!!
JR Osborne 1:26.8
Juergen Reinke 1:29.1
Jimmy Long 1:29.4
Guido Kleinmeyer 1:29.5
Scotty Fesler 1:30.26
Chad Dokken 1:30.27
Johnny West 1:31.1
Mark Croslyn 1:36.3
Ardy Sadeghi 1:36.8
Bobby Bue 1:36.9
Jim Brannon 1:37.9
Jayce Haghighi 1:38.9
Donnie Suter 1:41.4
Brad Cain 1:43
Joey West 1:48
Mike Payne 2:12
Firouz Haghighi 2:38
Michael McCallister 3:32
Dennis Bernier 0
Andy Kiker 0
USSK Road Atlanta Saturday -
Can You Say Rainout?.....
The following was sent to me by Ardy
Sadeghi, thanks Ardy, and from 'reading between the lines' as far as racing in the rain,
it sounds like the USSK won't be racing at anymore WKA sactioned 'no wet racing'
events.....
By Joe West
As the USSK opens the finals at Road Atlanta with the WKA and Big South Racing, we would
like to extend a huge Thank You to all of our sponsors.
With 25 racers coming from all over the United States we greeted “The German
Contingent” of Manfred, Juergen, Guido, and Hauke for what was hoped to be a great
weekend of racing. A special heartfelt Thank You goes to them for making the trip and
joining us for this weekend.
Unfortunately as Mother Nature tends to do, as things were revving up on Friday for
practice, Mother Nature opened her floodgates and the heavens poured rain. From Friday at
about 10:00 am until Saturday at about 2:00 pm the rain continued soaking the track and
preventing any racing from occurring. As such Rain Points have been allotted to each racer
giving way to an anti-climatic finale.
During the down time the USSK members in attendance voted unanimously that if possible,
they wished to race rain or shine and the board members and advisors are going to make
every effort possible to ensure this occurs in future, choosing venues which will provide
the members what they request.
The Banquet Ceremony for the Season Championship Presentation is being held at The Hound
Tooth near Road Atlanta. Over 75 members, crew and family in attendance will witness the
presentation of the awards for First, Second and Third place for their respective
championship wins in the FE, ICE and F125 class. With a spectacular dinner and dozens door
prizes provided by our Sponsors it will be a fantastic time.
With Sunday race starting the 2010 season we are looking forward to the confirmed races at
Heartland Park with KART club and Bluegrass Raceway with River Valley Kart Club and the
rest of the schedule is still being hammered out and will be available at
http://www.theussk.com as soon as possible.
Kiker To Be Feature Guest On
Karting News Live
Andy Kiker will be the feature guest
Tuesday, Oct. 27 on Karting News Live hosted by Rapid Racing's Greg Wright. The show
will air Tuesday night at 9 p.m. at www.racefanradio.com
Andy Takes 4th In Race 1
Andy Kiker, in his first race at
Hockenheim, moved up from his 9th place qualifying position (out of 33) to finish 4th in
the first of two races held on Saturday, Oct. 17.
Unfortunately, in race two, one he could have had a good chance of winning starting from
P4, he was a DNF due to ignition problems. Nonetheless, good job Andy!!
Kiker Heads To Hockenheim
U.S. plate holder Andy Kiker will be
taking off to Germany to race at Hockenheim in the AvD (Automobilclub von Deutschland)
sponsored Superkart Grandprix Deutschland hosted by the European Superkart Series on Oct.
16-18. Andy will driving an Anderson Div. 1 chassis with a Manfred Wittenborn tuned DEA
engine from WIWA Racing. Andy got his feet wet last year running with the "across the
ponders" during Round 3 of the European Championship at the Assen Circuit in the
Netherlands and ran in the top at one time. Will try and get more info.
Final Miller Motorsports Park
Results
Division 1
1. Sam Zavaglia
2. John West
3. Larry Kurpiewski
4. Mark Jauregui
5. Tris Gour
6. Ryan Kurpiewski
Division 1A
1. Andy Kiker
2. J.R. Osbourne
3. Firouz Haghighi
4. Scott Fiesler
5. Michael McAlister
6. Jim Ingram
7. Jayce Haghighi
Division 2
1. Eric Johnson
2. Anthony Williams
3. Ryen Miller
4. Kyle Rice
5. John Rounds
6. Luis Gularte
7. Cole Odon
8. Glenn Ingram
9. Lee Storgaard
10. Ardalan Sadeghi
11. Mark Morrison
12. Daryl Ownes
13. Dean Martin
Photos can be seen here
Zavaglia Takes F/E, Kiker IC/E
Andy Kiker was the overall race winner
on his Anderson/GasGas and first in IC/E while Aussie Sam Zavaglia, who drove Riley Will's
Nemesis/BRC finished first in F/E and second overall. (no word yet on why he wasn't
driving his Stockman/Yamonda - update -
bent frame) It is said that Sam got a
late start, and although able to move through the field, could not catch Kiker for the
overall win.
J.R. Osborne was second in IC/E, (third overall), Johnny West was fourth overall, (second
F/E) Firouz Haghighi was fifth overall, (third IC/E) Larry Kurpiewski was third in F/E and
sixth overall.
Jayce Haghighi lead for three laps but then the top end seized whick put Kiker in the
lead. Osborne was fighting front end issues and Scott Fielser's transmission failed.
USKGP Race 1
Andy Kiker, the only American to win a
European Superkart event, showed his hand and out-battled pole winner J.R. Osborne in
Saturday's race to take the win. Rounding out the top five were Jayce Haghighi, John West
and Firouz Haghighi.
F/E results, 1. John West, 2. Larry Kurpiewski, 3. Tris Gour
IC/E results 1. Andy Kiker, 2. J.R. Osborne, 3 Jayce Haghighi
Aussie Sam Zavaglia, for unknown reasons, did not start. BRC builder Riley Will had brake issues and Scott Fiesler went out while battling with Jayce. Can someone say, "that's why they call it racing"!! More tomorrow...
USKGP MMP Friday Qualifying
Colorado's J.R. Osborne on his
Anderson/GasGas was the fastest of all the Superkarts and grabbed the fast time with a
1:52.339 at the U.S. Kart Grand Prix being run at Miller Motorsport Park in Salt Lake
City, Utah.
Right on his bumper was Andy Kiker (Anderson/GasGas) at 1:52.413 and Aussie Sam Zavaglia's twin (Stockman/Honda) at 1:52.560. Rounding out the top five were Jayce Haghighi, 1:54.477 and Scott Fiesler, 1:54.842.
No news yet on what's happening in the RWYB (Run What You Brung) class but it will be interesting to see if they run as fast as the top three in the Superkart classes but there are some interesting machines out there!!
Bennett Makes It Look Easy
By Ken Walker, CIK Correspondent
UK’s Gavin Bennett (Anderson-DEA) is the 2009 CIK-FIA European Superkart Champion,
regaining the title that he had previously won in 2007. He dominated proceedings each time
he took to the track at the famous TT Circuit at Assen. First he was top of the leader
board in Free Practice and then in both Qualifying Practice sessions, setting in the
process a new reference lap time for Superkarts at Assen, almost 2 seconds under the
former record, and also relegating his closest follower to over 1 second! Finally he took
an easy ‘lights to flag’ victory by over 10 seconds in Race 1 (Round 5) to take
an unassailable lead in the championship standings, with a round to spare!
‘Glad, happy, everything’ was his reaction on winning the title. Then after a short reflection, ‘It was a bit of a surprise to be so far in front. We haven’t changed anything since the last rounds in Czech Republic. I had expected a stronger challenge from Trevor (Roberts) but he’s had problems’, the new Champion explained.
At the moment, it is his intention to defend his title next year, although ‘we do need some sponsorship for 2010’ he pointed out.
Outgoing champion, Germany’s Peter Elkmann (MS Kart-Yamaha) went down fighting. He had a great wheel to wheel battle with Damien Payart to just take 2nd place from him, and was gracious in acknowledging Bennett’s superiority this season. ‘Gavin earned his title this year. He has proved to be a worthy champion. He has been fast and consistent all year. That is how a championship should be won’.
Race Two was inevitably something of an anti-climax, but if the championship had still been open, the finish would have been most dramatic. The last lap commenced with Bennett-Elkmann-Payart again in places 1-2-3 but first Elkmann put his hand in the air as his motor spluttered and then Bennett did likewise as he suffered the same fate. So France’s Damien Payart (PVP-FPE) inherited a victory in front of UK’s Mark Owens (ADE-DEA) with Carl Hulme 3rd. Hulme (Anderson-FPE) was the only driver to finish in the top ten in every round of the series. ‘That is some consolation I suppose’, he said, adding ‘I was very poor this morning’.
The superkarts had taken their place in front of 57,000 spectators, a record at the famous Rizla Racing Day at Holland, with motorcycle, saloon car and single seater car races completing the program.
For more pictures and the complete results,
please consult: www.cikfia.com/News2009/Assen.htm
(and 'Sam the Man' got his picture taken!!)
Bennett Grabs European
Championship Title
...but what happened??
I digress...Race 1 apparently went off
without any indidents as Gavin Bennett (GB) lead from pole from Damien Payart (FR) and
Peter Elkmann (DE). Peter apparently got by Damien and they finished in that order;
Bennett, Elkmann and Payart. Malcolm Crowe (GB) and Mark Owens (GB) rounded out the top
five.
Race 2...This is the weird one, can't wait to hear what happened. At the start is was Bennett from Payart from Elkmann. Damien was about a half second behind Gavin with Peter about 3.5 seconds behind Damien. Then, on lap 7, Peter is in P2. One can only presume that Damien had a little bobble that let Peter get by him. Then, on lap 10, no Gavin and no Peter.....did they have a shunt? I think Peter would have had to have made up about 3 seconds on Gavin for that to happen. Nonetheless, Damien was now in P1 and went on to win the race with Mark Owens and Carl Hulme (GB) in second and third. John Riley (GB) and Daniel Hentschel (DE) made up the top five. Gavin managed to finish the race in 17th while Peter was classified in 36th, one lap down.
Winning four out of the six
races gave Bennett enough points to take the title with ease even though he did not score
points in the other two. Second place sees Elkmann and Payart in a tie, both with 72
points. Quite an accomplishment for Damien, seeing that he did not even race in Round 2 at
Most. Great Britian's Mark Owens rounded out the podium with 63 points. (unless they give
Damien second by himself because of his one win)
(UPDATE - from Eric Severe, "Gavin
was leading with a big advantage but in the last lap one cylinder stopped.(main crankshaft bearing-ed.) Same for Elkmann, engine stopped.(big end-ed.) But Gavin made a new lap record, same as Valentino Rossi's best time at
the last Assen MotoGP race.")
USSK Blackhawk Farms Race Report
By Joe West
Round 4 of the USSK series opened at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit, Illinois
hosted by River Valley Kart Club on their 50th anniversary. It was a record breaking
weekend with points leaders John West (Div I-FE Honda/Anderson), Andy Kiker (Div-II ICE
GasGas/Anderson) and Joe West (Div-IV F-125 TM/MSR) looking to lock in first place for the
series, all would have to be on top of their game.
Friday’s qualifying showed Mr. Kiker exactly how stiff the competition would be this
weekend as Scott Fiesler (Div-II ICE GasGas/PVP) and Jayce Haghighi (Div-II ICE
GasGas/Anderson) qualified within 1 second of each other. John West continued his
domination of the field by out qualifying the FE class by 5 seconds and Joe West set the
fast time for the F-125 class by 2 seconds.
Saturday’s Race one, threatening rainstorms went off with only a sprinkle during warm
up and practice. As the grid left the paddock for the pace lap Joe West had a ring stick
causing him to watch as Dennis Bernier (Div-IV TM/Anderson) drove to victory. John West
leading the race had a failure of his fuel pumps allowing Jim Brannon (Div-I Honda/MSR)
and Bobby Butler (Div-I Yahmaha/PVP) to coast to 1st and 2nd respectively, with Johnny
taking 3rd and Tris Gour (Div-I Honda/Stockman) and Mark Croslyn (Div-I Honda/PVP)
rounding out the top 5.
Andy Kiker, however, wouldn’t have it as easy. With Jayce and Scott hot on his heels
though out the race Mr. Kiker used every bit of traffic he could to stop the relentless
pursuit. Barely hanging on for victory Andy once again took the top spot with a gap of
.660 as Scott came in second and Jayce third. Showing that Andy, Scott and Jayce were not
the only ones consumed by the sprit of competition there was a fierce battle waged between
Firouz Haghighi (Div-II GasGas/Anderson) and Donnie Souter (Div-II GasGas/Souter) for 4th
place. With Friouz holding on for victory they rounded out the top 5.
Sunday morning arrived with nary a cloud in the sky and a great day of racing ahead. Due
to the fuel pump problem, John West decided to switch karts and start at the back of the
pack for the race. He moved his way though the field where Mark, Jim and Bobby were
fighting for first. He caught up with the leaders and pulled away with the victory. Mark,
Bobby and Jim battled for second place as Jim went in too hot into a turn and spun giving
Mark and Bobby 2nd and 3rd respectively. He was able to keep his engine running and
proceeded to finish 4th while Tris continued to fight electrical problems rounding out the
top 5.
Scott and Jayce again set their targets firmly upon Andy looking to unseat him. Jayce got
a wicked start and pulled away by several kart lengths. While Scott and Andy chased him
down, Jayce came upon lap traffic and lost control ending his race early. With Jayce out
of the race, Scott made his move, overtaking first from Andy. With 2 laps to go, Scott and
Andy came up to lap traffic where Andy made a great move to retake the lead fighting off
Scott at every turn to take first by a mere .660 seconds. Behind them, Firouz and Donnie
and Ardalan “Ardy” Sadeghi (Div-II Honda CR250/Anderson) battled for third.
Donnie kept the pursuit hot as Firouz did all he could to hold out for third with Donnie
and Ardy following.
During the pace lap, Joe West pitted as drivers were pointing at his radiator. The bracket
broke during the pace lap. With some tie straps to hold the bracket in place, Joe got back
in the field down 2 laps behind Dennis. Running strong, Joe was catching Dennis reeling
him in 5 seconds a lap. On the last lap of the race, he caught up to Dennis, but
didn’t have enough time to setup a pass giving Dennis another first place, closing
the spread on points.
Going into this weekend, the lap record for Blackhawk Farms was held by John West with a
1:08.900 this record was broken several times by John West, Andy Kiker, Jayce Haghighi and
Scott Fiesler. Congratulations go to Scott Fiesler who now holds the new track record of
1:08.393!
Thus concludes Race 4 at Blackhawk Farms. Race 5 at Hallet Racetrack in Tulsa, Oklahoma
has been voted on and canceled. For more information regarding this please contact the
steering committee. We look forward to seeing everyone for Race 6 from Road Atlanta in
Braselton, Georgia.
USSK Blackhawk Farms Results
Round 4 of the USSK's season is in the history
books as it was completed this past week at the north central Illinois Blackwawk
Farms road course. The results are as follows:
Saturday - Div-I/FE250
Jim Brannon 1:15.410
Bobby Butler 1:16.240
John West 1:10.487
Tris Gour 1:16.053
Mark Crosyln 1:15.626
Saturday - Div-II/ICE 250
Andy Kiker 1:08.709
Scott Fiesler 1:08.783
Jayce Haghighi1:09.748
Donnie Souter: 1:14.667
Firouz Haghighi NTA
Saturday - Div-IV/F-125
Dennis Bernier 1:26.474
Joey West DNS
Sunday - Div-I/FE250
John West 1:08.815
Mark Croslyn :113.921
Bobby Butler 114.269
Jim Brannon 113.978
Tris Gour 1:20.396
Sunday - Div-II/ICE 250
Andy Kiker 1:08.727
Scott Fiesler 108.393
Firouz Haghighi 112.628
Donnie Souter NTA
Ardy Sadaghi NTA
Sunday - Div-IV/F125
Dennis Bernier 1:24.607
Joey West 1:19.805
NTA = No Time Available
There were no karts entered in the Div-III/SS class for this race.
Assen Will Decide The European
Championship
55 Superkart drivers will take the green flag
when the European Championship runs their 3rd and final race at the Assen circuit in the
Netherlands during the weekend of August 8-9. Read Eric Severe's full account of the
upcoming event here.
British Kart GP Photos
Brit photographer Pete Roberts sent me a link to
some really nice pics from last weekend's British Kart GP at Cadwell Park. They are able
to be downloaded and used as full size wallpaper for your desktop. The link can be found here. Thanks, Pete.
Possible Parts Scammers
Ian Harrison has announced that there are
possible parts scammers offering discounted prices for Anderson karts and spares
especially to guys from the U.S. You can check out his thread on EKN. Be careful out
there!
Thanks Eddie And Wayne
I would just like to take this opportunity to
say a big 'Thank You' to Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey for what they were able to pull off
during the MotoGP weekend at Laguna Seca and the world-wide exposure they were able to
give to Superkarts. What you guys did was absolutely tremendous!!!
Superkarts have obviously run at Laguna before, and even with MotoGP, but, they have never
had Valentino Rossi as a driver and the fact that Eddie and Wayne were able to convince
him to participate in this event meant that it was covered by every MotoGP news outlet in
the WORLD!! Now, there is not a person world-wide that follows MotoGP who has not read
about and seen a picture (video) of a Superkart; and now know they lap almost as fast as a
GP bike.
The Superkart community as a whole could not have PAID for the kind of exposure that was
achieved from this one event! Thanks again, Eddie and Wayne!! You 'da Men!
(Hopefully, this can be an annual event and we can get some better video next time!)
USSK Heartland Park Sunday
No official results in yet but from what I
picked up on EKN, it was again the battle of GasGas's with J.R. Osborne taking the win in
the IC/E class over Andy Kiker by an 11 second margin and they were the fastest on the
track..
F/E 1. Mark Croslyn, 2. Johnny West, 3. Jim Brannon
IC/E 1. J.R. Osborne, 2. Andy Kiker, Jayce Haghighi
IC/E SS 1. Ardy Sadeghi, 2. Brain Cain
F/125 1. Joey West, Dennis Bernier
USSK At Hot Heartland Park
According to Ardy Sageghi it's 'hotter than
hell' and the temperature is in the triple digits in Topeka, Kansas at the Heartland Park
track; but it's that 'dry' heat isn't it?
Hot or not, the USSK took to the track for Saturday's racing. The results were:
F/E 1. Johnny West, 2. Jim Brannon, 3. Mark Croslyn
IC/E 1. Andy Kiker, 2. Jayce Haghighi, 3. J.R. Osborne
IC/E SS 1. Ardy Sadeghi 2. Brad Cain
F/125 1. Joey West, 2. Dennis Bernier
Zavaglia Takes Mallala Round 1
Sam "The Man" Zavaglia's two wins and
two thirds gave him the overall win for the weekend and points lead at Round1 of the
Australian Championships held at the Mallala circuit. He was followed by 2008 champion
Darren Hossack in second and Yiani Harpas in third. Harpas gave Zavaglia a run for his
money as he won the other two races, finished second in the first race but had a DNF in
Race 4 (the race that awards the most points) that clinched the overall victory for
Zavaglia and put Hossack in second. The second and final round of the Australian
Championship will be July 18,19 at Eastern Creek.
Roberts Takes P1 In Most Race
2
(CIK Secretary Vince Caro's article and
pictures from the weekend can be seen here.
After finishing 18th on Saturday, Viper Racing's
Trevor Roberts came back with a vengeance on Sunday giving him and BRC the top spot on the
podium. He was followed by Germany's Guido Kleinmeyer (12th on Sat.) and countryman Peter
Elkmann in 3rd. (29th on Sat.) Gavin Bennett, winner of Saturday's race, finished in 23rd
two laps down and Lee Harpham, 2nd on Saturday only made two laps.
Will have to wait for Eric Severe's full report but it looks like the consistency of
Britian's John Riley (6th on Sat. and 4th on Sun.) may garner the most points for the
weekend which I believe will put him back in the hunt for the championship. Will post
Eric's report when I get it.
UPDATE: The points going into the final
round are as follows: Gavin Bennett 75, Peter Elkmann 52, Carl Hulme 44, Guido Kleinmeyer
41, Lee Harpham 36, John Riley 36, Malcolm Crowe and Mark Owens with 32.
Damien Payart was at the track but was not racing due to health reasons. Harpham, who was
2nd in Race 1 had ignition problems in R2. Elkmann's poor showing in R1 was due to losing
the Yamaha engine.
Bennett Wins EC Race 1 At Most
Britian's Gavin Bennett took the checkered flag
in Race 1 of the European Championship at the Most track in the Czech Republic. He was
followed by countrymen Lee Harpham and Carl Hulme in 2nd and 3rd. Germany's Peter Elkmann,
who had been in 2nd the entire race, down by 5 seconds, either went out or slowed in the
11th lap in the 12 lap race. The second and final race will be run on Sunday morning.
UPDATE: Trevor and Peter had a little
'kissing session' which put Peter out and slowed Trevor. I'm thinking one of them tried to
make a move Barrichello tried today...FAIL!
Sunday Results From NJMP
Except for son taking 3rd over father
(Haghighis) and Ken Anderson moving into 3rd from Saturday's 4th, Sunday's USSK results
were a re-play from Saturday's racing.
The results were: F/E, 1. Johnny West, 2. Tris Gour, 3. Ken Anderson, IC/E, 1. Andy Kiker,
2. Scott Fiesler, 3. Jayce Haghighi, Div. IV, 1. Joey West, 2. Dennis Bernier
USSK At New Jersey Motorsports
Park
Johnny West (F/E) and Andy Kiker (IC/E) took the
top spots during Saturday's racing on the Lightning course at the New Jersey Motorsports
Park complex.
They were followed by (F/E) Tris Gour, Mark Croslyn, Ken Anderson and Jimmy Brannon. In
IC/E it was Scott Fiesler, Firouz Haghighi, Michael Kranz and Jeff Metter. Joey West took
the win in Div. IV (F/125) with Dennis Bernier finishing second.
FFSA Promotional Video
The FFSA (French Federation Society de
Automobile) in conjunction with the French production company Manor put together a
promotional video that was compiled at Magny-Cours the weekend of the running of the
Championship of Europe / French Championship. It can be seen or downloaded from here.
Use of the video in the promotion of Superkart racing is highly encouraged.
2009 British Superkart Grand
Prix
Well, the British blokes want to let everyone in
the U.S. (and everywhere else in the world) know that you are invited to come and try to
kick some butt at the 2009 BGP and take home the GP plate!
(I remember when that was THE most coveted plate in Europe!...sure would be cool if an
American had it!! :)
The event will be held July 17,18,19. (you could race at Assen in the EC on Aug.
7.8.9! :)
Full details and an entry form can be seen here
(.pdf)
European Championship Round 1
From Magny-Cours
BENNETT'S WINNING DOUBLE by Ken Walker
Gavin Bennett (Anderson-FPE) from Great Britain made the perfect start in his bid to
regain the European Superkart Championship. Starting from the 2nd row he had some good
fortune in race 1 when pole sitter Peter Elkmann (MS Kart-Yamaha) of Germany was involved
in contact on the first turn and dropped back to 9th place. Bennett, chasing fellow Brit
Lee Harpham (Anderson-FPE) then inherited the lead shortly after the half race distance
when Harpham suffered a broken ignition trigger bracket.
Reigning Champion Elkmann fought back strongly and battled with Frenchman Damien Payart
(PVP-FPE) as they both gave chase to Bennett. But the 2007 Champion had 3.351 seconds to
spare when he took the chequered flag from Payart 2nd and Elkmann 3rd. John Riley
(Anderson-Rotax) starting in 26th place after a dreadful qualifying session came strongly
through the field to finish 4th. Malcolm Crowe (Anderson-FPE) was almost as impressive
going from 25th to 6th. Marcel Maasmann (MS Kart-VM) confirmed his status as the top Dutch
Superkart driver with an excellent 8th place.
Less fortunate were Mark Owens (ADE-DEA) who started on the front row but went out on the
2nd lap with main bearing failing. Thomas Johansson (Anderson-FPE) of Sweden was going
well when his race was halted by mechanical failure with just one lap to go. Carlo Chermaz
(PVP-PVP) from Brisbane, Australia had a most creditable 13th place on his European
Championship debut.
In race 2 Lee Harpham was the early leader but Peter Elkmann passed him on the 3rd lap and
led for the next 7 laps. But Bennett who went past Harpham from 3rd to 2nd just after
halfway, took the lead on lap 10 and held off the determined challenge as Elkmann fought
back for the lead. Harpham was relieved to secure a finish as he came home in a deserved
3rd place. Likewise Mark Owens who was never out of the top 4 where he eventually
finished. Damien Payart who had only qualified in 10th position, finished a strong 5th in
front of Malcolm Crowe, once again having to come through from 25th on the grid.
British driver Carl Hulme (Anderson-FPE) 8th, had his 2nd top ten finish of the weekend as
did fellow Brit Paul Kennings (Anderson-FPE) when finishing 9th, and Dutchman Marcel
Maasmann, 10th this time.Carlo Chermaz 16th had his second top twenty finish.
So Gavin Bennett takes a perfect score to Most (CZ) in June but defending champion Peter
Elkmann with a 2nd and a 3rd is well placed. Damien Payart would perhaps have hoped for
better than a 2nd and 5th in his home country. Lee Harpham is clearly very fast but will
have been hurt by the non-finish in race 1. Similarly John Riley’s failure to
complete race 2 was a severe blow to his championship aspirations.
USSK Sunday Results At Eagles
Canyon
Sunday's results were:
F/E, 1. Jimmy Long, 2. Mark Croslyn, 3. Jim Brannon
IC/E, 1. Jayce Haghighi, 2. Andy Kiker, 3. Scott Fiesler
F/125, 1. Dennis Bernier, 2. Joey West
Final results for the weekend are:
F/E, 1. Jimmy Long, 2. Jim Brannon, 3. Mark Croslyn, 4. Bobby Butler, 5. Tris Gour
IC/E 1. Jayce Haghighi, 2. Andy Kiker, 3. Scott Fiesler, 4. Firouz Haghighi, 5. Donnie
Souter
F/125 1. Dennis Bernier, 2. Joey West
USSK Saturday Results At
Eagles Canyon
From the weather reports, it sounds like they
would have been better off racing snowmobiles...although it never did snow, it rained and
was very cold and forced the cancellation of Friday afternoon qualifying. Saturday's race
started from a pea-pick grid order.
The results were:
F/E, 1. Jimmy Long, 2. Bobby Butler, 3. Jim Brannon
IC/E, 1. Jayce Haghighi, 2. Donnie Souter, 3. Firouz Haghighi
F/125, 1. Dennis Bernier, 2. Joey West
At least for Sunday's race it is "suppose" to be much warmer!
USKGP Race At VIR Cancelled
Due to a high number of cancellations,
presumably due to the economy, race promoter Bernie Adamson has been forced to cancel the
race for 2008 with hopes of running it in 2009.
USSK Final Season Results
The USSK presented awards to series champions at
the Saturday night banquet at Road Atlanta after a great season of racing.
Awards were presented to the following drivers:
F/E 1st Johnny West, 2nd Tris Gour, 3rd Jim Brannon
IC/E 1st Andy Kiker, 2nd Jayce Haghighi, 3rd Michael McAlister
IC/E SS 1st Jeff Metter (unconfirmed, presuming David Lirette finished 2nd)
Sportsman Of The Year, Jim Brannon
Hard Knocks Award, Mark Croslyn
USSK Sunday Road Atlanta
Results
Sunday saw the beginning of the USSK's 2009
season unfortunately with a red flag. Saturday's race saw racer Butch Verrado suffer a
broken ankle and hip and on Sunday Michael McCalister was taken to the hospital for
observation after he and Tris Gour got together and Michael's kart did a series of kart
wheels leaving him unconscious for a period of time. Wishing speedy recoveries to both.
As for the racing, Johnny West came
back and re-took the top spot in F/E on Sunday followed by Saturday's winner, Mark Croslyn
who was followed by Anthony Williams in third.
No surprise in IC/E as Andy Kiker won again with Jayce Highighi second and Jim Ingram
taking third.
The IC/E SS class had David Lirette as as the winner, Brad Cain in second and Jeff Metter third.
The new USSK class for 2009, Formula 125, saw Dennis Bernier taking the win with Joey West finishing second.
Croslyn, Kiker, Lirette Take
Road Atlanta Wins
In the USSK's final event of the season at Road
Atlanta, Saturday's racing, the final race of the 2008 season, saw Mark Croslyn end Johnny
West's winning streak crossing the finish line in first in F/E. He was followed by West in
second and Bobby Butler in third.
Andy Kiker continued his winning ways in IC/E and was followed by Scott Fiesler in second
and Michael McAlister in third.
In the IC/E SS class, it was David Lirette in the top spot with JIm Anthony and Jeff
Metter in second and third.
Sunday's race will start a new year as this will be considered the first race of the 2009
season.
Assen Weekend Update
(Brit Paul Kennings sent the following Assen
report)
- It was a round of International Superkart Series (Dutch / German series) AND a round of
British Superkart (we return the favour for them coming to Cadwell for the British GP)
- It was the final round for both series
- Elkmann and Kruse were tied on points going into the final round. Both drivers had a
gentleman's agreement that they would only compete in the same number of rounds (Kruse
couldn't make it to Cadwell where Elkmann won both so sat out Oschersleben to re-dress the
balance - very sporting)
- In British Superkart it was between me, Dave Harvey and Carl Hulme for the win with
outside mathematical chances for Carl Kinsey and Trevor Roberts
- Kruse and Elkmann qualified 1 & 2 with Riley, Maasman & Harpham behind. Of the
British contenders it was pretty bad! Harvey was OK in 6th but I was 20th after a lap 3
engine seizure and Carl Hulme was 37th after a similar problem.
- Race 1 was won (by some margin) by Harpham from Kruse, Riley and Albertsson. Harpham was
penalised 30sec for overtaking on yellows so the podium was Kruse, Riley and Albertsson
(very pleased for Bengt as he has some rough luck!)
- Elkmann couldn't get going in race 1 due to a battery failure so the title race was
looking pretty good for Kruse who now only needed to finish race 2 to claim the title.
- Race 1 for the British series turned on it's head. The result was Carl Hulme, me and
Dave Harvey (8th, 13th & 14th overall respectively). We all had our problems, CH and I
had gearbox problems and Dave Harvey had finished well but also penalised for overtaking
on yellows!!
- Race 2 was soaking wet and we saw a flying Elkmann going for it in the absence of Kruse
(he couldn't get his engine going - disaster!!). Elkmann spun off at the grandstand
chicane and was down to 7th handing Roberts the lead before Riley took over. Elkmann could
only recover to 2nd which meant that Kruse was the champion on the Italian DEA motor and
the Anderson chassis.
- In the British race I caught Dave Harvey up and got alongside but chose the wrong side
of a back marker and ate astroturf. Dave chose the correct side and with Carl Hulme only
managing 15th place in all the spray from 37th place, Dave Harvey was the British Champion
(on the Anderson with FPE power) by only 2 points in 192! Dave and I were classified 4th
and 5th after the Czech Bartak was penalised for overtaking on the yellows.
- Final classifications were;
International Superkart:
1. Peter Kruse (D), 2. Peter Elkmann (D), 3. Rob Chilcott (GB), 4.Olaf Dau (D), 5 Marcel
Maasmann (NL), 6.Jurgen Reinke (D), 7. Michal Bartak (CZ), 8. Dave Harvey (GB), 9. Jorg
Bernard (D), 10. Bengt Albertsson (S).
British Superkart:
1. Dave Harvey, 2. Carl Hulme, 3. Paul Kennings, 4. Carl Kinsey, 5. Steve Briggs, 6. Simon
Holloway, 7. Trevor Roberts, 8. Neil Bagley, 9. Mark Owens, 10. Steve McAdam.
- All pretty exciting stuff really. Another full grid of 60 Superkarts made for some more
spectacular racing. There are lots of manufacturers involved in Europe now with FPE, DEA,
PVP, VM, BRC, RCS (cylinders for Rotax) and Yamaha on the engine side and Anderson, PVP,
MS Kart, Stockman, APG, Raider, Scherman, ADE, EMA and USP chassis all represented.
Riley Takes The Win, Kruse
Wins Championship
Great Britain's John Riley did a 2/1 finish at
the Netherlands' Assen circuit to win the final round of the German International
Superracekart Series.
I'm not really sure who finished 2nd and 3rd.....
Germans Peter Kruse and Peter Elkmann were up and down. Kruse won the first race ahead of
Riley but was off the boards in Race 2. Elkmann finished 2nd in Race 2 but was off the
boards in Race 1.
I 'think' looking at the results that Sweden's Bengt Albertsson finished 2nd overall and
GB's Paul Kennings was in 3rd. (he will let me know this week, I may have to re-do
this...)
From these results, with Kruse getting a win and Elkmann only a 2nd, Peter Kruse will be declared winner of the 2008 International Superracekart Series.
Lawson Loves Laguna!
And he showed it again on Sunday by beating Sam
'The Awesome Aussie' Zavaglia by 2.3 seconds to the finish line. Sam posted the fastest
lap of the race, 1:23.6 to Lawson's 1:24.0 but, unfortunately, it wasn't until the last
lap which wasn't good enough for the Aussie to catch Fast Eddie.
Sam's mate and country-mate, Mike Wayne, rounded out the podium in F/E. Reggie Brown and
Larry Kurpiewski were 4th and 5th.
IC/E saw Anthony Williams coming home first but it must have been a good race as well as
Paul Band was only 3.3 seconds back after the 25 minute race. Eric Johnson rounded out the
IC/E podium with Kyle Rice and Michael Beamer taking 4th and 5th.
Fast Eddie Is First In
Qualifying
The Laguna Seca gods did not rise to the
occasion on Saturday morning (they most likely stayed at the party too late :-) as the
mountain air prevailed producing the typical Laguna early morning foggy conditions coupled
with a cold track for the Superkart qualifying session.
Eddie "Mr. Laguna" Lawson and Sam "the awesome Aussie" Zavaglia have
been trading fast times back and forth during practice sessions and it was Sam who led the
20-minute qualifying session.....until the last lap when Eddie edged him out for the pole
position. These two are going to put on quite a show during Sunday's race. Long Beach, CA
driver Jay Lewis rounded out the top three in the F/E class.
Washington driver John Rounds grabbed the pole in the IC/E field ahead of Eric Johnson,
also from WA, and CA driver Anthony Williams in third.
It's Peter Kruse!
Although he was only the fifth fastest
qualifyer, German Peter Kruse (Anderson, DEA) showed the competition the way and won both
rounds of the International Superracekart Series at the Oschersleben circuit the weekend
of October 11-12.
He was followed in Race 1 by Olaf Dau (PVP, BRC) and Guido Kleinemeyer (Stockman, BRC) and
in Race 2 by Dan Hentschel (PVP, DEA) with Kleinemener in third.
2009 USSK Rules
The USSK has published rules for the upcoming
2009 season. They can be viewed on the USSK web site or on the 250 Superkarts forum on the EKartingNews site.
EC Round 3, Race 2 -
Assen
Great Britain's Lee Harpham sitting outside pole
jumped into the lead on lap one over pole-sitter Peter Elkmann and held a one second lead.
The USA's Andy Kiker jumped into 9th place on the first lap, up from his 18th place start
but dropped to 12th in lap two and to 13th in lap 6 as Harpham pulled out a 3 second plus
lead over second place Elkmann finishing with a fast lap of 1:39.367. Kiker gets passed my
some more guys and drops to 20th in lap 9.moving back to 19th at the finish turning a very
respectable fastest lap of 1:41.062
Elkmann finishes 5.6 seconds back of the winner followed two seconds back by third place
finisher Carl Hulme of Great Britain. GB's Steve White finished 4th with France's Damien
Payart in 5th.
EC Round 3, Race 1 -
Assen
Peter Elkmann stayed true to form and won the
drag race to the finish line in Race 1 by just .679 seconds over second place finisher
Gavin Bennett. GB's John Riley came in third 4 seconds back. Outside pole sitter Lee
Harpham only made 9 laps of the 11 lap race.and finished in 45th.
Andy Kiker not only finished all 11 laps but moved up a couple spots from 18th to 16th.
The final race will be coming up shortly.
EC Round 3, Qualifying - Assen
Former German Formula 3 racer Peter Elkmann once
again proves he is the man to contend with as he put his MS Kart/Yamaha on the pole
(1:39.1) for the final round of the European Superkart Championships during the Rizla
Racing Days weekend at Assen. He was followed by the UK's Lee Harpham, 1:40.282,
(Anderson/Rotax) and Gavin Bennett, 1:40.290, (Anderson/FPE) in third spot.
The USA's Andy Kiker (Anderson/FPE) qualified in 18th spot (1:41.7) out of the 60 karts
which is quite an accomplishment for his first run in Europe and at Assen. We will be
looking for him to move up during the first race on Sunday.
BRC Takes The Duffy
Riley Will, aboard his BRC250/FE powered Superkart, took home the coveted IKF
Duffy Trophy, named after IKF founder Duffy Livingston. The five day event was held at
Portland International Raceway. Will said the best part was having his wife and children
present to be a part of it.
Photos From The British
Superkart GP
British photographer Pete Roberts has put up
some nice pictures from the British GP weekend. They can be seen here. These pictures may also be downloaded for
wallpaper purposes.
British Superkart GP: Elkmann
Is On A Roll!
German Peter Elkmann once again showed the guys,
including the Brits, that he is a force to be reckoned with as he finished atop the
podium in all four rounds of the British Superkart Grand Prix the weekend of July 19-20.
He had some challengers but no one could match the power of his Yamaha TZ.
Round 1: Elkmann, Mark Owens (GB), Trevor Roberts (GB) Damien Payart (FR) Malcom Crowe
(GB)
Round 2: Elkmann, Payart, Roberts, Crowe, Dave Harvey (GB)
Round 3: Elkmann, Owens, Lee Harpham (GB), Roberts, Payart
Final: Elkmann, Harpham, Carl Hulme (GB), Payart, Dave Harvey (GB)
This is certainly going to make for an interesting final at the European Championship at the Assen circuit in two weekend's time. There are certainly going to be a lot of guys going home after last weekend, doing some homework, and trying to figure out what they need to do to catch Elkmann!
USSK Road America Sunday
Results
Johnny West (F/E) and Mike Spear, Jr. (IC/E)
were both atop the podium for Sunday's final race at Road America. They were followed by
(F/E) Alan Rudolph, (ran out of gas on the last lap) Reggie Brown, Jr., Mark Croslyn and
Jim Brannon. (nice finish after an on-track mishap on Saturday) IC/E saw Jayce Haghighi,
Firouz Haghighi Michael McAlister and Scott Fiesler rounding out the top five with Ron
Nigro, Jeff Metter and Craig Rhodes taking the S/S class.
Elkmann Still In Top Form
German Peter Elkmann, a force to be reckoned
with of late, brought his TZ250 powered MS Kart home to do the double as he won both races
in Germany's Superracekart Series at the Oschersleben track the weekend of July 12-13. He
was followed by German Peter Kruse in his Anderson DEA who finished second in both races.
Third place was taken by Nils Appel (PVP/PVP) on Saturday and Guido Kleinmeyer
(Stockman/BRC) on Sunday.
The next race is next weekend, July 18,19,20, with the British Superkarts at Cadwell Park
and should see some really good racing.
Australian Superkart
Championships, Round 1
Eastern Creek Raceway saw Victoria's Darren
Hossack (Anderson/SAFE Rotax) take the point lead the weekend of July 12-13 for the
Australian Superkart Championship by virtue of his two victories and two second place
finishes in the four race weekend.
New South Wales' Sam Zavaglia (Stockman/TZ250) finished a strong second in the first two
races, won the fourth race but only managed a 15th place in the third. Nonetheless, a
strong showing for Zavaglia with his TZ250 and should give him second place points going
to the final round.
Warren McIlveen, New South Wales (Stockman/Honda) was the victor of Race 3 but had a DNF
in Race 1 and a 7th in Race 2 and a 4th in Race 4. Carlo Chermas (Queensland) and Gary
Pegoraro (Victoria) also got some good points for the weekend which should make for an
interesting final at Mallala Motorsport Park on November 1st & 2nd.
Rudolph Takes RA Win In Round
1
Former national 125 champion Alan Rudolph easily
covered the field and stood atop the podium for the USSK's Race 1 at Road America and set
another track record by breaking his record-setting qualifying time to put a new number in
the book at 2:14.437. (a couple of tweaks and he's going to be in the 13s!!)
Johnny West even knocked close to a second and a half off his Q time but it just wasn't
enough...although he was able to bring home the #2 points. He was followed by Andy Kiker,
with his GasGas single and then Mike Spear, Jr. and Pat Yosikane. (nice to Pat towing in
from the Left Coast to make it to this event!)
Well, the scare of the day came from Jim Brannon, who rolled his kart! (If anyone see an
old guy with a long white beard looking like Santa Claus in the grass, please pick him
up!!)
The good news is that he is OK....but the kart is probably not....hopefully, if he's able,
he'll be back for Round 2.
(don't have any details yet, but guessing it happened coming out of the last
turn.....always hated that curb and almost did that myself once...)
Road America Sees New Track
Record
Alan Rudolph in his PVP / BRC250FE grabbed the
pole for this weekend's race at RA and set a new Superkart track record with a time of
2:14.579 around the 4.0 mile track. Now that's haulin' the mail!! Johnny West, Mike Spear,
Jr., Andy Kiker and Jayce Haghighi rounded out the top five. Others who could have been up
there had problems and will be starting from the back but it should make for an
interesting Race 1 on Saturday.
Short Video From Mid-Ohio
I found a short video that was shot from the
infield during Friday's USSK Round 1 race. It can be seen here.
New Safety Wire Rules For PVP
Chassis
The USSK Steering Committee has announced that
drivers, especially PVP chassis owners, need to check their brake and steering components
to be in compliance with safety wire rules effective with the upcoming race at Road
America July 11th. Please read the e-mail and posted rule regarding this here.
Mid-Ohio Saturday Results
Johnny West (F/E) and Andy Kiker (IC/E) once
again took the top spots on the podium for Saturday's Race 2 with both running very strong
at the sharp end but in the end it was Andy who was able to hold off Johnny for the
overall victory.
The top five in F/E on the podium for the weekend were West, Mike Soh, Tris Gour, Paul
Rhodes and Jim Brannon. See podium pic here.
The top five in IC/E on the podium for the weekend were Kiker, Scott Fiesler, Mike
McCallister, Mike Herdzan and Firouz Haghighi. See podium pic here.
The top three podium finishers in the IC/E S/S class were Jim Anthony, Jeff Metter and
Chuck Bunnell. (Sincere apologies to these guys, somehow I screwed up and lost their
podium pic)
A group photo of 'The Gang' can be seen here.
West And Kiker Take Mid-Ohio
Friday Results
Johnny West (F/E) and Andy Kiker (IC/E) took the
top spots on the podium for Friday's Race 1 at the Mid-Ohio SportsCar Course.
In Qualifying, Kiker narrowly edged out West by a half second by posting a 126.7 to JW's 127.2 but once again put his GasGas single out front as being the fastest guy. The only other Q results I have are that Jayce Haghighi was 3rd in IC/E and MIke Soh and Jimmy Brannon were 4th and 5th respectively in F/E.
The only results I have for Race 1 are that Andy K (once again) took the overall win while finishing 1st in IC/E while John West finished second overall, 1st in F/E, with Canadian Mike Soh (who hasn't raced for two years due to medical problems) making a strong return to finish 3rd overall and 2nd in F/E.
Will be 'out of the office' tomorrow (surprise :) so don't look for tomorrow's results until Sunday.
Could Superkarts Return To
Mosport? :)
Only time will tell, (I don't think they've been
there since the early / mid 80s) but you can have a day to practice, test, tune and race
for FREE and put on (2) Exhibition Races on Sunday June 29th. This will take place on the
1.5 mile Drivers Development Track where they run (or did run) the F/2000 cars. The track
is located about 60 miles east of Toronto in Bowmanville, Ontario. (see directions here)
The idea is to ultimately get the
Superkarts back on Mosport's famous 2.5 mile track hopefully running with a big event and
I wouldn't be surprised if track owner Don Panoz is not on hand to watch this exhibition.
(and the Superkarts obliterate all the track records! :)
There is no cost at all for anyone who wants to participate. There will be two
practice sessions, the first starting at 9:00 and the second at 11:00. They will be from
15-30 minutes, depending on the number of total participants entered; fewer cars, more
track time for Superkarts!
Following practice, there will be a Qualifying session, Race 1 and Race 2. (race time to
be decided upon by the Superkart drivers, 20 to 30 minute races)
If you want, you can arrive on Saturday, pick a spot, unpack, setup, etc. The Superkarts will be pitted together in the newly re-paved area regardless of which day you arrive. Camping is available at the track.
For more info contact Paul Rhodes, 416-678-1610, rhodespc@hotmail.com or Steve Rhodes at 416-994-0173.
Links: To see the 12 Turn track with corners numbered, click here. For onboard video of a lap around the track, click here. See aerial photos of the track here and here. To see the Mosport International Karting Association announcement about the Superkart Demo, click here. Mosport International Raceway's site (the big track) is located here.
Mid-Ohio Weekend June 13-14
United States SuperKarts webmaster Erin Tullis
will be providing live updates both Friday and Saturday on the USSK site and also on the E-Karting News site (250 Racing forum) so if you
cannot make it to the track, be sure to keep updated by visiting either or both of these
sites.
Not only will she be providing both qualifying and Race 1 results from Friday and then
Saturday's final race results but also, I believe, some photos and video of the weekend.
European Championship Round 2
Results
Although only finishing third in Sunday's race,
Frenchman Benjamin Mahe (FPE) put himself into the lead in the EC points after Round 2
held at the German Lausitz circuit held during the weekend of May 16-18.
Fellow countryman Damien Payart (FPE) holds the second position 12 points behind and
German Peter Elkmann, the latest force to be reckoned with with his TZ engine, sits in
third 15 points out of first.
Great Britan rounds out the next three with John Riley (Rotax), Mark Owens (DEA) and
Trevor Roberts (PVP) but they will need miracles to pull off a podium position in the
final results after the final round to be held at the Assen circuit the weekend of August
1-3.
(I think it's great the new DEA and VM engines are in the hunt in their first year in
competition and the PVP is showing that it can be a contender too. What if Elkmann had a
'real' TZ and the Honda RS were allowed?? CIK get you head out of your arse and have a
'Real World Championship'!!!, if it doesn't exceed 250cc, it's legal!!!)
UPDATE: Unfortunately, there was a massive shunt at the start of Race 2 that
involved some 20+ karts. Fortunately, no one was killed but there were some broken bones
to some three or four drivers, three from GB and one from Spain, I think, and obviously
the required mending time for all. Wishing them all the best and a speedy return to the
'saddle'!! There is video of the start that can be seen here, here and
here.
USSK Eagles Canyon Sunday
Results
Johnny West (F/E) and Andy Kiker (IC/E) stood on
top of the Sunday podium after the USSK final race at Eagles Canyon. Frank Widmoser and
Jimmy Long were second and third in F/E and son beats dad again as Jayce and Firouz
Haghighi were second and third in IC/E. David Lirette was the SuperStock winner.
More places and times as I get them.
Widmoser, Kiker Take Saturday
Wins
Frank Widmoser (F/E) and Andy Kiker (IC/E) both
won their respective classes during Saturday's USSK round two race at Eagles Canyon
Raceway in Decatur, Texas.
John West and Tris Gour rounded out the podium in F/E, with Mark Croslyn, Sr. and Bobby
Butler 4th and 5th, while the Haghighis, Jayce (son) and Firouz (father), took podium
spots in IC/E with George Saldana and David Lirette rounding out the top five.
Once again Andy Kiker's GasGas came in with the fastest time during the race at a 1:48.01,
three and a half seconds faster than his closest competitor and two and a half seconds(+)
faster than the fastest F/E time.
Pictures From EC Nogaro
Some pictures form last weekend's European
Championship race at Nogaro can be seen here.
Another 86 photos from the weekend can be seen here.
(click on the "Diaporma" link)
Eric Severe also has a race report on his Mediasuperkart site here.
A Tie At The Top Of The
European Championship
The April 6 running of the first round of the
European Championship at France's Nagaro circuit saw a swap of wins between France's
Damien Payart and polesitter Benjamin Mahe leaving both tied in points going into Round 2
at Germany's Lausitzring circuit May 16-18.
Payart took the win in Race 1 followed by Mahe, Great Britian's John Riley and Trevor
Roberts and France's Alexander Sebastia.
Race 2 saw Mahe on top of the podium followed by Payart, Germany's Peter Elkmann and GB's
Riley and Roberts which will give Riley a slight lead for third place points over his
fellow countryman.
CIK Approves Homologations
The CIK recently completed its annual
homologation procedure and as expected, the Italian engine DEA and Czech engine VM were approved.
Of special note were the "Variants Approval" for BRC Engineering's BRC250FE which included new cylinders,
the much needed alternate transmission ratios and an internal water pump tandem gear
cover.
USSK Results From MSR-Cresson
Round 1 of the USSK season got under way the
weekend of March 28-30 at the Texas venue Motorsports Ranch in Cresson, Texas. Following
are the results of the Saturday and Sunday races.
Saturday:
IC/E - 1. Andy Kiker, 2. Jayce Haghighi, 3. Dan Davis, 4. David Lirette, 5. Frank Calhoun
F/E - 1.Jimmy Long, 2. Jim Brannon, 3. John West, 4. Cory Simpson, 5. Bobby
Butler
Sunday:
IC/E - 1. Andy Kiker, 2.David Lirette, 3. Mike McAlister, 4. Frank Calhoun, 5.
Arnold Bodenheimer
F/E - 1. John West, 2. Cory Simpson, 3. Jimmy Long, 4. Jim Brannon, 5. Bobby
Butler
Aandy Kiker set fast time for the weekend at 2:07.8; 3+ seconds faster than the fastest
F/E kart.
A group picture of the drivers can be seen here.
European Championship - Round
1
Round 1 of the EC will take place the weekend of
April 4-6 at the Nagaro circuit in France. Had there not been a limit of 60, there would
have easily been 80 karts in the field and there is a large list of reserve drivers
waiting to take the place of anyone who drops out.
10 nationalities will be represented: UK, 23; Germany, 11; France, 10; Netherlands, 5;
Sweden, 4; Spain, 2; Czech Republic, 2; Austria, 1; Denmark, 1 and Switzerland 1.
Drivers will compete on nine different chassis models and seven different engine makes. A
full entry list for the race can be found at www.cikfia.com
The Swedish SuperVkart
Swede Lennart Landstrom, maker of the DuoKart,
is now marketing what is called the SuperVkart as an entry level class to Superkarting.
(much like the Swift Cup concept) The chassis will be the Czech MSKart Superkart with a Hirth (Germany) 625cc twin cylinder, carb
inductioin, 2-stroke air-cooled engine with a variator transmission (continuously variable
ratio transmission) producing 65 HP with a top speed of around 120mph. As I understand it,
the engine will be sealed and cost will be around $19,000.
From the Hirth site, "The 3203 V is an air cooled, reed valve controlled 2-cylinder-inline-2-stroke engine with 2 slide carburetors and Nikasil coated cylinders. It has one of the highest power to weight ratio available on the 65 HP engine market. Factory recommended TBO (To Be Overhauled) is rated at 1000 hours at 75 % power. The warranty of the crank shaft is 3 years." Those numbers apply to an aviation application so they would surely be different for Superkarting but even at 25% that would be 250 hours. That is an awful lot of track time!
More info can be found on the SuperVkart site. Make sure you watch the videos of the guy doing donuts and drag racing a Camaro.
Two New Twins Up For
Homologation
It is possible we may see a couple of new twins
competing this year, at least in Europe, if they pass FIA/CIK homologation rules by the
first of April.
The VM twin (Czech Republic) and the DEA twin (Italy) are both reportedly going to try and
be eligible for the 2008 season by passing homologation rules by April 1st.
The VM twin, which I reported on before, is a product of the Czech Republic and is being
developed by MS Kart and
being produced by VM (Verner Motors) who also make cylinders for both GasGas and PVP. The engine,
which is a side-by-side, has a balance shaft, reed valves, casette gear box,
Dell'Orto carbs and should produce in the neighborhood of 92hp. It is expected to sell for
Euro 8,000.
The DEA twin is a product of DEA
Engineering located in Crevalcore, Italy and is an inline twin. It is expected to be
comparable in price to the FPE. Unfortunately, no other details available at this time.
Pictures of the VM are here and
DEA here.
Laguna Seca Entry Form
Bernie Adamson has asked me to post the entry
form for the Superstars of Superkarts race at Laguna Seca on the weekend of October
17,18,19. The form is here.
(This is a .pdf file. If you want to download it, right click on the link and choose Save
As / Save Target As. Otherwise, just print it from the linked page)
USKGP Final Results
Still working on this for all the results
All I have so far is the top 3 for F/E and Gavin Bennett took the money!!
1. Gavin Bennett (GB)
2. Sam Zavaglia (AUS)
3. J.R. Osborne (US)
Andy Kiker continues his dominance and won the IC/E class and the money! (he finished 3rd overall) Second was Mike Spear, Jr. and third, Michael Beamer.
Full Results for Sunday's race:
Superkarts F/E
Gavin Bennett
Sam Zavaglia
J.R. Osborne
Johnny West
Mark Croslyn
Jim Brannon
Jurgen Reinke
Kenneth Anderson
George Sunderland
Trevor Roberts
Ryan Kurpiewski
Larry Kurpiewski
Superkart IC/E
Andy Kiker
Mike Spear, Jr
Michael Beamer
Mark Jauregui
Chuck Bunnell
Brian Fisher
Martin Reuck
Dan Davis
Jim Anthony
Scott Lowenstine
Jeff Metter
Adam Romito
Photos of the event can be seen here, here, here and here.
A good article on the race on EkartingNews can be seen here.
Lap times for the 250s can be seen on MyLaps here. (click on Race 9 and Race 14)
USKGP Pre-final Results
1. Trevor Roberts FE - PVP
2. Gavin Bennett FE - FPE
3. Sam Zavaglia FE - RS
4. Andy Kiker ICE - First lap Crash w/J. Reinke.
5. JR Osborne FE - BRC - Broke Frt. Pipe..
6. Mark. Jueregui - FE - ??
7. Ken Anderson - FE - 256
8. Ryan Kierpewski - FE - FPE
9. Adam Romito - ICE -
10. John West - FE - RS -
11. Larry Kierpewski - FE - BRC
12. Dan Davis - ICE - CR
13. Jeff Metter - ICE - CR
14. Martin Reuck - ICE - GasGas
15. Juergen Reinke - FE First Lap Spin and crash with Andy Kiker
16. Sam Andrewson - ??
17. Mike Spear Jr. - GasGas - Spin
18. Jim Brannon DNS
19. C. Buhner DNS
20. Mark Croslyn DNS
21. Brian Fisher DNS
There were several others that did not start the race..
Simpson, Lowenstein, Beamer, Total of 28 Karts in the field..
First Lap: Juergen Reinke spun and was hit hard on the right side by Andy Kiker.. Dan
Davis spun, Mike Spear Jr. spun
Bennett & Kiker Grab USKGP Poles
2007 European Superkart Champion Brit
Gavin Bennett and American USSK IC/E Champion Andy Kiker each grabbed the pole in their
respective F/E and IC/E classes at the 2007 United States Kart Grand Prix at Virginia
Internataional Raceway during Friday's qualifying session which was held in the sun at
about 60 degrees.
The order and times for both classes are:
F/E
1. Gavin Bennett (GB) 2:34.3
2. Jurgen Reinke (GER) 2:37.5
3. Sam Zavaglia (AUS) 2:39.8
4. J.R. Osborn (US) 2:41.2
5. John West (US) 2:47.4
IC/E
1. Andy Kiker (US) 2:38.2
2. Martin Rueck (GER) 2:38.8
3. Adam Romito (US) 2:43.9
4. Mike Spear, Jr. (US) 2:46.7
5. Dan Davis (US) 2:53.4
British BSA Superkart Champion Trevor Roberts was running up front but was five pounds light at the scales and will be making up ground from the back of the pack.
2008 Laguna Date Changed
Julie Kuntze has announced that the Superkarts
will race at Laguna Seca the weekend of October 17-19 in conjunction with the American Le
Mans Series. It was originally thought the race would be in September during the Superbike
weekend but running with the ALMS will allow more track time for the Superkarts than would
have been available with the Superbikes.
USKGP Pre-Race Press Release
The 2007 United States Kart Grand Prix is almost
upon us again and it is turning out to be quite a gathering. The venue is the fabulous 4.2
miles long Virginia International Raceway which is without a doubt the longest road race
event in the United States. Combine that with the USKGP inviting the world's top Superkart
drivers and manufacturers to the United States to race and then add on a purse!! In fact,
the total purse will be a whopping $27,000 with a substantial dollar amount going to each
class winner and the balance going to other top finishers.
A number of the top European, Australian and American Superkart drivers have committed to
this event and their karts are already here in the US. Trevor Roberts from Northern
Ireland who was the last CIK-FIA World Champion in Formula/E, England's Gavin Bennett, who
is this years European Superkart Champion, Germans Martin Reuck and Jurgen Reinke and to
cap it all off Sam Zavaglia from Australia who is a huge threat to any of the world's best
drivers, to mention just a few. Reigning "US" plate holders in both Formula/E
and InterContinental/E, Johnny West and Andy Kiker, are also committed to racing as well
as J.R. Osborne who will be traveling to VIR from his home in Colorado. Riley Will from
BRC Engineering in Calgary, Alberta will be flying in to make this an event one not to be
missed.
Possibly three of the best known pilots from the West Coast, Scott Holmboe, and Chris and
Ryan Hegar have also confirmed that they will all be running in both the Stock Honda and
CIK 125 Class and are looking forward to a large class participation given the prize
monies that are stake. Owen Wharton, Clayton Prater and Josh Lane will be flying the flag
for P.G. Racing while Virginia drivers Brian Fisher, Bobby Ellis and Byron Rothenhoefer
will have something to say about the outcome in several of the classes.
Former World Champion and NASCAR driver Lake Speed will also be on hand to give the
"whipper snappers" a run for the money, racing in the TAG Class and has promised
to bring along some of his "friends." The renewed rivalry between East and West
Coast with pilots Phillip Arscott and Donny Warren in the Spec 125 Class plans to hotten
up again this year but with an added twist. This year both Warren and Arscott will be on
Swiss Hutless chassis, Warren on Parilla Leopard power and Arscott on Rotax power.
Gates will open up at 3pm on Thursday December 13th for this not to be missed event. The
USKGP Grid girls will be in attendance all weekend and local band “Point of
Honor” will be playing live on Saturday evening. A barbecue is also planned for
Saturday as well as a raffle with some great prizes to be won.
2008 Australian Championship
For anyone contemplating having a go at the
Aussies next year, they have announced their schedule for 2008 Championship as Race 1,
Eastern Creek, July 12-13 and Race 2 at Mallala November 1-2
Payart Grabs French Crown
Despite having some problems, Damien Payart came
out on top in the French Championship for 2007. Alexandre Sebastia finsihed second and
Mane Vignjevic, by winning one race and finishing second in the other, took the third spot
on the podium.
USSK Crowns Series Champs for 2007 at Road
Atlanta
Announce 2008 Season Schedule
Road Atlanta served as the backdrop for the USSK season ending awards banquet where Andy
Kiker was named 2007 USSK ICE Champion and Johnny West was named 2007 USSK FE Champion.
While the ICE championship was well in hand for Kiker starting the weekend, he wasn’t
given much of a chance to relax with Mike Spear, Jr. nipping at his heels. Even when
Spear, Jr. suffered engine problems that sidelined him, Kiker had to hold his position
with Martin Reuck, Jayce Haghighi, and Firuoz Haghighi coming quickly.
Just like the races Friday and Saturday, the season standings ended much the same way with
Kiker named as 2007 USSK ICE Champion, Jayce Haghighi 2nd Place, Firuoz Haghighi 3rd
Place, Mike Spear Jr. 4th Place, and Erik Penz finishing in 5th Place.
The FE class was a much closer battle however with Mark Croslyn, Sr. and Johnny West tied
for first place as the engines were fired up Friday afternoon. After West won
Friday’s Pre-Feature, it looked like he would certainly take the title, but engine
problems in the Feature Saturday left everyone on the edge of their seat and West on the
sidelines as Croslyn finished a solid 5th place.
In the end though, West’s win on Friday gave him just enough points to secure the
championship and the title of 2007 USSK FE Champion. Mark Croslyn, Sr. finished a very
close second for the season and his son, Mark Croslyn Jr. finished 3rd Place. Jimmy
Brannon (4th Place), and Bobby Butler (5th Place) rounded out the top 5 in this class for
the 2007 season.
All of the USSK champions and competitors were celebrated in a dinner at the Braselton
Stover House Saturday night.
The USSK announced their schedule for the upcoming
2008 season. There will be 7 race weekends for a total of 14 events. Members will be
allowed 2 drops at the end of the year. Drops will consist of the 2 lowest points.
March 28-30, 2008 MSR, Cresson, TX. (SWRA/MARRS event)
May 8-10, 2008 Autobahn Country Club, Chicago, IL (USSK)
June 13-15, 2008 Mid Ohio (WKA National)
July 18-20, 2008 Barber Motorsports Park / w/Rolex /BSS
September 12-14, 2008 Heartland Park, Topeka, KS
September 26-28, 2008 Laguna Seca **(NO USSK points awarded)
October 30-Nov 1, 2008 Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA. (BSS/WKA)
December 12-14, 2008 VIR United States Kart Grandprix (USKGP/USSK)
USSK at Talladega
The re-scheduled fourth round of the USSK at
Talladega run Saturday, Sept. 15 saw Cory Simpson and Andy Kiker grab the top spots in the
final race in F/E and IC/E.
The top five in F/E were 1. Simpson, 2. John West, 3. Mark Croslyn, Jr., 4. Bobby Butler,
5. Mark Croslyn, Sr.
Top five in IC/E were 1. Kiker, 2.Jayce Haghighi, 3. Frank Calhoun, 4. Firouz Haghighi, 5.
Eric Penz
The fifth and final round of the USSK will be at Road Atlanta November 2,3,4.
Points going into the final for the top five are as
follows:
F/E Mark Croslyn,Sr., 130, John West, 130, Jim Brannon, 125, Mark Croslyn, Jr.,123, Bobby
Butler, 91
IC/E Andy Kiker, 150, Jayce Haghighi, 129, Firouz Haghighi, Mike Spear, 98, Frank Calhoun,
92
Tired of the NASCAR Channel, (oops, I mean
SPEED) then participate in the survey for The Racer's Network!
It used to be that you could turn on SpeedVision
and watch some kind of racing at any hour of the day. Then it all changed and we now have
SPEED.
Well, the old days may be returning.
The following is AutoWeek writer Dutch Mandel's take on this new (hopefully) network: Be sure to go to the site and vote!
By DUTCH MANDEL
By many measures it has been a good week. Why: I am
still perpendicular to the earth and I got a call from a guy backing a new road-racing
television network.
He wants to know if a dedicated television channel with 1000 hours of live or same-day
road racing would be a good thing. Is there interest among the car-racing community for
such a channel?
You should know that Jim Liberatore is the former head of Speed network. He was there when
The Ultimate Car Guy Channel showed fans everything from Australian channel boat racing to
rally cross and everything in between. The new deal, appropriately called The Racers
Network, will have all sorts of racing … and racing that doesn't just turn left.
Don't get me wrong. NASCAR is good. But its presence
by my standards is oversaturated. I have seen just about enough reality TV shows on
fourth-tier Busch series drivers, about celebrity driver searches, about the Wives South
of the Smith & Wesson line. I want road racing.
And rally racing. And sports car racing. And karting, vintage, endurance, motorcycles in all
their permutations, Porsche Cup and hill climbs. I even want stuff that focuses on
marque-specific car clubs.
In a nutshell, I want it all.
I'm not getting it now. But Liberatore wants me—and you—to be sated. He's
apparently got some interest from Those Who Can Make Our Dream happen, but still he needs
help: He must have enthusiasts sound off in sufficient numbers to show the powers that be
such a network would have a regular following.
If you're like me and you want your road-racing Jones to be satisfied, let me suggest
something. Go to our site and click on the link to our Fast Poll question that will be
live as of Monday, Aug. 6 at noon (EDT). Answer it honestly. Then tell your bench racing
buddies to do likewise. Then go to Liberatore's site, www.theracingnetwork.com and answer one
question. And then tell your garage mates and car collector friends and other car-centric
pals to do likewise.
I hope that by letting you know of this opportunity, your day—and week and summer
racing season and television viewing time—just got a little bit better. Mine has.
Brits Dominate EC Final Round
It looked as though home-country driver Peter
Elkmann, the driver with the only prior experience on Germany's Sachsenring, might be the
victor in Race 2 of the European Championship as he led the first seven laps and then
dropped down in the field as well as did Malcolm Crowe who was running 4th. From then on
it was all the Brits as they finished in the top five places with John Riley taking the
top spot followed by the 2007 EC Champion Gavin Bennett and then Phil Featherstone in
third. Lee Harpham and David Harvey rounded out the top five.
Six through ten were: 6. Benjamin Mahle (F), 7. Michael Warn (S), 8. Paul Kennings (GB),
9. Stefan Malm (S), 10. Poul Petersen (DK)
Crowe Won The Race, But It's Bennett's
Championship!
Although Gavin Bennett had a comfortable lead
going into this weekend's final round of the European Championship, the outcome of
this weekend certainly wasn't a 'given' by any means as one never knows what might happen
in this sport of Superkart racing and second place Malcolm Crowe knew that. Two good
finishes by him and two poor finishes or DNFs by Bennett would put him in the forefront.
Well, he certainly prepared to fight as he won Saturday's race and picked up 25
points...only problem is that Gavin also ran strong and finished third picking up enough
points that even with a DNF on Sunday he has secured the EC for 2007. Congratulations to
Gavin on a great season. (after the party tonight he may be a DNS tomorrow!! :)
Top five for today were: 1. Crowe (GB), 2. Elkmann (Ger), 3. Bennett (GB), 4. Featherstone
(GB) 5. Ogeborn (S)
Damien Payart, third place point holder, withdrew from this race for personal reasons and with Michael Warn finishing in 6th the final championship results appear to be 1. Gavin Bennett (GB), 2. Malcolm Crowe (GB), 3 Michael Warn (S).
EC Final Round Next Weekend
The European Champion will be crowned next
weekend as the final round of the EC is held at Germany's Sachsenring circuit. Following
is the CIK's press release.
The CIK-FIA European Superkart Championship drivers will be treated to a rather
exceptional final on 15 and 16 September 2007: they will compete on a circuit which has
never seen 250 cc karts. Drivers and Superkarts will therefore be on an equal footing for
this event on the German Sachsenring circuit. Although not many meetings can be held there
(only four per year) it is nonetheless well known for hosting the German Motorcycle GP.
The hilly 3.6 km long Sachsenring, which comprises a technical first part and a rapid
second half, will bring to the fore the drivers’ ability to adapt to a new course and
to set up their little racing vehicles accordingly.
Only one driver out of the 55 entries has a real advantage: the German Peter Elkmann knows
the Sachsenring because he raced – and won – there two years ago in Formula 3.
His sporting career is rather atypical: after having learnt the ropes in the traditional
Karting categories (with a European ICC/125 cc vice-champion title at the end of the day),
he had a taste of Superkart before stepping into the cockpit of a Formula 3 and proved to
be brilliant straightaway: in 2005, he won the German series “F3 Recaro Cup” and
in 2006, he competed in the very high-level “F3 Euroseries”, distinguishing
himself with a win at Brands Hatch. Without a contract in F3 in 2007 through lack of a
budget, he made a comeback in Superkart this summer and just missed the podium at Assen.
The Sachsenring event, third and final stage of the European tour, will reveal the name of
the 2007 Champion. With two wins and two second places under his belt, the Briton Gavin
Bennett will enter the event as the firm favourite with the extra advantage of still
disposing of a joker, unlike his main rival, Malcolm Crowe. In the final classification of
the championship, only the five best results (out of six possible ones) are taken into
account. His joker, Crowe used it at Magny-Cours when he spun. To be crowned champion, he
will have to prevail in both races at the Sachsenring, with Bennett failing to be on the
podium.
In the absence of the Frenchman Damien Payart (who has withdrawn for personal reasons),
the other candidates for a good result in Germany will be the Swedes Michaël Wärn and
Stefan Malm, the German Martin Knauder and Britain’s John Riley (2005 European
Champion), Mark Owens and Lee Harpham.
Saturday 15 September will be dedicated to qualifying practice and Race 1, whereas Race 2
is scheduled for Sunday 16 September. Information and live classifications can be found on
www.cikfia.com or www.mediasuperkart.com
Warn Grabs Swedish Title
Michael Warn won both weekend races and was
crowned the Swedish Superkart Champion the weekend of Sept. 1-2 at the Knutstorp circuit.
Rounding out the top five in the championship were Thomas Johansson, Stefan Malm, Monica
Strath and Tommie Elisson.
USSK To Re-Run At Talladega
Since the Eagle Canyon race was cancelled, the
USSK will be running its 4th race at Talladega on September 15. This will be a one day
event with the pre-feature running in the morning with a final in the afternoon.
USA Karting To Debut
USKGP promoter Bernie Adamson has
announced that 2008 will see the birth of a new nationwide RoadRacing series called USA
Karting.
USA Karting intends to be the premier RoadRacing promotion organization
in the United States and is currently in negotiations with several sponsors to put
RoadRacing back in the forefront in this country.
In 2008, USA Karting will be promoting a five National Championship race series that will
also include a Grand Prix race meeting. All of the current gearbox kart classes will be
provided for at these meetings. USA Karting has also decided to introduce the F250
National class (stock Honda) as seen in European circles, in addition to the I/CE and F/E
Superkarts. A list of those classes will be made available in the near future but it is
expected to be organized in the same fashion as the USKGP. Negotiations are also underway
to include the Midwest and West of the country in what Adamson hopes to be a true National
Series
Contracts have been secured for five tracks and
negotiations with a sixth facility are continuing. USA Karting has assembled a traveling
Tech Team whose responsibility will be to ensure that everybody has an equal opportunity
and that fair play is adhered to.
2008 races scheduled to date are:
May 8 – 10 Autobahn Country Club, Joliet, IL
July 4 – 6 Thunderbolt
Raceway, Millville, NJ
September 26 - 28 BeaverRun,Wampum, PA
October 24 – 26 Thunderbolt
Raceway, Millville, NJ
December 12 – 14 Virginia
International Raceway, Danville, VA
The aim of USA Karting will be to provide high quality events for drivers across a wide
variety of circuits, primarily on the Eastern half of the country although plans are also
underway to include the Midwest and West.
USA Karting is also planning to give back to the members in terms of financial rewards for
year-end Championships through cash payouts at the end of the season.
A domain name has been purchased that will fit in
with this group and a web site is currently under construction. A photo gallery and a
video section will be available for members to upload pictures, videos, projects and race
reports. In addition, a Points Section will also be included on the site which will be
updated as soon as possible after each of the race weekends.
Adamson added, "The United States Kart Grand Prix was held at VIR last December and a
second date will again be upon us this December 14 - 16. The USKGP is doing everything
possible to run this prestigious event in a way that is best for the karter and we will be
working with all parties to bring this event to the forefront of U.S. karting with all the
glory that this event deserves. If there is anything that you feel we are missing, please
feel free to advise us on how we can best help you."
Bennett & Crowe, Crowe
& Bennett At Assen
Polesitter Malcolm Crowe had to settle for
second place on the podium in Saturday's Race 1 of the European Championship as he was
beaten by fellow Brit Gavin Bennett but Race 2 saw the reverse happen where it was Crowe
in the top spot and Bennett in #2. John Riley (GB), Mark Owens (GB) and Damien Payart (F)
rounded out the top five in Race1 while Lee Harpham (GB), Peter Elkmann (D) and Michael
Warn (S) rounded out the top five in Race 2.
Bennett now has a commanding 36 point lead in the championship over second place, Crowe
(54) with Payart at 46, Warn, 34 and Paul Kennings (GB) at 33.
The third and final EC round will be held at the Sachsenring (Germany) Sept. 15-16.
Malcolm Crowe Grabs The Pole
Malcolm Crowe, fresh off his Magny Cour victory
in the French Cup, set the fastest time and will start in P1 for Saturday's Race 1 of the
European Championship at the Assen TT circuit joined by fellow Brit Lee Harpham in P2.
This should be a good one!
The top 10 qualifiers were:
Crowe, Harpham, Knauder, Bennett, Warn, Malm, Riley, Payart, Mahe, Johansson
USSK Eagle Canyon Race
Cancelled
Due to the fact that paving at the track will
not be finished in time, USSK Race Director Robby Harper has announced that the Eagle
Canyon race has been cancelled for this year. A date and location as a replacement race
for this event will be announced later this weekl
Assen Set To Grid 60 Drivers
As with Round 1 of the European Championship at
Magny Cours in May, once again a full field of 60 drivers will compete at the Dutch TT
circuit Assen the weekend of August 10-12. The CIK's press release of the event can be
seen here. (and it doesn't
say how many additional drivers were turned away from the event)
New 250 Twin
A new 250 Twin engine ('somewhat' resembling the
Yamaha air-cooled side-by-side) is being developed by MS Kart and being produced by Verner Motors, both located in the
Czech Republic. It reportedly should produce around 92hp in stock configuration and will
sell for E8,000 (approx. $11,000 US) It is planned for testing during a round of the
Swedish Superkart Championship later this summer. Eric Severe's article and a pic of the
engine can be seen here. (click on
the arrows underneath the yellow kart)
SCC Magazine Article
Be on the lookout for the August issue of Sport
Compact Car magazine! It seems another car mag has picked up on "the world's best
kept racing secret" and has published an 18 page article on g-force cornering. I
received this tip from Canadian karter Floyd James. Thanks Floyd!! His e-mail message:
"Sport Compact Car Magazine has an 18 page article in their August edition called
g-Masters. The comparison test, which is also the cover story, compares 14 cars from
street rods to Touring cars to a 1983 GP winning F1 car against each other to see which
can pull the highest cornering g's. Included in the list was a PVP 250 Superkart. Guess
who topped the list... Kudos to SCC for a bold article.
This is a collectors item for any Superkarter or Superkart fan."
McIlveen Wins His 6th Aussie
Championship
Eastern Creek Raceway hosted the final round of
the Australian Superkart Championship the weekend of July 14-15 and it was Warren McIlveen
who had the field covered in the end to win the 2007 250 International Championship Title,
his 6th in his long career. See the entire report from Round 2 here.
Butler And Kiker Take USSK At
Talladega
Bobby Butler (F/E) and Andy Kiker (IC/E) were
the victors at the USSK race held July 14-15 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Kiker
also set the fast time for the weekend.
Saturday Results:
F/E 1. Brannon, 2. Butler, 3. Croslyn, Jr., 4. West, 5. Taylor, 6. Croslyn, Sr.
IC/E 1. Kiker, 2. Spear, 3. Calhoun, 4. Goad, 5. Engebretsen, 6. Lirette, 7. F. Haghighi
Sunday Results:
F/E 1. Butler, 2. Croslyn, Sr., 3. West, 4. Croslyn, Jr., 5. Brannon
IC/E 1. Kiker, 2. J. Haghighi, 3. F. Haghighi, 4. Goad, 5. Cain, 6. Engebretsen, 7.
Calhoun, 8. Lirette
2007 IKF Road Race Grand Nationals
Eddie Lawson ran away with the
Unlimited (F/E) class, and Ryen Miller struggled in the 2nd heat with a broken chain to
barely hang on for the win in IC/E taking his second Grand National title in a row
at the IKF Road Race Grand Nationals held last weekend, July 5th-7th, at
Reno-Fernley Raceway.
The Unlimited race on Saturday was very consistent with the top 3 finishers maintaining
the same positions in both heats. Lawson, Ryan Kurpiewski, and Kyle Rice maintaining very
consistent times. Ron Shaw took fourth with consistent 5th place finishes to beat out Ryen
Miller. Miller ran 4th in the first heat and then had a gear box problem in the second
heat that forced him to retire from 4th and finish 6th in the heat for 5th overall.
The IC/E race was a war of attrition for both heat 1 and 2. Those that did well in Heat 1
were unable to match their performance in Heat 2. Those that had problems in Heat 1, were
able to recover and do well in Heat 2. When all the points were tallied up, Ryen Miller
came out on top, just edging out Ron Shaw and Ray Corral, who tied for 2nd, and it was
Ron's 2nd place finish in the 2nd heat that gave him the 2nd place finish overall. Ray
Corral ran a consistent 3rd in both heats, placing 3rd overall, with Chris Horsley and
John Stafford rounding out the top 5.
Malcolm Crowe Wins At Magny
Cours F/1 Race
The French Cup Superkarts were a support race
last weekend at the French GP at Magny Cours, and although Swede Stefan Malm grabbed the
pole in Friday qualifying, it was Brit Malcolm Crowe who won the races on both days with
fellow Brit Mark Owens getting a podium spot on both days. Qualifying results are here. Race 1 results are here. Race 2 results are here. See Eric Severe's site at www.mediasuperkart.com for the
race report.
Kelgate Update
For those around the globe looking for Kelgate
products, Sales Director Steve Howlett from R3 Technology sent me the following
information about their dealership contacts. He also said that if you are from an area
that is not represented to contact him for info. His address is sales@r3racingl.co.uk
UK - JPD Motorsport - Jason Dredge - jdredge@jpdmotorsport.co.uk
USA - West Repair Services - Johnny West - johnwestracing@aol.com
France - EMA - Dan Michaux - emaracing@wanadoo.fr
Germany - Frinken racing - Stefan/Felix Frinken - info@frinken-racing.de
Spain - Premier Motorsport - Bill Gibson - gibson580@hotmail.com
South Africa - Tony Farah - pharaohs@netactive.co.za
Australia - Art Motorsport - Anton Stevens - antons@bigpond.net.au
Sweden - Quintech - Anders Öberg - anders.oberg@imatrakilsta.com
Kiker Takes USSK Win At Road
America
Andy Kiker's GasGas powered IC/E kart bested the
F/E twins to take the overall victory in Round 2 of the USSK Series June 9-10 at Road
America. Kiker won the IC/E class races both days while Chris Taylor won the F/E class
races both days with Pat Yoshikane finishing 2nd on both days. Johnny West had problems
throughout the weekend while sorting out new parts but did post the fastest lap time of
the weekend on Saturday with a 2:17.796. Chris Taylor had the second best time at
2:18.495. I'll post a full listing of the finishing positions for both days when I get
them.
Autocar Report on Superkarts
I haven't had a chance to download this to add
it to the video list, but in the meantime, you have to check this out!
Autocar, a UK car mag (equivilent of Car and Driver or Road & Track over here) sent
long-time reporter Chris Harris to check out the Superkarts. The ride was provided by 2006
National GP plate holder Ian Harrison.
This is another example of a 'car guy' who has no idea of what Superkarts are all about!!
He would really **** his pants if he were in a real race and had to deal with
traffic!! :) Fortunately, all press for the sport is good and maybe this will
bring some new recruits into the ranks! (he calls it a 6-speed...it's not, it's a
5-speed)
Link to the video is here.
European Championship - Round
1
The CIK/FIA press release for the first round of
the European Championship May 4, 5 and 6 at Magny Cours with the driver entry list can be
seen here.
Stars and Stripes Over
Nurburgring!
Old Glory was waving on the podium Sunday as
Colorado native J.R. Osborne stood atop the podium after winning Race2 in the opening
round of the AvD Superkart Series at the Nurburgring in Germany on a BRC powered PVP
prepared by BRC teammate Michael Sadurski. J.R. also set the fastest lap in that
race.
There were two rounds of timed practice/qualifying on Friday of which J.R. was the 4th fastest of the 19 karts entered running a 2:01.9 with the fastest being a 1:59.7.
Saturday's race saw Martin Knauder (Ger.), Bengt Albertson (Swe) and Jurgen Reinke (Ger.) in the top three finishing positions with Olaf Dau in 4th and J.R. in 5th. (3, 4 and 5 were all BRC powered)
Sunday's race had J.R. getting the checkered first followed by Albertson and Reinke. I have a feeling he dominated this race as his fast lap was a 2:01.3 and the next quickest was a 2:02.4.
Big congrats J.R.!! Now you'll have to stay over there and go for the championship!!
Pitpass.com Article
Pitpass.com has a nice article on its site about
Superkarts being a support race for the French GP race at Magny Cours this year. Based in
the UK, this is a very popular site over there (I get their newsletter) so the Superkarts
should get a lot of exposure from this. Hopefully, this will first of many years they will
be invited and maybe spread to other venues as well. The article can be seen here.
Barber Update
Well, the hole closed up and there was no racing
on Saturday and with the race less than an hour away to grid time, with the rain still
coming down, it looks like a washout for the weekend. Results for Saturday's race will be
based upon qualifying positions.
USSK Barber Qualifying Results
As of now, it's pouring down rain in Birmingham
and no racing is taking place. The good news is that USSK is the last race of the day and
the radar map shows a hole in the front so with any luck, they may get it in, wet but not
raining.
Friday's qualifying is as follows:
F/E
John
West
1:28.429
Chris
Taylor
1:28.493
Jim
Brannon
1:33.052
Bobby
Butler
1:34.529
Mark Croslyn, Sr. 1:36.321
Mark Croslyn, II
1:36.671
Jay
Galligher
1:39.436
Cory
Simpson
1:43.980
Doug
Woods
1:50.851
Mike
Curtiss
NT
IC/E
Andy
Kiker
1:26.571
Mike Spear
1:28.244
Jayce
Haghighi
1:31.49
Randy
Domikis
1:32.666
Frank
Calhoun
1:33.010
Firouz
Haghighi
1:33.841
Jason
Slahor
1:35.095
Griff
Goad
1:36.285
David
Lirette
1:36.793
Brad
Cain
1:40.767
Jeff
Metter
1:40.808
Arnold Bordenheimer NT
Eric
Penz
NT
Gary
Slahor
NT
Notes: Kiker's Anderson with his new GasGas is blindingly fast!! Chris Taylor is suffering brake problems, John West is fighting handling issues (but hasn't blown anything up) and Cory Simpson has carb gremlins.
250s Get Press in South Africa
All the press the sport gets helps and it's
spreading!!
Fellow friend and South African Superkarter Pierre Martins sent me an article from the
South African publication Speed
& Sound that did an article on him and his kart.
It's a ZA car mag and was written by a car guy that had NO clue about Superkarts, or karts
in general for that matter! Well, he does now after it dusted his (or someone's)
race-prepped BMW M3!! (That's kart with a "K"!!...you'll understand after you
read it...and he screwed up some other stuff as well...)
Nontheless, this writer was impressed, to say the least, and hopefully it will increase
the Superkart participation in ZA. (certainly some are spending twice the money and going
30 secs. a lap slower!!....same as over here......need to start a blog on this subject to
increase participation!!!)
Read the article here. (I
split it into three pages as it was rather large even after reducing the scans)
USKGP Update
Bernie Adamson has informed me that Debbie
Kuntze has been brought on board to be the Race Director for the weekend! For those who
don't know her, she's the one that is the behind-the-scenes in making the Laguna Seca race
happen.
Also, Brit Ken Walker has agreed to be the Announcer for the weekend. For those that don't
know Ken, he is the official announcer for about every race in Europe, including all the
Superkart races, as well as traveling around the world to announce races, including last
year's race at Las Vegas. This race will definitely get a lot of press as a result of
Ken's participation. (He's doing the World Superbikes this weekend for BBC Radio)
Osborne to race WSS at the
Nurburgring
J.R. Osborne announced that he will be competing
in the inaugural World Superkart Series event at the famous Nurburgring in Germany April
21-22. This new series is headed by Werner Aichinger and
promises to open the doors to world competition due to its limited regulations compared to
the CIK. He will competing with a WiWa Racing prepared BRC 250 and would like to
give a special thanks to Pat Yoshikane of P-1 Prototypes for providing 4 sets of tires for
the event. Manfred Wittenborn of WiWa Racing has been extremely supportive of his
efforts and has done everything possible to make the logistics work.
"I am excited to help support and promote a new European Series that will more easily
allow racers to compete from around the world. The CIK has a great series, but it
excludes a lot of competitors due to it's stringent, and I feel antiquated, rules.
This series will fill that void," Osborne said.
Hopefully, many more Americans will follow Osborne's lead with a presence in Europe.
(I know Johnny W. is interested in going to the Magny Cours event!)
F/E to support F/1!!!
After much behind the scenes work, Div. 1
Superkarts (F/E) have been invited to be a support race during the F/1 weekend at Magny
Cours, France June 30 and July 1. Eric Severe of Mediasuperkarts is the race promoter and
the FFSA is the organizing organization. From what I have learned so far, there will be a
practice session on Friday and two race heats on Saturday.
This weekend is during an off period on all the European schedules (here too) and even
though it will be considered an exhibition race, the crowds will be huge. My source asked,
"Do you think that any of the American boys would want to give it a go?"
If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll get you pointed in the right direction. It
is probably limited to 60 karts on the grid and I'm sure the Euro regulars are chomping at
the bit!
Update to the article below..
Just learned that out of that $27k prize money,
the breakdown for the Superkarts will be, 1st, $2500, 2nd, $1500 and third, $1000 for BOTH
the F/E and IC/E classes!! :) (money talks, karters travel :)
The 'across the ponders', east or west, are figuring they can pay for their trip by
winning....let's keep that money and the victory in both classes here!! :)
2007 USKGP Press Release
United States Kart Grand Prix organizer Bernie
Adamson sent me a press release for this year's event on the full course at VIR in
December. Sounds like the Superkart community will be well represented and what really
stood out is the fact there will be a total purse for the race of $27,0000 to be divided
by the winners and top finishers. Read the press release here. (and pray for weather like they had this
year!!)
BRC Products Unveiled
Riley Will sent me some photos of two of BRC's
new products, their brake rotors and radiator duct. Pictures of these items can be seen here. For more information,
contact Riley at rwill@brceng.com or visit the BRC
web site at www.brceng.com
World Superkart Series To
Begin
2007 will see launch of the World Superkart
Series in Europe ( www.world-superkart-series.com
-English version in currently UC) that is being sponsored by AvD (Automobilclub von
Deutschland) and KÖnig Motorsports, GMBH. (manufacturers of
aftermarket wheels, shocks, springs, exhausts, etc.) This series will be for both Div. 1
AND Div. 2 Superkarts, which the CIK dumped at the end of 2005. They will crown the top
three in each division and there will be a monetary reward as well.
From what I understand, this series was formed because of CIK discrimination against
engines and, to a lesser extent, chassis parts. A lot of the racers in Northern Europe run
the Honda RS as is run in the U.S. and Australia but the CIK does not allow them, only the
2001 Yamaha TZ. As a result, these guys are not legal to run in the EM (European
Championship) and elsewhere. The CIK also discriminates against engine manufacturers such
as BRC and FPE. For example, both of those engines were homologated with one set of
transmission gears while the Rotax 256 has 84 options. Even though the Rotax gears could
be used in either one of these engines, the CIK does not allow them in anything but the
256. The TZ has optional ratios that did not have to get approved but were just adopted
with the engine and are legal. Go figure... BRC can use an electronic power valve and
power jet like is raced in the U.S. but the CIK does not allow it yet they allow the
electronics be run on the TZ. Also, aftermarket (better) chassis parts such as calipers
and rotors are not legal.
The WSS will also be changing the minimum driver age to 16 (for Div. 2 I believe) to allow
the younger drivers to get their feet wet in Superkarting and will also be securing
TV coverage for many of the events.
Sounds like the guys over there are on to something good and they certainly have a couple of 'big guns' supporting them! The CIK needs to be treated for their case of optical rectimitus!
(The World Superkart Series race schedule is included under the 2007 World Schedule link)
Brits Extend An Invitation
I received an e-mail from my mate Ken
Walker in the U.K., who is a journalist, does commentaries, TV presentations and announces
kart races around the world, with an invitation for U.S. Superkarters to take on the
multi-country field at this year's MSA British Superkart GP, July 21,22,23, at the Cadwell
Park Circuit.
An excerpt from Ken's comments:
"Last year we had over 5,000 spectators, the biggest British
crowd at al all-kart (kart or Superkart) meeting for very many years. If
anybody would like to follow J.R.'s lead and come and race with us they
would be made mightily welcome!
They wouldn't just be racing Brits on their own track. From memory, we had
about 10 different countries represented at last year's GP. The circuit
owner has a GREAT publicity machine and any Americans coming over would
be guaranteed great publicity both at the track and in Euro publications."
I realize that is the Barber weekend, but for anyone who knows the history of Superkart racing, winning the GP plate is equal to winning 100 races against your buddies!
(in deference to Sam and Pierre, I'm sure this applies to you guys too! I'll tell Ken to send you a personal invite!)
Read 'Em and Weep...
No Laguna Seca for 2007! According to an e-mail
I received from Larry Dobbs, via Debbie Kuntze, there is no space available for the
Superkarts at any of the Laguna events. Certainly a sad state of affairs seeing that this
was the biggest showcasing event for Superkarts and had come a long way from the first
event. Nothing like being billed with MotoGP in '05, ALS in '06 and then relegated to the
Outhouse in '07!
Sure hope I get to retract this story!
Aussie Invitation
For anyone, worldwide, that has ever wanted to
'have a go' at the Aussies, Sam Zavaglia is making an invite to anyone that is interested;
and will store competitor's karts for the events. (Sam, there wasn't anything included
about 'storing the drivers'!! :)
His invitation letter can be seen here.
Definitely two awesome tracks!!
A 'Stock' 250 Class?
There has been an interesting thread on EKN
regarding running a 'Stock CR 250'. I thought it might be interesting to those in the U.S.
, and elsewhere, to see what has happened, and is happening, in the UK with regards to
this. There are obviously U.S. karters that would like to join the 250 ranks but can't
afford to start out with the costs associated with F/E (Div. 1) or IC/E (Div. 2) but may
move up after 'getting their feet wet'.
I received some information from Viper Racing's Ian Harrison, along with some pics, and am also including a paragraph from the BSA (British Superkart Association) web site regarding this new class.
It is called 250 SuperStock and has the designation, SS.
Rules, regulations and pictures can be seen here.
If in two, three or five years it doubles the entries into the top classes, it may be something to consider.....
Australian Championship
The final race of the season at Eastern Creek
decided the 2006 Australian Superkart Championship and it was Warren McIlveen who came out
on top in a close battle with Sam Savaglia.
Result from this weekend's race were: 1, Sam Zavaglia, Stockman/Honda, 2, Warren McIlveen,
Stockman/Honda, 3, Robert Oakley, Stockman/Honda.
Final standings for the Australian Superkart Championship were: 1, Warren McIlveen,
Stockman/Honda, 2, Sam Zavaglia, Stockman/Honda, 3, Robert Oakley, Stockman/Honda
USSC - East Final Point
Standings
The 2006 USSC - East final points have been
tallied in the two divisions. Earning the #1 plate in F/E is Derek Eastty and Andy
Kiker in IC/E. US Champion Reggie Brown and Chris Taylor finished 2nd and 3rd in F/E and
James Ingram and Jason Slahor in IC/E. All East results can be seen here.
USSC - West Final Point
Standings
The 2006 USSC - West final points have been
tallied in the two divisions. Earning the #1 plate in F/E is Chris Hegar and Ryen
Miller in IC/E. Ryan Kurpiewski and Ryan Hegar finished 2nd and 3rd in F/E and Anthony
Williams and John Stafford in IC/E. The total listing for all participants can be seen here. (Excel spreadsheet)
Tragedy At Silverstone
The final race of the British Superkart Grand
Prix was marred by a fatality last weekend at the Silverstone circuit. Richard Weavers,
56, who had been a long time 125 driver, switched to Division 1 Superkarts three years ago
and was killed in an incident at the Luffield corner. "As he approached Luffield, he
was dicing with another kart as they came upon a slower driver who possibly missed a gear.
They each went around him on
either side but as they came back together in front, they touched. Richard got into a spin
and left the circuit and hit the tyre barrier very violently. He was thrown out of the
kart and on to the track. There he was clipped by a following kart."
Said the BSA's Ian Rushforth, "Every sport has its characters,
and Richard was certainly one of them. We all see each other nearly every weekend. It's
quite a close-knit family and Richard was the sort of guy everyone in the paddock knew,
always willing to share a joke and the centre of the party. He will be sorely missed
without a doubt."
A memorial trophy will be created in Richard's honor. Our condolences to his family and
friends.
Road Atlanta Update
Good race report from J.R. Osborne of the
weekend can be seen here.
USSC - Road Atlanta
The final round of the USSC Eastern Championship
was held last weekend at Road Atlanta. Results are very sketchy but from what I can
gather, German Jurgen Reinke (PVP/WIWA-BRC) topped the F/E field and James Ingram
(PVP/Rotax) came from the back of the field to take the IC/E win. Chris Taylor
(Turfrey/Yamaha) and Jerry Echols (Anderson/Yamaha) rounded out the F/E podium while Andy
Kiker (Anderson/Honda) and one of the German drivers were 2nd and 3rd in IC/E.
Derek Eastty (Nemesis/BRC) won Saturday's F/E pre-final and was leading Sunday's race after six laps when his stator went south.
With his second place finish, Andy Kiker once again takes the IC/E title (as well as the National Championship) and Derek Eastty the F/E Eastern Champion.
Reggie Brown, Jr is the National F/E Champion.
Two sites have photos from the weekend. Site 1, Site 2
BRC To Mount International
Effort
2007 will see BRC Engineering doing some world
traveling as they plan to compete with the BRC250F/E in both Europe and Australia as a
factory team. Team karts will be prepared and will be piloted by North American drivers.
Venues and dates will be announced as the 2007 schedules unfold.
Laguna Race Report
Race report from the USSC Laguna Seca weekend
can be seen here.
USSC - Laguna Seca...Sunday
Results are here.
USSC - Laguna Seca...Saturday
Results are here.
Update: Trailer with the bikes has been found. Van still missing.
Theft Alert...
Jerry Echols alerted me to the fact that a
friend of his, Bruce Lind, who races 250 bikes in AMA recently had his van, trailer and
six 250cc bikes stolen. I think it happened in Las Vegas, but am awaiting confirmation on
that.
These bikes were all running Yamaha TZ250 motors which may be parted out by the thieves;
either as total motors or individual parts.
The URL Jerry gave me to check it out was http://www.geocities.com/rewardforbikes/
The 'tiny URL' on the page didn't work for me, trying to get a
direct one.
There is a $10.000 reward for the return of this equipment!
USSC Championship Sunday Results
IC/E
Andy Kiker, once again(!) retains his crown for the United States Champion in the IC/E
class as he finished first, who would have imagined that?!! Congrats to Andy, you are 'da
man'!!
Second and third go to Ryen Miller and Mark Brown who have had a very good year!
F/E...
Well, Kyle Martin won the race.....but, according to sources, he hasn't participated in
enough F/E races prior to this to be crowned the champion.....(I haven't done any
research...that's J.R.'s problem...)
Anyway, Reggie Brown, Jr. finished 2nd and Frank Widmoser 3rd.
(I was told that Ingram, one of the Hegar bros. and Anthony Williams got taken out in a
first lap incident)
F/E Champion to be announced??!!
More news as it unfolds....
Final Sundy results and lap times can be seen here. Final Saturday results and lap times are here.
USSC Championship Saturday
Results
The weather at Miller Motorsports Park was
beautiful (and so is the scenery...so I was told) as Saturday's pre-lim round got under
way. But, as it goes in this sport, Derek Eastty, who had the pole for today's race, ended
up finishing (if he did, not sure about that) in 19th for tomorrow's crowning of the U.S.
Superkart Champion.
The winners for today were:
F/E 1. Kyle Martin, 2. Reggie Brown, Jr., 3. Ryan Kurpewski, 4. Jim Brannon (I was told
'Santa Claus' had an 'off' and got a bunch of dirt in the motor because he didn't have any
air cleaners on and had to rebuild the whole motor before the race) 5. Larry Kurpewski
IC/E Andy Kiker, 2. J.R. Osborne, 3. Ryen Miller, 4. Anthony Williams, 5. Mike McCallister
Top 15 runners and fast lap times can be see here.
(Sunday's final results as soon as I get them!)
Barker Prevails, UK Keeps the
Crown
In what had to be a real nail-biter for two
particular drivers going into Sunday's race of the European Superkart Championship at
Assen in the Netherlands, it was the UK's Graham Barker who stood atop the podium and
takes the title back to the UK for the second year in a row following in John Riley's
footsteps from '05.
Barker trailed France's Damien Payart by 11 points going into the weekend.
Barker had to be feeling pretty good Friday night though as he grabbed the pole in
Friday's qualifying session with Payart in 4th.
But, as Superkarters know, things don't always go as planned.....and the showdown was set
up......
I'm not going to spoil it. Read it for yourselves. I found two articles, one from the
Malm/FPE team site which can be seen here
(translated from French) and another from Willi Pfieffer's site that is here. (translated from German)
Qualifying results can be seen here,
Race 1 results here and Race 2
results here. (.pdf files)
A few pics can be seen here.
USSC Miller MMP Entry Form
The USSC national championship race (and Western
Division points race) at Miller Motorsports Park is just around the corner, August 18,19
and 20. The entry form for the event can be found here.
(MS .doc format)
USSC Barber Race Report
(Lots of good photos of the weekend can be seen here.)
By David Cole, SuperKart Illustrated
Over 100 karts took to the 2.4-mile Barber Motorsports Park circuit as the warm-up event
for the Grand American Rolex Series Porsche 250 when the Big South Road Racing Series
hosted the Pro Kart Invitational presented by Dunlop Tires this pasr weekend. Nemesis
Superkarts pilot Derek Eastty took home the big victory of the day as he dominated the
United States Superkart Championship Formula E division, bagging the overall victory in
the process.
Early morning Qualifying was cancelled after a hard rainfall went across the area,
finishing up during the Grand Am warm-up. During the hour lunch break and quiet time, the
track was able to dry up as the sunshine and humidity returned to the Birmingham, Ala
facility.
With Qualifying being cancelled, the drivers lined up according to how they registered. At
the drop of the green, the field of 28 USSC 250cc shifter karts went four wide heading
into the downhill turn one. Fortunately, all the drivers made it through and began dicing
around for the entire opening lap. As they came by to cross the line for the first time,
reigning FE champ Johnny West (MSR/Honda RS) led the field down the frontstretch. The next
time by, Eastty was at the point and he never looked back.
After three laps, West’s transmission failed and left him on the side of the track
for the remainder of the race. This left a great battle for second between Reggie Brown
Jr. (P-1/BRC250FE) and Chris Taylor (Turfrey/Yamaha TZ). Though Brown’s engine was
not running as he hoped, he was able to hold off Taylor for the runner-up spot with Taylor
rounding out the podium.
ICE pilots Andy Kiker and Jim Ingram put on a great show again with Kiker coming out in P1
(Photo: Dennis Lathem - photobama.com)
ICE pilots Andy Kiker and Jim Ingram put on a great show again with Kiker coming out in
P1.
In Intercontinental E, Andy Kiker (Anderson/Honda CR) again took the win, extending his
streak to seven straight Final victories, dating back to Road America of 2005. It was,
however, a battle as Jim Ingram (PVP/GasGas) was again attached to Kiker’s rear
bumper, as he has been all season. The two mixed in with the Brown/Taylor fight until
Brown put a gap on the rest of them, leaving Taylor and Kiker fighting for the third
overall spot. Ingram was there for most of the 18 laps but traffic killed his momentum a
few times, dropping him back a few seconds. Kiker settled in for the fourth overall spot
as the checkered flag fell, claiming the ICE victory. Ingram cruised to second while USSC
rookie Jason Slahor (Colbalt/Yamaha YFZ) earned his second straight podium finish.
British Superkart GP
Robin Haworth's recap of the weekend
can be seen here.
Pictures from the weekend can be seen here!
Some more pics can be seen here.
Update....It seems this was a four race weekend,
presumably two on Saturday and two on Sunday. The results I received were for Sunday only.
The results for both days are here. Although I hope a full race report will be forthcoming, BSA's Ken Walker
was pretty excited about the weekend. His comments can be seen here. Also, I don't know what they use for timing/scoring, but if
you look at this, they have numbers for about everything!
The FPE team of Damien Payart and
Stefan Malm took the top spots in Division I (F/E) in last weekends joint race of the
British Superkart GP and the German Superracekart Series. German Guido Kleinmeyer was the
winner in Division II. (IC/E)
Results: Div. 1
1. Damien Payart, France, PVP/FPE
2. Stefan Malm, Sweden, PVP/FPE
3. Carl Hulme, UK, Anderson/Rotax
Results: Div. II
1. Guido Kleinmeyer, Germany, PVP/GasGas
2. Erik Gjersten, Norway, PVP/Honda
3. Martin Reuck, Germany, PVP/GasGas
Of note: Graham Barker was a non-starter and John Riley and Steve Edwards both DNFd in
Div. I
Thanks to Ian Rushforth for sending this info. Race report if I get one.
IKF Grand National Results
Roger Miller sent me the results of the IKF
Grand Nationals. Thanks Roger! Congratulations to the podium finishers!
F/E (Unlimited) 1. Larry Kurpieski 2. John Stafford 3.Paul Band
IC/E 1. Ryen Miller 2. Bill Busacca 3. John Stafford
Photos from Most
UK photographer Robin Haworth sent me some
photos he took at Round 2 of the European Championship at the Most circuit in the Czech
Republic which include our own J.R. Osborne. They can be seen here.
Soh On Top at Mid-Ohio
Canadian Michael Soh, who hasn't raced in two
years, literally shook things up at the USSC-East race at Mid-Ohio last weekend. Soh, who
is also a pilot, has been on a two year hiatus while building his new plane, a Lanceair.
He got his kart out, MSR/WestRacingHondaRS, and brought it to Mid-Ohio and showed he's
still a pretty good kart 'pilote' too!
Soh started last in Saturday's race and finished in P2 behind Reggie Brown, Jr. (don't
have the rest of the results yet)
On Sunday, starting outside pole, Soh advanced to P1 after a back and forth battle with
Reggie Brown and Derek Eastty and went on to win the race. Johnny West, I think, finished
second with Derek Eastty in third. (these may be reversed, don't have final results yet)
Nice comeback Mike!
UPDATE--
Saturday final results:
F/E 1. Reggie Brown, 2. Mike Soh, 3. Pat Yoshikane, 4. Frank Widmoser, 5. Chris Taylor, 6.
Jerry Echols
IC/E 1. Jim Ingram, 2. Jason Slahor, 3. Scott Fiesler, 4. Scott Lowenstine, 5. Jon
Anderson
Sunday final results:
F/E 1. Mike Soh, 2. Derek Eastty, 3. Johnny West, 4. Frank Widmoser, 5. Pat Yoshikane
6. Jerry Echols (fast lap, Mike Soh, 1:27.208)
IC/E 1. Andy Kiker, 2. Jason Slahor, 3. Scott Lowenstine, 4. Michael McAlister, 5. Jim
Ingram (fast lap, Andy Kiker, 1:27.342)
Also, someone had a shunt. Don't know who or have any details but apparently there were no
injuries which is good. The 'battle' for the lead on Sunday wasn't so much a battle...it
was between Brown and Soh but Eastty apparently had the field covered, set a Mid-Ohio
track record for 250s (1:26:06), but had a powervalve problem, was backpedaling, and Soh
was able to make a pass at the end of the race to take the win. Six karts were running
27s.
Payart Tops EC Round 2 at Most
UPDATE #2--J.R. got bumped in Race 1 in the first corner and lost the battery lead.
Sunday it was a fouled plug that put him out. Peter Kruse was docked one minute for rough
driving. Olaf Dau was DQd because his tranny was not up to CIK specs. Michael Sadurski,
the fourth driver running a BRC, was leading when his rear motor mount broke. Payart goes
into Assen with an 11 point lead over Graham Barker.
UPDATE--I wrote the report below from results I got from Sam Zaviglia because I was having
trouble with the CIK-FIA site. Well, the results have changed. For some reason, still
unknown, Olaf Dau has been totally elimintated from the results and Peter Kruse was given
a one minute penalty; Sam thinks for maybe jumping the start but not sure. That moved John
Riley into P3. Martin Knauder (Germany) and Carl Hulme (Great Britain) rounded out the top
five.
Also, it appears that J.R. did start the race but did not complete a lap.
Great Britain's Graham Barker came home the race winner in Race 2 of the European
Championship at Most in the Czech Republic but it was France's Damien Payart who was the
big winner. Payart finished a strong second and with his P3 on Saturday, this consistency
will certainly give the FPE driver a comfortable point lead over the rest of the field
going into the final race at Assen in The Netherlands in August.
Riley Will and BRC Engineering had a great weekend with their first win by finishing 1-2
in Saturday's race and picking up P3 and P4 on Sunday with German drivers Olaf Dau and
Peter Kruse having a good run. Great Britain's John Riley rounded out the top five.
USA driver J.R. Osborne was sadly a DNS on Sunday. Obviously, whatever happened in
Saturday's race could not be fixed. Speculation is there may have been a first lap
accident in that race which left the kart beyond repair. More news as it comes in.
J.R. Qualified 8th! - BRC
Takes 1-2 in Race 1!
Germans Peter Kruse and Olaf Dau, both powered
by BRC engines, finished 1-2 in Saturday's Race 1 of the European Championship at the Most
circuit in the Czech Republic. France's Damien Payart rounded out the podium by picking up
the third place postition.
America's J.R. Osborne, also running a BRC, started on the fourth row by qualifying in the
8th position in Saturday morning's qualifying session, moving him up eight spots from
Friday's qualifying position of 16th.
Unfortunately, and I don't know what happened yet, he went out of the race on the first
lap and finished in 41st.
Hopefully, whatever happened can be fixed and Sunday will be a better race for him,
although he will definitely be starting from the back of the grid with a long way to go in
12 laps. With a P8 start on Saturday, at least they know he's there and a force to be
reckoned with!
Other notables, such as current champion John Riley, Michael Sadurski and Graham Barker
also went out of the race early.
Results: USSC-West at
Reno-Fernley
I am sure event organizer Roger Miller would
like to see the entries pick up, but the boys did get together May 13-14 at Reno-Fernley
Raceway to do some racing. Roger's race report and point standings can be seen here.
EC Hockenheim Pics
UK photographer extroidinaire Robin Haworth sent
me some pics of the first round of the EC race at Hockenheim. They can be seen here. (20 new pics added 5-16)
EC Tied Going to Round 2
The April 21-22 Round1 of the European
Championship at Hockenheim will see Damien Payart, (France, PVP/FPE) and Graham Barker,
(GB, Anderson/Rotax) each carrying 45 points into Round 2 at Most in the Czech Republic,
June 11-12, as the two leaders swapped the top spots on the podium in both Race 1 and Race
2 of the weekend. Payart was the top qualifyer with Barker in the No. 2 position. Race 1
finished with Barker in P1 and Payart as the runner-up. Race 2 was just the reverse of
this with Payart taking P1.
John Riley (GB, Anderson/Rotax), Gavin Bennett (GB, Anderson/Rotax), Per-Olov Ogeborn
(Sweden, PVP/Rotax), and Olaf Dau (Germany, PVP/BRC) rounded out the top six point winners
going to Round 2.
Osborne To Contend EC
J.R. Osborne will be taking the Stars and
Stripes to Europe to compete in the final two rounds of the European Championship at Most
in the Czech Republic June 10-11 and the final round at Assen in the Netherlands August
12-13. The BRC Engineering factory supported driver will be driving his Stockman chassis
with BRC power. Manfred Wittenborn,
builder of the Gas Gas 250, will be making some necessary changes to the engine and pipes
to run the mandated unleaded fuel. J.R. doesn't plan on bringing the kart back until he
wins an event! Good luck J.R.!
Zip Eagle III
Word has it that the Zip Eagle III is under
development. More news as it progresses.
The Big 60!
It's hard to believe it was 30 years ago when I
was reading about him in Kart and Superkart and he was 30. Birthday wishes go out
to Zip's Martin "Mr. Superkart" Hines who celebrates his 60th birthday April
22nd.
USSC-West Thunderhill Results
Ryan Kurpiewski and Trevor Johnson were atop the
podium in the F/E, IC/E classes at last weekend's USSC-West opener at Thunderhill Raceway.
Roger Miller's complete recap of the racing action can be seen here.
USSC Announces Changes
Series organizer J.R. Osborne announced the
following changes within the USSC Eastern Series were agreed upon by members during the
weekend of the Barber race:
1) Race Length - has been returned to the 30-minute format. Due to inconsistencies of the
timing/flagmen, we divided 30 minutes by an average lap time to get a specific number of
laps. It worked just fine and it allowed us to get a white flag before the checkered.
2) Round #3 - has been moved from Topeka, KS back to Barber Motorsports Park (this is the
same weekend)
3) $300 Entry - there were some questions of the need for the USSC entry fee. The fee goes
to pay for all the trophies, website, champagne, Superkart Illustrated coverage, etc.
Without the money, we will not have any of the perks that make our series special.
Barber Round Two Results
Sunday's USSC-East round two results were: F/E,
J.R. Osborne, Reggie Brown, Frank Widmoser, Johnny West, Jerry Echols. I/CE, Andy Kiker,
James Ingram, Tim Richardson, Jason Slahor, Rob Morris. Read David Cole's full race report
here.
Barber Round One Results
Saturday's USSC-East round one results were:
F/E, J.R. Osborne, Reggie Brown, Frank Widmoser, Jerry Echols, Johnny West. I/CE, Andy
Kiker, James Ingram, Tim Richardson, Jason Slahor, Michael McAlister. Read David Cole's
full race report here.
USSC-East Friday Qualifying at
Barber
The first weekend of USSC-East competition got
under way Friday at Barber Motorsports Park which included qualifying for Saturday's race.
The top three in each class were: F/E, J.R. Osborne, Johnny West, Frank Widmoser; I/CE,
Andy Kiker, James Ingram, Tim Richardson. Dennis Latham of photobama.com has some pics from
Friday here.
Events Added to USSC-West
Schedule
Roger Miller, USSC-West coordinator, has
announced the two additional events for their 2006 schedule that will allow for a four
race series with one drop. The third race added to the schedule will a points race during
the USSC National Championship race at Miller Motorsports Park August 18,19,20. The fourth
race will be a points race for USSC-West competitors during the Superstars of Superkarts
event at Laguna Seca the weekend of October 20,21,22.
(Of utmost importance, Laguna entries are
limited. USSC-West drivers should get their entry form and money in ASAP in order to
compete for the points championship during this event. Entry form and details can be found
here.
Roger's e-mail with all the event details and memembership requirements can be found here.)
PVP Gets CIK Approval
Poul Petersen's new engine will be legal for
competition in the 2006 European Championship, and elsewhere, as it recently passed the
CIK's engine homologation program. A translated report from Eric Severe and a couple of
pics can be seen here.
2006 Laguna Seca Scheduled
The Southern California Karters will be the host
club for the 2006 running of the Superstars of Superkarts event at Laguna Seca in
conjunction with the American LeMans Series the weekend of October 20,21,22. Entry forms
for the event can be found here.
U.S. Kelgate Importer
R3 Racing has named West
Racing as the U.S. importer and dealer for the line of Kelgate brake products. Contact
Johnny West at 847.208.7077 or WestRacing@aol.com
New Sim Video
One of the guys working on the 250Superkart sim
put together a new video showing what the racing is like and it is really cool. They were
having trouble syncing the audio so no engine sounds yet. Hopefully, the next one will. It
can be seen here.
(if you haven't read the sim article, see it below)
Here's another video from Laguna Seca
with engine sounds.
New Videos Added
See link in the navbar
Barber Entry Form
The USSC-East will be racing at Barber
Motorsports Park on the weekend of March 31, April 1,2. J.R. Osborne has announced that
the entry form for the event can be found here.
This is a WKA event. You must be a
member of WKA and have a valid license to run this event. (you used to be able to sign up for a 'one race
membership' at the track for a reduced rate and not have to receive 12 months of a
magazine that you threw in the trash.....that may or not apply.....there was no mention
about this.....if this is not the case, you will have to apply to the WKA, prove
your experience in the class, and be approved, which can take some time......so
get your WKA application in ASAP!)(or contact J.R
or Robby Harper for verification about this)
Eastern competitors will need to send their membership fee to J.R. or bring it to the
track.
250 Superkart Sim
My article on this is here. It's worth checking out!
New Mid-Ohio Configuration
A couple of pics of the new configuration at
Mid-Ohio can be seen here.
New Chassis from Sweden
Bo Scherman of Sweden is constructing a new 250
Superkart chassis. Pics that are available so far can be seen here.
USSC West Series Schedule
Roger Miller, USSC West coordinator, has
announced a partial schedule with the last two races to be finalized in the near future.
The first race will take place at Thunderhill Raceway on April 14 and 15 and race number
two will be at Reno-Fernley Raceway on May 12 and 13. All competitors, both East and West
should see the USSC web site for
recent rule changes and entry forms.
USSC Eastern Series Schedule
Finalized
J.R. Osborne has announced the schedule for the
2006 USSC Eastern Series. The races are as follows: March 31, April 1-2, Barber
Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL; June 16,17,18, Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, Lexington, OH;
July 28,29,30, Heartland Park, Topeka, KS; August 18,19,20, USSC National Championship,
Miller Motorsports Park, Salt Lake City, UT; November 3,4,5, Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA.
Only 3 of 4 events will be counted for the Eastern Championship allowing for one drop
race. The National Championship race at MillerMP cannot be counted towards the Eastern
Championship.
USSC at Miller Motorsports
Park?
USSC series organizer J.R. Osborne has announced
that Miller Motorsports Park, one of the country's newest and premier racing facilities
located in Salt Lake City, has invited the USSC to participate in one of their events the
weekend of August 18-20. Although not confirmed at this point, J.R. would like to see this
be the National Championship event between the East and West Divisions as it is more
centrally located than Road Atlanta. J.R. would like feedback on this from USSC
participants. Contact him at jr@equinoxhomes.com
Daytona Results: Day 2
Results from Day 2 racing at Daytona
International can be seen here.
Daytona Results: Day 1
Results from Day 1 racing at Daytona
International can be seen here.
(If you have any F/E news to share with the world, email it to me!)