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   Superkart News Archive!
(If you have any 250 Superkart news to share with the world, email it to me!)

Superkart Calendar
Ian Rushforth from the UK informed me that Geoff McBride of Acceler8 Magazine has published two 2006 Superkart calendars. For details and to get one, (or two) his article, and some pics, are here.

British GP Returns
After a three year hiatus, the British Superkart GP will be returning for 2006! Read the full story here. (be kind of cool to see a 'Yank' go over and snatch the GP plate!  :)

A1GP to end the doldrums
This is off the subject of 250 Superkarts, but, for many of us, it's Winter, which means no racing, either live or on TV. Fortunately, I have just learned that the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) will be broacasting the A1GP events that remain. (they may also be available on Direct TV, but I don't know what network/channel) The first OLN broadcast is Saturday, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. EST with a re-broadcast of Estoril race. Also of note, Katherine Legge will be the first woman to race in A1GP and will race for the British team at the Dubai race Dec. 11th; due to aired, I believe, by OLN on the 18th. The press release is here.

Mid-Ohio Announces Pavement Plan
Truesports, owner of Mid-Ohio, has announced that they will repave ALL 2.4 miles of the track and the pit area in preparation for the 2006 season. The project will also relocate a wall, guardrail and replace some catch-fencing. The article didn't say where for the wall, but my guess is through the T11 area. Going to be some happy karters at M-O next year!!
(Ed. note: Here is what else I have found out that is happening at the track besides the track repaving written by my source. I hope to have some aerial pics in the near future.)

"The wall at T-1 drivers right was moved back and gravel trap enlarged, 2 connector loops put in the Keyhole to make a different config of the track, creates an oval and a shorter version of the road course. All new curbs, less aggressive. Turn 3 gravel pit extended around the corner farther. New safety station area on back straight. T-7 rail moved back drivers right. No concrete on the surface of the track. New timing system. Replacement of the wooden debris fence posts with steel. Tire wall upgrades.

These are just the improvements to the race track. There are multiple other things being changed this winter; MX track along with everything needed for it, parking, P/A, etc, etc. Landscaping. Campground upgrades. Fencing, P/A and safety phone system changes."

Road America Announces Upgrades
Road America has announced a $5 million upgrade plan for the track and facilities. The complete story can be seen here.

Road Atlanta Pictures
Lainhart Photography has some good pictures from the Road Atlanta race. They start on page 12 and continue from there. The BRC Engineering site also has its pictures up.

West, Kiker Wear the Crowns!
In a wild and wolly final race at Road Atlanta, the USSC crowned their new champions for 2005 in F/E and IC/E and it was Johnny West and Andy Kiker who received the top honors and will have the honor of defending their titles in 2006.

Again, attrition played a major role in Sunday's race, but the winners were there when it counted.....on the last lap! And, as the old saying goes, to finish first, you first have to finish!

David Cole's Sunday race report is here and the overall race report is here.

Taylor, Kiker Take Pre-final Wins
In a attrition filled race, Chris Taylor (F/E) and Andy Kiker (IC/E) took the victories in the USSC pre-final Saturday at Road Atlanta. See David Cole's report here and race results here.

USSC Final Shootout at Road Atlanta
Well, the weather is great and the guys are there having a lot of fun.......well, at least some of them......the others are wishing their karts were running faster.....

But, it's only Friday, and I'm sure a lot of 'wheels' are turning, as well as wrenches, and before tomorrow's race, there will be a bunch of guys that have made a bunch of adjustments, hopefully, because 'the field' is sucking the preverbal 'hind tit' at this stage!

See the story here and the Q times for both classes here.

Road & Track Superkart Articles
R & T writer Kim Wolfkill wrote a couple of articles for the October and November issues, one being his test drive of Lawson's kart at the Streets of Willow. Good exposure for the Superkart community! The articles can be seen here.

USSC Season Finale at Road Atlanta
The last race of the season to crown the national champions in F/E and IC/E in the United States Superkart Championship is upcoming the weekend of November 4,5,6 at Road Atlanta and if the rumor mill is any good, this will most likely be the largest turnout for any event this season and should be a barnburner of a racing weekend.
Anyone needing an entry form can get them at the Big South site, www.bigsouthseries.com Non-members of the series may run in this event for $50 plus the $140 entry fee.

Pics from USSC Texas Motorsports Ranch
Riley Will has put up pictures from the final round of the Eastern Series on the BRC Engineering web site and they can be seen at www.brceng.com

USSC Crowns its Eastern Champs!
Sunday's final round at the Texas Motorsports Ranch crowned J.R. Osborne and Andy Kiker as the Eastern series champions in F/E and IC/E classes.
Kiker had to 'man-handle' his shift linkage to make it happen and Osborne had pressure from Derek Eastty but was able to overcome it to take the win.
Now it's on to Road Atlanta to crown the U.S. Superkart Champion and wear the US plate!
See David Cole's full race article on EKN here
(congrats to my friend and buddy Ardy who finished third in IC/E!)

Texas - Round 1
J.R. Osborne and Andy Kiker defended their pole positions by winning Saturday's pre-final, Kiker doing it easily and actually finishing second overall. However, Osborne had some competition from Derek Eastty, who was in the lead and spun...but caught Osborne again (both running BRCs) and took the lead again only to spin in the same corner again! He regained the race and finished third.
Results were:
F/E 1. Osborne 2. West 3. Eastty
IC/E 1. Kiker 2. Ingram 3. Sadeghi (way to go Ardy! :)

David Cole's full EKN article is here.

Osborne-Kiker Top Texas Qualifying
Qualifying took place late Friday afternoon at the Texas Motorsports Ranch for Saturday's pre-final and it was J.R. Osborne (F/E) and Andy Kiker (IC/E) taking the top spots as they each attempt to retain their respective points lead in each class.
Derek Eastty and Johnny West were second and third in F/E while James Ingram and George Saldana filled the top spots in IC/E.
For the complete rundown of qualifying positions and more info, see David Cole's article on E-kartingNews.

Riley Captures European Championship
The European Championship Cup returned to the UK in the hands of John Riley after last weekend's final race at Sweden's Mantorp Park. Although Damien Payart was able to win both races, Riley finished second in both and beat the Frenchman to the top of the podium by a mere six points, 105-99. Austrian Andreas Mairzedt, who had a chance at the cup if the other two faulted, picked up third place.

USSC-West Final Series Results
Congratulations to all those who participated in and supported the 2005 USSC-West Series! There were some problems encountered for this year but at least the guys got to get together and do some racing and no doubt better things will be on the horizon for 2006.
Hopefully, many of these guys will be hooking up to 'car pool' and make the trek to GA for the championship shoot out at Road Atlanta.
The final points positions for both classes are as follows.

F/E                                             IC/E
1. Chris Hegar                          1. Ryen Miller
2. Larry Kurpiewski                  2. Brad Davis
3. Ryan Kurpiewski                  3. Paul Band
4. Pat Yoshikane                      4. Mark Brown
5. Loren Feldner                       5. Anthony Williams
6. Kyle Rice                               6. Tie- Bill Busacca, Mark Morrison

European Championship Final Round
The final round of the European Championship Sept. 16,17,18 at Sweden's Mantorp Park should be quite a battle between top contenders John Riley (GB) and Damien Payart (F) with a couple of others having an outside shot at the title. A total of 40 drivers are entered for the event. A press release and entry list from Mediasuperkart's Eric Severe can be found here.

USSC West at Reno-Fernley
Chris Hegar and Ryen Miller topped the box   in F/E and IC/E respectively in the USSC Western Series race held Saturday, Sept. 4 at the Reno-Fernley facility. Larry Kurpiewski and Ryan Kurpiewski finished 2nd and 3rd spots in F/E while Brad Davis and Paul Band took the other two podium positions in IC/E. E-Karting News is suppose to have a complete story on the race sometime next week on their web site.

USSC Texas Schedule and Entry Form
J.R. Osborne has released the daily schedule and entry form for the USSC Eastern race at the Texas Motorsports Ranch Sept. 30-Oct.2. It can be seen here.

Brits Run Fastest Race
John Riley, and others, recently ran the highest speed race ever run in the UK. See Ken Walker's report of the race here.

Road America Promo Video
I'm moving this back up in the News list because if you guys haven't seen this, you're really missing something! I've attempted, and seen, a lot of in-kart 250 video, but the race at RA between Johnny West and Riley Will has to be one of the best I've ever seen!.....all for $10!! You really need to get this. See www.infocusvideobylisa.com or contact Lisa Gamache at 507.382.8530 or lisa@infocusvideobylisa.com and tell her you want one. Great to show those people who have no idea that you're running 150+ in your Superkart down the backstraight at Road America! Best 10 bucks you'll ever spend!

Riley in the EC Points Lead
64 drivers were entered in Round 2 of the   European Championship race at Assen (with four in reserve and many others turned away) but it was John Riley's consistency with two second place finishes that gives him the points lead over Austria's Andreas Mairzedt and France's Damien Payart. Qualifying, Race and Point results are here. The final round of the series is at Sweden's Mantorp Park circuit Sept. 16,17,18.

Barber Results
Don't have all the details yet, but J.R. Osborne and Andy Kiker, the F/E and IC/E polesitters, were victorious in the United States Superkart Championship Eastern round at Barber Motorsports Park held Sunday morning, July 31st. Chris Taylor and Johnny West rounded out the podium in F/E and Marc Miller and James Ingram filled the spots in the IC/E class.
Dave Cole's full EKN report is here. Pics of the race can be found here, here and here.

USSC Barber Qualifying
J.R. Osborne and Andy Kiker grabbed the pole postitions for the USSC event at Barber Motorsports Park in the Sunday morning qualifying session. Osborne posted a time of 1:25 and Kiker at 1:28. Derek Eastty and Chris Taylor rounded out the top three for F/E while it was James Ingram and Tim Richardson in IC/E.
A total of 11 karts qualified for F/E and 17 for IC/E.

Kelgate is Back in Business
Good news for the karting world, Kelgate is back! An arrangement has been worked out between Kelgate's former owner and UK business R3 Racing to get the product back on the market. The full press release can be seen here.

New 250 Inline Twin from PVP
Earlier I reported that PVP had gotten CIK approval for its new replacement heads and cylinders for the Rotax 256. What wasn't known at that time is that they are now mated to a new billet bottom end from PVP as well. A couple of pics of the new motor can be seen here.

New Track for Charlotte Area
Developers in Salisbury, NC, about 25 miles from Charlotte, want to build a 2-mile road course called High Rock Raceway with all the amenities. See the full story here.

Payart on Top of the Box
Two-time European Champion Damien Payart showed the world he's a force to be reckoned with as he bested the Superstars of Superkarts' field to cross the finish line five seconds ahead of second place finisher Kyle Martin. Eddie Lawson rounded out the podium 10 seconds back of the newly crowned champion. Sam Zavaglia lead the Aussie field finishing in fourth. Full results can be seen here.

Lawson takes the Pole
Eddie Lawson topped the field in the Superstars of Superkarts qualifying with a 1:25.116. Second was Damien Payart with Kyle Martin third. The full list with times is here.

Laguna Friday Practice
The saying is, "you can't win practice," but if you could, Kyle Martin would be at the top. He lapped the circuit in a 1:26.080 ahead of Eddie Lawson with a 1:26.245. Warren McIlveen lead much of the session and finished third with a 1:26.616 and J.R. Osborne fourth at 1:26.751. Sam Zavaglia rounded out the top five at 1:28.076.

Rainey Withdraws
Three-time World GP Champion Wayne Rainey has withdrawn from this weekend's Superstars of Superkarts race at Laguna Seca. According to reports, the former champ, who has raced in every Superkart race at Laguna, suffered injuries that forced the cancellation. Although the injuries were minor, (I don't know what they are) his doctor recommended that he not race. He will, however, still be at the track for the festivities.

Former Champ Returns
While posting the latest German Superracekart Series report, I noticed a familiar name from the past, that being Dutch driver Perry Grondstra; a three-time World Champion in the early 90s. It wasn't a great weekend for the former champ as in the Saturday race he got together with European Champ Damien Payart while running up front and both were off the track. Oh well, welcome back Perry! Are you still wearing your white shirt and tie while racing?
Also of note, and generating a lot of interest, was former European and World Champion Poul Petersen's finish running his new PVP cylinders on a 256. For a reason I don't know, he was late getting to the Zolder track and missed Saturday's race. Starting dead last in Sunday's race, (probably 25th - 30th) he broke the top 10 and finished a respectable 7th and obviously generating interest in his motor package.

USSC Barber Entry Form
If you need one, it is here. Copy, cut & paste, hand write it.....The info they need, address to send it to, is included. It has to be to received by July 25th.

Update Info for USSC at Barber Motorsports Park
J.R. Osborne sent out the following important memo regarding the July 27-31 event at Barber. It can be seen here.

Superstars of Superkarts Daily Schedule
Following is the daily schedule for the Superstars of Superkarts race at Laguna Seca during the US MotoGP weekend July 8-10.

Friday, July 8
12:10pm-12:45pm Practice: Yamaha & GE Superstars of Super Karts
3:15pm-3:50pm Practice: Yamaha & GE Superstars of Super Karts

Saturday, July 9
8:30am-8:50am Warm-Up: Superstars of Super Karts
11:15am-11:40am Qualifying: Yamaha & GE Superstars of Super Karts
3:10pm-3:35 pm RACE: Yamaha & GE Superstars of Super Karts

Sunday, July 10
2:00pm RACE: MotoGP World Championship (32 laps)
Broadcast live on Speed.

Road America Results
The full results from the USSC race at Road America are up under the 2005 Results link.

PVP Gets Approval For 256 Cylinders
PVP's Poul Petersen has gotten CIK approval for his new replacement cylinders for the Rotax 256 motor. The kit includes three different inserts to allow changing the compression ratio. More details and pics can be found here.

USSC Road America Sunday Results
F/E
1. Will
2. West
3. Long

IC/E
1. Kiker
2. McAlister

The F/E victory was by one one-hudreth of second.....they traded places 5-6 times a lap...it can't get any better than that!.....and it was all recorded by a helmet cam! (video to come!)

Full race report is here.

USSC Road America Saturday Results
F/E
1.    US    J.R. Osborne
2.    9        Riley Will
3.    28     Chris Taylor
4.    8       Patrick Yoshikane
5.    67      Jimmy Long
6.    16      Randall Johnson
7.    46      John Braeden Posey
8.    77      Frank Dawley
9.    15      Jerry Echols
10.   52    Ronald Kuhn
11.    3     Jim Brannon
12.    2      Johnny West
13.    68    Loren Felder
14.    7      Reggie Brown, Jr.
15.    53    Mark Croslyn
16.    99    Firouz Haghighi
17.    79    Derek Eastty
18.    5       Brad Jackson, Jr.
19.    23    Steven Tillman
20.    111   Don Brown
21.    48     Gary Peterson

IC/E
Pos    No.    Name
1.    11    James Ingram
2.    24    Andrew Kiker
3.    25    Michael McAlister
4.    98    Michael Kranz
5.    0      Griff Goad
6.    35    Robert McMillian
7.    61    Mike Hurdzan

See story of the race here.

USSC Road America Qualifying
The United States Superkart Championship (East Series) Friday qualifying round saw the following results:
F/E
Pole, J.R. Osborne, YamahaTZ
2nd, Johnny West, HondaRS
IC/E
Pole, James Ingram, GasGas

USSC Driver Profile Info Needed
In an effort to step-up the professionalism of the series, J.R. is adding a driver's profile section to the USSC web site. (www.ussc250.com) Info he is requesting from USSC members can be seen here.

Sponsorship for Laguna Race
According to an article in Cycle News, Yamaha and GE have come onboard as sponsors of the Superstars of Superkarts race at Laguna during the July MotoGP weekend. The article can been seen here.

Wing Rule Change
Because of a screw-up by Anderson, there has been a change to the rear wing rule. See J.R. Osborne's note about it here.

VIR Results
The results for last weekend's race at VIR are up under the 2005 Race Results link in the navbar.

Welcome BRC Engineering!
250Superkarts.com is pleased to welcome BRC Engineering, Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada as the site's official Presenting Sponsor and looks forward to a terrific relationship with the company!

Founded in 1997 by Brian, Riley and Carter Will, BRC is on the cutting edge of 250 Twin technology with the BRC250FE motor; which has already won events in the U.S. and recently set fast time at the European Championship round at Hockenheim, under less than ideal conditions.

BRC Racing, a BRC Engineering subsidiary, was formed in 2001 and the BRC Team expect bigger and better things in the future for the BRC250FE. 

Click on their banner or www.brceng.com to learn more!

Welcome aboard BRC!

(for Associate Sponsorship opportunities, contact me at rforker@cyberzane.net for info)

New Utah Track
Larry H. Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz and numerous other business interests, is set to open Miller Motorsports Park in September 2005 on 500 acres of ground in Tooele, Utah, 25 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
The track will have three configurations, the East Track (2.2 mi.), the West Track (2.2 mi.) and the Outer Course (3.06 mi.) as well as a separate Sprint Kart/Supermoto track.
The track was designed by Alan Wilson who has designed many tracks, including ones we know like Barber Motorsports Park, Gingerman and Carolina Motorsports Park. (In fact, in checking out his website, there are plans in the works for new big tracks in Minnesota, Arizona, New Hampshire, Kansas, Nebraska and Ontario, Canada.)
More info about the new Miller Motorsports Park track can be found here.

USSC West at Portland
The USSC Western Series was at Portland May 21 & 22 and although these reults are unofficial, they are all that I have seen so far. More info when I get it. Pics from the weekend can be seen here.
F/E Saturday
1. Chris Hegar
2. Larry Kurpuski
3. Pat Yoshikane
F/E Sunday
1. Chris Hegar
2. Larry Kurpuski
3. Ryan Kurpuski
IC/E Saturday
1. Ryan Miller
2. Brad Davis
3. Paul Band
IC/E Sunday
1. Brad Davis
2. Ryan Miller
3. Paul Band

Road America Promo Video
United States Superkart Championship promoter J.R. Osborne has announced that he is hiring a three-person camera crew to be on hand for the Road America weekend to produce a 250 Superkart promotional video. See J.R.'s e-mail announcing this, as well as some requests for the driver/crews here. (need to get this to the right people besides ourselves!)

Possible '250 Superkart World Championship'??
While in Germany for the Hockenheim round of the European Championship, BRC engine builder Riley Will was asked by many if it would be possible to have a 'true' World Championship for the 250s; with the thinking being that it would alternate between the U.S. and a European country each year.

There will certainly be a lot of 'red tape' to have to turn green before this can happen, but at least it's nice to think that the subject is being considered and there is going to be discussion about it, even though it's going to be a nightmare!

Personally, even though their numbers may be smaller, there are two other continents that race 250 Superkarts and, I think, to be a 'true' World Championship, it should be a FOUR continent championship that includes the Aussies (Eastern Creek?) and the South Africans (Kayalami?). In the 'old' days, the South Africans did compete in the WC, which was ALWAYS held in Europe.

Travel should be equally fair/unfair for all.  The answer to this is finding sponsors that will support their country's 'team'!

Road America Newsies from JR
It outlines practice/qualifying rules, registration and some other stuff. A copy of his e-mail is here.

FPE Introduces New Single and Twin Parts
FP Engineering has had aftermarket products approved for both the Rotax single and twin motor. More info and pics are here.

Kelgate in Liquidation
Although this is still somewhat unofficial, I have received word from more than one person that Kelgate has gone under and is no longer in business. Truly a sad day for karters. Hopefully, someone will buy it and get it going again. (if you have further info, send it to me)

Tragedy strikes UK karter
It is with deep regret that I report the death of 41 year-old UK karter Peter Dearden, the current UK F250 Challenge Champion, who was killed Sunday, April 10th during a race at Brands Hatch. From what I have learned, he had spun and stalled at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend and was sideways to traffic when he was struck by another kart that could not avoid him. The driver of the second kart suffered massive leg injuries as a result of the impact. I am told that Paddock Hill Bend is like imagining Laguna's Corkscrew only a lot steeper, more blind and taken at 110mph.
Our condolences go out to Peter's family.

USSC Sunday results from Barber Motorsports Park
Osborne and Eastty top the field for the Sunday race. The race report is here.

USSC Saturday results from Barber Motorsports Park
Frank Widmoser and Andy Kiker take the top spots in Saturday's pre-final. Heat takes its toll on engines. See the complete story here.

USSC Friday results from Barber Motorsports Park
Johnny West and Andy Kiker grabbed pole position for their respective classes for this weekend's USSC Eastern Series event at Barber Motorsports Park. EKartingNews is covering this event and, having received no report myself, I'm not going to attempt re-write David Cole's excellent coverage. To read the results from Friday practice and qualifying, go here.

New 250 Chassis
MS Karts, in the Czech Republic, has a prototype 250 chassis that they will be introducing to the 250 community. A pic of it can be seen here. Their web site is www.mskart.cz

ADE For Sale
UK 250 Superkart manufacturer ADE is for sale according to owner David Will. In addition to the body molds and chassis jigs, there is an extensive list of parts and pricing that can be seen here.

Superkart / MotoGP Weekend
The July race at Laguna with MotoGP is taking shape. Click here to see a list of current entrants.

BRC site link added
The BRC Engineering site link has been added to the Superkart Links page.

Two site links added
One is the USSC site (United States Superkart Championship) and the other is the new Nemesis site. Both are under their respective links from the navbar. (USSC in under Superkart Links and Nemesis is under Superkart Manufacturers)

BRC makes the grade!
I'm sure glad I don't have to jump through their hoops, but BRC did and passed! Comments from Riley are here.

BRC to have their CIK inspection
BRC will have their inspection from the CIK this week to approve the BRC motor for competition. Story is here.

HUD coming for kart racers
Motion Research and Digatron are teaming up to produce a HUD (Heads Up Display) unit for kart racers. The story can be seen here.

Germans announce schedule, series changes
In a memo from Joachim Breckwoldt, the German Superracekart Series announced its schedule and series changes; most notably the spliting of Div. 2 (IC/E), the use of a Pace Car and mandatory use of a back brace. Breckholdt's memo can be seen here. The full series rules can be seen here. (.pdf)

Date Change for Texas Motorsport Ranch
J.R. Osborne announced that the United States Superkart Championship eastern series race at TMR has been moved up a week  to September 30, October 1-2 2005 to maintain a five week spacing between events. Please make a note of the change.

Zavaglia Wins Sheene Memorial
Superkarts took part in the Historic Motorcycle Barry Sheene Memorial over the weekend of Feb. 26 with Sam Zavaglia taking the win. A race report is here.

New Zealand Championship
Stockman Superkarts grabbed the first three positions in the New Zealand Championship held last weekend at the Taupo Motor Racing Circuit. Wayne Sproston became the new Superkart Champ by taking the top spot in the F/E class winning three out of the four heat races. Second and third went to Paul Dunlop and Kevin Adlington. In the National class, Robin Wooldridge bested the field followed by Ryan Urban and Richard Vickers.
Paul Dunlop's best lap time set an 'outright' track record time for the Taupo Circuit during the weekend!

Zip Eagle II w/ Maxsym 500
Martin Hines unveiled his new ride with the Maxsym 500cc on board last weekend at the Autosport International auto show. The first pics I have of it are here. (like to see some with the bodywork off....hopefully MAH will come through with some in the near future) Obvious bodywork, wing and possibly floorpan changes. Testing is scheduled to start in late Jan. or early Feb.

Superkart Drivers Top Celebrity Race
The Autosport International auto show is currently going on in London and during the celebrity kart race two Superkart drivers, plus Champ Car driver AJ Allmendinger, won the two-hour race. Story here.

Heartland Park Set for Upgrades
Between now and 2006, Heartland Park will see some major changes as it prepares for its newest race. See details here.

Schumi to help FIA-CIK
Michael Schumacher will be among a group to help determine karting's future and has some opinions on the future of karting. See the article here.

Safety Car for Superkarts?
It may happen according to the FIA-CIK. See it here.

Daytona 2004 Results
Results for both days can be found here. Haven't heard any stories yet, just found the results......

USSC Western Series Race Dates and Rules and Entry Form
(Fontana January Cancelled.....see 2005 Schedule link for changes)
(It's now three dates, Fontana has been added and a tentative fourth race at Reno-Fernley)
The U.S. Superkart Championship Western Division is starting to shape up with two race dates scheduled so far. They are included under the link '2005 Schedules' in the navbar or can be found here. The 2005 Rules for the USSC Western Series in MS Word .doc format can be found here. The Western Series Entry Form in MS Word .doc format can be found here.

2005 U.S. Superkart Championship Rules and Entry Form
(Change in race length from 20 min to 30 min.)
The 2005 USSC (Eastern Series) rules and entry form can be found here.

2005 U.S. Superkart Eastern Championship Pro Series
Series organizer J.R. Osborne sent the following info regarding the new Eastern Championship series.

Sponsored by:        
Farcon Inc., Bill Farley
Equinox Group
Osborne Cattle Co.
P-1 Performance
West Racing

U.S. Superkart LLC. is proud to announce the first ever 250 Superkart Pro Series Championship for North America.  The series offers racing at premier venues with magazine coverage, quality trophies, and PRIZE MONEY.
Please join us to compete for best championship the 250 community has ever seen!

SCHEDULE:

April 8,9,10                  Barber Motorsports Park - Birmingham, AL
June 10,11,12             Road America - Elkhart Lake, WI
July 29,30,31               Barber Motorsports Park - Birmingham, AL  (w/ GrandAm Series)
October 7,8,9              Texas Motorsports Ranch - Ft. Worth, TX
                                       ***Note- you may drop 1 of the first 4 races***
November 11,12,13   Road Atlanta - Braselton, GA  (National Championship)

PRIZE MONEY:

Per event the prize money will be:

1st   F/E $300, IC/E $250
2nd  F/E $200, IC/E $150
3rd   F/E $100, IC/E $75

OVERALL CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZE MONEY:

1st   F/E $2000, IC/E $1,500
2nd  F/E $1250, IC/E $850
3rd   F/E $850,   IC/E $550
4th   F/E $500,    IC/E $300
5th   F/E $300,    IC/E $175

West Racing will supply the 250F/E Eastern Series Champion a 7-Day timeshare rental to his choice of vacation destinations!!!

P-1 Performance will supply the 250 F/E and 250 IC/E National Champion a complete set of bodywork!!!

Super Kart Illustrated will be covering every event!!!

In order to compete in the U.S. Superkart Eastern Championship Pro Series you will need to become a series member.  The cost is $300.00 for the season and the proceeds ONLY go to prizes and promotions.

Please fax (303-771-7985) or email (jr@equinoxhomes.com) your request to become a member and we will send you the application and rules package.

It's not F/1, but it's the next best thing!!
Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson, Kevin Schwantz and Doug Chandler will be joining the ranks of drivers at the Laguna Seca race supporting the MotoGP show July 8-10, 2005 according to the Laguna Seca press release that was issued December 8th. Laguna is calling it the "Super Stars of Super Karts" event. (it wouldn't surprise me to see Hayden, Rossi and some others jump on this bandwagon too before it's all over.....at least for a practice session!)
Superkarts are definitely getting some exposure out of this as this has been picked up and reported by speedtv.com, cyclenews.com, rubbermag.com and superbikeplanet.com. (and possibly others)
Hopefully, since the cameras will be there to cover the MotoGP, there will be some TV coverage for the Superkart race that will be run on Saturday, July 9. Laguna's press release can be seen at any of the above listed sites. I seem to recall seeing somewhere that they have already sold 120,000 tickets for this weekend.

Results from Road Atlanta
Weekend results from the November 13-14 race at Road Atlanta can be seen here.

Road Atlanta From The Winner's Perspective
Found out Riley Will won on both days and sent him an e-mail to see if he had any other results. (this was before I found them and got them posted) He sent an interesting reply telling the story of Team BRC's success for the weekend.

Stockman Takes Australian Title
The race for the Australian Superkart Championship was also run November 13-14 at Phillip Island. Brian Stockman covered the field and was on top of the podium with 4 out of 4 wins and was crowned the Australian 250 International Champion for the 8th time!! in his career. (not bad for an old guy! :) Nick Paul and Carlo Chermaz rounded out the podium in the 250 International class while Graeme Williams took the crown in the 250 National class. (F/E rivals Warren McIlveen and Sam Zavaglia could not compete as their karts are in transit back to Australia following the Laguna Seca race) Zavaglia, however, did drive one of Stockman's 125s to a 4 out of 4 win, one of the races being in the rain with slicks on, to take the 2004 Australian 125 title. All three of these champions will wear the #1 plate for the 2005 season. A couple of pics are here.

2004 WSK Laguna Pics
Pics from the 2004 event can be seen here.

New 257 Girdle
California based Trick Solutions has developed a new girdle for the Rotax 257. All details can be seen here.

Timed Results from Laguna
J.R. Clasen sent out the timed results from the Laguna weekend. If you weren't on the list who received them, you can see them here. (Word doc)

New Series for 2005
2005 will see the introduction of the U.S. Superkart Eastern Championship sponsored by the Farcon Group and The Equinox Group as the primary sponsors of the series. Pat Yoshikane of P1 Performance will also award the champion of the F/E and IC/E class with a new set of bodywork.

Series organizer, J.R. Osborne, already has a commitment of $15,000 and hopes to have $25,000 before the series begins for "magazine coverage, quality trophies, and PRIZE MONEY"!

Tentatively, the race schedule is:
1)  Road America
2)  Texas Motorsports Ranch
3)  Pikes Peak International or Virginia International
4)  Mid-Ohio
5)  Barber Motorsports Park
(some of these will be in conjunction with the Grand-Am Series)

They are "working on the rules and race dates, but the money is in place and Rob Howden and Shifter Kart Illustrated have commited to covering the events".   "Hopefully, the boys in the West will get a series of events and then the East / West will meet at Barber to declare the National Champion. If they don't get it together, then our series will be the National Series".

More news as it develops......

New 250 Forum
Rob Howden, Howden Communications, who recently purchased EKartingNews, has added to the site a 250 Forum for the 250 community. Thanks Rob!

Mahe and Freke take wins at Donington Park
Something weird happened at the third round of the European Championships Oct. 16-17 as the Round 1 race was declared null and void by the CIK. Don't know any details yet but trying to find out what happened.
(Here's what happened. This received from Brit Ian Rushforth)
Hi Guys,
Well the reason is as follows:
The CIK rules state that if a race is stopped within the first two laps (race 1 was stopped after a pile up on the first corner of lap one) then drivers are allowed to service their karts and get ready for a full re-run. Unfortunately, the Clerks decided that parc ferme rules prevailed and drivers could not work on their karts. Some did however and were told to start from the pit lane and rejoin after the start had taken place. Two of the top three in the Division 2 Championship were caught out by this and took up the issue with the CIK stewards after race 1 had finished.
The Stewards met to consider the cock up and decided to make the race null and void. All was then of course up for grabs in race two. Gavin Bennett did much better than Micheal Sadurski and took the Championship. The issue is however not over as the whole issue is to go before the CIK Commission soon for discussion. The
trouble is the Championship rules state that a drivers will count 50% of their scores plus one so in the Division 2 series there were four races in the series so 50% of four was two plus one is three so it was three races out of four. Now with one race null and void it is 50% of three is one and a half plus one is two and a half. SO, the big question remains is two and a half actually three or is it two. If its three then Gavin wins. If its two than Micheal wins. Good game I think. The Division 1 series was of course tied up before Donington in Damian Payart's favour.
Watch this space for a decision, I think.
Best regards,
Ian
The results for Round 2 were:
Race 2
Division 1 F/E
1st - Benjamin Mahe (FR)
2nd - John Reily (GB)
3rd - Hanif Gillani (GB)
Division 2 IC/E
1st - Nathan Freke (GB)
2nd - Scott Emberson (GB)
3rd - Gavin Bennett (GB)

Damien Payart (FR) has already been crowned the European Champion in Division 1 as the result of winning both rounds at Magny-Cours and Assen prior to the Donington race.
Not sure about Division 2 yet. It's either Michael Sadurski (D) or Gavin Bennett (GB). Sadurski was the point leader going into the Donington race but Bennett made the podium.

Martin takes the victory at Laguna...Osborne takes the US plate!
Kyle Martin passed Lawson on his way to victory circle at Laguna with Warren McIlveen and Eric Messley rounding out the podium in F/E. Andy Kiker lead the way in the IC/E class with Brad Davis and James Ingram taking 2nd and 3rd. ( www.ekartingnews.com has a story and will have more...)

The list of the final results is here for all competitors in both classes.

Laguna Pre-Final (Saturday) Results
One down, one to go.......see a good report at www.ekartingnews.com
(this was supposed to have been on Sunday but for some reason Satuday's practice got turned into the Pre-Final)

Looks like the BRC guys are beating up on the Yamaha (2nd) and Honda (5th) camps by taking four of the top six spots!  .......but, I'm still keeping my eye on that #7!.....
(FYI: according to the entry list, the field is made up of 19 Yamahas (55.8%), 7 BRCs (20.5%), 6 Hondas (17.6%) and one Rotax 256 and one V-Dot)

Rainey didn't race because of a bad wrist. Warren McIlveen, J.R. Osborn and Jimmy Long all had problems. Johnny West gets the 'riser' award for starting from somewhere around dead-ass last to finish 12th.
(Good run JW, not a bad starting position...)

And now, here are the Top 10:

F/E
1   Kyle Martin
2   Eddie Lawson
3   Tom Dyer
4   Joe White
5   Sam Savaglia
6   Terry Coulson
7   Pat Yoshikane
8   Cory Fancy
9   Gary Lewis
10 Gary Peterson

IC/E
1   Anthony Williams
2   Andy Kiker
3   Brad Davis
4   Mark Pollard
5   Paul Band
6   John Rounds
7   Jim Ingram
8   Rob Pool
9   Michael McCallister
10 Michael Kranz
11Dennis Harris

Barber Results
The debut of karts at Barber Motorsports Park October 9-10 was a great success and the Superkarts have been invited back to be a support race with the Grand-Am show there in April with another stand-alone karting event on another date. Race results can be seen here.

Laguna Qualifying...Top Ten
F/E
Kyle Martin 1.24.5
Eddie Lawson 25.2
Tom Dyer 25.9
JR Osborne 26.2
Warren McIlveen 26.2
Sam Zavaglia 26.2
Joe White 26.6
Cory Fancey 28.1
Reggie Brown 28.2
Kerry Coulson 29.5

IC/E
James Ingram 1.30.5
Andy Kiker 31.0
Anthony Williams 31.8
Brad Davis 34.6
Paul Band 34.8
John Rounds 35.4
George Saldana 35.4
Mark Pollard 36.3
Scott Wilkerson 39.2
Rob Pool 40.0

There are a few names I can think of that aren't in the top ten of each class that I thought would have been.......
obviously the racing gremlins are still alive at Laguna........

From what I understand, the format has changed. The first race, setting the grid for Sunday, will be held tomorrow, (Saturday) with the final on Sunday.

Results as I get them........

Fontana 2005
From John Rounds: "I just wanted to let you know that Fontana, CA is on for January 8, 9, 2005.
Check out www.socalkarters.com for the info -- ICE/FE both days!!!  Please let everyone know."

GasGas 250 Single
Was sent some info on this Spanish motor that won both days of the European Championships at Assen recently against Honda and Rotax in the Division II (IC/E) class. More details and pics are here.

2005 SKUSA Rules
UPDATED INFO......

(The rules you are going to click on do not reflect that the weight has been changed for '05.......the new IC/E weight is 465 and the new F/E weight is 485..... There is also some kind of clarification about wing height that was not included. This applys to both WSK and SKUSA. As soon as I receive the 'revised' edition, it will be posted.)

John Ferreira sent out a copy of the 2005 SKUSA rules which again contains 'Long Track' rules that apply to 250s. They can be seen here.

Results from Assen, EC Championship Round 2
Damien Payart continued where he left off at Magny-Cours by taking the top spot at the Assen Circuit last weekend. Eric Severe sent the following report and a pic that can be found here.

Lawson/BRC win at Portland
I need to get his e-mail address so I know WTF is going on!........I thought the name Lawson and Yamaha were synonymous........and thought he was driving a P1 chassis........

Well, driving a Zip Eagle II with a BRC motor, Eddie was the victor at Portland. It may have been different if it weren't for a tire problem for J.R Obsorne. Riley Will sent this report.

News update from the Maxsym camp
Maxsym's newsletter has updated info on the progress of their new motor. It can be found here.

Race at Barber Motor Sports Park in October
Received the following from Griff Goad ( griffgoad@bellsouth.net ) confirming this race in October which, as I understand, was setup by Robby Harper. The opportunity to run in front of a Grand-Am crowd at Barber could attract a lot of attention for the Superkart class.
Unfortunately, it's the weekend before Laguna, which means, presumably, all the big-hitters won't be there since their karts will be in transit to California.

"There will be a unlimited race added as a supporting event to the Grand American Rolex weekend, October 8-10, 2004, at the Barber Motor Sports Park.  Details should be posted soon on the Bigsouthseries web site. www.bigsouthseries.com   You can view the track at www.barbermotorsports.com   You will need to tab through the Porsche Driving Experience and track tabs to fine links to the video clip.
At a cost of over $53 million dollars, this is one of the finest new facilities in North America.  It is located just 20 minutes out of Birmingham Alabama so the weather during this first ever kart event should be good."

Road America Results
Seems there was a scoring snafu........as EVERYONE was entered in Unlimted........but the WSK guys, whether it was F/E or IC/E were not scored seperatley........which got flagged off at the end of 30 minutes.......but you could finish the last 15 minutes........

Result is, I don't know much.......but this is what has been posted as the top 3 for Sunday's race:

F/E
1. J.R. Osborne
2. Mike Soh
3. Jerry Echols

IC/E
1. Andy Kiker
2. Scott Loewenstine
3. James Ingram

Anyone that can fill out the field for either day, please send it to me to be posted.

So far, from Saturday:

IC/E
1. Andy Kiker
2. James Ingram
3. Sid Swift
4. Jerry Leonard
5. Mike Boyce

Will he win all three!!??
Damien Payart is on a roll........winning both days of the first round of the European Superkart Championship at Magny-Cours May 22/23. Details are here.

Maxsym 500 4-Stroke Development Update
Received an update from Maxsym regarding their new 4-stroke project. Reprinting it in its entirety.
(Talked with Martin Hines and one of the reasons he will not be running at Magny-Cours is his involvement with the development of this engine; along with other commitments)

The design & development programme for Maxsym's new small twin cylinder racing engine is now well underway.  You are receiving this Newsletter because Maxsym has had contact with you in the past or because you have asked to receive information about the engine.  The project (codenamed MC4) will follow Maxsym's standard development process, through Concept, Design, Development & Validation phases.  'Package
buck' engines for vehicle preparation will be available in late 2004.
The first production engines will be delivered in March 2005 in readiness for next years race season.

Outline Specification

* Configuration - In-line twin cylinder with Maxsym's patented balance system for fully cancelled inertial forces allowing ultra smooth running

* Capacity - 500cc & 600cc variants to suit application

* Rated power - 75-110bhp @ 11,500 to 14,000rpm dependent on specification

* Target weight - 30kgs including 6-speed transmission

* Monoblock construction (no head gasket) featuring direct acting DOHC & 4 valves per cylinder

Options include:

* Wet or dry sump to suit application
* Electric or kick start
* Digital fuel injection or carburettor

Transmission: 5 or 6-speed sequential (cassette style) or fixed reduction gear

We will be releasing more detailed specifications in future Newsletters.

* Racing Applications
Target applications include motorcycles (track & off-road); ATVs; Superkarts; small single seater racecars; snowmobiles & personal watercraft.  This is where we need your info@maxsym.com feedback.  What race series in your territory may be suitable for the MC4?  What other vehicle applications are relevant to you?

Your input required now

We are interested to hear about your specific engine requirements.  Are you an individual racer, preparing a vehicle this winter for the 2005 race season?  Are you a company with an annual engine requirement for a
specific vehicle project?  We would be interested to hear about your project via   guy.heathcote@maxsym.com e-mail.   If necessary, we will send you a Customer Requirement Questionnaire so that we can accurately understand your application & optimise the specification during the detailed design phase.

Award Winning Designer
Chief Designer for the MC4 project is Steve Prentice who has worked with Maxsym on many projects over the last six years.  With 27 years experience, Steve has designed engines for Formula 1, Le Mans, BTCC &
World Rally Car projects.  He is acknowledged as the leading SolidWorks 3D CAD designer in Europe.  Click  www.steveprenticedesign.com here for more information.

All work will be completed in SolidWorks 2004.  Software, training & support are provided by NT CADCAM, the UK's leading engineering solutions provider with well over 14000 seats installed at over 1500 customer sites, including a number of other Motorsport Valley & race team customers.  For further information see
www.ntcadcam.co.uk

Research & Development Grant
Maxsym is pleased to announce that it has been awarded an www.dti.gov.uk/r-d/ R&D Grant for the MC4 Development Project by the Department of Trade & Industry.  We are proud that the DTI is supporting this high profile project being carried out in the heart of Motorsport Valley.

We intend to keep you up to date with the MC4 programme throughout 2004, probably with one Newsletter per month.

If you would like a colleague to receive this Newsletter, please forward it to them and ask them to e-mail their contact details to info@maxsym.com Maxsym so we can include them on our database.

If you require further information, or have specific queries, please do not hesitate to contact Maxsym's Commercial Director, Guy Heathcote at guy.heathcote@maxsym.com

For more information about Maxsym, please visit us at www.maxsym.com

Contact details

Maxsym Engine Technology Ltd

Unit 5, Brailes Industrial Estate

Lower Brailes

Banbury

Oxfordshire OX15 5JW

UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1608 685155

Fax: +44 (0) 1608 685156

Email:  info@maxsym.com

Website: www.maxsym.com

 
New Fuel Tank for Andersons (New pics added)
P1 Performance is working on a new large capacity fuel tank for the Anderson chassis. See pic here.

47 Drivers vie for European Championship

By Vincent Caro

CIK-FIA EUROPEAN SUPERKART CHAMPIONSHIP
Round 1, Magny-Cours, France, May 21-23, 2004

"GENERATION GAP"
Karting and the international CIK-FIA championships are not reserved for kids in short trousers and for young candidates for a professional career in Motor Sport as is proved by the European Superkart Championship: its average age is... 42 years-old and its age bracket ranges from 21 to 61, the cadet being the German Christian Hennig and the eldest driver being Sweden’s ever-young Bobo Westman!

The European Superkart Championship will comprise three events in 2004, including Magny-Cours/F (21-23 May), Assen/NL (30 July-1st August) and Donington Park/GB (16-17 October). Each of the three events will concern Division 1, (F/E) whereas Division 2 (IC/E) will compete in Assen and Donington only. The first round of the season is therefore scheduled for the Magny-Cours circuit, within the framework of a Formula Nissan event. 47 drivers are entered, and for Division 1 it constitutes a record since the revival of the CIK-FIA European Superkart Championship in 2002.

The European title-holder, Damien Payart, will throw his title in and will be the spearhead of the generation of drivers who are under 30 years old, with Britain’s Mark Owens and the Germans Peter Elkmann and Christian Hennig. Versus the younger competitors, the "45 years old and over" will try to exploit their considerable experience in the category, especially the former double World Champion Poul Petersen (DK), Germany’s Joachim Breckwoldt, the British driver Steve Edwards and the Frenchman François Vinualès. Standing between these two generations, the French driver Benjamin Mahé, Britain’s John Riley and the Swede Thomas Johansson are determined to repeat the good results they achieved at the end of the 2003 season. There are also two ladies on the entry list, Virginie Barandon and Kristin Breckwoldt, and Andrew Agnew’s brave Division 2 (single-cylinder) kart is ready to take up the challenge against the more powerful twin-cylinders.

The Magny-Cours results will be available during the event on the web site of the CIK-FIA: www.cikfia.com

See Driver entries and Equipment list here.
(noticeably absent from this list is former champ M. Hines)

Laguna I Results
I'm sure it will come as no surprise that Eddie Lawson once again bested the field in the F/E class to win the recent Road & Track sponsored weekend at Laguna Seca. Jay Lewis finished 2nd, Dale Thompson 3rd, Paul Reuter 4th and Larry Dobbs 5th. Wayne Rainey was running in second place but went out on the last lap for reasons I don't know.

Chris Hines won the IC/E class but I haven't seen the rest of the top five yet.

UPDATE- Seems I got it wrong! According to a story on www.crash.net (under MOTOGP section) it was Wayne who got the jump on Eddie and lead the entire race before running out of gas on the last lap with Eddie in second; although according to the story, there was some battling between the two of them at some point. Wayne was obviously leaking fuel during the race as the story indicated that Eddie went through tear-offs during the race because of it. What's with this anyway? Didn't Eddie have a fuel leak that put him out of the October race at Laguna??

New Ram Air Kit for Inline Twins
P1 Performance and Mike Hemingway have developed a new ram air kit and filter for Inline Twins. See the details and pics here.

2004 EC Schedule (Donington date Changed)
The FIA/CIK has released the 2004 schedule for the European Superkart Championship.
May 21, 22, 23 at Magny Cours in France, F/E only
July 30, 31, August 1 at Assen in the Netherlands, F/E & IC/E
October 16, 17 at Donington Park in Great Britain, F/E & IC/E

New Superkart web site
Frenchman Eric Severe has a new web site up, www.mediasuperkart.com. The site is in French. If you go to http://babelfish.altavista.com/translate.dyn, enter the site address, translate from French to English, it doesn't do too bad a job of translating it. Suppose to be a total English version coming online soon.

Results from Road Atlanta
Results from the WSK race March 13 &14 at Road Atlanta are as follows:

F/E
1st  Johnny West
2nd Ferouz Haghighi
3rd Jimmy Brannon

IC/E
1st Andy Kiker
2nd Jim Ingram
3rd Greg Trimmer

J.R. Obsorne was fast F/E qualifier at 1:26.502 and Andy Kiker, 1:31.003 in IC/E.

The French plan a big show at Carole
In what should be a big PR event for Superkarting, the French are planning a 'really big show' at the French Championships round at the circuit Carole. See the details here.

Aussie Eastern Creek Results
The Dave Hepworth prepared ZIP Eagle II with a BRC engine, driven by Gerry Siebert, took the overall points at Eastern Creek in true Matt Kenseth style by finishing 4th, 3rd, 3rd and 2nd over a trio of Stockman Hondas, driven by Brian, Warren McIlveen and Sam Zavaglia. Both Stockman and Zavaglia received time penalties that dropped them out of contention. These four karts reportedly pulled away from the rest of the field and only 20 yards separated 1st from 4th at the finish line.
Qualifying
1st Warren McIlveen (Stockman/Honda) 1:32:39
2nd Brian Stockman (Stockman/Honda)  1:33:48
3rd Sam Zavaglia (Stockman/Honda) 1:33.93
7th Gerald Siebert (ZIP/BRC) 1:37.84

Race 1 (4 Laps)
1st Warren McIlveen (Stockman/Honda)
2nd Brian Stockman (Stockman/Honda)
3rd Sam Zavaglia (Stockman/Honda) (got a 20sec penalty for jumping the start
which then placed to 6th)
4th Gerald Siebert (ZIP/BRC) (moved up to 3rd place by default.)

Race 2 (4 Laps)
1st Sam Zavaglia (Stockman/Honda)
2nd Brian Stockman (Stockman/Honda)
3rd Gerald Siebert (ZIP/BRC)
DNF Warren McIlveen had a seize

Race 3 (4 Laps)
1st Sam Zavaglia (Stockman/Honda)
2nd Brian Stockman (Stockman/Honda)
3rd Gerald Siebert (ZIP/BRC)
DNF- Warren McIlveen had a misfire.

Race 4 (4 Laps) Double Points Final
1st Warren McIlveen (Stockman/Honda)
2nd Sam Zavaglia (Stockman/Honda) (got a 20sec penalty for jumping the start
which then placed to 4th)
3rd Brian Stockman (Stockman/Honda) (got a 20sec penalty for jumping the
start which then placed to 5th)
4th Gerald Siebert (Zip/BRC)(moved up to 2nd place by default)

Overall race tally for podium.
1st Place: Gerald Siebert
2nd Place: Sam Zavaglia (2x 20sec penalties)
3rd Place: Brian Stockman (1x 20sec penalties)
Fast Time: Warren McIlveen, 1:32.2820

Superkart Trivia
How good are you at the history of Superkarting? Find out here.

Fontana Results
Results and times from the January 2004 Fontana race can be found at www.mylaps.com under the kart racing section.

West wins two at Daytona
Johnny West captured both rounds of the 250Twin class recently at Daytona and put up a new track record lap at 1:56.33. The results below came from the WKA web site. (The site credits Kupper, also driving a West kart with fast time. A mix-up caused Kupper's transponder to be on West's kart and West's transponder to be on Kupper's kart.)

250 Twin 1
1. Johnny West
2. Randy Johnson
3. Gary Peterson
4. George Sunderland
5. Marc Croslyn II
6. Bryan Kolleda
7. Bryan Kupper

250 Twin 2
1. Johnny West
2. Mark Croslyn
3. Marc Croslyn II

Another 250 Twin coming from France in '04
A new in-line 250 twin will be coming out of France next year. For details and a pic, click here.

2003 WSC Laguna Seca Final Results
The final results of the Laguna Seca weekend can be seen here. (.pdf format, 297KB)

BRC makes strong debut
Riley Will's new BRC250 impressed many competitors when Joe White grabbed third at Laguna against the strongest competition it has yet to face. With limited testing time to date, this new motor is showing that it will be a player with the v-twins of Honda and Yamaha.

FPE did grab the top two spots, but it has 2+ years under its belt now. It will be interesting to see where the BRC is given another two years of development. Congratulations Riley. Nice to see some new blood out there! (for info, contact Riley at rwill@brceng.com )

Owens, Martin prevail at World Superkart Challenge
Great Britan's Mark Owens, F/E, and USA driver Kyle Martin, IC/E, took the top spots at the recent WSC race at Laguna Seca supporting the ALMS weekend.

Damien Payart, France, and Joe White, USA, finished second and third respectively in the F/E class.

Vince Mumm, Brad Davis, Keith Drake and Ted Tackett were second through fifth in IC/E.

I do know that two-time champ Eddie Lawson and Ron White were in the hunt in the beginning but both ended up going out; Lawson with a fuel line problem and White with a leaking radiator.

I will post complete finishing results as soon as I get them.

World Superkart Entries
The entry list for the 2003 World Superkart Challenge at Laguna Seca has been released and can be seen here.

New pics of the BRC 250
Riley Will sent some new pics of the BRC 250 project. They can be seen here.

Roger Tapper update
I contacted Steve Tapper to see how his dad is doing and was very happy to receive the following response:

"Hi Rob!
Nice to hear from you. How's life treating you these days?

Dad is progressing very well. He's undergone almost 2 months of therapy now, and the doctors are amazed at his progress. To begin with, the doctors were very negative and didn't expect him to recover at all. He couldn't move at all unassisted, couldn't eat by himself, and didn't really acknowledge anything you said to him. He would just stare at you, trying to work out what you were saying.

I can tell you though, he can now understand the language very well, although he's still struggling to talk back. Hopefully, it won't be long before he spits out a couple of words. He's also eating all his meals by himself with no problems, and he's also able to walk unassisted with a walking stick!

The therapists are happy with how he's doing, so that's really helping everyone stay very positive. All we can do is offer our support and leave the stubborn, determined, grumpy, old man to do it himself :)
We know he's trying, and he will get there.

I will pass on your regards to him when I see him today, and I'm sure I'll get a big smile back. I can tell you that he really valued his friendship with you and Doug.  The American style hospitality you guys showed us at Laguna really impressed us and we had always hoped to meet up with you guys again.

Regards,
Steve"

I'm sure a lot of you guys don't know him, but it would sure mean a lot to me, even though you don't, if you could just drop him a line and say, something like, "Hey Roger, my name's -----, I'm from ------ and I'm a 250 driver. I just want to say that I'm glad to hear you're doing a lot better and I wish you a speedy recovery."
I'm sure the encouragement would mean a lot to him too. Send notes to him at stevetapper@hotmail.com

European Champs Crowned
Damien Payart and Andrew Agnew grabbed the top spots at the European Championships last weekend at Donington Park, UK. Vince Caro sent the following report.

The trials and tribulations of getting a CART ride.
In case you think you have the talent to blow the doors off all the drivers in CART, it would behoove you to also have a very fat wallet! Interesting article about Canadian David Rutledge's quest for the big league.

Some pics from 2003 RA are here

'Cards' for Roger Tapper
It has come to my attention that Aussie Roger Tapper recently suffered a major stroke which is extremely disheartening news for 250 Superkart community; especially for his fellow mates down under as he was truly an enthusiastic promoter of our sport.
I first 'met' Roger online in 2000 where we conversed back and forth for nearly a year prior to the first Laguna race in 2001 and will always remember our first meeting at the track. Truly a mate of the first order.
In my opinion, his commentary on the first WSK Laguna tape is what made that tape so great.
Rog, you will be on my mind and in my prayers and I hope you get well soon.
Please send your get well wishes to Roger via his son Steve at stevetapper@hotmail.com

Brit Mark Owen takes the win
Owen takes the win at Croix. Now it's on to Donington for the final round. Complete story here.

Having problems with your 257 cylinder cracking?
If so, you should take a look at a remedy designed to eliminate it here.

Road America Race Report
John West sent a report from the RA weekend. It can be seen here.

BRC cylinders will be ready for Laguna
Riley Will sent some pics of the new BRC cylinders that are ready to go into production and will be completed in time for anyone who wants to use them at Laguna Seca. There are also a couple of pics of the cases. The pics are here.

Mid-Ohio was a great success!.......
We didn't get rained on!!........although it was close! Results are here

Film from the Mid-Ohio race
Mike Hurdzen from Columbus, OH had a film crew on hand at the Mid-Ohio race to take video and interview the drivers in the 250 class. His hopes are to make a 30 tape on Superkarts much like The Endless Summer did with bikes. Stay tuned for more info as it all gets put together. Anyone that shot any in-kart video at Mid-Ohio should contact Mike at SF-Col@hurdzanfry.com to get it included in the video.

BRC wins at Portland but V-Dot was right there
BRC and V-Dot battled it out at Portland last weekend. The story is here.

Payart tops EC Round 1, takes the points lead
Frenchman Damien Payart established himself as the one to chase by winning Round 1 of the European Championship last weekend at Brno in the Czech Republic. Read Vince Caro's report here.

European Championship Round 1
Round 1 in the Czech Republic will be coming up April 26-27. The FIA sent the following press release listing the participants in both classes. I found it interesting that there are more twin entries than singles; usually the opposite over here. Also interesting was the announcement that they will be running with F/3000 and the FIA Sportscar Championship at Donington in August.

New top end for the 256
England's RCS has released pictures of their new cylinders for the Rotax 256 motor. They are here.

BRC gets first win
The BRC 250 Twin, driven by Russ Warr, won its first race recently at Willow Springs Raceway. Tuning on the motor was provided by BRC and Mike Hemmingway.

Maxsym 4-Stroke
Maxsym Engine Technology has been working on a 4-stroke aimed at the Superkart crowd. Some info and a picture are here.
(Maxsym sent me some more info on this motor. This info is in a Word Doc and is here. This info is in Excel and is here and a couple of new pics are here.) Their web site is here.

Check this out, this is cool!
Aussie mate Roger Tapper sent a link to the 250 list of this two-seat 250 Superkart. You can see it here. The link to the site is here.

Just can't go fast enough?
Well, you may want to give one of these a try, as seen at a UK motorsports show. What do you think? Possibly up to 150HP??

Soh breaks from MSR
Michael Soh has severed his partnership ties with kart maker MSR. Soh, who fabricated all the bodywork for the kart, will continue to manufacture bodywork on his own and is currently designing a new nose and dual element rear wing. He can be reached at 905-659-1795 (H) 905-639-2000 (W) 905-616-4283 (Cell) or at michaelmicom@aol.com 

2003 SGM Photos
Eric Severe sent a page from SGM's homologation with the FIA that has a picture of each side of the motor.

SGM Evolution 2
SGM showed off its Evolution 2 version of their 250 twin and wins its first race in Spain. Press release is here.

Data Acquisition
For anyone needing data acquisition equipment, you may want to check out Dale Nickos' site, Kart Data Technology here. (also a link on the Other Karting Links page)

BRC previews new 250 Twin (two new pics added)
Riley Will of BRC Racing sent info and a pic of the new 250 Twin they are working on. Article and a pic are here.

The Brits take home the bacon!
In the final round of the European Championships, Martin Hines (F/E) and John Riley (I/CE) both had the same problem in customs......carrying their first place trophies on a trip back from Le Mans where they both earned enough points to capture their respective crowns. Hines did it without a win, Riley had one. All details that I have received from Eric Severe and Vince Caro is here.

Chassis sites added
Chassis manufacturers MSR and P1 both have pictures of their karts online now. Check out the 250 Superkart Manufacturers link for their respective URLs.

It's Official, Twins at Daytona!
After a six or seven year hiatus, 250 twins will be returning to the high banks of Daytona for this year's race in December. The class will be run as a 'local option' class and will not be part of the WKA points championship; at least not yet. 250 twin guys need to say a big thank you to road racing commitee member John Ferreira who was instrumental in bringing this about. Entry forms for the race are now available at the WKA web site.

Lawson repeats to take the World SuperKart crown for the USA!
As expected, pre-race favorite Eddie Lawson topped the podium at last weekend's World SuperKart Challenge at Laguna Seca winning for the USA two years in a row.

Details, race results, (what we have so far) can be found under the WSC link.

These sites also either gave us coverage or ran the SKI press release.

www.superkart.org.au

www.racingnewsonline.com

www.roadracingworld.com

www.motorsport.com/news/series.asp?S=KART

www.superkart95.com/

Hines takes both rounds at the Donington EC event
Martin showed once again he is a force to be reckoned with as he took teh top spot on the box on both Saturday and Sunday at the second round of the European Championship at the UK's Donington track. The official results for both classes are here.

I don't know all the details, but from what I heard, Payart had motor problems on Saturday. He and Westman got together on Sunday. Hines never 'had it in the bag' either day but drove to the front; in the last lap or two on Sunday. May be some more details on the British site.

Yamaha announces '03 TZ changes
An article in RoadRacingWorld details Yamaha's changes for the 2003 TZ250 which incorporates more parts from the 250GP motor.

Zip camp sporting new colors
Gone are the familiar  green, yellow and white as it looks like Martin Hines and the Zip camp will be going to Donington sporting new colors for the kart and driving suit.

Hines wins at Croix
Martin Hines picks up his first victory in his first outing during the French Championship at Croix. Zip sent me this press release.

Women in 250 Superkarting
Photojournalist Eric Severe ( Mediasuperkart@free.fr ) interviews the only female European 250 twin driver, Monica Strath. (There aren't any here, are there? If anyone knows of any women running either single or twins in the U.S., let me know and we'll get them interviewed!) A picture of Monica is here.

Also.....
Check out Eric's new photo site. Although difinitely geared toward the European drivers at the moment, this may change as time go on and there are some good pics there. (The site is a professional site for buying pictures. All pictures are Copyrighted. The pictures on this site are used with permission from Eric Severe with the intention of advertising for the KSP.fr site. Please respect the laws of copyright.)

Hines Interview
Eric Severe interviews "Mr. Karting"

GTRT at Road America
Wish we could race there every weekend! Story here. (this is a great story!)

He's Baaack!
Hines tests Eagle II at Croix, breaks track record and announces his return to Superkarting! Full story here.

Pics from Hines Eagle II test
Couple of pics from the Knockhill test.

Hines Tests Eagle II at Knockhill
The ex-world champ tested his new kart at Knockhill recently. Will he be returning?

Eric Severe/Karting Magazine articles
An article on the FPE motor and the results from the UK Donington race.

SGM FE2002
Eric Severe sent some pics of the exhibition day held at Carole in France that are going to be in the May issue of Karting Magazine which included a pic of the new SGM FE2002 motor. It didn't run because it had only been completed two days before but I'm sure we'll here more about it in the near future. (Tried following the link to the SGM site I have listed below but it's coming up 404...)

FPE captures two firsts at Donington
Frenchman Damien Payart, in the first outing with the new FP Engineering 250, won both races in the first round of the British Superkart Championship setting a new track record in the process. See full results here. Information provided by Eric Severe.

Portland 2002
Couple of nice pics from the first race.

FPE Motor Completed
Damien Payart sent pictures of the completed motor. See them here or from the FPE link in the navbar.

2002 Anderson Maverick pics
The new Maverick was recently unveiled. Click here to see the pics.

Laguna Promo Tape
A Laugna promo tape is available from J.R. Clasen at Power Source Racing. Make sure you get one. We wouldn't want J.R. going to the poorhouse over this! ;-)

(from J.R.)

"This is a highlight promo video and is aprox. 8min. long.  The cost is $25.00.  It cost me about $6,500 to make so I only have to sell another 257 copies to break even.  I think I better stick with race cars, film making may not be my forte'.
Cheers All, J.R."

The address for PSR is:
1420 Grand Ave. Suite A
San Marcos, Ca. 92069
Phone: (760) 736-4007

'Another' new 250 twin motor!!??...

Seems so. List member Russ Warr said that "Kenny Roberts is going to make a 250 twin based on his Modina 500cc GP engine. It will be a production engine available to anyone."

Like the old saying goes, 'Feast or famine!'

SGM Project update...
Many have probably heard by now that Italian manufacturer SGM is working on a new 250 twin motor for the F/E class. They have released a  new pic of it which you can see here. This site is totally Italian, so go here to
translate it.   (copy and paste the Italian on to the Babelfish site)

There have been a lot of comments through the grapevine about the SGM, pro and con......
If you want to talk about it, get on the mailing list!!!

If someone has a better free translator than Bablefish, please let me know, but it was interesting that in the one translations it mentioned both F/E and.......IC/E. The picture is obviously the twin they have been working on.
Is SGM developing a single for the IC/E class??

The North American importer for SGM is genesisracingproducts in British Columbia. Contact Steve Rickman at info@genesisracingproducts.com

The Eagle has landed...
The new Zip Eagle II is to be unveiled today at the London Motorsports Show. More info and pics hopefully in the near future.  New pics here.

New Anderson
Just heard that Anderson has built and tested their new twin kart. More info and pics hopefully in the near future. (nothing on their site yet either)

FPE Motor
Check out the F.P. Engeering link. New info and pics added.

More good press!
Check out the article in the Canadian magazine Inside Karting. (click on the "Impression" link) The phone number they have for Mike Soh is incorrect. If you want to talk to Mike about the MSR kart, call him at 905-659-1795 (evenings, EST) or e-mail MichaelMicom@aol.com

Check out the new issue of SKI!
Kudos to Rob Howden, editor of Shifter Kart Illustrated, for the nice things he had to say about this site in the new issue; other than the fact that Doug and I are Buckeyes and not from 'that state up north'!!!

Also, there is a good article promoting 250 racing from the recent SWRA event at the Texas Motorsport Ranch that you can find here

Return of the 'E' plate? (This is now a 'for sure' thing!)

Looks like the European countries are going to see the return of the Europen Championship in 2002. Received this from Ian Rushforth:

"It looks also very likely that the French, British and German Superkart series organisors will be running a full CIK authorised European Championship for both F250E and F250ICE in 2002. The circuits under consideration are Brands Hatch, Nurburgring, Assen and Magny Cour. Things should be more clear later in October."

Going to be just like the old days again!

Another new F/E motor?

Also from Ian, "I dont know if you have heard but I am told that Italian shifter engine manufacturer SGM are working on a F250E engine. They manufacture 125cc engines at the moment and are planning to use these parts for the 250cc model."

Anyone with more info, please send it. Web site at SGM-Engines.com In Italian, translate it here

Laguna story in SKI (this is now up)

If you haven't seen it, there is a real nice article with pics in Shifter Kart Illustrated, July issue, from the Laguna race. I have it all in .jpg format but haven't gotten permission yet to put it up. You definitely need to get this issue. Back issues are $5.00 each, including shipping, for US orders. Overseas are US $5.00 PLUS shipping so take a guess on the postage and include it. Send your money to Shifter Kart Illustrated, 1074 Cherriebell Rd., Mississauga, ONT, Canada L5E 2R3. Phone: 905-271-3236 Fax: 905-271-5435. Office hours are 10-6 weekdays, Eastern time. E-mail rhowden@shifterkartmag.com

Things may be looking up as far as future 250 coverage is concerned in SKI. The following is a note I received from editor Rob Howden recently. Send any comments to him at the address above.

"Hey Rob,

First off, thanks for the kudos on the mag. As you know, I've been a supporter of the 250 class for a long time and we've been preparing to include more coverage since our inception. We've always included 250cc (Unlimited) results in our pages and we've slipped in a photo or two when we had the opportunity. We did a 250 test (US-made Nemesis) back in early 2000, but we just haven't been able to lock onto anything until the race at Laguna. With the 250 participation somewhat sparse across the country, it's been difficult to justify a great deal of coverage - despite my attraction to the class. Hell, I've been all over your site in the last two weeks.

Clasen's race at Laguna was exactly what we needed to kickstart this segment of the sport here in North America. At this time, we are currently looking to put together a 250 Twin Project for the 2002 season and will be hitting the circuit with a 250 Single as well. I'm in the market for a used package right now, likely a Twin. I think I'll be able to procure a new chassis from one of the big operations for a season and will then transfer the Twin to the new kart, purchasing a new single for the used chassis. At least those are our initial thoughts however - I'd love to get your thoughts.

As far as the magazine goes, our own Jeff Deskins spent Friday at Laguna before heading up to Cal Expo for the ProMoto Tour race. He took some great shots of both practice and some behind-the-scenes stuff. The coverage was featured in the July issue of the magazine in both a SKI Photo Journal and a two-page Racewatch coverage feature, in addition to a double page spread of Anthony Williams on our Contents Page. I'd love to see you mention the coverage on the site and I'll talk to Jeff about forwarding some photos that you can use (with proper credit). Back issues of the magazine are $5 each (including shipping), although International orders would be $5 plus shipping.

With the new project on the drawing board and increased participation around the country, I'd like to think that we'll have more 250 coverage from now on. I hope that enough people respond for the SKUSA Long Track Nationals in August as I believe that a solid turnout there would really help promote the class. I'll be in town for that race and would love to provide some coverage. I think the first thing for us however would be an overview article that looks at the class as a whole, both on a world and national level. I think we should uncover the class here in North America to kick things off.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks for the feedback....

RH - SKI"
(he asked for comments, so if you have any, let him know!)

New help for an old motor?
Received a couple of e-mails from Canadian Riley Will about some experimenting he has been doing with the 256 and Pavesi cylinders.

> Rob, How is it going?  I just received 2 PVP F/E karts.  While I was
> waiting for the chassis, I did some engine development on the 256 with my
> Anderson.  I started with standard Rotax cylinders and Merlin exhausts
> and got a best of 77 HP at the rear wheels.  I use a DynoJet dyno that
> measures HP at the rear wheels.  I then put on Pavesi cylinders and
> heads along with some exhausts that I  had built and got a best of 82.2
> HP at the rear wheels.  So peak is up 5 HP, but more significantly HP at
> 10,000 rpm went up a staggering 24%.  It went from 50 to 64 HP.
> Anyways, I thought you would like to know.
> Regards, Riley

(More response after questions/comments from me)

> I did talk to Russ, Hemingway is using a water brake dyno.  We tested
> an engine on a very expensive 'state of the art' SuperFlow and got 51 HP
> from our Pavesi 125. On my Dynojet dyno, one hour later, I got 44.7 rear
> wheel HP.  That is a decrease of ~14%.  Therefore, my twin on the water
> brake dyno is in the area of 94 HP, like Russ's measured at the
> countershaft sprocket.  Russ's figure of 92 HP is awesome, especially
> considering one cylinder had a stuck choke, ~5HP, What I can offer is a
> reasonably priced upgrade for older 256 engines that will allow them to
> perform with these new billet engines.  I'll keep you posted as I have
> full circle cranks, pumper style slide carbs, and more exhausts to test.
 > I am confident in being able to attain 90 rear wheel HP, or ~103 HP at
> the countershaft.
> Regards, Riley

I'm sure we'll be hearing more about this!

Another New Motor To Arrive On The Scene
Californian Russ Warr has informed me that he and his partner, UK tuner Mike Hemingway, will also be producing new 250 twins. He is expecting to track test it shortly after the first of 2001. More details as they become available.
(pics and details have arrived...they are here)

2000 French Championship
Was talking to Mark Croslyn of Atlanta Superparts. He said he had gone to Le Mans for the French Championship and said it was great! Something like 43 F/E karts on the grid, (with only 3 DNFs!) 100,000+ spectators, the professionalism of the event, etc. etc.! Click here to see some pics Mark sent. Steve Edwards was the event winner.

V-DOT Motor Unveiled
Also, Calvin Hurley, of HF Racing, was in France with his new V-Dot twin; although some kind of customs snafu prevented it from being run. Calvin sent me a picture of the new motor and I understand he was able to procur a supplier for the cylinders while in Europe. See below for more details on the V-DOT.

Death of a F/E Karter
Following a courageous battle, Kevin Tooma, 53, of Lathrup Village, MI passed away July 14, 2000 after being diagnosed with acute mylogeneous leukemia. Kevin was a competitior in the Mid-States Enduro Series Unlimited class and will be missed by his fellow competitors and friends. Peace Kev.

New Rotax 'Clone' Twin due out soon!
(Calvin Hurley is no longer involved in this project but his partner is continuing with it...)
Calvin Hurley, of HF RACING, LLC,  has announced that around the first of September HFR will be able to supply a new 250cc twin-cylinder engine designed for 250 Superkart Racing called the V-DOT HF250T. The engine will be faster, more reliable and the same price as the old 256 Rotax it will replace and as I understand it, uses many of the Aprilia V-twin parts. The first batch of engines are already sold to dealers across the pond.

From Calvin...  "Our engine will be as good as you can get with all the parts you need in a good 250 twin kart engine: 115mm Titanium Con Rods with hard bearing bushings, both Low and  Hi Comp Heads, full round Cranks with the correct balance factor and wind rotation, roller main bearings for better crank support and higher RPM'S, carbon fiber rotary valves plus the crank cases are "water cooled;"  no more hot gear box oil making the rear crank  run hotter than the front crank.  The engine will be 2 inches narrower than the old 256, fit into the same mounts plus your exhaust pipes will fit. If you need a new set of pipes we will have a set of pipes that will get the most out of this engine."

"If you have an old 256 and want a new V-DOT HF250T Engine, you can save money if you send us your old engine as we can use some of the parts from your engine, i.e., some of the gears will fit (not the gear shafts) the digital ignition and carbs will fit plus some of the clutch parts will fit; all you pay for are the new parts of the engine."

For more info log onto their website at www.hfracing.com or contact Calvin at calvin@hfracing.com More info on this motor will be posted as it is received.

The Return of European F/E?

December 20, 1999:

"Vincent Caro, a quite famous kart journalist and also a good superkart driver for a couple of years, has been elected General Manager of the CIK and the CIK is now under the FIA.

This means that we are going to get good attention from the organisation again as Caro intends to drive a couple of races when possible.

The first thing he was talking about was arranging a real European Championship race in 2001. Probably Le Mans or Barcelona (Catalunya I think it is) and that is good news!

He is also going to arrange the regulations again to be more formal. The engines are still a problem but it seems like Rotax is interested in making the internal parts for delivery to Damien Payart who will homologate his 256 case with original Rotax parts inside.

Give this a couple of years and we will see an enormous growth in the class."

( info received from Benjamin Ernryd in Sweden via Bobo Westman)

(Hopefully there will be more info forthcoming and this is certainly good news for all the European F/E racers. So far, no mention of whether there is anything planned for Australia the US or anywhere else.  A F/E support race at the US Indy F/1 race would be better than the Porches or Ferraris that they had! )

New Karts!

Don't know about the others, but both Anderson and PVP have new stuff. Check out the pics and info on the Manufacturers link.

Have a cracked case?

Check out Damien Payart's answer to the shortage of 256 cases with his new CNC'd Side-loader cases.

(If you have any F/E news to share with the world, email it to me!)