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Archives February 2009
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2-25-09
NorcalKarters.com Jr & Sr Driver of the Year Candidates
Every year
NorcalKarters.com picks two drivers who have represented
themselves well as while performing at a high level on the
track. One candidate comes from the eight to fifteen year
old age bracket, while the other comes from the sixteen and
up age bracket. Next week NorcalKarters.com will announce
both the Jr. Driver of the year and Sr. Driver of the year.
The contestants below have been grouped together for their
outstanding presentation off the track, while performing
unprecedented finishes against the competition.
Jr Driver of the Year candidates:
1)
Luis Tyrrell
2)
Kelsey Nilsson
3)
Brendan Phinny
4)
5)
David Vasquez
6)
Cole Davis
7)
JR Raczko
8)
Troy Buckman
Sr Driver of the Year Candidates
1)
Chuck Hastings
2)
Neil Alberico
3)
Jon Ban
4)
Cody Hodgson
5)
6)
Robert Towne
7)
Mat Kattanek
8)
Tyler Agan
Announcement for the Drivers of the year will be announced
next week. |
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2-27-09 IKF Grand National Logo has been Approved Rolling along nicely for this time of year. IKF BOD has approved our Logo for T-shirt printing. Now we just got to start getting the sponsorship in and get the back of the shirt filled with sponsors. We have 1 Primary Event Sponsor (KARTEL) and 2 class sponsors (MMS, Jeff Wamre's Company). We also have about 5 more close to sponsoring a class. Interested in sposoring a class please contact Brian Rivera with Northern Nevada Kart Club
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2-24-09 Jim Russell Norcal Rotax Challenge Series kicks off 2009 Season this Weekend at Dixon
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2-15-09 NCTA adds Region 11 IKF class in 2009
There will
be a new class in 2009 added to the region 11 IKF Schedule.
The title, Super Y Yamaha. The class is designed to allow
two different types of Yamaha setups in one class in hopes
of re-growing the air cooled 100cc package.
The first
allowed setup will be the traditional Superbox setup with a
four hole can and wet clutch. This setup will run at 320
lbs. the second setup will be with a pipe and wet clutch
with a controlled flex length. This will run 360 lbs. This
multi class will allow the young, light and the heavy
drivers to run together at the same speed and level. This
class is already growing much interest in various clubs.
This is a positive step forward made by the NCTA President
Bob Snow to further grow the series while battling tough
economic times. This class looks to be an affordable
alternative and will lure back many drivers that fell out of
the Yamaha class several years ago.
Both
classes will be scored as one. Bob Snow warns the
competitors that it is a work in progress and they should be
prepared to add or subtract ten pounds as they will learn a
lot more about this class at the first regional race of the
year. Any questions may be directed to the NorcalKarters.com
Forum under the IKF Region 11 Event Topic. |
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2-24-09 Stockton Kart Club Season Opener Stockton Motorplex Park season opener race was a complete success. Stockton has a great reputation for getting though a race day without rain, not one drop hit the track and sure enough it happened again. No rain! Even running 10 classes, with two 5 minute qualifying sessions, two heats and a 15 lap main were finished by 4:10 pm. The economy situation did not keep people away from having a good time. Racers and spectators were not disappointed. Stockton’s offer for ½ price entry for other racers from other clubs was successful. We had many new racers at the track and it was exciting for everyone. Tech inspection, scoring, extra corner works, eats: Stockton Motorplex has a full time tech person at each event, new scorning system soon to be posted on My Laps, race results posted in local newspapers, fresh breakfast & lunch options from Parrett’s (Kathy & Jessica). New schedule for 2009 race season: If you take a look at the new 2009 Stockton Motorplex Schedule you fill find it offers new layouts, running backwards, night racing (during the summer) and posted track records at the kart shop for each layout. Update on Stockton Motorplex perks: On site kart shop that supports all chassis and motor packages with rental karts by appointment for individual or corporate functions. Stockton’s track is one of the few kart tracks in town and close to many other local tracks and offer cross over races. Stockton’s Club Membership. You can buy a annual membership that provides you with a key to the track w/options to run lights in the evening during the summer months. Next club race is March 14, 2009, Layout G. |
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2-18-09 PROKART CHALLENGE SOUTH revamps for round two at willow springs
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2-18-09 BOWLES STANDS ON THE PODIUM IN NASCAR TOYOTA ALL-STAR SHOWDOWN
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2-15-09 Leading Edge Motorsports Drivers Win 3 Hour Enduro Team
Leading Edge Motorsports with drivers Dain Davirro, Kyle
Kaiser & Grant Ereth took the win in this years Dain,
Kyle and Grant have been competitors for the past 6
years. During this time, the boys and their dads have
become close friends. Ever since the first Junior
Endurance Race was held 4 years ago, the boys have
been anxious to team up and compete in the Annual event.
They all came of age this past season and got their
chance this year. Despite the 50 lb weight differential
between Dain and Kyle, all three boys said the Leading
Edge Intrepid Cruiser was awesome to drive! The team
tuner, Cole Nelson, was able to prepare the Leading Edge
Intrepid Cruiser to be fast enough to qualify on Pole,
consistent enough to do lap times as fast at the end of
the race as the beginning and reliable enough to go the
distance. The HPV2 engine prepared by Orville Wright of
BKS proved to be very fast and reliable as well.
Dain, Kyle
& Grant would like to thank their dads, Mike DaVirro,
Jeff Kaiser & Bill Ereth respectively for their support.
They would also like to thank Cole Nelson, Greg Bell and
Brian Eady from Leading Edge Motorsports for without
their expertise, this victory would not have been
possible. Finally, they would like to thank Mark
Wolocacuik and Bob Bellino from Jim Russell, Ric Shaw
and his crew for putting on a World Class Event at a
World Class Karting Facility! I hope
to have some video up on Youtube in the next week. You
all know how much I love Endurance Racing, so you can
only imagine what a thrill this was for me as well as
Jeff and Bill, and especially the boys! |
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2-11-09 Kerman Kart Club Brings Excitement for 2009
Kerman
Kart Club has added to their 2009 improvements. Recently This will be a first for a California Kart Track to hold club races at a temporary circuit. This will aid in competitive kart races taking away the advantage of practice time. To further get their information out to the karting community Kerman Kart Club has created a new website for the club with all the information from the beginning of Kerman Kartways to the newest Midway Madness. Check out the improvements being made to Kerman Kart Club at KermanKartClub.com 2009 Schedule March 28-29 May 23-24 Memorial Pro Race July 4-5 Central Valley Championship August 15-16 October 11- Buttonwillow Raceway 2009 Board of Directors
2009 Classes & Weight
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2-11-09 Southern Oregon Karters and Medford Kart Track Receive Additional Face Lift Recently Southern Oregon Karters extended the facelift of the facility. Located in Medford Oregon, within the Jackson County Sports park lies the ¾ mile kart track holding 11 different race configurations. The kart track is just a small piece of the sports complex which also includes a Clay dirt oval, Drag Strip, R/C car track, as well as many baseball fields. Approximately 1 year ago Southern Oregon kart track received a partial facelift in a paving of 1/3 of the track, however the club recently extended the paving.
With the
new paving added to the track, 2/3 of the track now has new
pavement with the last 1/3 planned to be completed by the
IKF region 11 series race. The new paving now extends from
the beginning of the front straight all the way through turn
3. The new paving also included a widening project to bring
the track up to National specs. With the newest changes the
Southern Oregon Kart track will now only add to the exciting
racing action the track already holds.
To see
pictures of the Southern
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2-9-09 IKF Region 6 Gold Cup to host FREE Four-Cycle Tech Seminar
After the sucess of
Portland
Karting Association's IKF 4 Cycle Tech
Seminar. Region 6 Coordinator Bill Hettick felt it would
be a great service to rest of the regional racers to
host another Seminar prior to the start of the 2009
racing season. With the growing interest in four-cycle
racing in the area, Bill Hettick felt this is a great
time for new and experienced racers to learn more about
post race IKF Technical Inspections. The seminar will
use the
Briggs &
Stratton Animal and World Formula engines
as examples of the procedures and fundamentals used for
post race IKF technical inspections. Also there will be
some basic 4 cycle theory and tuning tips to help
prepare the racer on race day.
Febr. 21st at The Free IKF 4 Cycle Tech Seminar will be held 7330 Bothell Way NE Kenmore, WA 98028 Time: Noon-4:00pm or a bit later. Seminar Instructors: Chris Hatch - IKF Region 6 Road Race Coordinator & engine builder Tom Martinet- IKF Region 6 Gold Cup Head Tech Inspector Marty Patrick TKO Power Plants Motor Builder of the year 2008 Gold Cup Mike Schorn - IKF National Board Member, IKF 4 Cycle Committee Member & PKA President Beverages and snacks provided by BAM Racing Reserve your space now! For More Info call 206-353-6569 or e-mail wghrock@comcast.net
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2-5-09 Wagner finally gets championship
Jan 11, 2009
SUN VALLEY - In
racing there is an
old saying how a
driver first has to
lose a championship
before they're ready
to win one. Well in
the case of Spanish
Springs High School
sophomore Chelsi
Wagner, the saying
is in triplicate.
Tribune/Dan
McGee
-
Chelsi
Wagner
sits
in
her
family's
home
with
some
of
the
trophies
she's
won
with
the
Northern
Nevada
Kart
Club.
This
Saturday
evening
she'll
add
a
champion's
trophy
to
her
collection.
Tribune/Dan
McGee
-
Chelsi
Wagner,
a
sophomore
at
Spanish
Springs
High
School,
heads
down
the
front
straight
at
Desert
Park
Raceway.
This
year
she
raced
to
the
TAG
Junior
championship.
Tribune/Dan McGee - Chelsi Wagner and Christian Scholz have some fun at the trophy presentation after a day's racing at Desert Park Raceway. They battled all season but in the end, Wagner won the TAG Junior title by 41 points. Over the past four years she's been runner-up three times and now has finally won a championship. Despite being only 15, Wagner is a veteran racer with the Northern Nevada Kart Club. "When I was younger, about 5, I did T-Ball and was about 7 when I ended it," she said. "That and go-kart racing are the only two sports I've ever done." Over the years her grandfather Ed Diederich has been a mentor, mechanic, chief sponsor and advisor. In fact he introduced Wagner to the sport after taking her to drive the go-karts that are by the Grand Sierra Resort and Spa. Asked what happened next she said, "I said that I liked them and he said, 'would you like to go see what a real go-kart looks like?'" From there it was off to Desert Park Raceway, the home of NNKC, where her grandfather arranged for her to drive a Kadet kart. "I absolutely fell in love with it the first time I went out there," she said. "I think I got my first kart when I was 5 and 6 years old when I did my first race." And like most rookies, Wagner found being on the track was a lot different than watching the action. "Back then the classes were pretty big so it was a little more than I thought I could handle. I got discouraged as I didn't come in the front," she said. "It was a little harder than I thought it was going to be." She did stick with the racing because at that time she was the only girl racing in the club. Wagner wanted to prove that she could race to those that doubted her abilities. Two years later, it was time to move up to the Junior 1-2 class. After watching some of her fellow racers move up, and feeling she was as good as they were, Wagner knew she could handle this change. "When I moved up I did pretty well as I got fifth in almost every single race. There were like 10 karts and I've been told that I can adapt to new things pretty well so once I moved up, I was ready to go," she said. The Junior 1-2 class is for racers 8 to 12 years old and Wagner spent the next four years racing with this group. Then it was time to move up into what is now TAG Junior. This meant adapting to a slightly heavier kart with a more powerful motor, which meant she had to change her driving style. The Junior 1-2 uses a Komer that's slower to accelerate while her new class has more power and quicker throttle response. "The Komer is slower on the get-go and if you're not on point with your acceleration, you're going to lose positions," she said. "But with the TAG, once you step on the gas, you're going!" In her first race with the new class, Wagner quickly found this out when she hit the gas at too early and spun. "It was a very big transition because it was a little bit faster than I thought," she said. To keep Wagner safe, her grandfather arranged the gas pedal so Wagner couldn't hit full speed at the end of the straight. This gave her some time to get used to the new handling. "But when he finally let the pedal go all the way, it was really like exhilarating, you got the big jolt of excitement because you got the full speed," she said. Wagner and David Brant started competing against each other as soon as they began to race. Once they got into TAG Junior their battles reached epic portions and it changed their friendship. "They started calling us the 'Dynamic Duo' because when we were out there with a different class, we would be the only two people they would watch," she said, "We used to be called the 'eight-wheeled kart' because we were so tight knit, so close together and we had such clean racing abilities that it was a very nice race to watch." For the past three years, Wagner has been the runner-up to Brant. It was a time of both frustration and motivation for her. "I would get discouraged because I would be in front for most of the race then, all of a sudden, he'd pass me and pull away," she said. "I figured out that I didn't have the stamina he does as I was getting tired at the end of the races. So I started to lag off of the speed because I couldn't handle the kart any more. "So once I figured that out, I started working out and getting more stamina. And I started staying with and beating him. And he didn't like it." She added that after that things became chilly between them. Yet Brant was a huge motivating factor for her eventual success. "I wanted to show him that I was not just a girl that was just a runner-up to him," she said. "And I was going to show him that I am a girl that can beat you and I will be the first girl to beat you. Because at that time he wasn't racing IKF, was only racing club races and I was the only girl that was racing against him." Since then Brant has moved up and does a lot of racing with the IKF so his appearances at Desert Park are infrequent. However, his departure hasn't meant that this year was a cakewalk for Wagner. In fact she began to feel the heat from another young racer, Christian Scholz. "We've been friends since he started racing because I used to help him. So I guess it was bad on my part because I gave him tips, showed him how I raced and my lines," she said. "Well it's okay when he's not racing with you, but when he's racing with you, he knows where you're going to go and where he can pass you." This past season those two battled at every race forcing Wagner to make some changes. "We had good racing and I changed a couple of my lines during the season because he would pass me in certain places where I didn't know people could pass. But he pulled it off," she said. Like most racers, Wagner has found a technique to keep her self up to speed. Oddly enough, it's a negative that gets a positive, as she uses self-criticism during a race. The result is anger that becomes motivation to do her very best and to be as fast as she can be. "So it brings out like an inner devil in me that wants to go faster, wants to do better, so I basically motivate myself inside my helmet," she said. " I honestly put myself down and when someone passes me I say, 'you suck Chelsi, get'em back.'" Her dealing with the frustration and motivation of being a three-time runner-up has not gone unnoticed among her peers. Over the past four seasons she's matured both as a person and with her driving. "A lot of people said I've improved greatly over this past year because I'm more aggressive and will take you side-by-side in any corner. Last year, if you went side-by-side with me I'd say, 'go ahead, I'll let you go,'" she said. And over the past years the relationship between her and her grandfather, a veteran motorcycle racer in his own right, has also changed. A few years ago she even stopped listening to his advice. But not anymore. "It was teen rebellion as I thought I knew everything and was like the queen of the world. Then I found out that once I stopped listening to him, I was losing races and wasn't coming in as close as I could be," she said. "And it was like, wait a second, he may know things I don't." Wagner freely admits that if it weren't for her grandfather and his wife Sandy, she wouldn't be racing. They are her main sponsors and fund all of her racing. "If they weren't doing anything I would not be racing, I'd be sitting at home and doing nothing on race weekends," she said. "I would not have a kart and would be a regular teenager. He learns more about my kart every single race, knows how to make it better, and he has more racing underneath his belt than I do so he knows what he's talking about." Now with her maturity and success she's also getting help from long time kart racing shop, MMS. This past season Wagner and Scholz traded victories and staged very close battles with each other. Oddly enough, she never knew how the points race was actually going. "The first time I realized that I had a chance was the third or fourth race as I was ahead of him (Scholz) in points," she said. "I didn't' know I had it, because no one would tell me until the very last race after I won." All season those around her kept telling Wagner that she could lose this title if he let up. Even though she had the championship sewn up at the night race, she continued to press on. When the final checkered flag waved, Wagner ended up 41 points ahead of Scholz. Her success has brought about a change between Wagner and her old rival, Brant. "The title feels very good. And I'm starting to get David's trust back because he's going, 'oh, you've actually won, good job.' He's starting to talk to me more and I'm very happy because I've gotten back to being semi sort of friends with him," she said. Her accomplishment is ever more special due to the fact that only a handful of females have raced and won championships with the club. "It feels great, I love the championship and I'm only like the second or third girl in the club to earn one," she said. Looking ahead, Wagner knows the defense of her title is going to be tough. Several drivers are coming out of Junior 1-2 and they include, Logan Wyman, Nicky Pritchard and Austin Dement. While she could have moved up a class, Wagner was asked to stay in TAG Junior by both Dement and his father. "I'm going to have a lot of good racers to compete against and I'm going to have my work cut out for me. A lot of people say, 'oh you're going to have it, you've got a lot of experience,' it's like no I don't," she said. "Austin has been to many Grand Nationals, many Stars races, many other big races that he's had to basically had to grow up from and he's a really good racer." Even though Wagner could have moved up a Class, she's staying in the juniors because Austin and his father Bill Dement asked her to. It's quite a compliment as they felt she'd be Austin's main competition this next season. Asked about the future, and acknowledging it's a long way off, she expressed a wish of someday turning pro and racing either an Indy Car or in NASCAR. Right now however she's savoring finally being a champion. After four years of hard work, she's going to enjoy it. Asked about what's the best part of racing for her, she said, "The feeling of accomplishment, the feeling of when you win a race and it's a close one like you're not necessarily better than the other guy but you're better in that race. It's a rush of adrenaline and it's amazing." This Saturday evening Wagner will be at the NNKC awards banquet and be awarded the championship trophy she's worked so hard for. And she'll undoubtedly acknowledge her appreciation to family and friends that have helped her reach this level in racing.
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