We received a few reports back from Norcal Karters who attended the IKF Grand Nationals in Canby, Or at the Pat’s Acres Racing facility. Pat’s Acres is just south of Portland by roughly 30 minutes, located on a picturesque property that could easily pass as a camping spot.
We did a podcast with young Jr. 1 Driver, Jonathan Endrizzi, which you can listen to below. We also received a written recap from Barry Barnwell of the Shasta Kart Club. His writing can be found below the podcast.
Content below provided by Barry Barnwell, https://shastakartklub.com/.
NorCal Junior driver’s show up in force at IKF Nationals.
Practice on Thursday found Owen Rule, Chase Hand, and Boden Barnwell among the the fast 5. On Friday practice, starting with a wet track for two sessions, the drivers were showing some speed with the three already mentioned being joined by Trenton Hellie, Brinley Barnwell, Sophia Storey, and Ridgely Welsh. The last practice found Barnwell, Hellie, and Barnwell setting the top three fastest laps of the practice sessions.
The 7 minute qualifying session format messed up the usually green white checkered, but would find Storey throwing down a smoking lap to sit on the pole and claim the screaming eagle. Hand found the fifth place spot followed by Boden and Hellie in 6/7th, while Brinley pulled down the 10th place spot. Jacob Smith and Rule would struggle, after being fast, finding themselves back in 16/17th.
Heat one found Storey with a huge lead and Hand making some nice moves to get a good 2nd spot. Boden and Hellie packed up and moved through the field into 3/4 spots but Hellie would drop to 5th at the finish. Smith and Rule moved forward to 12/13 while Brinley got shuffled back to 15.
Heat 2 found Storey and Boden Second. Boden was involved in a turn one incident with Pierson, and unfortunately collected Hand putting him out of the race. Boden would have a brake pedal failure and was out. Hellie was running a solid 6 spot when a sprocket hub cracked ending his race. Smith (set fast lap of race) and Rule did a nice job working together to push through the pack moving into 5/6 spot at the end of the heat. Storey would fall to 2nd at the end of the heat. Welsh got the hard charger as he found himself inside the top 10.
Heat three found Boden, Hand, and Hellie back in the 20s for the start. A turn one crash collected most of the field as Sarah Baker (of the flying Baker’s) found herself upside down but unhurt, as Boden leapt from his kart to pull her kart off of her. Welsh came out of his kart as the throttle stuck and his kart went on a ghost ride through the infield, spun doughnuts and evaded capture for a little while. Both drivers were unhurt. A full restart brought the field into turn one with Storey on the outside pole. Storey would fight off a pack had a good race to keep her number 2 spot for the main. Rule ran a good solid race and would move to 5th and Smith too 3rd. Smith unfortunately along with another had carb tech issues moving Rule to 3rd. Boden would lead a charge through the field and Hellie, Brinley, and Hand tucked into the draft as the four moved up into the top 10. Boden 8th (Hard charger), Hellie 9th and Brinley and Hand 11/12.
Sunday main brought the water faucet. The track was soaked. The first lap found Storey in 3rd, while Rule was in 4th leading a hungry pack. Rule would chase down Storey and a four kart pack would run nose to tail with Boden bringing up the rear of the pack. Rule would get by Storey while Boden made quick work moving through the pack and pull up behind Rule. Boden would pass Rule and Rule tried to tuck in with Boden but the pack was tough. Rule and Storey would battle hard in the pack and finish 5/7th place. Boden would drop a spot and finish on the Podium in third. Smith and Welsh would move up 9 spots having a good run through the traffic. Hand struggled with water in the engine and fell back . Baker would move up 6 spots having a good run after starting last. Brinley struggled with grip and engine issues and fell back.
All said, NorCal driver’s showed up with a lot of talent, Storey brought home the eagle and Boden with a podium. Rule ran an exceptional race to get a top 5 finish. Hellie, Hand, and Brinley were a threat all weekend and did exceptionally well. Welsh also did well for his first National. Hopefully next year’s rematch with the Northerners will be on our or neutral turf next year.
