MWSS grills out Springfield By Silvio Roberre SPRINGFIELD, IL - Round two of the immensely popular Midwest Sprint Series was held June 1-2 at the Mid-States Raceway in Springfield, IL. The Franklin Motorsports sponsored event was run under typical Springfield conditions, as temperatures in the 90ıs kept refrigeration and air conditioning running non-stop as 230 entries took part in the two day event. The Image Motorsports Briggs Lite class was again dominated by Ryan Cassity; as the #53 Coyote/Turner Racing Engines/Douglas Wheel/G-Man/L&T Clutches/Lub-Tek/Flatout Group sponsored driver took the win by 6.563 seconds ahead of second place runner, Steve Kilsdonk. Matt Duncombe swept up the third position, while Bryan Vought and Nick Todtenhaupt rounded out the top five. Chris Shearburn was the victorious one in the PMO Kart Services Yamaha Sr. Sportsman SSX class, as the #36 Margay pilot started fourth and worked his way past Corey Reeves and John Barnard in the final few laps to pick up his first win of the season. Barnard was able to hold off Reeves for the second spot, while Michael Dittmer and Ross Johnson finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The always-exciting PMW Precision Metal Works HPV Lite class was a thriller right up to the end, as the #22 Margay of Tony Loniewski went for the lead in the final corner of the last lap. Loniewski went for the gap on the inside of the #14 Tonykart of Troy Hintzsche going into the final, long sweeping bend. The two karts ventured to the line side-by-side, with Hintzsche just edging out Loniewski by 0.028 of a second. Jayson Eschrich captured the third spot with Georgiaıs Chris Wehrheim in tow in fourth, while Kelsi Guess picked up the fifth position. Competitive, friendly racing was the name of the game in the Creative Karting Briggs Jr. Sportsman 2 Heavy class, as the #20 kart of Derek Kozak managed to take the win by 0.569 sec. over Ben Bacon. Justin Kaat and Chris Karlin were right in line with Bacon to capture third and fourth, while Chris Rauguth captured the fifth spot. Terry McDermott picked up where he left off in Norway, as he captured the win in the Horstman Manufacturing Briggs Restricted Jr. class by 0.741 sec. over Zack Riddle. Kyle Gibson brought his #45 kart home in the third position, while Adam Brimmer and Becky Kaestner rounded out the top five. Matt Byrne pulled off his first of three wins of the weekend, as the Burlington, WI native drove his #21 Energy/PKP Karting/Switch Motorsports/Karts Ltd.com/K.A.O.S./Industrial Scale kart to win the Kartsale.com Yamaha Jr. SSX class by 0.155 sec. over the #29 Margay of Joe King. Ben Roberts finished off the podium in the third spot, while Kyle Rahal and Doug Boyer made up the remainder of the top five. The Cassity Racing Briggs Heavy class was the next group to take to the track, as sixteen entrants made up the complexion of the class. Kellen James and Shane Wright brought the field down to the green with James taking the top spot in turn two. A casualty of the second lap was Ken Paulsen, who went out with steering problems in turn one. From that point on, it was all Kellen James for the second race in a row. The Paulsen Specialties/Sinneganıs RV/Do-It Tool & Die/Turnerıs Racing Engines/Craze Motorsports driver captured the win by 5.511 seconds ahead of Shane Wright. Mitch Gibson was deserted in third spot, while Todd Haynes and Jeff Dolian enlisted the remainder of the top five. The combined classes of HPV Jr. Sportsman presented by Racer-Pix.com and US820 Jr. presented by C.M. Sobczyk Trucking were to take to the track together, as Jordan Johnson was able to take his #32 Woltjer powered Intense Karting Tonykart to the win with the #23 TCT powered Corsa Kart of Jacob Little in second. Mark Sobczykıs C-G powered #24 BRM captured the US820 Jr. class with Mike Wittenburg Jr. following suit in second position. Barry Hartwell was the winner of the Briggs & Stratton Briggs Jr. Sportsman 1 Medium class, as the #1 kart he drove managed to hold off the #5 of Zach Boden by 0.244 of a second. Ross Bunnell captured the third position, while Jack Miller and James French rounded out the field. Yamaha Heavy presented by UEMSI provided a carbon copy of the previous year, as Nick Wagner and Kevin Nelson battled for the win for all fifteen laps. This time it was Wagner who came out on top, piloting his .38 Special to the win, 0.129 sec. ahead of Nelsonıs #1 Margay. Todd Bolton came home in the third spot for the second year in a row, while Jacques Dresang and David Cox both had mechanical problems, venturing them back to the fourth and fifth positions. The Coello Racing ICA class was won by the #11 Margay of Matt Krechel as he set the fastest lap of the weekend of 30.113. Troy Hintzsche trailed 1.523 seconds behind Krechel in the second spot, while Martin Keck and Doug Breese rounded out the class. Saturday night provided one of the highlights of the weekend, as Margay Products Inc. provided the second annual Burgers, Brats & Beer Bonanza (soda for minors of course). The full-scale cookout had lines for food reaching 2/3 the length of the front straightaway. Behind the grill were Mark Coats and Margayıs Keith Freber, serving up burgers that would have made Dave Thomas envious. Everyone had a great time as they discussed the weekendıs activities and waited in line for seconds, and thirds, and... Meanwhile, everyone awoke on Sunday morning to ominous clouds and sprinkles, but after three rounds of practice, the race skies opened up for another day in the 90ıs, but with the addition of some intense humidity. Humidity or not, nothing could stop Ryan Cassity in the S&M Kart Supply Briggs Medium class. Matt Krechel went 4 cycling to pick up the second spot, while Jeff Dolian, Shane Wright, and Todd Hayes rounded out the top five. The Boyer Construction Formula Y Jr. class provided Matt Byrne with his second strike of the weekend, as he was able to hold off fast time winner Tony Jump for the win. Caleb Loniewski rounded out the podium in third spot, while Troy Titzel held off Clay Yates for fourth. Doug Breese was the winner of the Intense Imports Rotax Max class, as his #4 Tonykart took the win ahead of the #5 Arrow of Cale Wyse. Kevin Owen captured the third position with Tim Peck and Brian Stitle rounding out the field. The Streeter SuperStands Yamaha Jr. Sportsman SSX class was won for the second race straight by the #32 Tonykart of Jordan Johnson. Jacob Little again placed second, as Tim Sykes finished third, with Brooke Wankel fourth and Mark Krechel fifth. The Power By Karl Briggs Jr. Medium class was again dominated by the #15 Coyote of Terry McDermott. Adam Brimmer finished 6.202 seconds behind in the second spot, while Greg Dingess, Kyle Gibson, and R.J. Steiner capped off the top five. John Barnard took the win in the Kart Racing Technologies Spec 100 SBX class for the second race straight, as he simply sailed away from the field to take the honors. Kevin Nelson held off Chuck Tate for the second spot, while Ross Johnson finished fourth. Matt Byrne finally had the chance to cap off his hat trick in the Karts Ltd.com HPV Junior class. Byrne lead from the drop of the green as the #12 Tonykart of Caleb Loniewski slotted into the second spot with the #6 Margay of Darin Marcus trailing the two. Three laps into the race, Loniewski made a move to the inside of Byrne on the back straight taking the lead. Byrne was thinking otherwise and quickly jumped back into the lead on the main straight on the same lap. Marcus watched the two toggle for the lead, and in doing so, the 3 karts managed to pull away from the rest of the field. With two laps to go, Marcus made his move and passed Loniewski on the back straight. Loniewski passed him back in the road coarse, slowing them both down enough to bring them out of contention of winning the race unless Byrne were to make a mistake. It was not to be though, as Byrne swept up his third feature win of the weekend. Marcus passed Loniewski once again on the last lap while getting the fast time of the race with a 32.747. Loniewski captured third with the #13 Gold Kart of Doug Della, and #64 Birel of Kaitlin Mangham rounding out the top five. Tony Loniewski was able to avenge his second place in HPV Lite during the Mark Coats Racing Yamaha Lite feature. The Michigan City, IN native had a tight battle with Jayson Eschrich and Brandon Adkins in the close race. Eschrich lead till the half way point when Adkins reached for the lead and held it for a lap, until Eschrich regained the top spot. This lasted for a while until Loniewski thought better of being in third and went for the lead aboard his Moore Racing Engines/Margay Products/E&L Paving/Lonici Rental #22 kart. Adkins and Eschrich swapped second place in the closing laps, with Eschrich claiming second at the line, as he tried to go for the win on the outside of Loniewski through the final bend. Corey Reeves picked up the fourth spot, with Chris Wehrheim finishing fifth. The Pro Karting Kart Shop Briggs Jr. Sportsman 2 Lite division was to be Derek Kozakıs second win of the weekend, as he crossed the line 0.184 sec. ahead of Chris Rauguth. Matt OıLeary followed the lead train in the third spot, with Ben Bacon and Justin Kaat behind at the line. The TMW Competition HPV Heavy class saw a great battle for the win in the closing laps, as the .38 Special KRT of Nick Wagner and pole sitter John Barnard in the #8 Margay fought hard for the numero uno position, with Wagner claiming it at the line with Barnard a kart length behind. The #11 Margay of Kelsi Guess finished third with the #16 BRM of Martin Keck and the #10 Margay of Chad Jump rounding out the top five. The Shiddy Reeds US820 Sr. field was a tight race for a while, as Jacques Dresangıs Solar Engineering Powered #00 KRT took an early lead until he waved the Blu II powered #82 Profile/BRM of Lance Hancock by on the back straight. From that point on, it was all Hancock, as Dresang slipped back with an ailing setup, eventually allowing Sean Sullivanıs #8 C-G/BRM to pass with ease as well. At the line it was Hancock with a comfortable win over Sullivan in second, Dresang third, with Mike French fourth, and Matt Cudnohoske fifth. Five speed demons took to the track for the Kid Karts class presented by The Flatout Group, as Dillon Johnson, Caleb Wankel, Mario Nigro, Colton Ramsey, and Jeremy Remick impressed all as they ran during the breaks in between rounds. The midpoint of the season will be at the next race on the Midwest Sprint Series calendar, June 22-23 at South Bend Raceway Park in South Bend, IN. Until then; points, registration forms, and much more can be found at www.midwestsprint.com, your official source for the series that is Racing For the Racer. Visit the Midwest Sprint Series website Here!