MG Tires/Championship Enduro Series Opens 2002 Season at Gateway By Joe Brittin MADISON, IL - Gateway International Raceway, near St. Louis, was the host site for the opening round of the MG Tires/Championship Enduro Series. Although the forecast called for rain Friday and Saturday, only a couple hours of practice time were lost to rain on Friday. Even with the rain delay, 13 rounds of practice were held on Friday and three more rounds of practice were held on Saturday morning before the races. This gave everyone plenty of time to dial in his or her karts for the first event of the season. The organization of the series, now in it's sixth year, has been refined to the point where everything operates so smoothly on race days that the event was finished by 2:30 PM on Sunday. Not one red flag was thrown during a race all weekend. Although some competitors fear the "concrete canyons" of oval/road courses, there were no safety problems evident on this weekend at Gateway. Gateway always produces plenty of close finishes at this high-speed track where drafting comes into play down the long front straight. When the margin of victory can be measured in the hundredths of a second or less, it usually means the karts crossed the finish line side-by-side. Finishes as close as .002 seconds have been clocked at Gateway in the past. The first close finish of the weekend was in the Saturday SK-125 class where Jason North edged out Gary Munier by just .017 seconds. The first enduro race on Saturday had Brandon Maurer nipping Paul Corcoran out of the win by .253 seconds in Yamaha Lite. The Sunday SK-125 class also had a very tight finish with Clayton Prater taking the win over Tim Koutny by just .038 seconds. The Kohler Box Stock class had a close finish where Matt Bakke came out on top over Wil Bruner by just .183 seconds. Also on Sunday, Kevin Thompson edged out Mark Kluempers by just .338 seconds in the Yamaha Over 35 SSX sprint class. Lap times were off slightly due to windy conditions combined with bad air for making horsepower. Speeds picked up a little on Sunday when the humidity was lower. Jason North logged the fastest shifter kart lap at 1:05.670. The quickest enduro was Bob Lapke in the Unlimited class with a fast time of 1:05.632. John Barnard turned the fastest sit-up sprint lap at 1:13.673 in Yamaha Sprint on Sunday. The Sunday F200-OHV class saw the best participation to date with nine karts competing in the overhead valve engine class. Regan and Ryan Vehring swept the top two positions in this race. This class will probably be the mainstay class of the future in karting as the flat-head racing Briggs motors are no longer in production and environmental laws may eventually phase out the 2-Cycle motors due to their emissions and air pollution concerns. Several overhead valve 4-cycle engines are legal for the F200-OHV class, including engines made by Kohler, Briggs & Stratton, Honda and Tecumseh. The class with the most entries both days were the SK-125 shifter classes and the best turn out in the enduro classes were in Yamaha SSX on both days. Picking up more than one win during the weekend were John Larue in Yamaha SSX both days and Yamaha SBX on Sunday, Kyle Schreiber in Controlled 99 and B-Limited on Sunday, Brandon Maurer in Yamaha Lite and Controlled Limited, Brad Richards in 4-Cycle Senior both days, Gerald Schrementi in Tecumseh Star both days, Jeff Selz in CIK Yamaha Can both days, Jake Thielmann in Jr. 80cc Shifter both days, David Bird in Yamaha Sprint both days, Tim Barnard in Yamaha Jr. Can both days, and Regan Vehring in F200-OHV on both days. Next up on the CES schedule is the Road America Super Nationals on June 14 - 16 which is hosted by the Badger Kart Club. See the CES web site at www.championshipenduro.com for more information.