Burris Circle Tour blasts into Rockford Speedway for Round 3 By John Nuttall ROCKFORD, IL - Over 100 of the best go-kart racers in the Midwest gathered at the Rockford (Illinois) Speedway on May 26th to race on the high-banked track. The event was the third stop in the Burris Circle Tour, the Midwest's Premier Speedway Kart Racing Series. Sunday's event was the 5th running of the Burris Twin 50's - 50 lap feature races for the Sr. Lite and Yamaha Sportsman Lite classes. Richard McGill, a Chicago resident, took home the coveted Twin 50's trophy after leading most of the grueling 50 lap race. In the early going, the 2001 champion, Jacob Humphrey led the pack of 16 while Chad Waller, Ryan Rockhold, Brandon Eash and Danny Boyton closed in on the top spot. During lap 9, the 5 lead karts were running inches apart, often three-wide in the turns. Humphrey and Boyton got together bringing out the yellow flag. On the restart Waller and McGill used the draft to pull away from the field and were still racing nose to tail with each other. At the halfway point, McGill mad a move to the inside and held onto the pass to take over first place. At the same time, Shane Morrissey was carefully picking his way from the middle of the pack and finally found drafting partners in Ryan Rockhold and Brandon Eash. The last lap was a thriller as the leaders came up on lapped traffic at the finish line. McGill edged out Waller for the checker, with Morrissey, Eash and Rockhold crossing less than 2 seconds behind. The second race in the Twin 50's featured the Yamaha Sportsman Class with Eric Freiberg trouncing the rest of the field. This is Eric's second Twin 50's victory in as many years. Kelly Mandarino and Shane Reinink rounded out the podium. The Stumpf family dominated the Jr. 1 Lite feature with brothers Ben and Alex finishing one/two in the closely contested feature race. The brothers, from Menasha, Wisconsin, swapped places and almost paint as they came down the last straight-away. Younger brother Alex was in the lead and was not about to cede the spot to his older brother Ben. But Ben had other plans and made a last ditch dive to the inside to win by just a few inches. Tyler Peterson and Brett Adams finished third and fourth in a strong showing, less that one kart length behind. Adam Carlson, from Lisle, Illinois, won Jr. 3 Lite class in stunning fashion. The 12-15 year olds were racing four and five wide during most of the race. Early on, Nick Chiapetta took the lead with Billy Hulbert and tour newcomer Cody Wonderlick forming up the lead pack. Carlson, Tanner Bohlen and Jordon Thiel were in the second pack and worked the high banks to quickly close the gap. At the white flag it was anyone's race and the crowd was going nuts. Coming down the last stretch it was still a dead heat. At the stripe, Carlson barely edged by with Hulbert, Bohlen, Chiapetta and Wonderlick in second through fifth. More last lap action was seen in the Jr. Champ Kart Class. The drivers in this class are 12-15 years old and really take advantage of the aerodynamics of the bodywork on their karts. Matt Vice, Mickey Kudlicki and Michael Bilderback ran neck-in-neck all day with Vice winning both heat races. The feature race was extremely close with almost every kart leading at some point during the race. On lap 13 Vice was in the lead, on lap 14 it was Kudlicki, but on the lap that counted Bilderback came from 4 spots back to take home the checker. Vice was second, Kudlicki third and Brian Freiberg in one of his best races ever came in a close fourth. In other action, Denise Kruse won the 4-Cycle Sportsman Class, Brandon Eash beat local favorite Jay Gough in the Medium Class and Anthony Danta won the Sr. Heavy Race. Carly Mandarino swept the Jr. Yamaha's for the day, Mike Slabenak beat Nicole Phillips in the Star Champ Karts and Michael Martin won a narrow victory over Mackenzie Piller and Colton Clevenger in the Jr. Sportsman Champs. Bob Chatten won the F200 race. Rounding out the day was a great performance by 16 of our up and coming Kid Kart drivers. The fourth stop on the Burris Circle Tour is June 9th at the Lake Geneva Raceway. The Tour returns to Rockford July 21st. The races are a great way to introduce your family to racing with pit passes only $10 and free spectator admission. Check out all of the news at www.karts.net/burriscircle. RACE RESULTS (Rockford Speedway - May 26, 2002): Sr. Lite Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 19 Richard McGill, Chicago, IL 2.) 66 Chad Waller, Traer, IA 3.) 21 Shane Morrissey, Cuba City, WI 4.) 52 Ryan Rockhold, Tremont, IL 5.) 9 Anthony Danta, Orland Park, IL 6.) 44 Joey Johnson, Slinger, WI 7.) 63 Jacob Humphrey, Lake Geneva, WI 8.) 23 Ricky Johnson, Lincolnshire, IL 9.) 36 Brandon Eash, Rockford, IL 10.) 08 Paul Weter, River Grove, IL 11.) 99 David Budres, Jr., Beloit, WI 12.) 5A Bobby Atkinson, Morris, IL 13.) 83 Danny Boynton, Lindenhurst, IL 14.) 3 Mike Kann, Arlington Heights, IL 15.) 72 T.J. Mertes, Sheboygan Falls, WI 16.) 33 Hank Sievers Jr., Lockport, IL Yamaha Sportsman Lite Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 55 Eric Freiberg, Lockport, IL 2.) 95 Kelly Mandarino, Glen Ellyn, IL 3.) 10 Shane Reinink, Sycamore, IL Jr. I Lite (Purple) Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 10 Ben Stumpf, Menasha, WI 2.) 6 Alex Stumpf, Menasha, WI 3.) 16 Tyler Peterson, Lake Gevena, WI 4.) 12 Brett Adams, West Chicago, IL 5.) 62 Dylan Hobbs, Sterling, IL 6.) 22 Corey Domenick, Lombard, IL 7.) 87 Aaron Katzenberg, Pell Lake, WI 8.) 3 Matt Schultz, Steger, IL 9.) 71 Tyler Middleton, E. Hazel Crest, IL 10.) 2 Sawyer Effertz, Kimbery, WI Jr. III Lite (Gold) Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 08 Adam Carlson, Lisle, IL 2.) 88h Billy Hulbert, Chanahon, IL 3.) 18 Tanner Bohlen, Hortenville, WI 4.) 19 Nick Chiapetta, Downers Grove, IL 5.) 10 Cody Wonderlick 6.) x2 Jordon Thiel, Appelton, WI 7.) 20 Peter Byrne, Shullsburg, WI 8.) 07 Cory Kemkes, Appleton, WI 9.) 8 Mason Hadley, Channahon, IL 10.) 24 Jimmy Johnson, Lincolnshire, IL 11.) 7A Matthew Atkinson, Morris, IL 12.) 17 Zach Axlen, Sheboygan, WI 13.) 7 Jeff Everts, Channahon, IL 14.) 2 Nick Miller, Freeport, IL 15.) 88 Raymond Mooi, New Lenox, IL 16.) 94 Michael Terrafino, Berkely, IL 17.) 15 Angelo Basalome, Brookfield, IL 4-Cycle Sportsman Kart, Name, Hometown 1. ) 007 Denise Kruse, Bridgeview, IL 2.) 28 Joe Chiapetta, Downers Grove, IL 3.) 8D Sean Duncanson, DePere, WI 4.) 81 J.J. Adams, Wonder Lake, IL 5.) 08 Dale Weter, River Grove, IL Sr. Medium Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 36 Brandon Eash, Rockford, IL 2.) 11 Jay Gough, Roscoe, IL 3.) 9 Anthony Danta, Orland Park, IL 4.) 73 Dave Budres, Beloit, WI Sr. Heavy Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 9 Anthony Danta, Orland Park, IL 2.) 99 Dave Budres, Beloit, WI 3.) 28 Kevin Olmstead, Delavan, WI 4.) 46 Dean Daul, Shiocton, WI 5.) 36 Brandon Eash, Rockford, IL Star Champ Kart Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 15 Mike Slabenak, Jr., Cicero, IL 2.) 14 Nicole Phillips, Sycamore, IL 3.) 4 Aaron Phillips, Sycamore, IL 4.) 7 Jacob Finney, Sycamore, IL 5.) 1 Ray Piotter, Carol Stream, IL 6.) 53 Jay Walker Jr. Champ Kart Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 2b Michael Bilderback, S. Beloit, IL 2.) 22 Matt Vice, Woodale, IL 3.) 8 Mickey Kudlicki, Glendale Heights, IL 4.) 33 Brian Freiberg, Lockport, IL 5.) 2 Marley Mooi, New Lennox, IL 6.) 09 Gina Mooi, New Lennox, IL 7.) 38 Ryan Marshall, Kanasasville, WI 8.) 2x Matt Scott ,St. Charles, IL 9.) 51 Charlie Burgess, Scherville, IN Jr. Sportsman Champ Kart Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 12 Michael Martin, Crown Point, IN 2.) 24 Mackenzie Piller, Dixon, IL 3.) 3 Colton Clevenger, Cherry Valley, IL 4.) 24b Dylan Barbosa, Yorkville, IL 5.) 23 Eric Stone, DeKalb, IL 6.) 14 Casey Martin, Crown Point, IN Jr. Yamaha Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 9 Carly Mandarino, Glen Ellyn, IL 2.) 24 Rylee Bohlen, Hortonville, WI 3.) 26 Amanda Preo, Lomira, WI F200-OHV Kart, Name, Hometown 1.) 98 Bob Chatten, E. Peoria, IL 2.) 44 Andrea Page, Sheboygan, WI Kid Kart Participants Kart, Name, Hometown 8D Caylie Duncanson, DePere, WI 76 Travis Sabata 2 Maggie Stumpf, Menasha, WI 36 Derrick Gough, Loves Park, IL 33 Michael Jessup, Lemont, IL 48 Blaz Daul, Shicoton, WI 47 Cody Daul, Shiocton, WI 7 Jacob Brandaly, Villa Park, IL 8 Eric Hannemann, Lansing, IL 1 Joseph Mandarino, Glen Ellyn, IL 18 Jake Thorne, Male Pack, IL 14 Casey Martin, Crown Point, IN 11 Mark Charno, Hawthorne Woods, IL 96 Austin Hintt, Poplar Grove, IL 67 Eric Sudcliff 5 Jordan Jagielski, Burlington, WI