SSC Racing/Shifter Kart Pro Series opens 2002 in St. Louis By Tom Koutny MADISON, IL - The 2002 SSC Racing/Shifter Kart Pro Series started off its sophomore season in grand style at Gateway International Raceway on Saturday May 25th. This season will feature the popular SK 125 Moto class sponsored by Shifter Kart Illustrated along with the new ICC 125 class sponsored by National Kart News and the Rotax Max Challenge class sponsored by The Inside Track. Qualifying took place Saturday morning when Clayton Prater put his machine on pole with T.J. Koutny joining him on the front run for the SK 125 race. In the ICC 125 race Ted Tackett took the pole position joined up front by Rich Salerno. With the field qualified and grided, International Racing Association Chief Starter Earl Clements gave them the green. The early leader Clayton Prater (#17j), the 2001 SSC Racing/Shifter Kart Pro Series defending champion, had early mechanical problems on his Mike Bellew Honda powered TrackMagic machine. With Prater in the pits Jonathan Kettlewell took over the lead when his Mike Bellew Honda/G.P. Fury had a coil wire failure. This set up T.J. Koutny (#57j) and Erik Winberg to battle for the lead. T.J. Koutny ran his Intense Karting/Intense Power/Rocket Racing powered TonyKart Moto X tuned by Dave Talbot and took over the lead that he would never give up for the two-thirds of the race. "For the second year in a row we have managed to get off to a great start by bringing home our TonyKart/Intense Power/Rocket Racing to their first pro series win. I have never been so excited to have the opportunity to be so highly competitive with this package that we have put together against the rest of the SSC Racing/Shifter Kart Pro Series pilots. This series certainly has the stiffest competition in road racing out there," said Koutny. Second place finisher Erik Winberg kept it close with his Franklin Motorsports PCR/North Star Yamaha tuned by Tim Strobl. Coming across the line in third place was the #91F pilot Jason North with his T2 TrackMagic/Intense Power/Rocket Racing Honda tuned by Brian Kay. Jason by far makes this series truly "International" coming from his home in Bermuda to compete in this fast growing pro shifter series. He will be flying his crew with him to all of the SSC Racing/ Shifter Kart Pro Series events. Ted Tackett (#39) won the ICC 125 Pro class with his T2 FastKart chassis powered by SGM. "Hopefully we can take this momentum we've gained here to a strong season in the ICC 125 Pro class," said Tackett. Second place went to Chad Donner of Fairfield, Ohio. His T2 FastKart performed well all day. Coming to the line for the third place finish was Rich Salerno. Salerno nursed his Woodfield Motorsports/John's Kartshop sponsored Gold chassis with TM K9 powerplant to the finish with his transmission stuck in third gear for most of the race. Winning the Rotax Max Challenge race was Ronald Shreffler Sr. with a fast lap time of 1:22.504. It was a great opening weekend for the 2002 SSC Racing/Shifter Kart Pro Series and their host the MG Tires Championship Enduro Series. For more on the SSC Racing/Shifter Kart Pro Series and other events of the International Racing Association check them out on the web at www.internationalracingassociation.com or call them at 1-866-689-RACE. For more information on the MG Tires Championship Enduro Series visit their website at www.championshipenduro.com.