PDKA welcomes first time winners in state championship series By Walt Cox SPRING RUN, PA - Defeating Mother Nature, almost 300 kart riders completed a full day of racing toward legitimate state championships as the Pennsylvania Dirt Karters' Association gathered June 22 at the Path Valley Speedway Park. Winners of their first ever features in the WKA Divisional races sponsored by Burris Racing were Chad Brooks of Enola who won two features and Ryan Lower of State College. Several riders won races in more than one class and won more than feature, including Keith Blumenstein of Mechanicsburg, whose father also won a feature. The PDKA race series is sponsored by Burris Racing as part of the Burris National Speedway Series and is also sanctioned by the World Karting Association as Dirt Divisional races. Mike and Nancy Swank of All Service Garage in New Cumberland sponsored the second of the six races, and Silver Spring Speedway sponsors the Fast Time Awards at all six races. "We knew we would have challenges because of the bad weather," said PDKA President Butch Diller, "but everyone wanted to race so we used cones to close off the lower part of the track and everyone did well." He added, "John Winsett warned us the day before that the track would not be at its best, and Jack Flowers took the grader out and smoothed the groove after practice. Thanks to their hard work, we had some very close racing and we had clean, safe races. The ambulance was only on the track twice for riders with just bumps and bruises." In one of the day's closest races past state champion Missy Ciucci of Greencastle bested past champion Derek Locke of Mechanicsburg by inches in the Controlled Medium class after a full 12 lap feature of wheel to wheel racing. The PDKA times and scores all races and qualifying electronically with digital transponders on each kart, and awards the Fast Time medals based on the time trials that establish starting order. After the features all engines are thoroughly inspected and it is a badge of honor to take an engine home "in a box" after it has passed tech. One major exception to the general rules is the Kid's Karts class for the youngest riders, and in that class every entrant is a winner and receives a trophy. Results are unofficial until any protests are considered and the PDKA board of directors certifies the results. The second race in the series at Selinsgrove May 18 rained out, so PDKA will use the Sept. 21 rain date and riders who missed the first two races still stand a chance of the championship because the best five of six finishes are counted toward championships. The fourth and fifth races are also at Selinsgrove July 27 and August 24. The final races are at Path Valley Sept. 14, and apparently now on the Sept. 21 rain date. Karts race on American-made Burris tires in the M-15 A or B or the SS44 or SS55 series. Champ kart riders must have fire suits and champ karts must be WKA legal. Riders receive points for each feature event and those who enter all six races earn 50 bonus points. Karters who need more information can contact Diller at 717-691-5994 or email answer21e @ aol.com, or consult the website at padirtkart.com. Gates open at 7 a.m. for the Sunday, July 27 race at Selinsgrove. Registration is open until the driver's meeting at 9:30, followed by practice, time trials and then the day's feature events.