Burris Circle Tour kicks off 2003 season By Sue Nuttall LAKE GENEVA, WI - Over 120 enthusiastic karters enjoyed opening day of the Burris Circle Tour at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. 2003 marks the 8th season of competitive kart racing on the speedway tracks in Chicagoland. Novices and veterans alike joined in for a day of racing thrills in the 15 classes for kids and adults. The young drivers in the Jr. Sportsman Champ class were the stars of the show. Many of the drivers age 8-12 already have four years of racing experience and it came in handy as the lead pack battled in close quarters for the 15-lap feature race. After jockeying for position in the early going, the 5 lead karts formed into a pack. Dylan Barbosa held onto the narrowest lead as Tyler Blome and Mackenzie Piller squeezed to the inside. Not to be outdone, Alex Stumpf, a substitute driver, did a cross-over move to regain his spot in second. Cullen Breeden was right on his tail and took advantage of the passing lane to move into third at the finish. The final order was Barbosa, Stumpf, Breeden, Piller and Blome. The total margin of victory from 1st to 5th place was less than of a second. The new Chron-IT scoring system came in handy again as the Jr. 2 Lite class took to the track. A new class for the Burris Circle Tour this year, the Jr. 2 drivers are 8-12 year olds and usually have several years of experience. Ben Stumpf, last year's Jr. 1 Champion started the day with a win in the first heat race. Johnny Whitman, a newcomer to the Tour, found his setup in the second race and edged out Dylan Hobbs and Tyler Peterson for the top starting spot in the Feature. Johnny needed every advantage he could get because coming out of lap 12 he was in third spot. Rounding turn 4 on the final lap, he went to the inside to move past Stumpf. Using sheer will power, Hobbs made a space where there wasn't one to squeak into second place. Whitman, Hobbs and Stumpf crossed the stripe with only inches separating them. Brian Freiberg won his first feature in the BCT Jr. Champ Class holding off strong challenges from Matt Vice, Michael Bilderback and Matt Scott. Shane Morrisey found Victory Lane in the Sr. Lites by holding off Brett Swedberg for 15 laps. Jimmy Johnson, moving up from the Jr. 3 class finished a strong third. Last year, over 55 different drivers won a Feature Race in the Burris Circle Tour. Drivers starting the 2003 season in the Winners Circle include: Alex Stumpf - Jr. 1 Lite, Mason Hadley - Jr. 3 Lite, Kristi McCarty - Sr. Medium, Stan Guess - Sr. Sportsman, Corey Domenick - F200 OHV Jr., Tiffany Wester - F200 OHV Sr., Jacob Finney - Sr. Champ, Trevor Raisbeck - Jr. Yamaha, and Eric Freiberg - Yamaha Sportsman Lite. The Burris Circle Tour returns to Lake Geneva Raceway, May 12th - what a great way to celebrate Mother's Day.