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Kessinger-Laukaitis Team captures Pumpkin Endurance Race
Story by Dustin Kessinger As the green flag signaled a Lemans style start, the drivers sprinted across the main straightaway to their karts, hopped in and charged for turn one. On the first lap while approaching the second turn, the concrete corner, the #31 of Miller/Ferrell and #14 Crowe/Schreiver kart made contact, with the #31 machine stopping upside down and bringing out the red flag. The race was restarted and both teams were able to rejoin the race. 
The restart provided some riveting race action well into the halfway point of the race. Dustin Kessinger in his #310 Margay led the first lap with the #6 Margay of Hannon/Codalata in second. The following lap, the #87 Curry/Laukaitis Corsa with Kent Laukaitis behind the wheel moved around the #66 of Maric/Pottor for third place (Laukaitis was driving for two teams). The next twenty laps saw these three teams running within inches of one another and swapping positions continually. On the 23rd lap #6 Hannon/Codalata made a pass for the lead to mark the tenth official lead change at the scoring line. Kessinger in #310 was in 2nd position while Kent Laukaitis in the #87 was in 3rd place. Stalking the lead pack with stealth and potential came the karts of #4 Cummings/Vetter, #36 Shearburn/Pezzola, and #20 Holliday/Lawrence. As the mandatory pit window opened at the 20-minute mark, teams used different strategies to bring in their chassis for a stop, push and restart format. Alex Pezzola in the #36 was the first to make a pit stop and let his partner Chris Shearburn take over. Within the next few laps those teams whose strategy was to pit early, the #48 of Otte/Harris, #87 kart of Curry/Laukaitis, and the #0 driven by McQuinn/Zirves, made their way to the pits. Other teams soon followed, and with most teams changing pilots, the driver exchange provided an interesting twist to the racing action as positions and precious seconds were lost and gained based on their pit stop performance. Only one entry, Stan Odaffer, would run the entire event without a driver change, although he was still required to make one mandatory pit stop. 
The continuous racing on track had karts shuffled, but racing feverishly over the complete track. All the drivers performed professionally and courteously giving everyone enough room to race. At the 31 minute mark, the #310 kart with Kessinger at the wheel, pitted earlier than planned due to driver fatigue, catching his relief driver, Kent Laukaitis not quite ready for his shift. Laukaitis had just finished driving the first 20 minutes for the #87 Curry/Laukaitis entry. With the 40-minute mark approaching, the #36 Pezzola/Shearburn kart ended their run to the front when a wheel hub broke, sending Chris Shearburn into the hay bales coming out of the fast sweeper turn seven. He was uninjured in the incident but disappointed that their day had come to an early end. Safety crews were able to remove the kart without stopping the racing action. As the race approached the 45-minute mark, the #6 Hannon/Codalata team was up front, but unfortunately blew a hole in their SSX exhaust cap. Although they continued to run up front, they knew it was just for fun as they would fail post race tech. The advantage then went to the #310 Kessinger/Laukaitis machine, with Laukaitis at the wheel. The #87, now with Mike Curry behind the wheel, was in second with the #4 of team Vetter/Cummings in 3rd. Soon after, Curry had to bring the #87 in for an unscheduled second pit stop for handling problems. He was able to quickly resume the race but unfortunately lost several valuable positions. 
With minutes to go, the #87 team of Curry/Laukaitis was running 5th, with the #48 of Otte/Harris in 4th, team Holliday/Lawrence was in 3rd place and the 2nd place entry of Vetter/Cummings was substantially gaining on the leader. The #310 driven by Kent Laukaitis had the lead over #4 Cummings/Vetter and the gap between them was quickly shrinking. Lapped traffic was playing a factor, as there were three karts just ahead of the leader battling for position. Knowing that the Cummings/Vetter entry was coming on strong, Laukaitis knew that he didn't have any time to waste and had to make an aggressive move into the last turn getting by all three karts. On the last lap, the 2nd place Cummings/Vetter entry caught the group of three lapped karts just before the tight turn two. Just as he got by this group and set his sights on Laukaitis, the checkered flag flew. Team Kessinger/Laukaitis claimed the win by only 3.319 seconds. At the end, all of the teams felt they had been put to the test both physically and mechanically. They knew this race was indeed a classic. In the support races, the Kadet class put on a spirited 15-minute battle with four out of the six entries leading at different times. At the checkered flag, Trevor Boblitt held off a charging Jordan Laukaitis by just a nose. The 2 Cycle Juniors and the 2-Cycle and 4-Cycle Rookies also ran a 15-minute race with one mandatory pit stop. Jeff Green, Matthew Laukaitis and Bradley Brittin picked up the class wins in this race. For more information visit www.midstatekartclub.com. 
Great Pumpkin Fall Classic Endurance Race Results: 
Yamaha Supercan # laps completed
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