November - 2003

• Kessinger-Laukaitis Team captures Pumpkin Endurance Race
  Mid-State Kart Club had a perfect day for hosting the 2nd Annual Great Pumpkin Fall Classic Endurance Race on October 19. Following the preliminary support races, the marquee event challenged Yamaha 2-Cycle Supercan teams with either one or two drivers to compete for a full hour of racing. Participating teams came from Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Missouri. After 104 laps, the Kessinger-Laukaitis team held on for the grueling win. The winning Margay kart was co-driven by Dustin Kessinger and Kent Laukaitis.
• Mike Manning & Avanti headed to Cairo
  Mike Manning will be racing an Avanti at the Rotax world Finals in Egypt in January. Manning, who finished 4th in the Rotax Grand Nationals in Texas, was given a special entry for the Rotax World Finals in Egypt in January. Joe Ramos of SSC Racing petitioned Rotax to give the United States another spot on the world entry list because of a last minute rule change that effected Mike Manning.
• JM Racing's Scott Meadow finishes second in Formula Dodge 2-Liter Race at Sebring
  JM Racing, Avanti factory driver, Scott Meadow, 20, from Anaheim California, finished an impressive second in the first race of the 2003 Skip Barber Formula Dodge Southern Series in Sebring, Florida. Meadow was also impressive in practice and qualifying on an unfamiliar track, turning times half-second off the track record.
• Simpson, Impact Racing teams up with Jessica Brannam
  Champion go-kart racer Jessica Brannam and Impact Racing owner Bill Simpson, recently announced a deal that will promote Impact's new line of safety equipment. Jessica, from McHenry, IL races throughout the US on ovals, sprints, and long track enduros. In 4 years of racing Jessica has accumulated 70 feature wins and 10 championships.
• MaxSpeed Designs is rolling
  Scott Cramer, the creative guru and one of the original founders of Flatout Decals, is proud to announce the formation of MaxSpeed Designs. Scott will be providing his usual award winning designs that propelled them to the top. Services will include graphic design, custom decals, custom screen printing for race teams & events, and other marketing services.
• MKK's Season Championship settles the score
  Michiana Kart Klub's ninth season at South Bend Raceway Park finished in great style, as the Season Championship became the deciding factor in many classes. October 12 was race #12 and the track was packed as almost all the club's members raced with non-members who wanted to get one last race in for the year.
• EasyKart Italy National Finals - Ala Karting Circuit
  An race report writtin by Montoya Racing's ominic Scheer . - On Friday, October 17th my stepdad Salomon and I arrived at about 9' o clock in the morning in Munich, Germany. When we left the airport we picked up a car and started driving to Ala-Avio, Italy (near the border between Italy and Austria, in Trento). When we got to the Ala karting circuit, we unloaded all of my racing gear and went to meet the Birel team, of which I was going to be racing with.
• Monza Kart chassis line now available in U.S.
  The Monza Kart line of products is now available through importer, MRP Motorsport. Manufactured in Italy by Birel, the Monza Kart is a true Birel innovation in terms of the latest homologation. Consisting of two models, the Z32-C for 125cc shifter kart racing and the Z32-A for the 100cc and 80cc shifter market. Accessories, including the new fairings, are from the Freeline product line.
• Path Valley announcer Bob Johnson dead at 56
  Our dear friend and colleague Bob Johnson died Tuesday, November 4, 2003 at Altoona Hospital following a long illness. Bob was the senior announcer at Path Valley Speedway over most of the past 16 years and also announced at Hill Valley Speedway, performing his duties at both tracks for many year, Path Valley on Friday and Hill Valley on Saturday.
• Path Valley Speedway Park to honor top racers Nov. 15
  The annual awards banquet for Path Valley Speedway Park is Saturday night, Nov. 15, at the Pleasant Hall Firehall, and seating is limited to 400. The top karters in each class will be recognized in an awards program before the banquet, separate from the post-banquet awards for sprint, bike and car drivers.
• Path Valley karters reach season's top speeds at Season Finale
  About 100 karters reached speeds up to a second per lap faster than normal on the soft nighttime clay in the Path Valley Speedway Park's annual Saturday Night Burris Kart Season Finale' Oct. 25. Karts normally race on a sun-baked afternoon track at Path Valley, and the softer and damper night race provides better traction on the real clay track surface.
• Brian Lockwood Production features 11 cameras, 3 miles of cable and 28-person crew on new track or "Stars" championships
  One of the elaborate television productions of a North American karting event ever was in place last weekend (Nov. 1-2) at the all-new Moran Raceway in the Stars Karting Championships, the final event on the Snap-on Champ Car Stars of Tomorrow presented by RACER national karting series. The Stars Karting Championships television production features eleven cameras including a $100,000 Sony Super Slow-Mo and 20-foot "JIB" camera that will highlight the "Bus Stop" section of the one-mile Moran Raceway.
• Bobby Wilson captures "Jim Trueman Scholarship Award" from Stars of Tomorrow as 2003 Top Karting Racer
  National ICC (125cc Shifter) point champion Bobby Wilson has been named the winner of the first annual Jim Trueman Scholarship Award for the 2003 Snap.on Champ Car Stars of Tomorrow presented by RACER karting series. Wilson, the 22-year-old karting veteran from Dousman, Wis., was awarded with a $25,000 prize to be used towards his 2004 racing program that will include a full-ride on the 18-race Formula Ford 2000 Zetec Championship with Cape Motorsports of St. Petersburg, Fla.
• Veterans Elliott, Horstman win Wheel-to-wheel duels in ICC, ICA Stars of Tomorrow Championships at Moran Raceway
  The final race in the season-long 2003 Snap-on.com Champ Car 'Stars of Tomorrow' presented by RACER Magazine national karting series lived up to the hype Sunday at the all-new Moran Raceway with some sensational wheel-to-wheel action on the one-mile road circuit. In addition to the spectacular racing in the 'Stars Karting Championships', six national karting champions were crowned after the 17-race national campaign.
• Karting suffers great loss of Tom Argy, Jr.
  Tom Argy, Jr., owner of TCM Racing, president of TAG USA, RIGP Race Director and NASCAR official passed away late Monday afternoon November 10th outside Savannah, Georgia from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Tom and his son Tommy (18) travelling from the NASCAR race in Rockingham, North Carolina were on their way to Homestead, Florida to work the next NASCAR event.
• 1-2 finish for Adam Carlson Racing
  Adam Carlson Racing entered two karts in the Burris Pro Kart division class that ran in the rescheduled Fall Classic/Small Car Championships at Lake Geneva Raceway on Saturday, Oct. 4th. Adam raced his primary kart, a Phantom Nemesis with a SBR Powerplants Briggs 5hp engine and Jeff Everts ran the second kart, a 2000 Ultramax Proforce with a "That Guy Engines" Briggs.
• 2003 FL RMax State Championships and FK 4-Hour Endurance
  Formula Kart Productions is proud to announce the results of the Formula Kart 2003 FL RMax State Championships, presented by Skip Barber Racing School, and the results of the www.formulakart.com 4-Hour Endurance Event.
• Co-authors of "Memo Gidley's Secrets of Speed for Shifter Kart Racing" sign agreement to produce new karting books
  Memo Gidley, accomplished open wheel race car driver and shifter kart champion will join forces with author/publisher Jeff Grist to produce four additional titles under the Memo Gidley's Secrets of Speed banner. Each book will focus on a different karting discipline and use the unique format and style created in the first book.
• Prizes and big-name participants announced for 4-Hour Endurance event
  The 2nd Annual Jim Russell Four-Hour Endurance Race will feature a substantial prize package, as well as some of the biggest names in the karting industry, Jim Russell International Karting announced. The top-level teams currently registered to compete in the four-hour event include a team backed by KARTSPORT magazine, featuring Memo Gidley, former Champ car driver for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, and karting stand outs Jason Bowles and Landon Yee.
• Lights, camera, action in the MD Sprint Divisional
  With a Discovery Channel film crew focused on the action at Nicholson Speedway in Chestertown, Maryland 138 racers competed for the final Maryland Sprint Divisional Series race of the 2003 season October 12-13. That Saturday a five-member crew filmed the competition between racers in several divisions focusing on their families, the rivalry and their interaction.
• "Shifter Kart Illustrated" launches website
  The staff of 'Shifter Kart Illustrated' has launched their new website www.shifterkartmag.com which will allow drivers and enthusiasts to find information regarding the publication. In its present form, visitors are able to download subscription forms and media kits.
• SKI awards to highlight Kart Expo weekend
  For the first time since their inception in the fall of 1999, the prestigious Shifter Kart Illustrated Excellence Awards will be held at a location other than Las Vegas, NV as a new venue for the fifth edition of the gala has been confirmed. Traditionally paired with the season-ending Superkarts! USA SuperNationals in Las Vegas each November, the SKI Awards will now move to the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL during the month of February '04.