Margay.com CES Round Five at Gateway Story and photos by Joe Brittin MADISON, IL - The fifth round of the Margay.com Championship Enduro Series was held August 22 - 24 at the 1.6-mile Gateway International road course. As would be expected for August, temperatures approached ninety degrees each day and those who reserved a spot under the open-air garages made a wise choice to help escape the heat. No rain was in site this weekend and a full day of practice was held Friday. Seven complete rounds were held, including several rounds for the Novice classes. Friday practice was mostly incident free until the last sprint practice where Patrick Reinhart got upside down in turn one while Tim Barnard ended up in the tire wall trying to avoid Patrick. Both walked away relatively unhurt and were able to compete the rest of the weekend as they would finish first and second in Race 1 one on Saturday. In order to accommodate more practice time, the Pro Shifter race was moved from Friday to the end of the day on Saturday. The six year-old Gateway road course, which utilizes about half of the oval, is still fairly smooth and lap times have remained about the same since the facility opened in 1997. Tim Gilbert turned in the fastest lap of the weekend in his Unlimited enduro kart at 1:05.188. Chris Wright ran the quickest shifter kart lap of the weekend in the Shifter Pro ICC race at 1:05.255. The shifter karts would pick up one to two seconds a lap when they ran as groups due to aerodynamics and possibly a little pushing? With Gateway being the shortest track in length on the CES schedule, enduro karts were completing up to 39 laps in a 45 minute race. Contrast that to Road America where only about 16 or 17 laps are completed in a 45 minute race! Close finishes at Gateway are the norm with many classes having less than one tenth of a second deciding the finish. The closest finish was in the Sat. enduro 100cc Piston Port/Controlled class where John Ritchie edged Johny Scavuzzo by just .001 seconds which is about three inches. The Sat. Sprint CIK Yamaha SSX can class saw James Hurst beat Kevin Thompson by just 0.1 seconds. The Sunday shifter race had the top four finishing less than 0.1 seconds apart. With finishes this close, transponder mounting location becomes critical, as Tim Barnard found out. Although he appeared to cross the finish line second in the Sunday shifter race, electronic scoring had him in fourth place since his transponder was mounted near mid-kart on his side pod, instead of up front like his competitors. He finsihed .005 seconds behind third place, which is about 16 inches. In other words, if his transponder had been mounted up front, he may have finished second or third. The Intrepid Kart Pro Shifter Series races held at the end of the day on Saturday had some close competition fighting for the top of the podium. Taking his first Pro ICC win this year was Chris Wright. Second and third place finishers Rich Salerno and Oscar Navarro gave him a thorough dousing of champagne at the podium victory celebration. Team Bermuda racers Scott Barnes and Jason North took the top two spots in the Pro SK 125 class with Clayton Prater making the podium in third. Picking up more than one win this weekend were Matt Gilbert in Sprint Novice Yamaha both days, Jason North in Sprint CIK 125 both days, John Larue in Sat. PP SSX Can and Enduro Team SSX Can, Eric Larue in Sat. Yamaha SBX Sportsman, Enduro Team SSX Can, and Sun. PP SSX Can, Tim Gilbert in Unlimited both days, Clayton Prater in Sat. & Sun. SK-125, Jessica Brannam in Sprint Jr. Yamaha YBX Can both days, Quentin Templeton in Junior 80 Shifter both days, Bob Markiewicz in Sprint 4-Cycle Open both days, Tiffany Wester in Sprint Animal both days, Mark Kluempers in sat. Sprint PP SSX Can Heavy and Sun. Sprint PP SSX Can Lite, Brad Richards in Sprint Briggs both days and Michael Koosis In Sprint Jr. Briggs both days. Tickets to the 2003 IRA Awards Banquet are now available through the IRA office! The date is set for January 24, 2004 at the Carol Stream (IL) Holiday Inn & Suites. Awards, door prizes, dinner, and music are on order for the evening so don't miss out on the fun and reserve your seats today! The final CES final points' race of the season will be held at Indianapolis Raceway Park on October 3 - 5. This race WILL be run in the regular race direction as in the past! For more information and updated series points see www.championshipenduro.com or contact Dave Larson toll-free at 1-866-489-3283. SATURDAY RESULTS: Novice (GEM Promotions): Matt Gilbert, Brooke Wankel, Travis Yoder, Ryan Wykes, Patrick Travis, Stephanie Schumacher, Jake Bustos Sprint 80/100cc Open (Indy Racing Experience): 1.) Tony Vesci, 2.) John Baker, 3.) Craig Templeton, 4.) Chad Landers Junior 80cc Shifter (Fast Lane Kart Shop): 1.) Quentin Templeton Sprint PP SSX Can Lite (WD-40 Company): 1.) Tim Barnard, 2.) Patrick Reinhart, 3.) James Hurst, 4.) Donald Tate, 5.) Mike Raisley, 6.) Gerald Revely, 7.) Ricky Fauth, DQ-Mark Kluempers 4-Cycle Open (Burris Racing): 1.) Bob Markiewcz, 2.) Glenn Branstad, 3.) Dan Bakke, 4.) David Klaus, 5.) Brad Richards, 6.) Tiffany Wester, 7.) Ron Nigro Junior Yamaha YBX Can (Azusa Engineering): 1.) Jessica Brannam, 2.) Andrew Goodhart, 3.) Jason Gour Enduro Formula 125 (Oilmanıs of Wilmington): 1.) Mac Hubbard, 2.) Ronald Schreffler Jr., 3.) Mike Cousin 100cc Piston Port/Controlled (e-kmi.com): 1.) John Ritchie, 2.) Johnny Scavuzzo, 3.) Steve Scavuzzo, 4.) Tim Kizer, DQ-Richard Scavuzzo, DQ-Santo Scavuzzo Yamaha YBX Sportsman (The Inside Track): 1.) Eric LaRue, 2.) Ken Dressler SK-125cc Shifter (PG Racing): 1.) Clayton Prater, Tim Barnard, 3.) Scott Barnes, 4.) Rich Salerno, 5.) Ross Kasner, 6.) Greg Wright, 7.) Chris Wright, 8.) Oscar Navarro, 9.) Owen Wharton, 10.) Tim Koutny, 11.) Tris Gour Sprint CIK 125 (Russell Karting Specialties): 1.) Jason North, 2.) Ron Nigro Enduro PP SSX Can (Laukaitis Racing Engines): 1.) John LaRue, 2.) Eric LaRue, 3.) Kirk McElheny, 4.) Kevin Thompson, 5.) Joe Brittin, 6.) DeAnne Dressler, 7.) Brian Wester Enduro Jr. Yamaha SSX Can (RLV Tuned Exhaust): 1.) Geoffrey Premo, 2.) Brent Brannon Sprint WKA Heavy (Streeter Super Stands): 1.) Chad Landers, 2.) Sharion Duncan, 3.) John McCracken Jr., DQ-Ron Boyer Rotax TAG/Spec 125 (Bridgestone): 1.) Don Tyler, 2.) Derek Crockett Sprint PP SSX Can Heavy (Castleton Coin): 1.) Mark Kluempers, 2.) Mike Raisley, 3.) Mike Flowers, 4.) Michael Meyers Controlled Limited (Hegar 4 Products): 1.) Richard Scavuzzo, 2.) Jon Ritchie, 3.) Johnny Scavuzzo, 4.) Carl Weakley, 5.) Santo Scavuzzo, DQ-Steve Scavuzzo, DQ-Tim Kizer Unlimited (Clark Quality Advantage): 1.) Tim Gilbert, 2.) Dale Clark 250 Twin (G.E.M. Products): 1.) William Huck Jr. Sprint Briggs (Speedway USA): 1.) Brad Richards, 2.) Mark Liteken, 3.) Robert Riggs Jr., 4.) Robert Brannam III, 5.) Mike Lynch Sprint Animal (Briggs & Stratton Motorsports): 1.) Tiffany Wester Sprint Jr. Briggs (G-Man Kartworks, Inc): 1.) Michael Koosis, 2.) Michael Schumacher, 3.) Michelle Mahler, 4.) Michael G. Lynch Team Enduro SSX Can (Midwest Racing Expo): 1.) John LaRue, 2.) Brent Brannon Team Srint SSX Can (National Kart News): 1.) Gerald Revely Intrepid Kart Pro ICC (Shifter Kart Illustrated): 1.) Chris Wright, 2.) Rich Salerno, 3.) Oscar Navarro, 4.) Tim Koutny Intrepid Kart Pro SK-125 (PG Racing): 1.) Scott Barnes, 2.) Jason North, 3.) Clayton Prater SUNDAY RESULTS: Novice Briggs (Kart Expo International): 1.) Stephanie Schumacher, 2.) Patrick Travis, 3.) Jake Bustos Novice Yamaha (Kart Expo International): 1.) Matt Gilbert, 2.) Travis Yoder, 3.) Ryan Wykes SK-125cc Shifter (telemanager.net): 1.) Clayton Prater, 2.) Greg Wright, 3.) Scott Barnes, 4.) Tim Barnard, 5.) Ross Kasner, 6.) Owen Wharton, 7.) Tim Koutny, 8.) Oscar Navarro, DQ-Chris Wright Sprint CIK 125 Shifter (Grand Products): 1.) Jason North Sprint 80/100cc Open (SHIFT): 1.) John Baker, 2.) Tony Vesci, 3.) Craig Templeton Junior 80cc Shifter (Fast Lane Kart Shop): 1.) Quentin Temppleton Sprint Yamaha (Bridgetone): 1.) Sharion Duncan, 2.) Ron Boyer, 3.) Mike Flowers, 4.) John McCracken Sprint 4-Cycle Open (Kohler Engines): 1.) Bob Markiewicz, 2.) David Klaus, 3.) Glenn Branstad, 4.) Dan Bakke, 5.) Ron Nigro, 6.) Tiffany Wester Sprint PP SSX Can Heavy (R.A. Adams Enterprises): 1.) Michael Meyers Sprint CIK Yamaha SSX Can (WD-40 Company): 1.) Richard Hoff, 2.) Jeff Heff, 3.) James Hurst, 4.) Mike Hoff Controlled Limited (Russell Karting Specialties): 1.) Carl Weakley Enduro PP SSX Can (Streeter Super Stands): 1.) Eric LaRue, 2.) John LaRue, 3.) Kirk McElheny, 4.) Kevin Thompson, 5.) Brian Wester Unlimited (Awards by Kaydan): 1.) Tim Gilbert, 2.) Dale Clark Enduro Yamaha Over 35 Pipe (Red Line Oil): 1.) Joe Brittin Sprint PP SSX Can Lite (Flat Out Group): 1.) Mark Kluempers, 2.) James Hurst, 3.) Gerald Revely, 4.) Patrick Reinhart, 5.) Ricky Fauth Sprint Jr. Yamaha YBX Can (RLV Tuned Exhaust): 1.) Jessica Brannam, 2.) Jason Goff Sprint Briggs (Briggs & Stratton Motorsports): 1.) Brad Richards, 2.) Mike Lynch Sprint Jr. Briggs (American Power Sports): 1.) Michael Kocsis, 2.) Michael Schumacher, 3.) Michael G. Lynch Sprint Animal (Four Cycle Central): 1.) Tiffany Wester