September - 2003

• Briggs & Stratton and BKC join to host 8-hour endurance race
  Briggs & Stratton, in cooperation with the Badger Kart Club, hosted an 8-hour endurance race at the Badger Raceway in Dousman WI. This race offered a chance to show off the new Briggs & Stratton World Formula motors. Each of the fifteen team's entry fees included a sealed World Formula Motor and the pieces needed to run it. At the end of the event, the teams were allowed to keep the motors, which helped to fill up the entry list quickly.
• Reeves rules three
  Cory Reeves ended the WKA/George Kugler Manufacturer's Cup Series Presented by Bridgestone season with three wins during the Matt-Con/Abbale Builders Nationals August 22-24 at Batavia International Motorsports Park in Batavia, NY where 240-racers entered. Two of the Franklin, WI based Switch Racing Engines powered Margay kart pilot's wins clinch him national titles; with divisionals still to be factored in it's too close to call. If he earns a third national championship he will be the series 2003 Triple Crown winner his goal since the season began.
• A day of "Up's" at the Burris Circle Tour
  The temperature soared, the excitement heated up and new racers were on the top of the standings for the 9th race of the Burris Circle Tour. Matt Scott, from St. Charles, Illinois, inched out Matt Vice in the closely contested Nortown Automotive Jr. Champ Kart Classic held at the Illiana Motor Speedway on August 17th. Jacob Zellmer won his first Feature race of the year in the Jr. Sportsman Classic and Brandon Eash edged out Ryan Rockhold by a mere 5 points to win the Short Season Championships in Sr. Medium.
• Some serious bragging - but not about how much
  Braggin' Rights were on the line in the 2003 Gold Runner Challenge for the Burris Circle Tour - and the line was a very a thin one. Nick Chiapetta, from Downers Grove, Illinois held off a surge from four other drivers to win the 25-lap feature event in high profile race. Chiapetta was hot all day. He started strong with a qualifying effort second only to Adam Carlson. He then went on to beat the field in a short 4-lap dash. And finally, led the feature from start to finish. The dashes, always a crowd favorite, boasted passing in every lap. Chiapetta won, while Jordan Thiel, Zach Axlen, Billy Hulbert, Mason Hadley and Adam Carlson finished in 2nd through 6th.
• Stumpf shuts out the competition at the Burris Circle Tour Purple Shootout
  Alex Stumpf shut out the competition at the Burris Circle Tour in the 8th running of the Purple Shootout, a race highlighting the skills of the Jr.1 Lite Class. The Jr. 1 Lite class runs a Briggs & Stratton power plant with a purple restrictor plate and most of the drivers have 1-2 years of racing experience. During today's event, Stumpf earned the pole as the top qualifier, won the trophy dash and waged a hard fought battle with Cory Talaska in the Feature. Then, for good measure, Alex also took home the top prize in Jr. 2 Lite edging out Aaron Katzenberg at the line.
• Karters from the Midwest enjoy racing at the Briggs & Stratton Motorplex
  Oval and Road Racers enjoyed a weekend of racing and fun at the Briggs & Stratton 600 at Road America. It was a perfect fall day as racers from Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana poured into the Briggs & Stratton Motorplex. The oval racers took center stage on Saturday with seven classes running races from 50 - 150 laps around the 1/5th mile oval. The track, with a year of seasoning, is running fast and smooth, allowing for passing opportunities in every corner and down both the front and backstretch.
• Open-wheel racing series continues to pursue the acquisition of C.A.R.T.
  As previously announced on September 10, 2003, Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. (NYSE: MPH) and Open Wheel Racing Series LLC have entered into a definitive agreement providing for Open Wheel Racing Series to acquire Championship for cash equivalent to $0.56 per share, based on the number of shares of Championship common stock currently outstanding.
• Smooth racing at revamped Blackhawk Farms
  The Margay.com Championship Enduro Series and the Russell Karting/Dunlop Tire Mid-States Super Series returned to the newly paved Blackhawk Farms Raceway for the first time since a complete repaving was done late last fall. The new surface was welcomed by all since it had been nearly 15 years since the last repaving was done. The smooth asphalt contributed to faster lap times of about two seconds per lap for most classes. Many veteran karters dusted off their equipment and returned to one of their favorite raceways because of the improved racing surface.
• Margay.com CES Round Five at Gateway
  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.
• 'Chicago Indoor Racing' to open
  Scheduled to open late August 2003 or the start of September, Chicago Indoor Racing (CIR) will provide the most exciting and unique entertainment venue in the Chicagoland area. Housed in 84,000 sq ft, CIR will feature: State of the art conference facilities, Function rooms, Bar and restaurant, full catering facilities, Alternate entertainment, including billiards and video games, and, of course, two of the county's most exciting indoor kart racing tracks!
• Douglas Wheel Moves to larger facility
  Douglas Wheel has just finished their move to an all-new 57,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art, manufacturing facility in Vista, California. The new plant is just a short distance from their old home in Oceanside. However, this major expansion of their engineering, manufacturing, and shipping departments will enable Douglas to make a giant leap in their design and production capabilities for years to come.
• Ranger rolls to fourth Fran Am win at Molson Indy Montreal
  Sixteen year-old Quebec native Andrew Ranger led wire-to-wire August 24th in Round 8 of the 2003 FRAN AM 2000 North American Pro Championship Series. But it certainly was not an easy win. Ranger led Ontario's Dan McMullen and Robert Bell of Great Britain across the finish line to score his fourth win of the 2003 season and maintain his Championship lead.
• Close racing in I-55 Sprint Series finals
  The final round of the I-55 Sprint Series had good participation and some great racing under the lights at Mid-State Raceway with some very close finishes. With 50 bonus points available for the fourth race in this series, many of the St. Louis Karting Association (SLKA), regulars made the trip up to Springfield, IL to do some night racing under the lights and compete for the series championship against the Mid-State Kart Club (MSKC) regulars.
• Hornish, Panther Racing parting after 2003 season
  Two-time IRL IndyCar Series champion Sam Hornish Jr. and Panther Racing, the team he won the championships with in 2001 and 2002, will part ways at the conclusion of the 2003 season. Hornish joined the team in 2001 and has since earned nine victories. His nine career wins is an IndyCar Series record. The latest victory came in dominating fashion Aug. 17 at Kentucky Speedway when Hornish led 181 of the 200 laps en route to a victory in the No. 4 Pennzoil Panther Racing Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone.
• Four-Hour Endurance Race returns to Sonoma, Nov. 22-23
  Jim Russell International Karting will host the 2nd annual Four-Hour Endurance race for IAME BM/Parilla and Rotax racers Nov. 22nd-23rd at the Infineon Raceway Karting Center (formerly Sears Point Raceway). The event is sponsored by Yokohama Tire, Jim Russell International Karting, and ekartingnews.com. Drivers will have a chance to compete on one of the premier karting venues in the country, featuring a 16-turn, three-quarter mile track.
• Billy Johnson qualifies for the Semi-Finals in the 2003 Red Bull Driver's Search
  Barron Avanti factory driver, Billy Johnson, qualified for stage 3 of the 2003 Red Bull Challenge, by finishing 2nd in a karting event held at Irwindale Speedway on August 19, 2003. Johnson, who campaigns a Barron/Avanti-TM in the Star's of Tomorrow series and won the 2003 IKF Shifter-Kart Grand Nationals in Super Stock CR125 Class, was leading the main event, when his kart suffered from a fuel pick up problem and fell back to second in the final laps.
• Dee Warren wins PowderPuff at Lake Village Motor Speedway
  The September 13th racing weekend started off with a tribute to 911 as all drivers paraded around the speedway carrying American flags while guest Jennifer Madrigal sang the National Anthem. An engine protest started off the day for points' leader T.J. Flynn and a secong protest was filed against Brett Schumaker. The Rookie Purple division points leader T.J. Flynn won Heat One over Brett Schumaker and Steve Warren.
• IRA's Liquid X Freestyle wails on 2.2 million in Chicago
  The Chicago Air and Water Show drew over 2.2 MILLION live in two days! Our morning audiences (9:00am) were over 450,000 and 650,000 back to back, with the top end 2.2 million at our 4:00pm encore each day. These numbers exclude the Friday practice of over 200,000. Your support has helped keep alive the last viable bastion of professional freestyle in North America. All five networks and super stations carried coverage of the Big Air Competition/Exhibition. Newspaper coverage in copies topped 1,000,000. Network viewers combined topped 3,450,000. WGN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX as well as CLTV and WGBO local broadcast stations covered the action.
• Breiner and Wilkey continue points lead after MKK 2-Cycle Mid Season Championship
  Michiana Kart Klub's Two Cycle Mid-Season Championship was held Sunday at South Bend Raceway Park. The season is just about halfway over for MKK, with plenty of racing still ahead. The weather was great and the track was hot for the two-cycleš 15 lap feature races. The HPV-4 Heavy class has been an exciting class to watch since the beginning of the season. With usually 10-14 drivers in the class and all lap times within 2.5 seconds of each other, these karts run fast and drive hard.
• Jarrett makes comeback as White sets personal best in 4-Cycle Mid-Season at South Bend
  Sunday, August 24th was a great day for racing at South Bend Raceway Park with Michiana Kart Klub's 4-Cycle Mid-Season Championship on the line. With temps predicted in the high 80's and not a cloud in the sky, the track would be hot for racing. The first 4-Cycle class was 4-Cycle Jr. Sportsman with 2.3 seconds separating the points contenders. Justin Jarrett #17, points leader for the class, had the fastest time for the day putting him in pole for the feature. Outside pole was Tyler Brindley #3 who also won the feature at MKK Race #7 and is a close second in the points race.
• Red Bull Driver Search announces 'scouted' racers for 2003 program
  Six young American racers have been given a chance to earn a seat with a leading team, racing in a European junior series for 2004, as the Red Bull Driver Search announces the identities of the 'scouted' racers for the 2003 program. Over the past couple of months, a team of 'expert undercover' scouts has been scouring the ranks of junior U.S formulae for promising American racing talent. The chosen drivers, aged between 16-19, will be appraised in an intense 3-day program being held in Sebring, FL from 3-5 September.
• Wilson wins King's Crown; Rudolph smokes ICC at "The Rock"
  Each year he would come to Rock Island claiming "this is the title we really want" only to see it slip away. This year, with temporary circuit championships from Mexico to Canada already his, First Kart North America's Bobby Wilson didn't let the big one slip away. He is the new Superkarts! USA "King of the Streets" at the Rock Island Grand Prix. This year's Rock Island Grand Prix featured 355 race entries from 23 states, Canada and Bermuda.
• Shockwave Karting Colorado Sprint Championship Series
  The Shockwave Karting Colorado Sprint Championship Series finished its season in fine style at the Steamboat Springs GP. Under indigo blue skies, the sun washed temporary circuit in the Steamboat Springs Meadow parking lot drew an out standing group of racers from around the region. The challenging 11-turn circuit drew universal praise from the drivers as both challenging and racable with several passing opportunities. At just over on half mile, the best took around 38 seconds to get around the course.
• World-standard junior class to make debut as precursor for 2004 season
  The Snap-on Champ Car Stars of Tomorrow presented by RACER announced today an exhibition race for the Junior Intercontinental A (JICA) class which will be part of Stars' standard class structure in 2004. JICA is a CIK-homologated 100cc air-cooled engine formula used worldwide, including Canada. The formula will make its official debut with Stars of Tomorrow in 2004. The JICA exhibition will feature over $1,000 in prizes and will be held as a part of the Stars national event race weekend.
• 'Stars' drivers striving to claim divisional crowns while keeping their eyes on the big prize
  As the Stars National series rolls in to its final Western and Eastern Divisional races, the points battles for the respective Divisional Championships are coming to a close. Of the 275 entrants who have scored points in Stars national competition this year, the battles are, not surprisingly, coming down to a handful of competitors who are fighting for the recognition of winning his or her division. With two race drops allowed out of the eight divisional races in East and West, some of the calculations and permutations are extensive, and Stars makes no guarantee the estimations are accurate.
• Nevada kart racer comes out of nowhere with limited budget in his ICC rookie season
  Teenage kart racer Nick Halen doesn't take racing for granted. In fact, the senior at Carson City, Nev., High School can't go racing without a straight "A" report card. This personable 17-year-old is taking college calculus in high school and he works as a mechanic in his dad Steve's auto service company after classes each day. He fits in time to work on his karts in the late evenings to stay up with his competition that sports full-time mechanics.
• Montoya connection to "EasyKart Dash for Cash" at Florida 'Stars' event
  This weekend's Stars Eastern Division event in Jacksonville will have an added feature, an all-star race pitting top Stars drivers and regional champions in identical Easykart vehicles. Stars points contenders Bobby Wilson and Graham Rahal from the ICC shifter class and Robbie Pecorari, Michael Giessen, and Josh Hunt from the direct drive ICA class will compete along with five top drivers from the Easykart Florida championship: Frederico Montoya, brother of Juan Pablo, Ryan Fowler, Michelle Garraido, Albert Naon, Jr., and Carlos Duenas will attempt to school the nationally-known hotshoes on the equal platform of the Easykarts.
• Wilson seeks to continue ICC winning streak in 'Stars' Eastern Division karting finale
  Karting star Bobby Wilson has been on a roll lately in the 2003 Snap-on.com Champ Car "Stars of Tomorrow" presented by RACER Magazine national karting campaign. The Dousman, Wis., veteran racer hasn't lost an ICC (125cc shifter) main event since June at Road America and he is still upset about that main event. But since losing to Graham Rahal in the ICC feature on June 21, the 21-year-old Wilson has captured four consecutive main events including the Grand Prix of Windsor before some 20,000 spectators.
• Glover, Mandarino dominate 'Stars' Canadian rounds in Western Division action
  Canadians Kevin Glover and Lorenzo Mandarino swept both races in their respective ICA and ICC classes at the Stars of Tomorrow event in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada last weekend. Glover, from Burnaby, British Columbia, clinched the Western Division of the Stars series with his fifth and sixth consecutive wins in the ICA direct drive class. He also scored a podium finish in the ICC class, performing double duty like several of the Stars competitors.
• SKUSA/'Stars' merger terminated
  Superkarts! USA would like to officially confirm the recent Stars of Tomorrow press release announcing that the merger discussions between the two organizations were terminated this past weekend, ending the potential union that could have resulted in a single national racing program. SKUSA and Stars officials each worked diligently through the negotiations to enter a possible relationship although, in the end, the 'marriage' was deemed to be inappropriate for either group.
• Team Speed Secrets 1 & 2 at Thunderhill
  Team Speed Secrets drivers Colin Braun and Max Hodencq finished 1st and 2nd in September 8th's Fran-Am 1600 race at Thunderhill Motorsports Park in Willows, California. Colin Braun took pole position and led every lap of the race to take his 3rd victory in 5 races this season in the Fran Am 1600 pro championship. He is the only driver in the series with more than one win.
• Race-On Driving Experience teams with National Indoor Kart Championship for Tunica Thanksgiving thriller
  Two unique local Motorsports entities have teamed up to present the 13th Annual Race-On Driving Experience National Indoor Kart Championship at the Tunica Arena and Expo Center in Tunica, MS. November 28th and 29th. Over 4000 racers and fans from across the nation invade the Tunica area each Thanksgiving weekend for the world's largest indoor pro-kart race.
• TVRacer.com officially launched to public
  A new online service, TVRacer.com, has been created recently that provides racing enthusiasts with a source to receive current television listings for major racing series. These listings include schedules for car, drag and motorcycle racing. TVRacer.com is updated every 24-hours, making it one of the most accurate television guides for racing in the United States.
• Willis Brothers Racing opens retail store
  James and Pat Willis announced today the opening of Willis Brothers Racing a division of Willis Motorsports Inc., a retail store that will sell Karts, parts and accessories. Willis Brothers Racing is the official CRG Kart dealer in the Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana Tri-State area. Grand Opening on September 6, 2003 will consist of numerous promotions throughout the day. Willis Brothers Racing will have a full service department to handle any type of karting needs.
• Ransone, Miller and Paschal post pairs at last Dirt National
  Dirt racers got drenched again during the fifth and final round of the WKA/Briggs & Stratton Speedway Dirt Series August 22-24 at Thunder Valley Motorplex in Neeses, SC during the Precision Cams Nationals. Only three of Saturday's 13 classes got to qualify before a sprinkling rain turned into a heavy down pour lasting 45 minutes. Once it ended track officials quickly restored the track's surface to racing conditions. To insure the program was completed WKA officials choose starting positions by selecting the top 20 according to their current national rankings and the remaining 10 spots were selected by a draw.