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| May 29, 2009 News |
| EKN Trackside: Championship Karting International Grand Prix of New Castle - Preview |
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The recently-created Championship Karting International (CKI) series is set to launch with its inaugural event - the Grand Prix of New Castle Presented by Bridgestone - at the popular New Castle Motorsports Park in Indiana. The race marks a new era in national karting in North America as the CKI will campaign the first of four events scheduled for the 2009 season.
The series - sanctioned by the World Karting Association - was created by a group of motorsports professionals and businessmen, led by RJ Valentine and Phil DeLaO. Both are driven to provide the karting community with a competitive racing option that is run and managed professionally. One aspect of the program this weekend that has received a lot of attention is the $22,000 in cash purse, an innovative $3,000 education investment prize program for the Junior and Cadet divisions, along with an IAME Parilla Leopard sweepstakes (thanks to Italian Motors and Russell Karting) and a Formula BMW Licensing Course scholarship - just announced yesterday.
Here is a brief look at just who will be battle for the prizes on the weekend:
The headline KZ2 division will be competing for a portion of the $7,000 in cash to be awarded to the podium finishers. Looking at the entry list, two drivers stand out to earn the green and go home paid - former national champions Gary Carlton and Alex Speed. Carlton (SSC East/CRG) was not so lucky the last time he visited New Castle, posting two DNFs and costing him a shot at the title in ’08. His last weekend he competed on the national stage, he looked to have victory locked up until a broken chain ended his race early. Speed (Wunder-Bar Racing/Tony Kart) visited the podium in his New Castle appearance last year but will be on a completely different racing package that he’s grown very accustom to. The wildcards on the weekend include rookie Brendan Phinny (Kartel Motorsports/Top Kart) - showing signs of promise in his first year in KZ2, TaG ICC transfer driver Don McGregor (Italian Motors/ItalKart) - two podiums finishes to his credit in 2009 already, and KZ2 newcomer Gregory Liefooghe (Leading Edge Motorsports/Intrepid) - won a regional event last weekend while testing for CKI event.
Like KZ2, the KF2 division will also be battling for a cool $7k in cash with nearly anyone of the 13 drivers entered capable of putting themselves at the top of the podium. Speed is schedule to do double duty and has a shot at taking home a seven grand himself if he were to pull off the difficult double victory. Richard Benitez (J3 Competition/Kosmic) and Will Martindale (Wunder-Bar Racing/Tony Kart) are two of three drivers who have beat Speed in KF2 features this season and will be among those leading the charge. Brett Felkins (Leading Edge Motorsports/Intrepid), Michael Hogg (Kartel Motorsports/Top Kart) and Japanese driver Shinnosuke Iguchi (J3 Competition/Kosmic) have some experience while the rest of the North American drivers will be making their first KF2 start of 2009. Along with Iguchi, two more international drivers with Brit Josh Fielding (PBIR/Screaming Talent/Tony Kart) and Finnish pilot Simo Puhakka (Checkered Motorsports/PCR).
 | | New Castle Motorsports Park |
The largest class on the weekend is the IAME Senior division with 28 drivers looking to cash in the $3k check for the victory Sunday afternoon. The field is stacked with a mixture of drivers from across the country in addition to a host of local talent looking to spoil their trip to Indiana. From the eKartingNews.com Driver Rankings, first, third, seventh, and eighth are present. Current number one Kyle Wiegand (Team Top Kart USA) will be competing on his home track where he has a lot of success in big events. Joey Wimsett (Champion Racing/Intrepid) is on the verge to knock down Wiegand in the order but will have a large task at hand today. Will Martindale and Neil Alberico (Kartel Motorsports/Top Kart) will look to also move up in the order with a victory in New Castle. Others that will be a factor on the weekend include David Jurca (Italian Motors/ItalKart), Brett Felkins (Leading Edge Motorsports/Intrepid), and Nigel Saurino (Kartel Motorsports/Top Kart). Local drivers Billy Lewis, CJ Lintner and track owner Mark Dismore Sr. - all running under the Comet Kart Sales/Arrow banner - will look to spoil everyone’s visit.
The Junior fields will be chasing two drivers on the weekend - Phil DeLaO (SSC East/CRG) and Taylor Miinch (Team Top Kart USA). Both have gathered strong momentum in 2009 - DeLaO riding off his EKN Young Driver of the Year last while Miinch has garnered a couple big wins already in ’09. They will be running double duty on the weekend. Chasing them in both KF3 and TaG Junior will be J3 Competition’s Tristan DeGrand (Kosmic) who is returning to the track following his first European stint last month. Shawn Sharkey (Franklin Motorsports/Merlin) is another driver running double duty and will be one to watch. The KF3 field will host two euro drivers from Formula Kart Stars in the UK - Sennan Fielding (PBIR/Screaming Talent/Tony Kart) and Macaulay Walsh. The TaG Junior field is the second largest of the weekend with a number of players in the mix - Trent Hindman (Franklin Motorsports/Merlin), Tyler Thomas (Team Top Kart USA), Sam Beasley (Beasley Motorsports/Arrow), and others.
The Cadet field will include a continuing battle between Santino Ferrucci (Maranello North America), Ashley Rogero (Paragon Motorsports/Kosmic) and Gresham Wagner (MKP/Birel). The trio has been looking to top one-another all season but will be joined by three Formula Kart Stars drivers - Ricky Collard, Alex Gill, and George Russell.
To view the entry list for all six divisions, click HERE.
Friday’s action will consist of a minimum of four timed practice sessions per class with official qualifying taking place at the end of the day. Saturday will see each division run three heat races with a driver’s point total to decide the starting grid for Sunday’s Prefinal. For updates throughout the weekend, visit the Official Discussion Thread where we will have the top-10 from each division in Qualifying at the end of the day. |
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