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| December 26, 2009 News |
| EKN Trackside: World Karting Association Daytona KartWeek - Preview |
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The annual World Karting Association Daytona KartWeek by Cometic Gasket will take place over December 27-30 with three of the organization’s series set to kick off the 2010 racing season at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Set for the traditional timeline between Christmas and New Year’s, competitors of the George Kugler/Bridgestone Manufacturer’s Cup Series, Dunlop Tire Road Racing Series, and the renewed Briggs & Stratton Speedway Dirt World Championships will converge under the typically sunny skies of Florida and for the first time, all at the DIS facility.
The Margay Sprint Championships will host the Man. Cup field at the 7/10-mile track that sits inside turns 3 and 4 of the NASCAR oval. Competing on the 3.56-mile road course that utilizes most of the oval will the Road Racing program’s Daytona Championships while the Daytona Dirt World Championships will take place on a newly constructed 1/4-mile dirt oval outside NASCAR turn 2. This marks the first time all three events have taken place on the DIS grounds with the Dirt program held at other locations in the past.
Coming into the event, roughly 900 pre-entries have been taken for the three events with a total over 1000 expected when the final numbers are calculated at the end of the KartWeek. The Road Race numbers match what was entered coming into last year’s event as does the Manufacturer’s Cup Series. While the Dirt numbers are currently not what is expected, entries are expected to pour in on the move-in and practice day.
 | The Manufacturer's Cup Series will compete on the 0.7-mile sprint circuit inside DIS
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
A few big names in motorsports are schedule to compete on the sprint track during their off-season. NASCAR’s Jamie McMurray and AJ Allmendinger have entered to compete in the TaG categories on both days. For McMurray, this will be his third straight Daytona KartWeek as the Missouri native enjoys the event with his father Jim. ‘Hawk’ as he is known by many continues to run WKA Road Racing Series events from time to time when not watching Jamie race. McMurray last competed in the WKA Man. Cup Series back in August ’08 at New Castle Motorsports Park, scoring the victory in the TaG Final 2. For ‘Dinger’, this will be his first trip to the Daytona KartWeek event. The Californian, who now resides in Huntersville, NC, has competed in the PRI Trade Show All-Star event and has solid CV in national karting before moving on to open wheel cars. Also rumored to be taking part in the TaG categories is current IndyCar star Dan Wheldon. The Brit, who resides in Florida, loves to get into the seat of kart and has done so often in 2009 - racing the RoboPong 200 and Ironman 150 at New Castle in Indianapolis along with the SuperNationals in Vegas where he finished fourth.
The class structure for 2010 in the Man. Cup program is very similar to the previous year with a few changes. WKA will now offer five separate TaG categories this season. The original TaG class was revamped as it will run just on Saturday for a five race championship rather than 10-races. On Sunday, Parilla Leopard-only and Rotax-only classes have been created to run at separate times of the day while TaG Masters will be joined by the new TaG Heavy, run at the same time but scored separately.
Joining TaG on Saturday will be the relabeled Komet Piston Port (KPP) Heavy, Yamaha Pipe, Yamaha SuperCan Lite, and Yamaha Masters for the Senior division. KPP Jr. Heavy and Yamaha Jr. Lite will make up the 12-15 year-old groups with Cadet Jr. Sportsman, KPP Jr. Sportsman and Yamaha Sportsman Heavy filling out the 8-12 year-old categories. On Sunday as mentioned above, Rotax, Parilla Leopard, TaG Masters/TaG Heavy will join KPV Lite and Yamaha SuperCan Heavy for the Senior ranks. KPP Jr. Lite and Yamaha Jr. Heavy with Yamaha Sportsman and a second final for Cadet Jr. Sportsman to complete the day’s lineup. Both day’s, Kid Karts will fill up time in the schedule as the exhibition class.
 | | Tight racing action on the high banks during Yamaha Sportsman Heavy |
On the big track that is the Daytona International Speedway, the Road Racing program will run the same 3.56-mile road course that will be featured for the upcoming 24 hours of Daytona - minus the ‘bus stop’ on the back stretch. This will be the 35th anniversary of karts buzzing inside the famed facility with plenty of history taken place over the years.
The NRRS karters however will be mourning the lost of a fellow competitor, a driver that demonstrate the attitude of the road racing community - Kenneth ‘Maximus’ Deutsch. The longtime WKA member and annual Daytona competitor was suffered a massive heart attack while getting his 250cc laydown machine ready for the event just three weeks ago. Kenny, a winner last year in Unlimited, certainly touched a number of individuals and will be in the thoughts of many in the paddock.
On-track, the class structure looks similar to 2010, ranging from 2&4-cycle sprint, laydowns, TaGs, shifters, and Superkarts with some scheduling adjustments to accommodate the drivers looking to run multiple classes in one day. Added for 2010 is a second 100cc Controlled Spec class and the creation of a new TaG class, comparable to the Manufacturer’s Cup Series rule structure. A number of local option classes will run both days with Open Sprint, Briggs Limited Modified, 4-Cycle Clone, Briggs & Stratton LO206, and Vintage karts. In total, seven race groups will run on day one with six scheduled for day two.
Making the Daytona KartWeek now a ‘trifecta of karting’ once again is the return of the Dirt World Championships. Unlike previous years where the track was off-site of the DIS facility, the ‘World Center of Racing’ has constructed a quarter-mile dirt track outside turns 1 and 2 of the 2.5-mile oval. Scheduled to host the AMA Pro Racing Flat Track motorcycle event in March, the WKA Dirt World Championships will be the first event to lay rubber down. A busy three-days is scheduled at the new track with 13 classes set for both days, including Kid Karts & Kid Champ Karts, with some of the finals to take place under the lights as the sun falls.
 | The Dirt World Championships will take place on the new 0.25-mile dirt track constructed outside turns 1 and 2 of DIS oval
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
eKartingNews.com will be providing the Trackside Live coverage throughout the three days. Following move-in and set up on December 27, karts hit the track on December 28 for a full day of practice on all three tracks. EKN will be floating around, bringing updates from all three together. December 29 and December 30 welcomes wheel-to-wheel racing with top-10 updates from the Manufacturer’s Cup Series to be posted on the Official Discussion Thread. Results as we receive them from the Road Racing and Dirt events will also be posted. Of course, a daily report from each day of racing will be published with small recaps on the Road Racing and Dirt programs included as well.
A great addition to the Daytona KartWeek event will be live video coverage provided by SpeedcastTV.com. A full day of Manufacturer’s Cup Series action will broadcast on Tuesday, December 29 followed by coverage of the Dirt World Championships on Wednesday, December 30 with highlight coverage of the Road Racing Series to be included both days. Rob Howden of eKartingNews.com will call the action alongside color commentators Buddy Long, David Cole, Keith Shampine, and Brandon Taylor. |
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