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| February 15, 2011 News |
| EKN Awards 2010: Road Racer of the Year - Chuck Gafrarar |
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February 14-18, 2011 will be the eKartingNews.com Awards Week for 2010. The program honors five winners in five categories - Driver of the Year, Team of the Year, Rising Star, Road Racer of the Year, and Young Driver of the Year - with one announced each day. The staff at the website has selected the winner and four Honorable Mentions for each category.
For the complete coverage of EKN Awards Week 2010, visit the Features Page
To discuss the EKN Awards Week 2010, visit the Official Discussion Thread
 | Road Racer of the Year - Chuck Gafrarar
(Photo: WKA) |
The Road Racer of the Year category was added to the EKN Awards program in 2001, thanks in part to the strong contingent of talented drivers tied to this distinct form of karting. Reaching speeds well above 100 mph on tracks two miles or longer - including historic facilities such as Road America, Mid-Ohio, Daytona and others - drivers need to be at their best in order to be the first to reach the checkered flag. To further establish the number of talented pilots in road racing, the award now welcomes its tenth different winner in as many years, this season going to WKA Road Racing champion Chuck Gafrarar.
While entry numbers may not be as high as they once were in the road racing events across the country, the Touch-and-Go classes continue to show larger numbers when compared to other categories. While drafting plays a big part in this type of racing, chassis handling and engine reliability are also key elements that are required in order to be successful. Gafrarar excelled in all these aspects during his campaign of the WKA Dunlop Tire Road Racing Series Driven by Mazda. ‘Chuck G’ made a combined 26 starts in the Stock Leopard Sprint, TaG 1 and TaG 2 categories over seven weekends, winning 17 of his races to earn the championship in all three classes.
The Stock Leopard championship included two races per weekend and Gafrarar was stellar in earning nine victories in 13 start, taking home double wins at Carolina Motorsports Park, Road America, and Putnam Park. Chuck was three-for-six in the TaG 1 win column to earn the championship with victories at Daytona, CMP, and Mid-Ohio. The TaG 2 chase showed an even better percentage with five wins in seven starts (CMP, Roebling Road, Mid-Ohio, Road America, VIR). In total, Gafrarar stood on the podium in 23 of his 26 starts with a worst finish of fifth on the year in his WKA campaign. These are truly remarkable stats.
The WKA Road Racing Grand Nationals took place at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in June and Chuck took home three WKA Eagles. One of these came in the TaG 1 race where Gafrarar started roughly 30 seconds late in the 30-minute race. Running one-second a lap quicker than the lead group, Gafrarar ran them down and smoked by a group of three without a drafting partner on lap 10 to take the lead. He would go on to score the win by 14 seconds, certainly a drive for the history books.
Gafrarar was also successful at other events on the season, including the KART Road Racing Grand Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka, also held in June. At the Kansas facility, Gafrarar came home with two KART Triads for wins in TaG Senior and Stock Leopard, both over Aaron Telitz, the first by 0.065 seconds and the second by just 0.043 seconds at the line. In November, Gafrarar went away from the road race field to the temporary circuit of the SKUSA SuperNationals XIV in Las Vegas. Competing in the TaG Master category, Gafrarar earned a fifth-place podium finish in his first event start.
eKartingNews.com would like to congratulate and welcome Chuck Gafrarar to the prestigious list of Road Racer of the Year winners thanks to his successful 2010 season.
 | Gafrarar was nearly unbeatable in the TaG categories in 2010
(Photo: danfochtphotography.com) |
2010 Road Racer of the Year Honorable Mentions
Randy Fulks (WKA National Road Racing Series) - Jacksonville, Illinois
Anthony Honeywell (KART / IKF) - Tulsa, Oklahoma
Adam Myers (WKA National Road Racing Series) - West Seneca, New York
Justin Taylor (WKA National Road Racing Series / KART) - Wichita, Kansas
Former Road Racer of the Year Award Winners
2009 - Anthony Honeywell
2008 - Jim Fry
2007 - Jim Russell Jr.
2006 - Nate Grindell
2005 - Randy Fulks
2004 - Chris Hegar
2003 - Chad Dokken
2002 - Dave Clift
2001 - Ted Tackett |
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