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| April 13, 2005 News |
| KRA Series Begins 2005 Season |
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 | Junior 1 drivers Conor Daly (22) and Jimmy Simpson (21) make contact
(Photo: davidleephoto.com) |
The opening round of the 2005 Kart Racers of America Series took place on a beautiful 80 degree day at New Castle Motorsports Park. A record turnout was on hand to enjoy the weather and a great day of racing. The day started out with three rounds of practice followed by qualifying by class and finally the features for all 18 classes.
A new crop of Kid Karts started off the features with Kyle Tilley taking the win with Courtney Innis in second. Next out was a new addition to the KRA Series, Cadet Junior Sportsman with 10 entries. It was a two kart race with Brooks Levy and Sam Berger swapping the lead numerous times over the 10 laps with Brooks Levy taking the win on the last lap, last corner. Junior Yamaha Can Class #1 was out next with Conor Daly taking an impressive 12 second win over second place Jimmy Simpson. Conor Daly was a double winner on Sunday also winning Junior Yamaha Can #2 over Jimmy Simpson once again.
Our first senior class of the day was Spec Tag Heavy with ex-Yamaha Can racer Cary Garro taking the win over early leader Trent Henderson in second. After a short lunch break racing resumed with Yamaha SSX Masters. Polesitter Steve Rumsey took the win with a charging Greg Davis in second. Yamaha Junior Sportsman was the battle of the brothers with Spencer Margison taking the win with Evan Margison in second. After a quick spin the 2004 Yamaha Junior Sportman point champ Riley Turk battled back from midpack to finish third.
 | Rockie Piccone running just ahead of Derrick Bardes in Yamaha Jr. Sportsman
(Photo: davidleephoto.com) |
TaG USA Senior was a great race between WKA National Racers Casey Neal in the Sonik and Brandon Adkins with the Parilla Leopard. Casey took the early lead with Adkins in second. By halfway Adkins was on Neal’s bumper and made the pass at the end of the long back straight. After all the winter talk of the TaG USA Rules it looked like the two engines were very competitive with each other. Adkins took the win with new Senior Class driver Nick Losito in second and Casey Neal in third.
Briggs Gold and Briggs Purple competed on track together in a staggered start with the Briggs Animals of Ross Bunnell and Chad Swails taking first and second in Gold. Cody Doyle took the win in Purple plate with Ian Massengale in second. The next class on track was Yamaha Senior Pipe with what was probably the most exciting race of the day. 23 drivers took the green flag with a four kart battle at the front with Nick Losito taking the early lead. On lap two Matt Codalada took the top spot with Losito and Codalada swapping the lead on three occasions. The battle for second through fourth was equally as intense as Joseph Jacks and Thomas Belli worked hard to get to the front. When the checkered fell Matt Codalada took the win over Nick Losito and Thomas Belli in third, the top three were separated by only 2 tenths!
125cc Shifter was out next and was a great fight with Ron Peterson taking an early lead with Scott Rettick and Tim Hollowell fighting for second. Hollowell passed Rettick for second on lap three and made the bid for the lead on lap five. Hollowell took the victory in the 15 lap race over Rettick and Peterson. Yamaha Senior Can was on track next with yet another great race for the lead. Yamaha Pipe winner Matt Codalada took the early lead but Chris Harding was charging hard and took the lead on lap two, Codalada took the lead back on the next circuit and began to stretch it out. Harding began to drop back and Mike Greene took over second with Andy Glover in third, Codalada cruised to his second win of the day.
 | TaG racing action at NCMP during the KRA Series season opener
(Photo: davidleephoto.com) |
Another race of major interest was the new TaG Masters class. 2004 KRA Unlimited champion Dan Taylor jumped into the lead going into turn one and never looked back and winning wire to wire. Fourth place starter Vince Schneider moved up a couple spots to take second place. Spec TaG Lite was on track also with 15 entries as Billy Lewis took the lead at the green and led for the next five circuits before the charging Nick Losito took the lead. He would keep the lead for the rest of the race winning with a sizeable margin. Chad Carmichael briefly took over second however Lewis regained the spot before the checkered.
Briggs Senior was the next to last class out with a great three way battle between Chris Toffolo, Jason Trennepohl and Michael Busse. Toffolo lead past halfway but a determined Trennepohl took over the lead on lap six. Coming down for the checkered Toffolo made a last ditch move for the victory but ended up spinning just before the start finish line. Busse took second with Toffolo in third. The final race of the day was Unlimited with Billy Lewis and Nick Losito again going head to head. This time, despite a few looks, Lewis held off Losito for the checkered.
The next KRA Series race will be this weekend on Sunday, April 17. The KRA Series is a 14 race series (two drops allowed) with all races hosted at New Castle Motorsports Park. For more information, visit http://www.newcastleraceway.com or call 765-987-8090. KRA Membership is not required to race in KRA Series races. |
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