The following is the full EKN Trackside coverage for the 2004 World Karting Association Daytona KartWeek, held at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Rob Howden and David Cole made their first journey to the holiday season event, taking in the Manufacturers Cup Series race on the sprint track and the National Road Race Series on the ROVAL course.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2004

Believe it or not, the 2005 racing season is here. Just seven weeks after the last checker at the Stars of Karting Finale in Orlando and only four weeks in the shadow of a handful of Thanksgiving weekend events, the new season has begun with the running of the World Karting Association’s annual Kart Week at Daytona Int’l Speedway. New teams, new pairings, new classes and new seniors will all highlight a program that will certainly kick-start the 2005 season in style.

After two flights to Orlando, a three-hour wait for baggage and a one and a half hour trip in the rental car, the EKN editorial duo of Rob Howden and David Cole has taken up residence in Daytona to begin a new season for our unparalleled Trackside coverage. We’re hooked to our hotel’s high-speed Internet port and ready to bring the EKN readership closer to the action. WKA KartWeek will be the first of many events that will enjoy our focused in-person reporting and we’re hoping that all those who cannot make it to Daytona for the event will enjoy being kept in the loop. We will be in the paddock and in the infield throughout the week working to provide the EKN readership with daily update on all the competition. We’ll then follow-up with an in-depth report on the race in the February issue of Super Kart Illustrated with stunning photography and behind-the-scenes stories.

By no means does our arrival in Florida signal the beginning of this annual event, however. Competitors began arriving at the DIS gates before Christmas and a full day of competition was already been put into the books on December 26th with the traditional running of 4-Cycle Day at the Speedway.

As we post this initial segment, the smell of two-stroke karting engines has already permeated its way through the confines of Daytona Int’l. The WKA put a pair of programs on track today, kicking off practice on both the 3.5-mile road course and the sprint kart track that is located in the infield between turns three and four. The National Road Race Series and the Manufacturer’s Cup each opened up today with practice session available to the expected 800+ entries for this segment of the event. An additional 2000+ entries are expected to pack Daytona’s Municipal Stadium for the opening of the WKA National Speedway Dirt Series, making this week the single biggest karting event in the world.

A special program running in conjunction with the NRRS will actually complete its season during the ’05 opener as Daytona also represents the final round of the 2004 Super Kart Illustrated Formula 125 Enduro Challenge for laydown 125cc road racers. A preview of the series finale ran on EKN last week and can be found here (full story). The point battle in this five-race program will come to head tomorrow as the WKA’s Formula 125 class will serve as the finale. Reigning series champion Scott Fiesler leads the points chase but with one drop available to the racers, he will need to step up his game to challenge the primary title contenders Mike Spear Jr. and Brian Wilhelm. We’ll include a report in this shootout in tomorrow evening’s report.

EKN will be providing daily coverage of the event throughout the week with pit notes, observations, photos, main event predications and race results highlighting our event package.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2004

The cobwebs have been cleared and the rubber is going down at this year’s WKA Kart Week as the drivers have all brought their programs up to speed. A full slate of racing was put into the books on Tuesday, both on the full Daytona road course and the temporary sprint track laid out in between turns three and four of the big track. The weatherman cooperated as well as only a light sprinkling of rain midway through the day hampered the proceedings. By the end of the day, blue skies dominated the horizon.

Manufacturer’s Cup – Day 1

Ryan Fowler walked to the win in Easykart

The 2005 edition of the Manufacturer’s Cup East kicked off today on the sprint track with a total of six classes hitting the asphalt. Multi-time WKA champ James Perkins (Gillard) got things going with a solid win in the Yamaha Masters category, winning over Jonathan Ferris and Christopher Rock. In HPV Jr. SuperCan, Stars of Karting Cadet frontrunner Will Tenney looked good in his graduation to the Junior level, winning in a close fight over Christian Pahud. Eric Morrow would follow suit in Yamaha Jr. SuperCan, beating Brandon Bealer by just over two seconds.

The HPV Lite category featured an exciting knockdown, drag-out fight for the win as Paulie Harraka (KRT) emerged victorious over Joey King (Margay) with a last lap move to take an impressive triumph in his first senior race in WKA competition. Harraka has a long resume of wins in Junior racing and will now work to add Senior victories to his pedigree. Corey Reeves (Margay) ran to third over Brandon Adkins and David Kraeer.

Rideless just four weeks ago, Joey King steered his Margay to a Formula Y victory

Harraka was back behind the wheel in the spec Easykart main and was in the fight again, although not for the outright win. The opening lap of the race was highlighted by several incidents that took drivers out of the 20-lap event, including a first corner pile-up. These assorted melees allowed Ryan Fowler to pull away to a dominating victory as the Florida driver was never challenged en route to a 4.823-second win. After working his way to third, Harraka would battle with Stars of Karting Easykart champion Carlos Duenas for the runner-up position. Harraka completed his run to second immediately, getting by Duenas in turn one but Duenas came back and re-took the position just a few laps later. The duo would remain attached and, in the end, Harraka would win out and take the position at the checker. Nick Heden and Jon Branam would cap the top five.

The final race of the day was all Margay’s Joey King. The Silvis, IL driver did not have a ride heading into the 2005 season but a concerted effort by a supportive motor builder – Cook Racing Engines – re-fired King’s successful association with Margay. King paid his backers with an impressive win in the Formula Y Senior opener. King led from flag-to-flag and crossed the line with the Birel-mounted Michael Giessen giving chase. Corey Reeves (Margay) took third while Chris Stage (Gillard) delivered a strong performance to finish fourth over Mark Vielgut (Haase).

National Road Race Series – Day 1

WKA 125cc road racing is always this tight

The CIK 125 1 race was a wild one with a nine-kart draft pack leading the way during the first few laps. Of the 30 drivers chasing the victory, Chad Roe (Energy) found the right set-up for the ever-changing weather conditions to take his first Daytona win. Defending series champion and reigning SKI Road Racer of the Year Chad Dokken (Rocket) was in the hunt but experienced carburation troubles each lap in the infield, hindering his ability to run up front. The CKT pilot would end up fifth in the opening 125cc run of the weekend. Owen Wharton (Intrepid) took second over Rob Morris (Birel).

The Piston Port Can Lite class turned heads in pit lane as a six-kart lead pack diced around the 3.6 mile course from the drop of the green all the way to the checkered flag fell. In what was going to be a big victory, Lindsay Walkup-Fox took the checkered flag as the winner but was then disqualified in the tech barn – the back of her exhaust ‘can’ had worked its way loose and did not make it back to the paddock. This gave the win to defending series champion Terry Russell, who made the long trip from California with car owner Tom Harpur, racing under the LAD tent.

Mike Spear Jr. clinched the SKI F125 title with his Daytona win

The TaG class main – identified as Spec 125 Sprint 1 in the WKA package – did little to calm the controversy that has surrounded the program. While an impressive field of 33 drivers took the green, it was the dominating performance of Bret Spaude on the Sonik-powered Veloce that caused much of the discussion. The WKA is taking considerable heat in their equivalency program for the TaG engines and many believe that the Sonik is simply too quick for the competition. Spaude romped to a 43.261-second win over TS Racing teammate Brad Zoeller, who was running a Parilla Leopard on his Veloce. The most telling fact was that Spaude’s fastest lap was over 2.5 seconds quicker than his closest competition. The young pilot’s natural talent makes it tough to truly gauge the engine’s performance. Although, as an emerging category in the WKA program, you can be certain that the organization’s tech staff will be closely monitoring each race.

Although it may have been the beginning of the 2005 season for the WKA NRRS paddock, Tuesday’s Formula 125 race was also was the finale event for the Super Kart Illustrated Formula 125 Enduro Challenge. Winner of two series events during the season, Arkansas’ Mike Spear Jr. (Emmick) put in a dominating performance to earn the victory and the championship. After a smoking launch off the wall to start the 45-minute main, Spear was able to work his way around lapped traffic to put distance on second place man Brian Wilhelm (Owl) as Spear recorded the second fastest lap of the race, topped only by 250 Twin winner Johnny West. Spear knocked off a quick lap of 2:02.641 en route to the championship-clinching victory. Heading into the event, defending SKI F125 champion Scott Fiesler (Emmick) had the point lead but he was be unable to hold onto the crown following an uncharacteristic opening lap spin. He would later succumb to ignition troubles that would send him to the garage. We’ll post a complete story on the SKI F125 Enduro Challenge finale next week.

The track is hot again today and we’ll be back this evening with a full report of the day’s action. We’ll also lay down our predictions for the second Manufacturer’s Cup ICC main event, which will wrap up the week on Thursday.

Day 1 Results

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2004

The second day of this year’s WKA KartWeek was completed on Wednesday as the paddock enjoyed blue skies and safe racing on the hallowed grounds of Daytona International Speedway. The shifterkarts made their first appearance on the sprint track in both 125cc and 80cc configuration while the high banks of DIS saw another slate of assorted enduro classifications.

Manufacturer’s Cup – Day 2

Logan Gomez notched a breakthrough ICC win

Powered on by the set-up of chassis expert Tim Lobaugh and the engine tuning of Dave Talbot, Birel driver Logan Gomez turned in the sweep of the ICC proceedings on the sprint track yesterday, scoring his first national 125cc triumph. Although the field was not quite as strong as it has been in the past, Gomez defeated both Wesley Boswell (Birel) and Josh Schreiber (Biesse) to take the well-deserved victory. Making his debut with J&J; Racing aboard a Biesse, Schreiber needed to come from the tail of the field in the Prefinal after trouble in qualifying. After improving his position by a couple of spots in the heat race, he pushed hard in the final and diced hard with Boswell to the checker as Gomez capitalized on the clear track in front of him.

The ICA offering drew a solid 22 entries to Daytona and after a first corner incident collected a handful of the front-running contenders, MRP’s Michael Giessen picked up where he left off by dominating the race en route to a big win. The Deer Park, NY driver praised the support of legendary engine man Lynn Haddock following the race and also told EKN that much of his pace came from a quick set-up right out of the trailer.

Michael Giessen and Mark Vielgut occupied the ICA front row

Corey Reeves (Margay) took his place at the head of the Yamaha and HPV fields, winning the Yamaha Lite category over Brandon Adkins and Tim Goettch as Margay swept the top six positions. Paulie Harraka continued his impressive senior debut on his KRT but ended up in sixth after tagging an apex haybale. Reeves matched the run in HPV Lite, edging Harraka by just under a second. The front four drivers, with Kevin Nelson (Margay) and Chuck Tate (Margay) added to the mix, ran together from start to finish.

Eric Morrow (Margay) continued a great week with a 3.5-second win in Formula Yamaha Jr. over Chad Finley (Margay) while Sage Karam (Birel) turned in an amazing performance by walking away from the Cadet field. Karam’s father Jody was back home in the hospital undergoing a kidney operation and refused to begin the procedure until hearing from his son following the race. He is no doubt extremely proud of is son’s fine performance. Reid Jefferies took second over Bijon Spinazzola as the Jon Nevoso camp finished with a sweep of the next sixth positions.

In the 80cc Junior category, Zach Schiff made an exciting debut with the First Kart team as he romped to a dominant win. First Kart took the top two positions as Ontario star Michael Vincec stepped up late in the game to best DL Racing’s Hayden Duerson (Tony Kart).

ICC Race #2 Predictions – By Super Kart Illustrated’s Rob Howden:

Heading into today’s ICC final, the primary players for the win are easy to identify: Logan Gomez, Wesley Boswell and Josh Schreiber. Gomez will be looking to complete an amazing season-opening weekend with another win but his competition will very likely rise to the occasion. I look for Boswell to step up to the plate as Schreiber continues to come up to speed in the Biesse, winning the last race of the week after a heated battle. Schreiber will take second as Gomez backs up his Tuesday win with a podium today.

National Road Race Series – Day 2

Russell vs. Spaude; a family feud on the big track

The Spec 125 Sprint 2 class came down to a battle of two road racing families with a pair of different generations. TS Racing’s Bil Spaude (Veloce) found time to put his driver’s suit on and jump into a kart for competition. Battling the karting pioneer was Jim Russell Jr. (Rocket), who hails from long time road racing supporter Russell Karting. The two found themselves in a four-kart battle for the top spot at the end of the race with Russell edging out Spaude at the line. Just behind them were Dean Boyd and Andrew Noyes in the third and fourth positions, respectively.

The CIK 125 Sprint 2 race started out just about the same as yesterday’s opening main as at one time a lead pack of 12 karts screamed through the tri-oval. The finish was much different, however. Rob Morris (Birel) improved on his third place finish from yesterday by edging out Chad Dokken (Rocket) and Lance Lane (Veloce) for the photo finish victory. The lead pack eventually dwindled down to the three veteran road racers as they worked together and separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Yesterday’s winner Chad Roe (Energy) and runner-up Owen Wharton (Intrepid) were disqualified for pushing in the draft, a no-no that has been stressed for all classes at every drivers meeting. Shaun Cain (CRG) and Tim Richardson (Margay) rounded out the top five.

Tight racing action on the high banks during Yamaha Sportsman Heavy

The Unlimited class doubled its numbers from Wednesday to 24 on the grid, filled with many different blends of classes that ran the previous day. Ron Miller took his Rotax-powered Dominator to the sweep of the category with another victory. Miller held off Formula 125 driver Brian Wilhelm (Owl), who went home with two runner-up finishes for the week. B-Stock driver and race director Robby Harper rounded out the top three.

A great on-track battle in the Yamaha Medium ended up not determining the final results. Nate Grindell and Scott Buerman engaged in a 45-minute chess battle with Grindell declared as the winner. Grindell was not awarded the win, however, as he was disqualified in the tech barn when his engine was found to be uncompliant with the motor specifications. This handed the second position to Brandon Fry with Dave Hechler taking the third position. Grindell would come back at the end of the day to post a runner-up finish to road racing legend Randy Fulks in the Yamaha Sportsman Heavy class.

Day 2 Results

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2004

It’s the completion of the 2004 edition of the World Karting Association Kartweek and while the winter is coming in quickly, there is no doubt the new season has begun. With seasonal storms hitting the northern half of the continent in a big way, the top WKA karters from both the road race and sprint disciplines provided the heat in Daytona to keep things warm. Incredible competition was standard at both venues as the primary players of the ’05 season made themselves known very quickly.

The final schedule of the three-day event wrapped up on December 30 in distinctly different scenarios as the big track was locked and loaded before the sprinters had even headed into their finals. A short day on the high banks of Daytona Int’l consisting of just four race groups made certain that the teams would be on the road early, bound for home. Red flag stoppages during the morning warm-up sessions put the sprint track behind schedule and in the end, they were forced to cut the finals from 20 laps down to 15 in an effort to meet curfew.

Manufacturer’s Cup – Day 3

Wesley Boswell swept day two of ICC action

The final day of sprint track competition got off to a rough start with red flag stoppages during the warm-up runs slowing the schedule from the very get-go. It was well past 3:00pm before the finals even made their arrival but when they did, the racing continued to be good. Young Will Tenney (Nevoso) continued his successful weekend, backing up his HPV Jr. Supercan win with a victory in the Yamaha Jr. Sportsman category. Evan Kalogiannis (Biesse) kept up the pressure and was on Tenney’s rear bumper at the stripe, less than two tenths in arrears. Cadet Final 1 winner Sage Karam (Birel) was third.

In the day’s Cadet race later on the schedule, Dylan Nobile (Nevoso) developed a small 0.7 second gap over Bijon Spinazzola (Nevoso) at the stripe while Tenney and Karam battled for third and fourth.

KRT pilot Paulie Harraka capped a brilliant debut in the WKA senior categories by bagging four top three finishes in Daytona, wrapping up the outing with an exciting win over series veteran Kevin Nelson in Yamaha Heavy. Harraka edged the Margay pilot by 0.182 seconds to take the checker as Corey Reeves (Margay) was alone in third just another couple of tenths back. Comet’s Mark Dismore (Margay) took fourth over Day 1 Yamaha Masters winner James Perkins (Margay).

Reeves would bounced back to edge out Tony Loniewski (Margay) in what was the scantest of margins, taking a 0.001-second win according to the AMB timing software in a three-driver spread at the line that had Tony Jump (Margay) in third at 0.002 off the winner. Now that’s a close race!

Caleb Loniewski (Margay) was the outright winner in the TaG class, finishing 0.345 seconds ahead of Chris Larson (Gillard) and Michael Giessen (Birel).

In shifter action, our EKN prediction came to fruition as our pre-race pick to win the ICC class – MRP’s Wesley Boswell (Birel) – improved on his Race #1 runner-up finish to take the victory over Energy pilot Scott Rettich. Josh Schreiber, making his debut aboard a Biesse with J&J; Racing, took second on-track but was awarded a five-position penalty for jumping the start and was officially classified in seventh. Jesse Labbe (CRG) completed the top three in ICC. Jesse Schwab (Birel) and Adam Kaempfer (Merlin) took fourth and fifth.

In 80cc action, Zach Schiff completed the sweep of the category in his debut with First Kart North America, teamed with tuner James Willis. Hayden Duerson (Tonykart) and Nicholas Darinzo (Birel) had been running up front before colliding, handing the lead and the win over to Schiff. Curtis Fox (Birel) finished second ahead of Jonathan Goring (Birel).

National Road Race Series – Day 3

Mike Spear Sr. and Jr. battled each other during Day 3 competition

The final day of competition on the big track featured four race groups in Piston Port, Yamaha and Briggs configuration. The gearbox classes had been completed a day earlier, leaving the track to the laydown and sit-up 100cc and four-cycle classes.

Terry Russell posted his second victory of Daytona KartWeek with a close finish in the Yamaha Sportsman Lite class. The California driver notched his first win of the week on day one in the Piston Port Can Lite class. Russell fended off the reigning class champion Kevin Webb for the photo finish ahead of third place Donny Warren. Jim Fry came home in the fourth position.

Another driver able to pick up a sweep was Georgia native Erin Sparrow, who took the checkered in the Briggs Sprint 360 class. Sparrow dominated the 22-kart field by a margin of 14 seconds, with a fastest lap that was two seconds quicker than the second place finisher. Sparrow was able to take the victory on day one in the Briggs Sprint 335 as well. John St. Jean added another podium finish for the week with a second place results, crossing the line just ahead of Michael Kocsis.

The 100cc Controlled battle saw a father-son battle for the checkered flag with Mike Spear Jr. able to even the score by edging out his father Mike Sr. With a demanding win in Formula 125 on day one, Spear Jr. had also clinched the SKI F125 Enduro Challenge championship. In total, the duo went home with five cups, three of which were first place finishes.

The last race of the day saw another photo finish during the Piston Port Can Sprint 380 main. The opening laps saw a seven-kart lead pack dicing back and forth for position, going three wide into the infield. Eventually, a four-kart group broke away from the field with Chris Hysick eventually moving to the forefront to earn the victory ahead of Ed Shampine. The finish for third place was so close that the transponders recorded the exact same crossing time. Flagman Phil Clements made the finale decision that Mark Hollenbeck had edged out Andrew Noyes for third.

Day 3 Results

WRAP-UP

Regardless of the delays at the sprint track during the final day, the entire week was a positive outing with strong turnouts at both venues. A number of new young guns made their senior debuts at Daytona, starting with sprint hotshoe Paulie Harraka, who came home with a pair of wins in HPV Lite and Yamaha Heavy and a pair of runner-up results in Easykart and HPV Heavy. 125cc shifter driver Logan Gomez was also stellar, sweeping the opening day of ICC competition on the sprint layout. On the big track, a legendary name in U.S. road racing was at the forefront once again. Although not a rookie senior, Bret Spaude continued his emergence onto the scene, carrying his family name proudly once again to follow in the footsteps of his father Tod. The newest Spaude bagged the win in the opening Spec 125 Sprint race.

Among others, Harraka, Gomez and Spaude are three drivers who will need to be watched in 2005 when these programs continue. The Manufacturer’s Cup will resume on the April 22-24 weekend at the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex in Wampum, PA while the National Road Racing Series will run their second round on February 4-6 at Roebling Road in Savannah, GA in conjunction with the Big South Road Racing Series.

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