The Cup Karts North America Grand Nationals 8 is set for a record breaking weekend at the New Castle Motorsports Park. The New Castle, Indiana facility is set to welcome 627 entries over October 10-13 in what will be the largest karting event in North America and around the world. Nine Briggs & Stratton 206 categories will take on the 1-mile circuit with over 500 drivers seeking to etch their names in history with a victory at the CKNA Grand Nationals 8.

The event begins on Thursday, October 10 with unofficial practice contest all day, providing four sessions for each category. The larger divisions – Senior Medium, Senior Light, Senior Heavy and Junior – are broken up into two groups each all weekend long. Friday is the first official day of action with a warm up and ‘Happy Hour’ session before qualifying. The opening round of heat races will complete Friday action. Saturday hosts a full slate of racing with Heat 2 and Heat 3 contested. All races are set for eight laps each, and each heat is progressive, meaning drivers will start the next round where they finished in the previous session. When all three heat races are completed, points will be tabulated with the highest point total earning the main event pole position. The top-56 in Senior Light, Senior Medium, Senior Heavy and Junior transfer automatically. The top-4 from the LCQ races run on Sunday morning move on to the Finals Sunday afternoon – making those fields for the main events at 60 drivers taking the green flag.

New for this year’s event will be night racing. Friday and Saturday will split up the categories into groups. – Cadet, Senior Medium, Masters and Junior will run in the morning sessions on Friday before moving to the afternoon period on Saturday. Sportsman, Senior Heavy, Legends, and Senior Light will compete Friday afternoon and return Saturday morning.

Also added to the event will be two special events within the CKNA Grand Nationals 8. The first is a Briggs & Stratton ‘Outta the Box’ Challenge. Over 20 teams will first be timed in the ‘Buildoff’ of mounting a new engine to a kart. That team will then compete Saturday evening in a 12-lap race. The second will be a CKNA Senior Showdown. The drivers will draw for starting positions and conduct three heat races with a main event to close out the Saturday evening.

The track layout for the CKNA Grand Nationals 8 is new for the event. The ‘National’ track with the Monza corner included – Track 4. Several prizes will be handed out to competitors throughout the weekend. Over $25,000 in prizes will be raffled off during the event, with Thursday hosting the CKNA Divisional Awards handed out. CKNA will once again be providing live coverage of the GN7, working with Kart Chaser.

eKartingNews.com will be trackside throughout the event with Editorial Assistant Nate Dean providing full trackside coverage. Dean will oversee the social media, daily reports and top-10 updates during the event while Rob Howden and David Cole return back behind the wheel to compete once again. Each will be providing their own social media blogs from the Precision Performance Karting / Brandon Jarsocrak Racing / Coyote and LSR Motorsports / CRG Nordam tents with Howden competing in Legends and Masters while Cole returns with a double dip in Senior Heavy and Masters.

The headline division of Senior Medium features 113 entries, setting a new record like all nine classes at this year’s CKNA Grand Nationals 8. Three former winners are in the field, including defending winner Christopher McKeithan (Coyote). The 16-year-old from North Carolina will have to fend off the record setting field that includes former winners Colin Warren (VLR) and Canadian Jordan Prior (Birel ART). Warren has two wins in 2017 and 2021 while Prior won in 2019. Warren – the all-time winningest driver at the CKNA Grand Nationals with seven victories – is among the divisional winners in the field, winning the CKNA South title along with fellow champs Hudson Brown (Gold) and Cale Zimmermann (VLR). Brown earned the title in North East while Zimmermann took the North crown.

The Senior Light category was established in 2020, with Colin Warren (VLR) winning the opening two events before Canadian Jordan Prior (Birel ART) and James Overbeck (Coyote) took the last two titles. All three drivers are back with Overbeck riding off last year’s victory and coming off a successful 2024 season – which included the SKUSA Pro Tour championship in KA100 Senior along with co-winner of the Mark Harrison Memorial 200 last weekend at NCMP. Warren, Hudson Brown (Gold) and Cale Zimmermann (VLR) doubled up in divisional championships for 2024, also taking home titles in Senior Light. CKNA Canada champion Mickael Aubin Poirier (Birel ART) will make all four divisional champions in the Senior Light field that is the largest of the event as of Monday with 115 drivers.

Senior Heavy was expanded for 2024 as well, only reaching a class high 72 drivers for the weekend. The last three winners of the class will be in the field this weekend. Defending champion Chris Carroll (Coyote) is attempting to become the first driver to win twice in the category that was established in 2019. 2022 winner Eric Fagan (MGM) and 2021 champ Adam Maxwell (Coyote) – who is racing all three Senior categories – will try to add a second win in class on the weekend. All four CKNA divisional winners are in the field – Owen Lloyd (MGM) from the South, Brady Atwood (MGM) of the North East, Nick Ksobiech (VLR) from the North and CKAN Canada champion Jason Rothman (Coyote).

Isaac Malcuit (Birel ART) will attempt to become the first driver in CKNA Grand Nationals history to win twice in the Junior category. The driver from Ohio will have to fight off the record 97-driver field to put his name into event history. The rest of the field will try to etch their names into the history books alongside Stefano Lucente (2017), Elijah Skaggs (2017), Alexander Searle (2018), Logan Adams (2019), Brent Crews (2020), James Overbeck (2021), and Eli Warren (2022). Christopher Wakefield (Sodi Kart) comes into the event with two divisional titles, taking the North East and North crowns. Lukas Thek (Coyote) and Declan Black (Goodwood) come in with the CKNA South and CKNA Canada titles.

Only two former winners are in the 56-driver Masters field. Marc Stehle (Birel ART) comes in as the defending champion with his victory last year over 2022 winner Eric Fagan (MGM). Both are attempting to join Michael Welsh (2017-2018) as a two-time victor in the category. Each have two wins already at the CKNA Grand Nationals, with Fagan winning Senior Heavy while Stehle won the Senior Medium (bodywork) category in 2019. All four divisional winners will be in the record-setting field; including South champion Todd Baron (Mach 1), Eric King (Sodi Kart) from the North East, North title winner Ryan Cassity (Coyote), and Canadian Mathieu Demers (Kart Republic).

Ryan Cassity (Coyote) comes in as the two-time defending winner in the Legends class, that was maxed out at 60 drivers for the 2024 CKNA Grand Nationals. Cassity won the North title in 2024, along with Todd Baron (Mach 1) in the South and Eli Yanko (Tony Kart) taking the divisional crown at CKNA Canada. Nine of the top-10 from last year’s event, including Yanko, are returning in 2024.

The Sportsman category has seen seven different winners over the seven previous events and will welcome an eighth winner as 2023 champ Holden Harder graduates to Junior. The only two drivers returning from the top-10 in last year’s race are AJ Stoner (Coyote) and Sawyer Chambers (Kart Republic), who finished sixth and seventh. Only two divisional winners are in the 37-driver field; Lincoln Massey (Praga) from the South and Daniel Draganov (Nitro Kart) the title winner in the North.

At the beginning of the CKNA, the Sportsman class welcomed drivers 8-13 years old. The Cadet division was established last year, focused around the 8-10 year old group. This year’s field of 51 drivers sets a new record for the second year of the class. Conner Lypka (CompKart) comes in as the defending champion after his victory in 2023. Four others from last year’s top-10 will be in the field, including Dominic Gaddis (Kart Republic), Austin Taylor (Kart Republic), 2024 CKNA South title winner Parker Stewart (Coyote) and 2024 CKNA North champion RJ Brown (Maranello). John Dwyer (Coyote) from the CKNA North East puts three divisional champions in this year’s field.

All but four of the 26 drivers that make up the Kid Kart division will be making their CKNA Grand Nationals debut. CKNA North East champ Spencer Hite (Gold Kart) and North title winner Grant Heckman (VLR) finished second and fourth respectively last year. Diesel Maxwell (Top Kart) and Will Feyereisen (Margay) are both making their second start at the CKNA Grand Nationals. Dean Yates (Coyote) from CKNA North and Koah Dozet (Birel ART) from CKNA Canada are the other two divisional winners in the field.

Fun Stats by Race Select

• Over 620 entries, including multiples classes with over 100 makes this by far the biggest CKNA Grands in history and the largest known 4 cycle race in the world, and the largest Briggs 206 race in history.
• 36 US States will send drivers, up from 32 last year.
• 16 States have more than 10 drivers in attendance
• Indiana boasts 72 drivers, Kansas and Nebraska will pin their hopes on just one driver to bring a national title to their state.
• Over 383 different cities are represented.
• Indianapolis Indiana steals the crown back from Mooresville North Carolina with 9 entries this year, Mooresville held steady at 7 entries in GN7 and GN8, but when you consider that Indy has 17X the population of Mooresville – **I think we should add an asterisk**
• Huntington Bolton is from the smallest town sending a racer, there will be more unique drivers in this race than live in his whole town of Bowen IL.
• William Heckman will be the youngest driver in the field this year, and the old man of the field this year is Travis Wilbur of Paragon IN, one of 3 competitors who are over the age of 70.
• Canada is sending 100 racers across the border, trying to emphasize the NORTH in Cup Karts North America.
• New Zealand is sending ten entries, up from 3 last year. Airfare must have gotten cheaper or something.
• Half of the entries this year will be making their Grand Nationals debut
• 525 unique drivers, 98 drivers will run double duty, competing in 2 classes but Owen Llod, Brady Atwood and Adam Maxwell will seek the triple crown, running in all 3 senior categories.
• The drivers will make 60,000 total laps during the event, covering a distance greater than two full laps around the earth at the equator. Over 7,200 Vega tires will be used – if you stacked them on top of one another it would fall over well before you reached the final height, roughly the same as Sugarloaf Mountain in Vermont.
• Average Age: Kid Kart – 7; Cadet – 9; Sportsman – 11; Junior – 14; Senior Light – 20; Senior Medium – 20; Senior Heavy – 24; Masters – 44; Legends – 58; All Total – 23

Be sure to follow all the EKN Social Media outlets for updates, photos, videos and more from the Cup Karts North America Grand Nationals 8.

Provisional Senior Medium Entry List

Provisional Senior Light Entry List

Provisional Senior Heavy Entry List

Provisional Junior Entry List

Provisional Masters Entry List

Provisional Legends Entry List

Provisional Sportsman Entry List

Provisional Cadet Entry List

Provisional Kid Kart Entry List

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