(Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

The second edition of the Cup Karts North America Summer Nationals were held on the July 4-6 weekend. Briggs & Stratton racers celebrated the 4th of July weekend at the Motorsports Country Club of Cincinnati in Batavia, Ohio, location for the second edition of the CKNA Summer Nationals. The third major CKNA event of the 2025 season featured warm weather all weekend long, taking on the challenging 0.95-mile course to decide this year’s winners of the CKNA Summer Nationals.

Nathan Dupuis held off a big Junior field for the victory (Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

The 45-driver field of Junior was first in the order on the weekend. Saturday morning qualifying was led by Carter Barkis (CompKart) with a lap time of 1:07.014 to clear the field by over a tenth. The large field was split up into groups for the two rounds of heat races, featuring four different winners. Brady Schad (Coyote) and Nathan Dupuis (Sodi Kart) led the way in the opening round of heats before Barkis and AJ Stoner (Coyote) took the top spot in the two heats for round two. Barkis and Schad earned the front row starting spot and led the full field to the green flag for the 15-lap main event. Both were shuffled down the order after the opening lap as Derek Wargo (CompKart) and Hudson Urlin (Kubica) took control of the front early. Dupuis – who started in ninth – worked his way toward the front to make it a three-driver fight along with Hudson Harder (Birelart). Urlin led the majority of the race until the final four circuits when the fight for the victory began. Harder took the lead before Dupuis grabbed the top spot prior to the white flag. Through the final circuit, Dupuis was able to win the race to the checkered flag for the victory by 87 thousandths of a second ahead of Wargo. Urlin was third with Sam Tutwiler (Birelart) up to fourth ahead of Stoner. Harder fell back to seventh on the final circuits while Schad recovered with fast laps of the race to finish sixth.

Spencer Hite is now a two-time Summer Nationals winner (Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

Spencer Hite was able to win a second straight at the CKNA Summer Nationals, this time in his Cadet debut. It was Reuben Greer (Nitro Kart) that led the way in qualifying over the 18-driver field, edging out Hite (Nitro Kart) by 10 thousandths with a 1:08.418 lap time. Miles Brownfield (Sodi Kart) came up from fourth on the grid to win the opening heat race ahead of Greer and Elam Stoner (Coyote) while Hite rebounded to claim the win in the second heat by nearly two seconds. Hite and Stoner were the drivers earning the front row start for the main event. Stoner would get shuffled back to fifth over the opening lap as Hite was joined by Greer at the front. Greer took over the lead on lap three and showed the way until Hite reclaimed the position on lap 10. From there, Hite was able to lead the rest of the distance to claim the victory, reaching the line 77 thousandths ahead of Greer. Brownfield and Stoner were third and fourth at the line, however, tram line penalties dropped them down to fifth and sixth, promoting Jackson Brewster (Nitro Kart) and Drew Schneider (Nitro Kart) to third and fourth.

Back-to-back wins at the Summer Nationals for Owen Lloyd in Senior Heavy (Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

For a second straight year, Owen Lloyd secured victory in the Senior Heavy division. Qualifying was led by Canadian Marc Stehle (Birelart) with a 1:07.521 lap time to edge out Christopher McKeithan (Coyote) by 43 thousandths. McKeithan came away from the Heat #1 battle with the win over Stehle and Adriano Yannuzzi (Coyote) while Lloyd (MGM) came through in the second heat, winning by over two seconds. McKeithan and Lloyd led the 24-driver field to the green flag for the main event as the pole sitter jumped out to the lead. Lloyd took over the top spot on lap four, leading the remainder of the 15-lap race for a second straight victory at the Summer Nationals. McKeithan won the battle for second ahead of Eli Fox (MGM) – who started seventh. Huntington Bolton (Coyote) followed him through to end up fourth after starting eighth while Yannuzzi capped off the top-five.

Todd Bolton swept the action in Legends (Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

The only sweep of the weekend came in the 15-driver Legends category as Todd Bolton (Coyote) secured his first Summer Nationals triumph. The veteran set fast time in qualifying with a 1:07.595 lap time ahead of Jeff Chalmers (MGM) and Tim Shutt (CompKart). Bolton led all 10 laps of Heat #1 over Shutt and Chalmers while going wire-to-wire in the second heat over Chalmers and Todd Baron (Gold). Bolton and Shutt swapped the lead in the first half of the 15-lap main event. Bolton secured the top spot on lap seven, and was able to fend off Shutt the rest of the distance for the victory. Eli Yanko (OTK) advanced from 14th to third ahead of Chalmers and Dough Cook (Coyote).

Maverick Reddick claimed his first CKNA major victory in Kid Kart (Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

It was a two driver fight in the Kid Kart division featuring eight drivers. Maddox Nieves (Tony Kart) led the way in qualifying with a 1:21.390 lap time over Maverick Reddick (CRG). Nieves went wire-to-wire in both heat races over Reddick to retain the pole position for the 12-lap Final. Reddick jumped out to the lead from the outside front row starting spot, and led all 12 laps to secure his first CKNA major victory. Nieves settled for second with Liam Vaughn (MGM) in third. Tony Beam (Sodi Kart) and Aubrey Babcock (Nitro Kart) completed the top-five.

Christopher McKeithan led the way in Senior Light (Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

It was a near perfect score for Christopher McKeithan (Coyote) in the Senior Light division. Addison Ianniello (Coyote) came out of the 39 driver field with fast time in qualifying, posting a 1:05.755 lap time. Owen Lloyd (MGM) and Isaac Malcuit (Birelart) were within 49 thousandths of her time. McKeithan was fifth in the order and came away with an opening round heat race win along with Dylan Amundsen (MGM). The second round of heat races saw McKeithan and Kelvin Xing (MGM) at the top of the order in the split races. McKeithan and Lloyd made up the front row with James Overbeck (Coyote) and Xing in row two. The main event was a wild one with early shuffling involving the lead pack. McKeithan led early before Lloyd took control on lap three. On lap six, contact involving Overbeck, Amundsen, Ragan Saville (GFC) and Nicky Palladino (OTK). The incident brought out a red flag due to a blocked race track with the race restarted, led by McKeithan. Lloyd and Henry Wheeler (Birelart) each grabbed the lead before McKeithan returned to the top spot. McKeithan led the final four laps, securing his first Summer Nationals triumph. Wheeler missed out on the win by only 54 thousandths at the line with Lloyd in third. 2024 race winner Colin Warren (VLR) was fourth with Camryn Reed (CRG) advancing from 23rd to fifth.

Lanie Thigpen became the first female winner at the CKNA Summer Nationals, claiming top spot in Sportsman (Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

Multiple drivers were at the front battle throughout the weekend in the 20-driver Sportsman category. Ohio driver Hayden Lawson (Parolin) cleared the field by over four tenths in qualifying with a 1:07.447 lap time. Will Feichtinger (Kart Republic) came away with the Heat #1 win over Daniel Draganov (Nitro Kart) and Lanie Thigpen (CompKart). Heat #2 was won by Draganov over Lawson and Thigpen, however, Lawson was a DQ in the session for losing a weight. That promoted Thigpen to second and Feichtinger to third. Draganov and Feichtinger earned the front row starting spots with Thigpen and Jonathan Borre (Birelart) in row two. Draganov and Thigpen were able to breakaway from the field as they battled for third behind them. Draganov led up to the white flag as the two battled for the victory on the final circuit. In a race to the checkered flag, Thigpen reached the line first by 85 thousandths to become the first female winner at the CKNA Summer Nationals. Ryder Thompson (Nitro Kart) drove up from 12th to win the fight for third over Feichtinger with Ryan Hall (CompKart) placing fifth.

Michael Dittmer added to his CV with his first Summer Nationals victory in Masters (Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

Michael Dittmer (Comet Eagle) claimed his third CKNA Major victory of his career in the Masters division. Dittmer set fast time in qualifying with a 1:07.951 lap time to edge out Tim Shutt (CompKart) by 86 thousandths. Fifth in the session was defending race winner Eric Fagan (Gold) who drove his way to the win in Heat #1 over Shutt and Dittmer. Fagan ended up third in Heat #2 as Dittmer returned to the point with Jamie Bradford (MGM) in second. After the opening lap, Fagan retired from the main event. This left Dittmer and Shutt at the front fighting for P1 while Bradford and Eli Yanko (OTK) trailing. Dittmer led the first four laps before Shutt took over to lead to the white flag. Through the final lap, Dittmer was able to secure the top spot and win the race to the line, taking the checkered flag by 44 thousandths. Bradford was third at the line but was penalized one spot due to contact, promoting Yanko to third. Jeff Chalmers (MGM) capped off won the battle for fifth.

Two straight wins at the Summer Nationals in Senior Medium for Dylan Amundsen (Photo: Rocket Gear Media)

The largest category of the event was Senior Medium with 48 drivers. Defending race winner Dylan Amundsen (MGM) came away from qualifying with fast time of 1:06.529 to clear the field by over a tenth. Four different drivers won the four different heat races. Colin Warren (VLR) and Addison Ianniello (Coyote) in the opening heats while Amundsen and Henry Wheeler (Birelart) took the top spot in round two. Amundsen retained his pole position for the main event with Warren on the front row while Wheeler and James Overbeck (Coyote) made up row two. The 15-lap main event was a battle to the end with Amundsen getting shuffled back to sixth by the halfway point with Warren, Wheeler, and Overbeck all leading. Warren led as the second half of the race began before Christopher McKeithan (Coyote) grabbed the top spot on lap 10. He led the next three laps until a charging Amundsen reclaimed the lead position on lap 13. From there, Amundsen led the remainder of the race to record a second straight at the CKNA Summer Nationals. Wheeler was a close second, finishing 30 thousandths off at the line. McKeithan settled for third over Ian Quinn (Birelart) – who started seventh – with Ianniello in fifth. The top seven, including Overbeck and Warren finished within one second at the line.

The Cup Karts North America continues on with their divisional programs with the CKNA North, CKNA East, and CKNA Canada with the CKNA South series already completed for 2025. The final major event of the 2025 season will be the CKNA Grand Nationals 9, scheduled for September 24-28 at the New Castle Motorsports Park in New Castle, Indiana.

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