Race Report: PG Racing Championship Enduro Series - Round Four
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The fourth round of the PG Racing Championship Enduro Series (CES) was held at the challenging Grattan Raceway on a beautiful July 1st weekend. Joining the series this weekend was the Great Lakes Region Superkarts USA (SKUSA) series. Although rain often hampers the activities at Grattan, not a drop was in sight as sunny skies and pleasant temperatures prevailed throughout the weekend. With the SKUSA races scheduled for Sunday, many of the SKUSA competitors took the opportunity to race Saturday with the CES classes making for competitive shifter and TAG classes.
Grattan Raceway, built in 1965, is a picturesque 2-mile, 12-turn road course with a unique combination of off-camber turns, a bowl corner, a “jump hump” and a 3200 feet long front straightaway. Situated around the hilly road course are several ponds providing fishing opportunities for the racers. Most of the road course is visible from the upper paddock area making it an ideal spectator track. The track also has a moto-cross track located next to the front straightaway that can host motorcycle and ATV races at the same time. The road course circuit is somewhat bumpy due to the harsh Michigan winters, although it did not seem any worse than last year as lap times were comparable to last years times.
In one of the biggest races of the weekend, 38 shifter karts qualified for the Saturday CIK-125, G-125 and Spec Moto 125 sprint race. CES regular Owen Wharton qualified on pole in the CIK 125 class with Derek Crockett along side in the front row. Lance Lane moved to the front early in the race with his son Josh close behind in second. By mid-race the lead pack consisted of Clayton Prater, Ted Steffke, Owen Wharton, Derek Crockett and Joe Sturm dicing for the lead. Lance Lane, Patrick Malacarne and Eric Freiberg were also running close to the front. A lap 15 crash took out most of the front runners and Patrick Malacarne held off Derek Crockett at the finish by .029 seconds with Freiberg a close third. In the G-125 class it was Dean Oppermann taking the win by just .012 seconds over Ross Kasner with Jay Spoden another seven seconds back in third. Kyle Kettman won the Spec Moto 125 class over Tyler Spitler by 2.9 seconds. On Sunday it was Ted Steffke taking the CIK-125 win over Clayton Prater and Eric Freiberg. The G-125 class had the same top three only this time the order was Ross Kasner, Jay Spoden and Dean Opperman. Ralph Wofford took the Sunday Spec Moto 125 class win.
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Not only did Pat Malacarne take his first CES win in the CIK-125 shifter class, but he also set fast time of the weekend in qualifying on Sunday at 1:19.245 which was the quickest overall time for any class during the weekend.
The 45-minute enduro race on Saturday had a large group of F-125 laydown shifter karts competing in the Unlimited class. While David Mansfield won the Unlimited class overall, Robert Lawson won the F-125 group who elected to race for 30 minutes. Other enduro class winners on Saturday included Ken Dressler, Tim Koen, Tom Steinbach and Terrance Koen.
The Novice races once again had a large group of TaG Cadets competing with Clayton Weatherman and Sebastian Peters claiming victories with close finishes on both days.
There were several close finishes in the sprint classes including Mike Stroik™s .031 secondwin over Ryan Vehring in Sprint Briggs Animal 335 with Regan Vehring a close .161 seconds back in third place. Regan Vehring and Mike Stroik also had a close battle in the Sunday OHV International class with Vehring winning by .671 seconds. Regan had another great battle on Sunday when he took the win over Jessica Brannam in the Sprint CIK SSX Can class by just .079 seconds.
Several CES competitors took multiple class wins including sprint racers Travis Sabatka, Colin Campbell, Austin Duncan, Adam Schatz, Mike Hoff, Brian Valin, Travis Kosik, and Regan Vehring.
The next round for the CES is at Blackhawk Farms on August 3-5.
Used with permission: www.ekartingnews.com
July 13, 2007 News
July 11, 2007 News
Race Report: PG Racing Pro Shifter Series - Grattan
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The fourth round of the PG Racing Pro Shifter Series race at Grattan Raceway was won by pole sitter Owen Wharton. Wharton, who drives a Wild Kart chassis for PG Racing, just edged CKT Motorsports™ Lance Lane at the finish line by .003 seconds.
Wharton ran up front early in the 25-minute race, until Lane moved to the point. Also running in the lead pack were PG Racing™s Joe Sturm, Clayton Prater, Pat Malacarne and Derek Crockett. On lap 14, Crockett took a wild spinning ride on the front straightaway when his nerf bar came loose, puncturing his tire and then breaking the rear axle as he spun around. Luckily he was not injured in the incident. By the end of the race Lane and Wharton pulled out to a 32 second advantage over Joe Sturm and Clayton Prater who finished third and fourth.
The top three of Wharton, Lane and Sturm got to celebrate with the traditional Pro Shifter champagne ceremony. Wharton picked up a cash payback from the entry purse and more cash payouts will be awarded at the season ending awards banquet for the top five in points. The next round of the Pro Shifter Series will take place on August 4 at Blackhawk Farms Raceway. Joe Brittin
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