April 2010 - International Kart Federation

Northwest Gold Cup/Rotax MaxChallenge Series Round onedoesn’t disappoint!article and Photos by NorthwestKartingnews.comwith 156 entries present and accountedfor at the 2010 opening round inrichland washington, it was clear saturdaymorning that northwest goldcup racing was alive and well.saturday’s weather was spectacularand the energy throughout the pitswas apparent. for most, it had been along off season, and on this day, onequickly realized, it doesn’t get any betterthan this.The italian Motors usa team wasin town to support the newly formediaMe cup series and as always theybrought their “a” game. with driverssuch as Jurca, blair, valiante, andhargrove among others everybodyknew they were in for some incredibleracing.Tri-city’s race track is a special place,it’s unique blend of track configuration,landscape, and onsite facility’s make itarguably one the circuits best. The cluband it members represent “well” all thatis important about grass roots, communitysponsored racing.Throughout the weekend, plannedevents, and races took place without ahitch. under the direction of bam racing,bill hettick and crew once againset a high standard. announcer Terrybridges of pro sound audio broughtthe races to life for the large contingentof spectators.saturday’s festivities closed with liveentertainment and barbeque. both weregreat, just another day at the track, arewe lucky or what.sunday was all business, round onewould be decided here, today. Theweather was changing, and word wentthrough the pits, there would likely berain before the day was out.as i did my best to watch the manyraces taking place this day, severalthings struck me:1) i had just witnessed a truly excitingdisplay of kart racing, one that hadspectators on their feet applauding.That being the iaMe cup senior main,this was a incredible display of drivingput on by team iM usa which unfortunatelyended with a spectacular crashin turn two. driver Johnny blair walkedaway from the incident and was reportedto be ok, suffering only a sore neckand headache.2) The fight put up by local racerJoey Mcguire, who simply refused tobow to the will of a hard charging anddetermined phillip arscott, while a disappointedandrew Zimmer could dolittle more then look on after an unfortunatespin in turn one left his kart,himself, and any hopes of a victory inthe rotax senior final off in the grass forthe remainder of the race.finally, and perhaps most importantly:The young and upcoming talent,names such as wick, byers, Zamora,poynor, wallin, carpenter, helmuth,gannon, o’neil, and a stingray calledrobb, just to name a few of the many.i realized karting in the northwest isdoing just fine.There is no question that the 4 strokeclasses were in full force this past weekend,when it came to close competitiveracing, they provided it.SatuRday 4 StRoKe:JR 1 Briggs animal Light, one ofthe larger Jr classes for the weekendbrought some steep competition asbrittney Zamora and sting ray robbwere in the hunt to capture their firstwin of the season. both drivers wereheaded to the checkered when contacthappened allowing devan smith andJustin demars who were close behindan opportunity to score 1st and 2nd.following was bryce peterson , Kyleadams, gaetan ertle, Thibaut ertle,sting ray robb, brittney Zamora, andKellen dean rounding out the field.F200, a grand national class for the20 KARTER NEWS - ApRil 2010