The 2007 Route 66 Sprint Series

#26 Perry Needham wins HPV Junior Sportsman	#83 Becky Kaestner winning Yamaha Supercan Lite	#4 Dustin Politte wins Briggs Junior
#08 Colton Ramsey claims Yamaha Junior Supercan	Click HERE for more exciting images	#35 Chuck Kocan leads Mike Franck in TaG 4-stroke action

ROUTE 66 SPRINT SERIES
Presented by Margay/Bridgestone

Round :: 06
Event Sponsor :: Viper Racing
SLKA, Pevely, MO

September 15-16, 2007
Story by: Greg Grafton
Photos by: Connie Holliday

ERMANN CLAIMS TWO WINS, ENTRIES TOTAL 115
The sixth and final round of the Route 66 Sprint Series presented by Margay/Bridgestone took place at the St. Louis Karting Association on September 15th & 16th. The track is located in Pevely, MO, and is known for its emphasis on driving and chassis tuning. 115 entries took part in the final round of the series, as the weather was perfect for the entire weekend. The winner of the complementary set of tires donated by Margay/Bridgestone was Emily Kaestner. Margay also provided their trackside support trailer and offered their chassis setup services as well. Viper Racing donated two large boxes of die cast cars to be given away at random in the driver’s meeting. Viper Racing also sponsored a cookout on Saturday evening for all of the racers and their families. This was all in addition to sponsoring this event. The Route 66 Series is grateful to have Viper’s involvement.

The first group to take to the track was the Joey Karter Kid Karts. Twenty of the little racers took to the track in search of the crown, with Kaleb Allison looking to add to his total for the year. Brady Dunn had other things in mind though and claimed the pole in qualifying and prefinal victory. Dunn was very fast and looked ready to take charge of the event. After the first start necessitated a red flag, on the re-start, Allison grabbed the lead from the outside. Dunn was running in second, and ended up throwing a chain, no fault of his own. This put Logan Mitchell and Thayne Chapin in the heat of the second place battle, and these two put on quite a show, with Mitchell claiming second over Chapin. Camren Kulp claimed the fourth spot ahead of Mason Mitchell. Daltyn England, Tyler Grafton, Diego Ochoa, Tommy Harrawood, Allanmykaul Polley, Carter Logsdon, Egan Shankleton, Ricky Stillman, Kyle Crump, Julian Schrimpf, Mason Franck, Hunter Turpin, Kamryn Sloan, and Kellen Mezines completed the field. The most important part of the day went very smooth, which was the tech inspection!
Viper Racing TaG Lite featured sixteen entries, and was the next class up. Dustin Kessinger set fast time in qualifying. After placing in second in the qualifying order, Jason Birdsell was relegated to last in the prefinal lineup for a technical malfunction. This moved Kelsi Hirschy up to the second spot. Birdsell wasn’t to be denied though and made it up to fourth in the prefinal, and eventually claimed the final win over Hirschy, Dustin Kessinger, Sam Miles, and Jeff Brzeczek.

The next group up was the TaG 60 Novice Local Option class. Joshua Schrimpf led this one flag to flag with Nick Jung, Ethan Cook, Kyle Potts, Zach Bohmer, and Bryan Heiple completing the field. These racers were pretty spaced out early on and they each ran their own race.

Group four on the track was the Laukaitis Racing Yamaha Junior Sportsman racers. Coltan Brooks, who races at Pevely on a weekly basis, claimed the pole in qualifying over another Pevely regular, Justin Stiffler. In the final, Brooks broke away from the fourteen-kart field, as second through fifth were locked in a tight battle and began passing each other. This let Brooks, who was easily the class of the field, pull away to a three second win. Jeremy Remick claimed the second spot over Stiffler, Gregory Gerst, and Even Epperson.

Thirteen Adkins Speed Center Yamaha Supercan Lite entries hit the track next, and Becky Kaestner finally claimed the victory she has been so close to getting earlier this year. Kaestner has been fast everywhere this year, but just didn’t have the victory to show for her efforts. She was outpaced in qualifying by Tony Neilson and Kyle Erdmann. Kaestner took the prefinal win, and wasted no time in the final by getting out to the lead on the start over Neilson and Erdmann. Over the first few laps, she put a few kart lengths on Neilson, and cruised to a one second victory. Neilson held on to second over Erdmann, Tony Velez and Jeff Green.

You can always count on excitement in the Express Karts N Parts Yamaha Junior Supercan class. Colton Ramsey was looking for his first win as a Junior in this group, and he did it right, by sweeping the program. Colton set fast time in qualifying, won the prefinal and took the lead on the start in the final. A huge crash behind him helped seal the victory, even though he probably didn’t need it. A. J. O’Brien recovered from the crash to finish second, ahead of Justin Jennings, Josh Clack and Brandon Cather.
Chuck Kocan swept the TaG 4 stroke racing, ahead of Mike Franck, who had a large lead on Greg Lay for the second spot, followed by Cody Fox. Perry Needham won his first Route 66 race by cleaning up in the Franklin Kart Supply HPV Junior Sportsman class. He also swept the program ahead of Tucker Cory and Jared Needham. Neil Quick claimed the Trackside Diner TaG Heavy group ahead of TJ Vinson. Kyle Erdmann won the MyChron 4 HPV Senior class over Rod Holliday by four seconds.

In the Jet Karting TaG 60 group, the trio of Brooks, Remick and Stiffler were at it again. Brooks set fast time, but Remick came on to win the prefinal. When Remick is out front, he is hard to beat, and Stiffler tried every move he could, but Remick prevailed by a kart length. Brooks trailed off at the end to finish third ahead of Kyle Kennedy and Gregory Gerst.

Comet Kart Sales Yamaha Supercan Heavy was a yawner thanks to Kyle Erdmann. Chad Kruger set fast time and won the prefinal, but Erdmann took the lead on the start of the final and never looked back. Erdmann cruised to a five second win over Kruger, Nicholas Roberts, Jim Rowe, and Todd Rehklau. Jason Allen came across the line in third, but a faulty end cap on his muffler left him at the rear of the field.

Even though there were only four Motorama Kart Shop TaG Juniors, they didn’t waste any time providing any action. On the start of the prefinal, three of the four of them crashed into each other. Austen Lamb took the smart way around and drove right by all of the carnage, and cruised to a three second win the prefinal. In the final, Lamb took the lead on the start, followed by Michael Pedersen, Derek Ware, and Justin Jennings. Ware had horrible luck in this class, as he broke in the final. First, Pedersen got by Lamb, and then Jennings went to work on Lamb, but Austen didn’t give up second without a fight, even passing Jennings back on a turn one move. The final order was Pedersen, Jennings, Lamb, and Ware.

Dustin Politte took top honors in the Team 39 Motorsports Briggs Junior class to wrap up the day. Dustin made a clean sweep of the day, even out pacing the senior racers in qualifying. Dustin took a seven second win over Robert Price, his sister Kristin Politte, and Joe Reed. Mark Litteken won the Digatron Briggs Senior group over Brian Litteken, and Cody Egan.

The Route 66 Series would also like to thank additional sponsors Streeter Super Stands, Tyre Tech, Triple E Sales, Ribtect, Burris, Bell, Decal Zone, and Gman Kartworks. The Route 66 Series wishes to thank all of their competitors and families for a great year. The series would also like to acknowledge the volunteer staff that made it to each race in Wayne & Jeanette Vought, John McCracken, and Rod & Connie Holliday. It is with their effort that the series was able to be such a success. Each venue provided great racing, and with another year in the books, it’s time to make plans now to put the Route 66 Sprint Series by Margay/Bridgestone on your racing calendar.

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