The 2007 Route 66 Sprint Series


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ROUTE 66 SPRINT SERIES
Presented by Margay/Bridgestone

Round :: 02
Loren Niehaus Memorial Race
Event Sponsor :: MyChron 4
Midstate Kart Club, Springfield Illinois

May 19 & 20, 2007
Story by: Greg Grafton
Photos by: Connie Holliday

ERDMANN WINS THREE, JENNINGS CLAIMS TWO
The Route 66 Series presented by Margay/Bridgestone held round two at Midstate Kart Club in Springfield, IL on May 19 & 20th. MyChron 4 was the event sponsor and even provided their representative for the area to assist racers for the weekend. The race was tabbed the Loren Niehaus Memorial Race and a special re-dedication of the tower at Midstate Kart Club took place on Saturday evening. Many members of the Niehaus family attended the ceremony and were glad to hear so many folks remembering Loren and Wanda in such a positive way. The winner of the set of YHC Bridgestone tires donated by Margay/Bridgestone was Rich Willms. The winner of the MyChron 4 raffle was Zachary Taylor and the winner of the MyChron Stopwatch raffle was Jake Cole. Kyle Erdmann was the Viper Racing Fast Time Award Winner. Some teams arrived for practice on Friday, which was held by the Midstate Kart Club. Official race practice took place on Saturday with temperatures in the mid 80s, followed by qualifying and then the money races. Entries totaled 150 for the weekend.

Qualifying went off without a hitch and after the re-dedication ceremony, the money race participants took to the track for the top prize of $300.00. The format was a little unique as the winner of the prefinal would draw a number afterwards to determine how many karts would be inverted at the start of the final from the prefinal finishing order. In the hat were the numbers zero, two and four. The number drawn would be the number inverted. First up was the Yamaha Supercan group, with Chad Kruger besting the field in qualifying over Greg Grafton and TJ Koyen. Kruger led the field down to the prefinal and would go on to claim the win. Kruger came up empty when he drew though, as he drew the number zero, which obviously pleased the winner. In the final, the outside row of Grafton and Koyen took off into the front two spots as the green waved, with Kruger and Jeff Green in tow. Koyen was the man on the move in his Switch powered Merlin, and was certainly going to make it an interesting finish, but a faulty chain prohibited him from mounting a challenge for the $300.00. This left Kruger to run down Grafton on his own, which he did and looked to make a move on the white flag, but Kruger came up just a little short to Grafton. Kruger settled for the $200.00 prize, with Jeff Green claiming $100.00 for third.

In the TaG group, Samantha Miles surprised the group in qualifying in her first race as a senior and set fast time over Kelsi Hirschy and Midstate regular Dustin Kessinger. The prefinal produced the best racing of the evening as Hirschy led most of the way until Laukaitis made a bid for the win on the final corner. Light contact ensued and Hirschy kept the momentum to claim the win, Miles slid past Laukaitis for second, with Kessinger fourth. All four karts finished within .2 of a second. Hirschy drew the number two, so the start would be exactly the same as the prefinal. In the final, Hirschy again took off in the lead, trailed by Miles, Laukaitis and Kessinger. Laukaitis was definitely coming on strong in the main, but only four laps in mechanical gremlins ended his run early. This left Kessinger to work on Hirschy for the lead. Kessinger patiently waited for the right moment and made the pass for the win. Kessinger took home the top prize over Hirschy, and Miles. After the money races, a cookout was hosted by the Route 66 Series and Midstate Kart club at the Margay Trailer. Many enjoyed the food and the big screen TV, watching the Nextel All Star race under the tent.

Sunday brought the anticipation of a new day of racing and some great weather. The first group to hit the track was the Joey Karter Kid Kart Class. Thirteen of these little racers took to the track in pursuit of the top prize. Zachary Taylor set fast time in qualifying on Saturday so he and Bradly Campbell were at the front of the pack in the prefinal. Campbell would claim the win in the prefinal and the preferred starting spot for the final. Campbell took off early in the final ahead of Kaleb Allison as Taylor suffered problems in the prefinal was starting last on the grid. Campbell looked to be in control of the race for the first half of the race, until Allison slowly started reeling him in. Lapped traffic usually plays a part in these races and this one was no different. It cost Campbell the lead, and Allison led until they encountered more lapped traffic, and Campbell used a strong outside move to reclaim the top spot. These two weren’t done as Allison countered back underneath, and the two drag raced on the short straightaway. Allison pulled ahead and never looked back claiming the win by over three seconds over Campbell. Taylor had come from 13th on the grid to claim third by the time it was all said and done. He was followed by Logan Mitchell, Dawn Tilley, Parker Corson, Daltyn England, Mason Mitchell, Nate Kavicky, Tyler Grafton, Adriana Bowen, Diego Ochoa, and Jacob Gebel.

If you were looking for great racing action, the Laukaitis Racing Yamaha Junior Sportsman class is the place for you. Twenty-five of these racers signed up to take a shot at the crown. Due to the size of the field, the decision was made to lock the top 16 in from qualifying, advance two from a last chance qualifier and run a bonus race for the remainder of the participants to make sure they received their track time as well. Jake Cole was a man on a mission in this group, sweeping the entire program, as he set fast time, won the prefinal and the final. In a class of twenty five racers, it is a testament to Jake’s talent and their preparation of their High Rev KRT for this performance. Starting with the qualifier race, Josh Hotz and Tucker Cory, both of whom came from the back, claimed the two transfer spots. Robby McQuinn claimed the bonus final race ahead of Drake Ostrom and Jimmy Tapocik. Cole quickly took off in the final with Jordan Laukaitis in tow. Cole slowly but surely put a gap on Laukaitis who was putting a gap on the third place battle. The battle for third saw at least six karts dicing for this position. Meanwhile, Chance Holder had joined into this battle after starting at the back of the pack. Holder had a great run going and was going to make a run for the third spot when he spun in turn three and had to regroup. Kyle Tilley was another racer making his way through the battle for third, picking off one at a time, using the patience of a seasoned veteran. Evan Epperson had something to say about all of this, as he held the third spot through most of the race and would hang on to it in the end. Tilley climbed up to fourth, followed by Hunter Lay, Mike Dionne, Perry Needham, Josh Hotz, Holder and Jared Needham. This group was not only the largest, but one of the few to have all of the racers make it through the first lap without any spins.

Proving that experience can outrun youth and enthusiasm, Kent Laukaitis swept the Viper Racing TaG Lite program. Laukaitis set fast time over Dustin Kessinger and Kelsi Hirschy. Greg Dingess threw his name into the mix for the prefinal by finishing runner-up to Laukaitis. Laukaitis (Birel/Leopard) grabbed the lead on the start, followed by Hirschy (Margay/Leopard) and Dingess (Margay/Leopard). Dustin Kessinger got bumped off the track on the start and had to work his way back through the pack. Laukaitis had the perfect set up, as he could run with everyone when his tires were cold, and as they heated up he slowly pulled away from the pack. This left Hirschy and Dingess to battle it out for second, with Dingess claiming the spot. Clay Maddox claimed the fourth position over Kessinger.

The Jet Karting TaG 60 class always produces some exciting racing. Justin Stiffler blistered the field on Saturday qualifying over Gregory Gerst and Chris Gray. Stiffler continued his winning ways by winning the prefinal and besting the group by over eleven seconds in the final. In the meantime, Gray and Gerst were battling it out for the second spot, with Gray narrowly claiming the runner-up position over Gerst. Kyle Kennedy made his first Route 66 appearance and brought home a fourth place finish in his Arrow kart. Kyle May completed the top five, followed by Route 66 regular Sam Bell.

The Franklin Kart Supply HPV Jr. Sportsman class was instituted in 2006 and has continually grown over the last year. Eleven competitors took to the track in search of Kyle Kalish’s speed from round one. Kalish obviously brought his speed secrets with him, as he bested Jake Cole and Perry Needham by four tenths in qualifying. Kalish would leave no doubt as he swept the entire day of racing in this group by winning the prefinal and final. The real action was behind Kalish as Cole, Jordan Laukaitis and Perry Needham were dicing for second when Cole became hooked to a bumper and ramped off of a tire into the hay bales resulting in a red flag. Cole was okay to continue, but had to restart shotgun on the field. Perry Needham held on to the second position ahead of Tucker Cory, Cole, and Laukaitis.

Next up were the Comet Kart Sales Yamaha Supercan Heavy racers, and this group always provides some excitement. Chad Kruger bested the field in qualifying, and picked up the prefinal win over Kyle Erdmann. Kruger and Erdmann broke away from the pack immediately in the final, but Kruger’s axle came loose and this left Erdmann to begin his quest for the triple in comfortable fashion. Sunday entrant Michael Dittmer claimed the runner up spot ahead of Jason Allen, and Mike Welsh.

Erdmann wasn’t done there, as he then set his sights on the Adkins Speed Center Yamaha Supercan Lite category. Tony Velez paced the field in qualifying by a mere .03 over Erdmann. Tony Nielson threw his name in the ring by winning the prefinal over Jeff Green. At the start of the final, Erdmann made no contest of this one as he just began pulling away on his Triple E powered Margay, and he never looked back. If he would have, he would have a seen a great battle for second between Nielson, Green, Velez and Becky Kaestner. These four were trading positions almost every lap, as the four of theme finished within .2 of a second of each other. Nielson was in the not so preferred front spot coming down to get the checkered and Green used a little help from the draft to slide into second ahead of Nielson, Velez and Kaestner.

As if Erdmann needed to do anything else to prove his point, he then set out to win the MyChron 4 HPV Senior class. Erdmann made a clean sweep of this program, his only challenge coming in the final from Rod Holliday getting the lead on the start of the final. Erdmann patiently waited and then went on his way to get his third win of the day. Holliday brought home second, followed by Chris Pappathopoulis and Jeff Henson.

Justin Jennings was another racer who had multiple wins on his mind. First up for Jennings was the Motorama Kart Shop TaG Junior Class. Jennings swept the program for these racers but it certainly wasn’t without challenge from Matthew Laukaitis. Jennings led deep into the prefinal until Laukaitis tried an “Eldora” slider on him. Laukaitis cleared Jennings but slid up the track, which allowed Jennings to go back under and reclaim the lead and go on for the win. In the final, Jennings used a good start to break away from Laukaitis and go on for the win. Sunday entrant Derek Ware claimed the battle for third ahead of Austen Lamb and David Lindburg.

Jennings victory in the Express Karts N Parts Yamaha Junior Supercan class wasn’t quite as smooth of sailing. A. J. O’Brien started out by claiming the pole for the seventeen kart field in qualifying. WKA Manufacturer’s Cup front runner TJ Koyen claimed the prefinal win over Jennings. Koyen looked to have his kart dialed in for the final, but a faulty plug wire ended his run while leading. We can only wonder what the race would have been between Koyen and Jennings. Jennings then assumed the point with Colton Ramsey and Matthew Laukaitis in tow. The front three were so equal that Ramsey and Laukaitis were never able to close in on Jennings for the front spot. A.J. O’Brien came home fourth followed by Brandon Cather in fifth. Derek Ware made it up to sixth from the back of the prefinal, followed by Josh Clack, Tyler Roland, Jose Sanchez, and Zach Corson.

In the Trackside Diner TaG Heavy/Masters group, Scott Kalish has quickly filled a vacancy left by Neil Quick for Clay Maddox. Maddox (Birel/Leopard), the reigning champion of this class, started off by claiming the pole in qualifying over Kalish and Andrew Goodhart (Arrow/Sonik). Kalish (Arrow/Leopard) obviously used his setup knowledge in the hot weather to his advantage and claimed the prefinal win over Maddox. At the start of the final, contact with another kart left Goodhart stranded on the sideline, although he was able to get restarted and join the race again. Kalish and Maddox battled throughout, as the final margin was a mere .1 of a second for Kalish. Clint Lindburg, Todd Malmstron and Joey Hamlin rounded out the top five.

Rich Willms took home top honors in the Team 39 Motorsports Briggs Junior Class. Jim Brummet brought home the win in the Digatron Phoenix Briggs Senior class ahead of Chris Barnhart. Aaron Brozio claimed the win in the Streeter Super Stands Shifter class.

Round three of the Route 66 Series presented by Margay/Bridgestone will be held at 61 Kartway in Delmar, IA. This facility has been raved about by those that have been there, and the series is looking forward to attending this fine facility. Make your hotel reservations now for June 23 & 24th for the Route 66 Series at Delmar, IA. Open practice will be available leading up to the event, check www.route66kartracing.com or www.61kartway.com for details closer to the event.

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