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CONCORD, NC - Kershaw, South Carolina in June can only mean 1 thing, HEAT!!!!!!! And there was plenty of it this past weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park for the RLV Tuned Exhaust Products Gold Cup competitors for their second stop of the 4 race national season. However, with heat index numbers, and sometimes daily temperatures, reaching into the triple digits, the level of competition was extraordinary. A great mix of multiple, repeat, and first time career winners greeted the podium each day, led by the respective 4 and 5 win performances of David Kalb Jr and Jacob Heavlow, the driving forces in the Arrow chassis camp, thus moving Arrow back on top in the overall chassis standings, following the second event of the season.
The weekend also found 1st time career Gold Cup winners in Blake Boon, Caleb Gafrarar, and Rob Smith in their respective classes. Bridgestone Manufacturers Cup regular Danny Dyszelski also showed up on the Gold Cup side for the weekend, taking down 2 national wins, as well as the Friday night Sportsman Pro Gas Shootout, while other wins went to Corey Towles, Hunter Fox, Elmer Edmonson, Sean Meier, and Jimmy Cole Jackson, making for a great mix of national event winners for the weekend.
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Activities started off Saturday in the Coyote Motorsports Senior Pro Gas Medium class where Heavlow began his weekend points assault, topping brother Jimmy Heavlow, Jim Lipari, Mike Greiner, and Zach Linsell. Jacob would return on Sunday to take down the class again, this time sponsored by Jim’s Marine. However, the day and sponsor were the only differences, as the top 5 changed very little, with Lipari, Jim Heavlow, and Mike Greiner the top 4, while Jacob Connors improved 1 spot from his 6th place Saturday run to claim a top 5. Jacob Heavlow and Jim Lipari were the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time Award winners.
Heavlow also excelled in the Bordeaux Dyno Cams and Trackside Kart Supply Senior Pro Gas Heavy class for the weekend, topping Jimmy Heavlow, Matthew Lewis, Chris Osgood, and Jacob Connors on Day 1, with brother Jimmy, as well as Connors chasing Jake across the stripe on Day 2. Heavlow again claimed the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time awards for both days.
Heavlow accounted for 4 national wins for the weekend, as well as the Friday night Senior Pro Gas Money race, in which he restarted the second half of the race in 6th, yet still found his way to the front to garner yet another checker for the weekend. Mike Greiner came home 2nd on Friday, with Zach Linsell, Patrick O’Neal, and Jimmy Heavlow completing the top 5.
For Ohioan David Kalb Jr, he returned to the scene of his most successful stop from 1 year ago, when he claimed 3 of the 4 class wins in Junior competition. Kalb swept the Junior Pro Gas Lite classes both days, besting Matt Miller, Austin Williamson, Talia Moffett, and Alex Vrabel on Day 1, while Jimmy Cole Jackson chased Kalb to the stripe on Sunday, followed by Vrabel, Williamson, and Moffett. Kalb also swept the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time Awards.
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What worked well in Lite for Kalb was equally successful in the Briggs & Stratton Racing Junior Pro Gas Heavy class as well, with Kalb topping Miller, Vrabel, Williamson, and Brian Van Cleve on Saturday, with the Sunday top 5 a carbon copy of Day 1. Kalb took the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time effort on Saturday, while Vrabel, inching so much closer to that first national win of the year, was the top qualifier on Sunday. While it wasn’t a national event win in the traditional points sense, Vrabel still turned back all the heavyweights in the Friday Night Junior Pro Gas Shootout sponsored by Brads Heating and Cooling , taking the $200 top prize, with Matt Miller coming home second, grabbing $100, and Austin Williamson, another steadily improving Junior driver, taking the $50 third place prize.
A regular in the Mini Swift and Yamaha Sportsman classes on the Bridgestone Manufacturers Series for WKA, area driver Danny Dyszelski has now showed his prowess in both 2 and 4 Cycle action, taking down 3 wins for the weekend on the 4 Cycle side, starting with the Brads Heating and Cooling Sportsman Pro Gas Shootout Friday night, topping Landen Lewis and Elmer Edmonson for the top $200 prize. Dyszelski then proceeded to take down the MattMillerRacing.com Sportsman Gas Lite class Saturday, edging out Blake Boon, Elmer Edmonson, Landen Lewis, and Hunter Burns, then returning Sunday in the same class, sponsored by Spooner General Contractors, claiming his 3rd win of the weekend. Boon and Edmonson were again second and third, with Burns and Lewis the top 5. Dyszelski and Lewis shared the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time honors.
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Corey Towles continued his strong season in the Briggs & Stratton Racing Senior LO206 class, taking the Saturday win in the sweltering heat over Sean Meier, Jacob Heavlow, Patrick O’Neal, and Michael Clark. On Sunday, Towles found himself chasing both Jacob Heavlow and Sean Meier, with Meier winning a great battle for the weekend finale. Towles came home second, as Heavlow unfortunately lost a weight on the track, leaving him light at the scales. Michael Clark came home third on the final day with local products JT Swygert and Jeremy Ghent completing the top 5. Towles was the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time winner both days.
Maintaining the theme of the Senior LO206 Class, the Water Medic Junior LO Class also found 2 different winners in victory lane on the weekend, with Hunter Fox taking the checkers on Saturday, topping Jimmy Cole Jackson and Talia Moffett in a tremendous 3-way battle to the stripe, with Matt Miller and Brian Collins completing the top 5. Jackson improved 1 step on the podium Sunday, taking down the win, with Miller, Fox, Brian Van Cleve, and Moffett completing the top 5. Miller and Jackson were the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time winners.
While much celebrating had already taken place on the podiums to this point in the weekend, for some, the best had yet to come, as Blake Boon notched his first career WKA Gold Cup victory, taking the L&A South Tire and Auto Sportsman LO206 win, edging Danny Dyszelski, Kevin Lanyi, Elmer Edmonson, and Caleb Gafrarar. Day #2 saw yet another first time Gold Cup National winner in this class, as Gafrarar laid claim to his first win, topping Dyszelski, Lanyi, Edmonson, and Boon. Gafrarar also claimed the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time wins both days.
The firsts continued in the Masters Senior LO206 Class where long time, and well respected engine builder Rob Smith, took back to the wheel and claimed a popular win in the class, his first career with WKA, topping another well known chassis builder, who ALSO took to the wheel, that being Paul Rice, who finished 2nd. Tim Stiefel and Brad Farmer has a great battle for third, with Stiefel claiming the spot, while Shane Burkett rounded out the top 5. Day 2 found Smith back on top again, with Stiefel and Farmer the top 3, followed by Dirt Series standout Jamie Knopf, and Burkett once again in fifth. Smith took the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time honors both days.
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And the finale both days was proof positive that it only takes 2 karts to make a show. Elmer Edmonson and Landen Lewis battled the entire distance, practically side by side in the Brad’s Heating and Cooling Sportsman Pro Gas Heavy class, with Edmonson taking the win both days. Both drivers shared the Mikim Motorsports Fast Time honors.
As mentioned earlier, the national points wins by both Heavlow and Kalb, 8 totaled, moves Arrow Chassis to the top of the board with a total of 12 wins for the year. Coyotes success over the weekend, notching 6 wins, places them right on the heels of Arrow with 8 wins, while Razor, aided by the Jimmy Cole Jacksons win, is also at 8 wins for the season. Here’s a look at the current Chassis Standings.
Arrow: 12
Coyote: 8
Razor: 8
Ionic Edge: 6
Bandit: 5
Comet Eagle: 2
The next event for the series returns them back to the Midwest, at Mark Dismore’s New Castle Motorsports Park in Indiana August 5-7 for the Kart City Performance Nationals. Entry info regarding the event will be available shortly.
On behalf of the World Karting Association, our sincerest thanks to all families, competitors, sponsors, track staff, and spectators, for enduring a very hot weekend. Congratulations out to all the first time winners, as well as all winners from the national event weekend.