Madison, IL – For the second year in a row, mother nature was uncooperative on what would normally be a beautiful Spring weekend in April.  With temperatures averaging 25 degrees below normal, a dedicated group of road racers endured near freezing temperatures, high winds, rain and a little sleet, but somehow managed to get in at least one full day of road racing at the 1.6 mile Gateway International Raceway.  The PG Racing Championship Enduro Series (CES) and the KART/ Mid-America Road Racing Series (MARRS) held their annual combined event on April 11 – 13.  This event always draws a strong contingent of laydown karts and the Controlled enduro classes had a large turnout.  The poor weather forecast and unusually cold and wet weather probably scared some entries away from this event that normally draws over 400 entries.   

The rain stayed away for practice on Friday, but wind gusts of up to 40 mph were playing havoc with the kart’s practice runs.  Series officials were able to hold seven rounds of practice with each round consisting of  five different groups of karts for a total of about seven hours of practice.  The ample amount of practice time allowed everyone to get their karts dialed in however the wind gusts were making lap times inconsistent.
Saturday was cooler and overcast with temperatures only reaching about 45 degrees. Rain stayed away for most of the day with only a few sprinkles that did not stop the racing program.

The Gateway International Raceway road course, now over ten years old, has held up well with only few bumps appearing on the infield section.  The lower lane on the oval turns three and four is starting to get a little rough and is due for new pavement.  This event is the only kart race that is held annually at Gateway.  In the past, three or four kart races a year had been held at this track. Although some kart road racers do not care to race at road course/ovals, this track has ample run-off area through the infield portion and is a relatively safe track to compete at.  The KART/MARRS group put on a well organized event with help from some of the CES officials.  This event always awards some of the nicest trophies in kart road racing.  The much coveted first place trophy is a custom made billet steel tire shaped award with a heavy marble base.

After a couple of Saturday morning practice rounds held in the upper 30’s temperature, race one for the young Novice entries took to the track for a 20 minute race with all but one entry in the 60cc TAG Cadet class.  Tristan Peters held off Wyatt Riemenschneider for the win by just .015 seconds in the closest finish of the weekend.  Cody Morris was the lone Yamaha Novice entry as the majority of the new kids entering road racing choose to compete in the TAG Cadet class.

In race two, the TAG Senior class had 23 entries entered along with four Spec Moto 125 sprint kart entries.  A pack of six TAG Senior karts crossed the finish line just .528 seconds apart with Aaron Snyder edging Jim Snyder by just .050 seconds.  Although race officials had warned the competitors at the driver’s meeting that pushing would not be tolerated, it appeared there was still some pushing going on, although no black flags were waived.  As could be expected with racing this close, some of the TAG driver were having some heated discussions at the scales after the race.  Randy Pierson held off Rick Freund by just .231 seconds in another close finish in the Spec Moto 125 Sprint class. 

In race three, the laydown karts were staged for their 45-minute race with about 10 karts each in the Controlled Limited and Yamaha Heavy classes.  Rick Fulks led every lap in the Controlled Limited class while pulling out to a huge 35 second win over second place Dan Dean.  Attrition would take out six of the Controlled karts by the finish.  The Yamaha Heavy class also had many DNFs with only two karts still running at the finish
as Roger Hatcher soldiered on for the win.

Race four for the Sprint HPV Sr., Piston Port Sprint, Sprint pen/80cc Shifter Jr. and Sr. and TAG Heavy classes had 39 karts line up for the start.  Although this race was briefly interrupted with a red flag, the karts were re-started and completed the full 30-minute race.   Richard Hoff took the win in HPV Senior over Brian Valin by 3.755 seconds. Lindsay Read took the win in Piston Port Sprint after Jerry Revely dropped out with three minutes to go.  Austen Duncan, Scott Schrimpf and James Simmons were also class winners in race four.

Race five had 27 sprint CIK 125 shifter karts take to the track for their Formula-1 style standing start on the front straightaway.  The qualifying round for CIK-125 shifter karts was dropped this year and they were lined up based on entries.  Paolo Licary and Aaron Telitz headed up the front row at the start.  Patrick Malacarne and Derek Crockett battled for the lead early in the race until Malacarne dropped out at lap 15.  This left Crockett to pull away to about a 10 second win over Brian Freiberg and Jeremy Lightwine.  Brian Wake finished first in the G-125 Sprint class which had five entries.

Race six had a mixture of laydown Briggs Animal karts, sprint Briggs Animal karts and Yamaha powered sprint karts.  The field was pretty well spread out with no close finishes in any of the classes.  Taking class wins were Linda Baldus in Briggs Animal Sportsman (laydown), Mike Stroik in Briggs Sprint Animal 360, Mike Hoff in Over 35 Sprint Can, Stephanie Schumacher in Sprint Jr. 4-Cycle and David Munden in Sprint Yamaha CIK.

The laydown karts returned to the track for race seven with a nice sized field of 26 karts on the starting grid.  The 100cc Open class had a good battle up front with Johnny Scavuzzo just edging out Jason Barnes by .041 seconds after 45 minutes of racing.  Scott Grenier held off David Linhardt by 1.956 seconds in the Yamaha Sportsman class.  Also taking class wins were Carl Laukenau, Justin Taylor and Courtney Atkinson.

The final race of the day gridded at about 3:30 p.m. as the skies were getting darker and a few drizzles of rain were falling.  The 30-minute sprint race had some close finishes as the rain held off until the final couple of laps.  Mike Stroik edged Regan Vehring by just .098 seconds in the Sprint Briggs Animal 335 class.  Brad Brittin made a last lap pass on Courtney Atkinson in the Sprint Jr. YBX Can class and held on for a .128 second win. Also taking class wins were Ashley Freiberg in PP Can 360, Pierce Baldus in Sprint Jr. Sporstman and Sebastien Peters in TAG Junior.

Sunday was a complete rain out for the CES racers and rain points were awarded to all who had entered a class.  The KART/MARRS group, who do race in the rain for points, held two races in the wet on Sunday.  The first race was for the Novice TAG Cadet class where just four competitors chose to mount their rain tires and race for the trophies. The second race was for all of the remaining Junior and Senior classes who chose to race in the wet and only about 20 karts participated in the 25 minute race, consisting of a mixture of shifter karts, HPV/CIK karts, full body sprint karts and even one enduro kart.  Several karts pulled in early and several spun off the cold slick track leaving about 10 karts completing the distance.  The motivation for some to compete in the wet was a chance to take home one of the famous Gateway billet tire trophies.

The next event on the CES schedule is at Gingerman Raceway on May 9 - 11.  
For complete results, visit www.mylaps.com.  For more information about theChampionship Enduro Series visit www.championshipenduro.com .

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