Elkhart Lake, WI - The 32nd annual Russell Karting/Dunlop Tires Super Nationals, hosted by the Badger Kart Club on June 8 - 10 at Road America, once again attracted a large turnout of over 800 entries. Although the pits looked a little less crowded than in previous years, entries were only down about 30 from last year. Perhaps the high gas prices of around $3.39 a gallon caused more people to double up and share trailer space. This event brought together several sanctioning bodies and kart clubs including the hosting Badger Kart Club, The River Valley Kart Club, The International Racing Association, WKA regional series, the Championship Enduro Series, the IRA Pro Shifter Series and the USSK/USF-125 series. The legendary “cheese cows” which go to the top five in each class were up for grabs along with some beautiful custom plagues which were awarded up to fifth place.

The Super Nationals are contested at one of North America’s finest road racing facilities. The 52 year old facility has recently completed several track improvements. The Billy Mitchell bridge over turn 13 has been completely removed and the construction of a new tunnel large enough for semi-trucks has been constructed between turns 13 and 14. The removal of the bridge at turn 13 provides for ample run-off area and was a much needed safety enhancement. Other improvements include an expanded paved run-off area outside of turn five and the main paddock has been expanded to the west allowing for more paved pit areas. This event is generally always held a week after the AMA Superbike races and the hay bales around the track were still in place from the previous weekends motorcycle races. The coverage of the Superbike races on the Speed channel the week prior just adds to the anticipation of the kart racers wanting to make their annual trip to Road America.

Road America, constructed in 1955, is the oldest continuously running road course in the U.S. Road America is appropriately named because many of the turns were simply copied from existing highway corners in America. The four mile track, situated on 525 acres with 14 turns, is approximately 30 feet in width, has 175 feet of elevation change, and the longest straight of 3,600 feet. Although there are 14 numbered turns, there are actually only 10 real corners. The 14 turn designations actually came from the early days when there were 14 numbered communication posts situated around the track. The track has acquired some unique names for sections of the track including the Moraine Sweep, the Hurry Downs, the Carousel (a term copied by many tracks), the Kink, the Kettle Bottoms, Canada Corner and Thunder Valley.

A tribute was paid to Jim Russell Sr. who has made significant sponsorship contributions to this event
over the years. Jim tragically lost his life in a motorcycle accident earlier this year while traveling in Mexico. Jim’s son, Jim Russell Jr. had an exceptional weekend of racing as he captured both TAG Senior races and placed second in the TAG team race and second in the Sunday CIK 125 sprint race.

About 80 classes competed in 18 races over the weekend including two races held on Friday. The line to get in started early Thursday morning and the rush to get up the hill and claim a pit spot started around 6:30 pm on Thursday. Registration was open by noon on Thursday at the gate entrance registration building and was then moved to the new facility behind the restrooms inside the facility for the rest of the weekend. Friday practice had over 400 karts registered and six rounds of practice were held. Wind gusts of 30 mph were pushing the karts around somewhat during the practice sessions and slowed lap times a bit.

It takes nearly 80 volunteers from the Badger Kart Cub to stage an event of this magnitude. The ability
to pre-stage each race on the pit lane helps move the program along quickly and get eight races completed
each day. Several tow trailers staged around the track at different locations facilitates the quick pickup of breakdowns after each session and the Badger Kart Club volunteers did a great job of towing the karts back to the competitors pit spot. The event was scored from turn 14 this year instead of the start-finish line. Despite some scoring loop problems on Friday for the Pro shifter race qualifying, the Badger Kart Club’s 30 plus years of experience in staging this event helped them cope with any problems and overall the event was very safe and well organized. On Saturday evening, Badger Kart Club hosted their annual free brat fest which was well attended. The Saturday night party continued well into Sunday AM in the upper paddock, up the hill, which has now become the unofficial party area.

The first race of the weekend was the Howard Memorial Scholarship Charity race sponsored by Briggs and Stratton. Badger Kart Club members Ryan and Regan Vehring battled for the win with Ryan taking home a huge eagle trophy. The second race on Friday was for the PG Racing Pro Shifter Series and the USKGP/USF-125 Series. Lance Lane took the win in the Pro Shifter class and Brian Wilhelm won the USF-125 laydown class. The two classes were able to race together with about a 45 second split at the start. Wilhelm did catch and pass most of the Pro Shifter CIK Sprint 125 karts, although he elected to not pass the lead pack and interfere with their race when he caught up to them near the end of the race.

The big classes this year were the CIK 125 Sprint and TAG classes. The Saturday shifter race had 62 karts entered and the Saturday TAG Sprint class had 38 karts entered. Both of these classes utilize the less aerodynamic CIK body work, which enables more drafting and keeps the karts bunched up in big packs. The enduro class sizes were again noticeably smaller this year, in part due to some teams skipping this event to attend the Mid-Ohio event the following weekend. Another reason for the enduro defectors appears to be the shortening of the enduro race lengths to 30 minutes.

Turning the fastest race lap of the weekend was Johnny West in the USSK Superkarts class at 2:17.796.
Jim Russell Jr. once again took honors in recording the fastest CIK 125 sprint shifter kart lap at 2:29.943.
The fastest laydown shifter time (F-125 class) was set by Bill Shields at 2:27.183. Quick time honors in the TAG classes went to went to Adam Schatz who turned a 2:44.107 in the Saturday TAG Senior race.

Only two races were red-flagged over the weekend and no injuries were reported. The Sprint shifter race on Saturday was red-flagged on the first lap and had to be restarted. The CIK 125 Shifter karts use a rolling start instead of the standard F-1style start. To save time, they do not take the full four-mile warm-up lap, taking the cut-through at turn five. To hold the speed down on the start, Johnny West paced the field with his 250 kart. Race six on Saturday was also cut short by a red flag when a kart spun into the wall at turn five, briefly knocking the driver unconscious.

Several drivers captured more than one win over the weekend. Taking four class wins was Regan Vehring in Sprint Briggs Animal 335, Sprint CIK Yamaha SSX Can Sat., Sprint Briggs Animal 360 Sun. and OHV International Sun. Regan also won the Sprint Team Briggs class with Bob Iverson. Don Chrzan also took four wins in the laydown classes including Controlled Limited #1, 100cc Controlled, Formula 100 and 100cc controlled Spec.

In the enduro classes, Eric Larue captured two wins in PP Can Heavy and PP Can Medium. Brian Wilhelm was also a double class winner in the F-125 enduro classes on Friday and Sunday.

Double class winners in the Novice races included Travis Sabatka in Sprint 4-Cycle Novice and Brian Vinson in Sprint Yamaha Novice. The TAG Cadet Novice class put on quite a show with a pack of five karts dicing for the lead. Charlie Stray took the win on Sat. by just .188 seconds and Charlie Steinberg won on Sunday.

Double winners in the sprint classes included John Larue who won both Over 35 Sprint classes, Brian Freiberg who just edged Jarret Schwarz by .035 seconds in PP can Sprint 360 and also won on Sunday in PP Can Sprint 380, Courtney Atkinson who won Jr. Sprint YBX Can on Sat. and Jr. CIK SSX Can on Sat., Stephanie Schumacher who won Sprint Jr. 4-Cycle both days, Ryan Barbaro who won Jr. SSX Can both days, Jerry Revely who won Yamaha Sprint Lite and Heavy classes, Sammy Wright who won the 80cc Gearbox classes each day, Adam Schatz who won TAG Heavy on Sun. and the TAG Team race and Bob Iverson who won the Sprint Team Briggs race and Briggs Animal (WKA).

Jim Russell Jr. won both of the large and competitive TAG Senior classes. Russell stalked Allen Declerk during the entire Saturday race and made the pass at the finish line winning by just .150 seconds. Russell was able to hang on for the win on Sunday over Derek Crockett by just .151 seconds.

Jay Spoden was the only double winner in the sprint shifter classes, capturing the G-125 sprint class on both days. The competition was fierce in the CIK 125 Sprint classes both days. On Saturday, the top six finished just .625 seconds apart with the father-son duo of Josh and Lance Lane finishing first and second. On Sunday, WKA’s Chad Dokken improved from his fourth place finish on Saturday to pull out to an eight second win over Owen Wharton and Lance Lane.

Mark your calendars for next year’s 33rd annual Road America Super Nationals, as this has become a must attend road racing event. The date has been moved to July 11 – 13, 2008 in order to not conflict with the WKA race at Mid-Ohio in June. For more information about the Road America Super Nationals, visit www.badgerkartclub.com .

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