By Dan McGee
Two former national champions led the Sr. Clone main. Eventual winner Jess Peterson (55) leads Cole Nelson (0) while Jr. leader Taylor Uchytil is ready to pounce if any of the two leaders makes a mistake.
Steve Ryckebosch (77) leads his brother Mike and eventual winner of the Tag senior main with Kevin Marshall (144Y) close behind in third.
Matt Koerner (356) led the Stock 125 shifter race from green to checkered. Alex Gray (53) finished a distant second.
Cody McKinney (3y) leads Mark Nason (85) in the F80 shifter main race. McKinney won with a motor he put together using only spare parts.
STEAD (July 13) – The temperature here Sunday afternoon hit 103 degrees but not matter the Northern Nevada Kart Club hosted its latest points race at Desert Park Raceway. And, despite the heat, over 50 kart racers showed up to do battle.
While there were some close contests the race of the day happened in the Sr. Clone/Jr. 2 main event..
Right at the start there were two multi time national champions and a rising star leading the charge. On point was Jess Petersen with Taylor Uchytil holding second and Cole Nelson, racing under the name of Nicholas Gross, third.
Eventually Nelson took second and began to challenge Petersen. But not far behind them was Uchytil waiting to see if either would make a mistake, as she was ready to pounce if they did.
Both Peterson and Nelson swapped the lead a few times with Petersen finally making it stick as he reached the checkered flag first followed by Nelson and Uchytil.
After the race Peterson said, “I think we have about 20 national championships between us so even with the Clones we still take it pretty serious. I didn’t want to be in the lead coming down to the last lap as whoever was second was probably going to end up winning. Once I got the lead I was blocking and hanging on for dear life is the best way to put it.”
The F80 shifter main was another close one as it appeared to be another edition of the Mark and Cody show. On the green Mark Nason got the hole shot with Cody McKinney right behind him.
They held that formation for several laps until McKinney saw his chance and made the winning pass.
Later McKinney allowed that he won using a motor assembled from spare parts, one that hadn’t even been started until that morning.
After the race he said, “Dude, I built the motor out of a bucket of dusty, rusty, old and crunchy parts and it’s fast. All day long Mark and I have been real close so it was just a matter of getting the right drive at the right time. And it worked out.”
The Tag Master’s main started with a close three-way duel for the lead but had a surprise ending.
At the green Steve Ryckebosch was on point but soon Kevin Marshall and brother Mike Ryckebosch were close behind him.
Eventually Marshall exited the race leaving it a contest between brothers. On the final lap Mike Ryckebosch made the winning pass at the end of the front straight and claimed the victory.
NNKC president Brian Riveria didn’t intend to race as he trying to sell his Tag kart. However he took his place in the main and raced to a solid third place behind the Ryckebosch brothers.
Asked what happened Steve said, “I had no brakes from the first lap.”
Then Mike said, “I knew he had a wounded eagle at the end of the straightaway so I tried to take advantage of it and came out on the good end of the deal.”
Another close race was in the Jr. 1 Clone B main. On the green the duo of Ryan Beeler and Garrett Gilmore had a private battle for the lead.
In the closing laps Gilmore attempted to make a pass as they were streaking toward the final corners before the straight. But things quickly went wrong.
Wheel to wheel contact sent Beeler sliding onto the dirt while Gilmore’s kart was sent airborne then rolled over twice with him still in it.
The officials quickly stopped the race as they raced to check on both boys. Gilmore got the worst of it and earned a ride to the trauma center at Renown for a check up while Beeler was just shaken up in the incident.
Rodney Rivera posted that Gilmore came out of this with only a sprained wrist and his helmet got the worst of it.
The fastest class is the Stock 125 moto shifters. But on this day the race belonged to Matt Koerner, who led from the start.
Unfortunately Mark Nason, usually a contender suffered an unknown motor problems and would drop out after only 10-laps had gone by. Chelsi Martin also fell out with mechanical woes as well.
Cody McKinney might have been a factor but he crashed during the second heat and Todd Thompson did not make the main.
Now the club gets a few days off until they host a round of the WKA series on Sunday, July 19.
Northern Nevada Kart Club – Round 5
Desert Park Raceway – July 13
Kids Karts – 1. Cooper Hunt, 2. Brooks Anderline, 3. Jack Ridgel
Jr 1 Clone A – 1. Aiden Hawkins, 2. Beck Marshall, 3. Jake Guzelis, 4. Asa Gourley, 5. Austin Smith
Jr. 1 Clone B – 1. Rylan Beeler, 2. Garret Gilmore, 3. Austin Hawkins, 4. Issac Bourque, 5. Heavyn Hill
Sr Clone/Jr 2 – 1. Jess Peterson, 2. Nicholas Gross, 3. Taylor Uchytil, 4. Kelsey Michael, 5. Scott Pete
Tag Jr/KPV – 1. Taylor Uchytil, 2. Zachery Rivera
Tag Masters – 1. Mike Ryckebosch,2. Steve Ryckebosch, 3. Brian Rivera, 4. John Ryckebosch, 5. Mike McMullen
F-80 Sr – 1. Cody McKinney, 2. Mark Nason, 3. Steve Dow, 4. Dan Harris, 5. Jeremy Holm
Stock 125 – 1. Matt Koerner, 2. Alex Gray, 3. Jeff Wamre, 4. Mike Faker
