HARD RACING WITH THE NNKC
STEAD (April 19) – Racers with the Northern Nevada Kart Club (NNKC) gathered at their home track, Desert Park Raceway for the second round of their season. It was a day of hard, fast racing on the road course.
“I thought I had it but John had a better jump, he’s been really starting well but wasn’t in too big of a rush as I knew I had speed today. My stuff’s set up really nice right now and it was good to come out to the club and dice with these guys,” Mark Nason said after winning the 125 Shifter main.
Once in the lead of the 125 Shifter main, Mark Nason left everyone in his dust.
When the green light sent the field off, John Morgan was first off the grid with Nason and the pack close behind them. A lap later while flying down the front stretch Nason drafted past Morgan and left everyone in his dust.
When the 125 Shifter main began John Morgan (25) led with eventual winner Mark Nason (85) right behind him.
Behind the leader Morgan fell into the clutches of Alex Gray as they began an almost race long nose-to-tail duel for second. In the end Morgan prevailed and held on to the runner up spot while Gray was a very close third.
For most of the 125 Shifter main, John Morgan (25) and Alex Gray where this close as they dueled for second place.
Four drivers didn’t finish the race and most of them wound up in an area just after Turn 6. Fortunately no one was injured but the same can’t be said for at least a couple of karts.
Asked about the track after his race Nason said,” It was real grippy, there were some spots where the guys got dirt on it, which was a little dicey. But the competition has gotten more solid out here, we had a big field and I’m glad to see the club guys stepping up.”
Commenting on his race for second Morgan said, ” Alex is very competitive”
When the F-80 shifters lined up Dan Harris and Steve Dow were on the front row. On the green Dow took off only to surrender the point to as they headed into Turn 1.
Dan Harris (13) leads Steve Dow (24) and the pack as the F-80 main begins.
After that Dow and Jeremy Holm had their own private nose-to-tail battle to see which of them would be second as Harris left them in his dust. At the end Dow prevailed, held on to second but by a narrow margin.
Many times the closest race isn’t for the win. Here Steve Dow (24) and Jeremy Holm (8) are locked in a race long battle for second in the F-80 main.
Back at the post race inspection Harris said, “That one was much better than the last one. I got Steve (Dow) on the start and never felt him back there at all.”
Harris was also feeling pretty good as he had just completed 32 laps of racing in 40 minutes as he races in two different classes.
“I’m fine actually. I’m in the best shape I’ve been in about 10-years so it feels pretty good,” he said.
Just before the F-80 race the TAG Masters class took to the track. On the green pole sitter Brian Rivera took off with Shawn Kerns and Harris in hot pursuit.
By the second lap Harris was second and the chase was on.
Around that time one racer went sailing off Turn 1 and into the barrier, which did its job stopping the kart. And fortunately the driver, Kerns, emerged unhurt.
Up front there was a two second gap between Rivera and Harris but it was closing. Eventually it became a nose-to-tail duel for the lead.
The last part of the TAG Masters race was highlighted by a nose-to-tail duel between winner Brian Rivera (81) and a determined Dan Harris (16).
At the end Rivera won the race by a small margin as Harris was close behind. Arriving to the post race area both congratulated each other on a good race.
Then after catching his breath after the race Rivera said, “I had nothing left, I’m out of shape. It was exciting as we bumped the laps today to 8, 12 and 16, never done that before. I held up, it was hot out there, hot under the helmet and I’ve got an FA kart, the best around.”
Harris responded by saying, “It was tough because he had more power than me in the straight aways, so the only place I could really run up on him was in the turns. And it’s harder to pass in the turns. So I was just waiting for him to make a mistake and then I could take advantage but he didn’t make a bad enough mistake.”
NNKC uses a three-moto format where the first two are heats followed by a main. This time they increased the number of laps most classes run and it seemed to go over well with the drivers.
The other hotly contest race was the Jr-2 Clone main, a 14-lap affair for these up and coming racers.
Taylor Uchytil (57) and Zachery Rivera (55) had a place swapping duel for the win. It was decided late in the race when contact between the two spun Rivera and handed the victory to Uchytil.
On the green Zachery Rivera lead the charge only to be passed by Taylor Uchytil, who would lose the lead by the next turn. So the stage was set for these two to battle for the victory.
Lap after lap they ran close together and swapped the lead a few times as they took turn drafting down the front straight.
With only a few laps to go Uchytil held the point until Rivcera made his move as they whipped through the final left-right-left complex that leads onto the home straight.
The pass was a bit too close and there was contact as both were going for it. Rivera briefly was in the lead but spun handing the point to Uctytil.
While he recovered Rivera didn’t have enough time and had to settle for a distant second while Uchytil took the victory. However she was very disappointed on how the race ended.
“It was a good race except for the end, I didn’t mean to do that.” she said. “I don’t know if I could have gotten past him again, he’s really fast and was gaining on me. I would have tried but I didn’t want to get it back like that.”
She added the track was really good with a lot of grip and as far as the extra laps being added she can handle it while in her kart but afterwards it gets to her.
Two other races appeared as though they would also be close weren’t due to various problems.
The Jr.-1 Clone looked to be a duel between Chase Dulude and Asa Gourley. However the motor on Dulude’s kart went sour and he wasn’t able to complete more than a lap.
Up front Gourley seemed in the cat birds seat until there was contact with another kart that send him off the course. While he recovered this ended his chances of winner.
Up front Even McGraw was able to get the lead and won the race with his brother Chase McGraw and Gabe Vegors taking the next two places.
After two heats it appeared that the battle would be between Alec Beaudon and Brud Beaudoin. On the green Alec held the point but had to drop out when a mechanical problem slowed his kart.
This left Brud Beaudoin with a huge lead and he cruised to victory.
Cory Koch was the Kid Kart racer this day.
Only one Kid Kart driver showed up but the club made sure this youngest racers got his laps in and he did pretty well. Although uncontested Cory Koch drove very smoothly and in his low powered kart had a best lap time of 1:22:499.
There was some humor during the day. After going off course during his heat race, Mike McMullen found a novel way of getting the dirt out of his kart and he later came back to finish third in the TAG Masters main.
After an off-track excursion, Mike McMullen found a novel way of getting the dirt out of his kart.
It was a good day for racing and now club members will start preparing for next months round at Desert Park Raceway, which is on May 17.
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OTHER RACING NEWS
- NASCAR’s top two series faced the challenge of Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. And two native Nevadans competed in each of the series.
In Saturday’s Xfinity event Brendan Gaughan started eigth and finished ninth. Kurt Busch, who races in the Sprint Cup Series, started seventh in Sunday’s race but ended up 15th.
RESULTS
Desert Park Raceway – April 19
Northern Nevada Kart Club – Round 2
Kid Karts (6-Laps) – 1. Cory Koch
Jr. 1 Clone (14-Laps) – 1. Evan McGraw, 2. Chase McGraw, 3. Gabe Vegors, 4. Garrett Gilmore, 5. Brooks Anderline, 6. Austin Hawkins, 7. Asa Gourley, 8. Jason Koch, 9. Korey Sander, 10. Heavyn Hill
Jr-2 LO206 (16-Laps) – 1. Taylor Ushytil, 2. Zachery Rivera, 3. Jake Guzelis, 4. Issac Bourque
Sr. Clone (16-Laps) – 1. Brud Beaudoin, 2. Zak Koch, 3. Nat Sombatsiri, 4. Alec Beaudon
TAG Masters (16-Laps) – 1. Brian Rivera, 2. Dan Harris, 3. Mike McMullen, 4. Jeff Solvason, 5. Randy Ryckebosch, 6. Mike Arnold
F-80 (16-Laps) – 1. Dan Harris, 2. Steve Dow, 3. Jeremy Holm, 4. Jeff Wamre
Stock Moto 125 (16-Laps) – 1. Mark Nason, 2. John Morgan, 3. Alex Gray, 4. Steve Dow, 5. Mike Ryckebosch
