RENO (Dec. 3) – Northern Nevada Kart Club (NNKC) held its annual awards banquet at the Grand Sierra Hotel and Spa this weekend. Awards, including special recognition, finishes and a very special one were handed out as well as a raffle for prizes.
President Brian Rivera started things off with some comments about the state of the club and his hopes for the future. Rivera explained the future of the track is still up in the air as negotiations with the airport authority are still going on.
He also introduced the 2016 board and noted the elections won’t be held for another three days so he couldn’t announce the 2017 board.
Then he asked for a moment of silence to honor Bob Berry, a long time kart racer that recently passed away. He raced #69 and is the father of Troy Berry.
Continuing his remarks Rivera said, “We need to make sure that NNKC’s future is bright as we have a lot of new members. It’s a family sport and needs to remain strong and continue to get better.”
He also thanks the club’s primary sponsor Acme Boiler and Water Heating Company for their support.
Rivera also mentioned the club still needs corner workers. While it began as a volunteer effort they have paid the workers as well.
After that he offered special thanks to people that helped the club runs its races this season.
One of them was Jeremy Winters for his work in doing post race tech inspections. Another was Troy Berry for his announcing and Race Director Jess Peterson for doing that task and making all the hard decisions.
Then it was time for appreciation awards the club gives to people that roll up their sleeves and help keep things going.
Rachel and Stephanie Anderline were honored for their work with registration and scoring during race days. Another was the club’s secretary Stephanie Callahan.
One award was the Volunteer of the Year and Brud Beaudoin was honored for all the work he’s put in with the club over this year. And NNKC’s primary sponsor ACME Boiler and Heating was also given an award for their support.
After that it was time for the trophies and other awards to be handed out. Several drivers collected awards for their performance over this past season.
Tarron Graves was named the Junior Rookie of the Year while Jacob Ciari was the Senior Rookie of the Year.
The Junior Most Improved Driver was Austin Hawkins while John Mayer was the Senior Most Improved Driver. This year there was a tie for the Hard Charger award so that was shared by Jacob Ciari and Alec Beaudoin.
In NNKC there is the Kid Kart class, it’s for the youngest drivers that are learning and earning their racing spurs before moving up to the older classes. Every driver gets a point for each race they participate in and their trophies are as tall or taller than these youngsters.
This season there was a tie for first between Tarron Graves and Mia Wright so they got equal trophies. Since there was no second place Alyssa Winters, who was steadily improving during her rookie season, earned the third place trophy.
Top Three in the Kid Kart Class.
Moving up the age bracket Brooks Anderline won the Jr. 1 LO206 title while the Jr. 2 LO206 champion was Aiden Hawkins. These youngsters are working their way up the racing ladder and in a few years, based on the competition, should be giving their elders fits.
Although they didn’t make remarks both were called back to the podium and each thanked their parents, sponsors as well as their fellow drivers in each class.
Next class up in the Junior, Senior and Heavy LO206 classes. The number behind each class is for the motors they are now using.
The Junior LO206 winner was Lexi Kay while the Senior champion was Zachary Rivera and the Heavy class winner was Jason Anderline.
Unfortunately none of the TAG Masters were on hand as some of them were in Southern Nevada competing in a Best In The Desert Event. But the class champion was Steve Ryckebosch.
Formula 80 had a father-son one-two in the class. Taking the champion’s trophy was Jeremy Holm while his father Kurt was the runner up.
Stock Moto 125 is the fastest class in NNKC and these shifter karts really tear around the club’s home track, Desert Park Raceway.
After receiving his champion’s trophy Jeremy Kay explained that going into the season he only expected to win one main while getting used to racing again after taking several years off. In the end he actually won six events although runner up Dean Andrews kept him honest during the season.
The club has a specially decorated cake that was given our the then drawings resumed for the rest of the prizes.
NNKC Banquet cake.
As usual the banquet ends with a special award, the highest honor NNKC bestows on a driver. It’s the Karter Of The Year trophy and this year Junior 2 champion Aiden Hawkins got the award.
After receiving the award and making some comments he said, “I’m really honored, excited and happy to receive this. I need to thank Cole Nelson, my parents and fellow racers.”
Aiden Hawkins receives the Kart of the Year trophy.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, the club holds elections and selects the board that will lead NNKC through the 2017 season. With new racers signing on it should be another banner season for the club.
For further information about the Northern Nevada Kart Club please go to their website; www.nnkc.com.
REPORTERS NOTE: There is a photo gallery from the banquet at the end of this article.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
This weekend the Arizona Cycle Park hosted the AMA Open MX championships and there were some Northern Nevada riders competing in the event.
T.J. Taylor from Gardnerville had the best result taking first overall in the 250c 14-16 Limited class. The teenager has been on quite a roll this year and now has another national title.
The class and finishes for our riders are listed below.
250c 14-16 Limited: T.J. Taylor, Gardnerville
Open A Pro Sport: 15. Austin Walton, Sparks, 20. Daniel Mills, Reno.
450A: 13. Daniel Mills, Reno.
Open B: Anthony Giusti, Sparks.
Open B Limited: 2. Mason Olson, Sparks, 9. Alec Green, Battle Mountain.
Open C: 2. T.J. Taylor, Gardnerville.
250A: 2. Austin Walton, Sparks.
250B: 5. Mason Olson, Sparks.
250c: T.J. Taylor, Gardnerville.
250 C Limited: 8. T.J. Taylor, Gardnerville.
College 16-24: 6. Anthony Giusti, Sparks.
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Photo Gallery:
