RENO, NV (July 27) – The annual night race for the Northern Nevada Kart Club (NNKC) is a special event local and visiting drivers look forward to. Due to a couple of factors this one was a bit of a marathon but there was some great racing as well as introducing five very young drivers to the sport.
“Oh man, that is the best club race I’ve ever won in my life,” an excited Zach Rivera said after winning the F-125 Shifter main. “That was funm, such a good shifter race.”
Then he thanked his father, Nevada Kart Sport owner and Jeff Wamre, who loaned him the kart and motor.
The Shifters use a standing start so when the green lights came on Jeff Wamre took off with Rivera and Mitch Kennedy chasing him. For the first several laps it appeared to be Wamre’s race but soon Rivera, one of the young lions, began to close the gap.
“I had a hard time catching Jeff. I won’t lie, he’s pretty fast and definitely a good shifter driver,” River said. “it just took a while to reel him in and once I had him in my sights I looked back and saw Mitch was coming. So it came to my head, ’we need to pass this guy right now or we’re third.”
Once that pass for the lead was completed Rivera still had to work if he was going to win this 14-lap race. Kennedy is the grand master of this class so the chase was on from that point to the checkered flag.
At the end Rivera won with Kennedy not far behind and Wamre ended up third while chasing the lead pair. This race has one of the biggest shifter fields this year.
Back at the post race weigh in Rivera said, I kept looking behind and saw Mitch there so I just held on those last laps. That was one of the funniest go-kart races I ever had.”
The Shifter race was one of the “Races of the Night.”
Next up was the Kid Kart main. This class is for beginner drivers aged from 5 until 7. Apparently on this night it was the first race for this quartet.
With such inexperienced drivers the officials don’t mind if they aren’t in perfect formation when their races begin. Space between their karts eliminates a lot of worry about them running into each other.
Noah Nobles was the winner of the main followed by Cayden Duncan. Two of the drivers were classed as DNF but all finished six of the seven laps.
Plans are to increase the number of kids racing for the first time. On this night, if the information was correct one was 6-years-old while the other three were 5-years-old.
Despite their lack of experience they did put on a good show. And the relatives of the drivers were wildly cheering them as they passed by the pits.
The “Run Away of the Night,” came in the KA100 main. Here two classes race but there is only one senior and five Masters.
The KA100 is another class that is making a come back with the club after virtually disappearing.
From the green flag it was Bryce Berry’s race to lose. After a good start he showed everyone his heels and roared away from the pack.
Behind him the five KA100 Master’s were having a race oftheir own. In the end Steve Ryckebosch was the Masters winner followed by Jeff Wamre and Doug Hunter.
By the final lap Berry had over a straight away lead on Ryckebosch, who finished second overall.
After the race Berry said, “That was fantastic, the kart felt dialed, the moto was strong, tuning was right.”
Another “Race of the Night” came when the Junior 1 class was on the track. It took two attempts to get their race going but finally the green waved and away then went.
Up front the race was between Dominick Benites and Isaiah Nobels. Lap after lap they were nose-to-tail as they stormed around the track.
The leaders even exchanged the lead at least a couple of times. They also made some interesting passes of the lap traffic when they were encountered.
In the end Benites got the lead and scored with victory with Nobles not far behind him.
After the post race weigh in Benites said, “That was pretty intense, I saw an opening, I took it, kind of scared for a second but it worked out okay. He (Nobles) was definitely faster on the straights so I was a little worried but it came out all right.”
Then he tanked his father for being there for him and his mother for her support.
It took three attempts to get the Senior LO206 race going and after the green finally waved Alec Beaudon led Garrett Lavole but Jacob Ciari soon took over second.
The race changed when the first four places were close then it became a three-way for the lead and then broke into a pair of groups.
Up front Ciari and Issac Bourque were disputing the lead while not that far behind them Nat Sombatsiri led a two-kart duel for third that eventually became a four-way duel for the position.
Up front Ciari and Bourque swapped the lead several times until their duel was settled. At the end Ciari took the victory followed by Bourque.
In back of them Sombatsiri claimed third ahead of Kelly Chinander, who came from the back to finish fourth.
“That was pretty good as the only time I could get him (Bourque) was on turn 5,” Ciari said. “He had me on the as he was straightaway geared for that, which was great for him cause it made passing that much harder. I was just able to get a little bit more of a run off of 4 into 5, his gearing just wouldn’t allow him to pull me like I could pull him so it worked out well.”
Then Ciari thanked Cole Nelson Racing as they helped him work on his kart.
TAG Masters class is another group working on making a comeback with the club. On this night there were only three of them and hopefully some that have been parked will start appearing at the races again.
Up front Mike Ryckebosch lead from green to checkered flag followed by Scott Andrews. The third kart, driven by Jeff Culver had to pull out after only four laps.
“Good night of racing, not a whole lot of people in our class. I wish some would return but it’s always fun to come out here and do this,” Ryckebosch said after the race. “I like racing people so if its with somebody else it’s always better than walking away with it.”
Then he thanked Rodney at Nevada Kart Sport and everyone that came out to the races.
Next up as the Master LO206 class and again the first start was called off but the green waved for the second attempt.
Right away Harrel Fischer was on point with Rich Phillips close behind. Soon the battle was joined by Brud Beaudoin.
Lap after lap they were only either a few feet apart or only inches. In fact going almost three-wide through Turn 3 there was some bumping that allowed Fischer to briefly escape.
Once everyone got caught up it was basically a four-way duel for the lead but Fischer managed somehow to cling to the lead.
The last laps were marked by nose-to-tail as well as side-by-side racing. At the checkered an exhausted Fischer claimed the victory followed by Phillips, Beaudoin and Jason Anderline.
This was another “Race of the Night.”
Fischer was so tired he stayed in his kart during the post race weigh in and for a time afterwards.
“Man I’ll tell you from start to finish it was nose to tail. Like there was like three or four of us, I couldn’t lose them. We got a little crazy there a few times, I pretty much just took the line away every time, just hung to the inside, made them go the long way around. I thought they were going to for a second there then somehow I pulled it off.
“This was a good one as I’m coming off a pretty good streak of karting the last five races. I really love this place it’s one of my favorite tracks around. I mean there’s a ton of them down by Sacramento and I always come to these races because it good people, good racing and especially the night races. It’s a whole lot of fun, if you’ve never raced a night race you’ve got to race a night race, cause it’s a whole different ball game.”
Then he thanked Nevada Kart Sport and his girl friend.
The night ended with the Junior 2 main, these are mainly teenagers that have made their way through the Junior 1 ranks.
On the green Matthew Fecko was on point and the top three were nose-to-tail. Eventually it would become a two-driver duel for the lead as Fecko was being chased by his teammate Tanner Schultz.
Two usually faster drivers were Wyatt Sander and Brooks Anderline but they had to work their way through traffic and weren’t much of a threat this time around.
Up front it was the Fecko/Schultz show as they pulled away from everyone and continued their duel for the lead.
Finally Schultz saw an opening and slipped into the lead but almost lost it. However in the end Schultz scored the win with Fecko not that far behind him while third and fourth were Wyatt Sander and Brooks Anderline.
After the celebration by his family Schultz said, “It was a lot of fun, I got behind my team mate Matt at the start and I was getting signals from my dad that Brooks was behind me and I was, ‘okay, lets try and get away from ’em.’ Me and Matt started pulling away as my dad kept giving me more signals that Brooks was falling back and the gave me the half way mark through the race and it was like, ‘okay I’m going to start counting down.’
“With three laps to go I started fighting for the lead with my teammate. I made the move and he almost got it back towards the end. I had to defend every since inside line.”
Schultz appreciated his teammate giving him the respect that allowed the winning pass.
“I made it going into Turn 1, it was, I really didn’t have the lane, I’m surprised he gave it to me. He should have shut the door but we’re teammates and it’s respectful I respect him a lot for that.”
Then he gave thanks to sponsors Douglas Disposal, Sierra-Tahoe Ready Mix, his parents, friends plus Rodney and Zack at Nevada Kart Sport.
After finishing second Fecko said, “It was a really good race tonight but first in qualifying, second in the first heat, I led most of this race but he made a pass work because I made a mistake and then he took the inside ling so it was hard to pass him. I did my best but he was just the better driver in the end.”
During the night NNKC had a couple of challenges and one of them was the food truck not being able to show up. So the club put on its own dinner of hot dogs, cookies, watermelon and chips.
Now Desert Park Raceway is quiet until the next race on August 18 a week before the annual KPX event on the weekend of August 24th.
REPORTER’S NOTE: There is a photo gallery after the results. On a person note I want to thank Kelsey Nelson, who recruited her father-in-law to take me to and from the race. The effort was greatly appreciated other wise I could not have been there.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
• We here at nvracingnews want to extend out best wishes to the Northern Nevada motocross riders completing in this year’s Loretta Lynn Amateur Nationals. The event started Monday and runs through this week.
• Two local women racers will be racing a SUV in this year’s Vegas to Reno race. On Wednesday, at PJ&CO located on South Wells Avenue there is a Pre Race party. The times are 5 to 9 p.m. and there are raffles, give aways, music and more. Not to mention meeting both of these women.
• Once again Teresa’s Garage Radio Show can be heard from 2 until 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. The show covers all things automotive including trends.
I have a preview section at 2:15 and you can hear us live over the air, streaming on the radio or see us live on Face Book. Hope you listen or watch the show.
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RESULTS:
Northern Nevada Kart Club, Race #5
Desert Park Raceway – July 27
Kid Kart:
+ Heat Winners: #1 Noah Nobles, #2 Noah Nobles.
+ Main (7-Laps): 1. Noah Nobles, 2. Cayden Duncan.
DNF: Sydney/Addie Browning, Cash Prater.
Junior 1:
+ Heat Winners: #1 Cooper Perez, #2 Dominick Benites.
+ Main (14-laps): 1. Dominick Benites, 2. Isaiah Nobles, 3. Cooper Perez, 4. Joseph Hitti, 5. Collyn Hill, 6. Brody Allyn, 7. Jeremiah Nobles, 8. Giovanni Medina 9. George Hitti, 10. Cora Browing.
Junior 2:
+ Heat Winners: #1 Wyatt Sander, #2 Matthew Fecko.
+ Main (14-Laps): 1. Tanner Schultz, 2. Matthew Fecko, 3. Wyatt Sander, 4. Brooks Anderline, 5. Austin Perez, 6. Ashley Durden, 7. Korey Sander, 8. Heavyn Hill.
KA100:
+ Heat Winners: #1 Steve Ryckebosch, #2 Bryce Berry.
+ Main Overall (14-Laps): 1. Bryce Berry, 2. Steve Ryckebosch, 3. Jeff Wamre, 4. Doug Hunter, 5. Javier Avlia.
DNF: Carmen Brewer.
DNS: Luke Anderson.
+ KA100 Senior: Bryce Berry.
+ KA 100 Master: 1. Steve Ryckebosch, 2. Jeff Wamre, 3. Doug Hunter, 4. Javier Aliva.
TAG Masters:
+ Heat Winners: #1 Mike Ryckebosch, #2 Mike Ryckebosch.
+ Main (14-Laps): 1. Mike Ryckebosch, 2. Scott Andrews.
DNF: Jeff Cluver.
Senior LO206:
+ Heat Winners: #1 Issac Bourque, #2 Jacob Ciari.
+ Main (14-Laps): 1. Jocob Ciari, 2. Issac Bourque, 3. Nat Sombatsiri, 4. Kelly Chinander, 5. Garrett Lavoie, 6. Alec Beaudon, 7. Steve Dow.
DNF: Stevie-Ray Rosario.
Master LO206:
+ Heat Winners: #1 Pat Beckley, #2 Harrell Fischer.
+ Main (14-Laps): 1. Harrell Fischer, 2. Rich Phillips, 3. Brud Beaudoin, 4. Jason Anderline.
DNF: Paul Picotte.
DNS: Pat Beckley.
F-125 Shifter:
+ Heat Winners: #1 Jeff Wamre, #2 Jeff Wamre.
+ Main (14-Laps): 1. Zachary Rivera, 2. Mitch Kennedy, 3. Jeff Wamre, 4. Mike Faker, 5. John Morgan, 6. Adam Auerbach, 7. Henry Damas.
PHOTO GALLERY:
Mike Ryckebosch on his way to scoring the victory in the TAG Masters main. In the Senior LO206 main winner Jacob Ciari leads runner up Issac Bourque. 
In the Senior LO206 main Issace Bourque is chased by winner Jacob Ciari 
Master LO206 winner Harrell Fischer is chased by runner up Rich Phillips. Harrell Fischer is chased by Rich Phillips and Jason Anderline. Most of the race the leader had constant pressure. Noah Nobles was the Kid Kart winner. 
Cayden Duncan was dthe runner up in the Kid Kart main. 
Cash Prater was one of the four Kid Kart drivers in his first race. 
Kid Kart racer Sydney/Addie Browning. Bryce Berry on his way to scoring a run away victory in the KA100 main. After a race long duel with his teammate Tanner Schultz pulled off the Junior 2 victory. 
In the Junior 2 main Matthew Fecko is chased by eventual winner Tanner Schultz. After swapping the lead with Isaiah Nobles a couple of times Dominick Benites heads victory in the Junior 1 main. 
In the Junior 1main Dominick Benites leads Isaia Nobles. 
During the Junior 1 race the leaders swapped places so here Isaiah Nobles leads eventual winner Dominick Benites. Zach Rivera on his way to winning the F-125 Shifter main. Early in the F-125 main leader Jeff Wamre is chased by Zach Rivera. 
Mitch Kennedy wound up second in the F-125 Shifter main. 
After a long absence John Morgan returned to action in the F-125 Shifter class.
