SPARKS, NV (NOV. 20) — After a pretty good 2021 season, despite the summer smoke that caused one race to be moved, the Northern Nevada Kart Club celebrated the end with the annual awards banquet. It was held at the Coconut Bowl in Sparks.
Raffle tickets were sold and people put them into small cups by the things they might want to win. And there was a bunch of them. There was also a buffet served before the ceremony got rolling.
This year the club added new “Legacy” awards. They went to two people for their long involvement with the club. While Mitch Kennedy wasn’t present Mike McMullen was and accepted his award.
First to get on the podium for their awards were the top five finishers in the Junior 1 class. Kayden Williams is the 2021 champion so he got his trophy and champion’s jacket. Jeremiah Nobles was the runner up with Jeremy Heath, Skylar Gagna and Noah Nobles were third through fifth.
Brooks Anderline was the Junior 2 champion so he not only got the trophy plus a champion’s jacket as well. He was followed by Isaiah Nobles, Nathan Heath, Giovanni Medina and Joseph Hitti.
Kayden Williams got another award as he was named the Junior Driver of the year.
The Junior Rookie of the Year for this season was Junior 1 racer Skyler Gagna.
There weren’t many TAG Senior drivers and only two of them received trophies. William Owen was first while Adrik Owen was second.
The top 5 in the Heavy LO206 class were on hand and Eric Kuzemchak was this year’s class champion. Rachel Williams was the runner up while Jacob Burchette and Josh Prater were third and fourth while Derek Anderline was fifth.
Super Stock was next and three got trophies although Kory Williams also received the champion’s jacket. Justin Heath was the runner up followed up by Edward Atkins.
The fastest karts are the125 Shifters. This year Jeff Wamre earned the champion’s trophy and jacket. Adam Auerbach was the runner up while Zeke Corson ended up third in points.
Next was the KA100 Class. They usually run in tandem with the TAG Senior’s so their race has a staggered start. The TAGs get the green flag first then a few seconds later the KA100 receive it.
This year’s champion is Nat Sombatsiri so he got the trophy and jacket. Mike McMullen was the runner up and both got a funnel trophy.
The biggest class of all is the Senior LO206 as many times they’ll have around 20 karts starting a race. This year Deeahmee Malone was the champion and his racing roots are long.
His father Vince and grandfather raced cars at the former track in Carson City. Steve Dow was the runner up with Stevie-Ray Roasario third. Dow’s granddaughter Heavyn Hill was fourth while Kyle Harlan was fifth in points.
There were only three that raced in the F-80 shifter class but the championship wasn’t awarded. However Turbo Sombatsiri was the top points person followed by Skylar Corson and Brian White.
The Senior Rookie of the Year was Kyle Harlan and he is one of those that race in the Senior LO206 Class.
Next award was for the Senior Driver of the year. That went to the Super Stock champion, Kory Williams.
This year Eric Kuzemchak received the Most Improved Driver of the Year award. He’s also the Heavy LO206 class champion.
Any grass roots racing organization depends on the volunteers that help. Many times they take care of several position and staging a race without them would virtually impossible.
This year’s Volunteer of the Year is Jeremy Callendar and he was very pleased to receive the award.
For the past 20 years or so the awards banquet closes with the Karter of the Year trophy. The person that receives it gets their name engraved on it and after a year it comes back to the club.
Those names are a good history NNKC as some are still racing karts while others have moved onto other things. This year’s Karter of the Year is Giovanni Medina Senior.
There was also desert from a special cake made for the NNKC plus a bunch of cup cakes.
After the awards were given out, and before the raffle really got going this reporter had a chance to get some comments from the current NNKC President, Jeff Wamre. He took over the position toward the end of the season and will be president through the 2022 season.
“I’m the president this year to the end of 21 and I will be the president for 22,” he said. “Well I didn’t take over until a couple of months ago but it seems to have gone well. Alex did a good job before me so I just had to show up and just kind of hang out.”
Now that the 2021 season has ended Wamre is looking ahead to the 2022 season.
“Just trying to keep everybody happy, grow some more classes, hopefully add some more 125 shifter guys, and karts and motor packages, between the Honda and the Roc, make them a little more compatible. And the Senior Class 206 stuff is pretty good so, just trying to make everybody have fun. Family atmosphere. From what I see so far, it looks like it will be a good year again.”
For further information about the NNKC please check their website at www.nnkcreno.com. The full points for each class are also listed there.
OTHER RACING NEWS: • Sunday morning Reno Cars & Coffee had its second meet of the month by The Human Bean coffee stand. The group’s leader Lance Freitas spoke about a big event two weeks from now.
“December 5th at the normal meet, it starts at 10 and about 11:30 we’re all going to go for a cruise. We’re going to take Keitzke to McCarren to Northtown to meet up with the Old Slammers over at the Winco parking lot,” he said. “We’ll probably be up there around noon with the cruise. And then we’re going to be there until 3 doing their toy drive. All the toys stay local and they go to the Children’s Cabinet.”
The toy can be any size, large or small. Just needs to be new and unwrapped. But if you can’t meet at the Cars & Coffee, Old Slammers will be there until 3 collecting toys all day.
“This is our sixth annual event, it’s pretty fun,” he said. “Rain or shine, we’re going to do it, so come on out.”
• Later on Sunday the Reno Area Dirt Riders along with the Hills Angels 4X4 Club and Nevada Off Road were cleaning up an area by the Sun Valley Water tank. It was the “Gobble Up the Trash,” event for the clubs.
During the clean up they dragged at least two abandoned cars to where they can be recovered and taken away.
They also filled a dumpster and were about to compress the load so more could fit into it. Once the clean up was complete the members of RAD were going on a group ride.
In two weeks, December 4, they’ll have a registration and toy drive at Big Valley Honda.
• Teresa’s Garage Radio Show is on the air from 2 until 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. In northwest Nevada, it can be heard over the air at 1060 AM.
There is also a Podcast at amm.streamon.fm or it can be seen live on Face Book. The show is focused on all things automotive, trends, new developments and trivia.
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