KAM Kartway Candy Dash Recap & Points Update
Presented by Splash Haven Pools
The Doug\’s Auto Repair Young Guns had a full field of 12 drivers and welcomed Jensen Martin (sister of the #99m Mason Martin) and my Grand Son Cash Brown as 1st time racers. We did keep the kiddos in 2 separate classes for the Feature, and the first time drivers opted not to race, because these drivers are still learning the ropes. Young Guns is a beginner, non-competitive class and all the drivers get the same \”Winner\” style award at the end of the night.
The JRPW Jr 1 class had a flag to flag Feature with the #79 of Cade Mennenga leading for all 15 laps. That pushed him up in the points ranking passing the previous Points Leader, Kolt Simmons who pilots the #1 kart, and taking the lead by a 10 point margin. With one more points race this next week, it\’s anybody\’s Championship.
Tony\’s Auto Repair Jr 2 class was a flag to flag repeat of Jr 1 with Dylan Blackburn (#48) leading all the laps with the #5B of Cutter Bell (who was playing double duty racing the UFO kart in the Jr 1 Class) hot on his tail in the 2nd spot. The number 95 showed back up but it was not piloted by Noah Rowland as they sold the kart to Beckett Brown – and Beckett did great staying on the lead lap until the 11th time around. Noah will take some time off while Dad builds him an Outlaw 250 for his return next season. The finish order included new to KAM driver, Landon Presnall taking the 5th position (and lead lap) while it kept Dylan Blackburn in the Points Lead for the Championship.
MWRP Indoor Series Jr 3 Class had the most karts with a grand total of 14 with all of them going on to the A-Main. the #2x of Addisyn Hamscher defending her points standing by taking home the win also made herself a cushy 90 points lead from second place in points standing which is now the #17k of Katelynn Kemp after she finished 2nd behind Addisyn after starting the Feature in Pos 3 on the line-up grid. Ford Vance finished 8th in the Feature knocking him down to 3rd place in Points standings with a 20 point margin from Katelynn Kemp\’s new standing. Does he have it in him to regain his spot with 1 more points race to go?
Snap on Tools Outlaw 250 Class welcomed back Kutter Guerra in the #32K and as good as it was to see an old race friend their situation was a heart-breaker as they had a broken chassis and could not race the Feature. It was also Kutter\’s birthday – happy birthday!! With out him, there were 9 250 drivers making the Feature and another former/returning KAM Driver took the lead and held on til the finish – that was Peyton Palanza in the number 6P. The #5B of Kaden Bennett followed with the 2nd place finish which secures him a Top 5 Championship spot. Peyton Palanza flew up the points rankings after starting late mid-season and only needs one more win to tie Tatum Bell for 5th place points Champion contender.
777 Graphics Open Outlaw class had 11 karts as we welcomed back Chad Riley, Tyler Rose and Ben Saye to the track. But it was all Gracie Sonntag who dominated the field as she kept the lead spot with Ben on her tail trying to take it away from her. She kept him off and he took home 2nd place. But the big points change with $5 of Emilee Lowry finishing 5th and the #21K of Sean Knox finishing 8th making taking him from 1st to 2nd and Emilee going from 2nd to 1st in the Points Standings. It also has a slight margin of only 10 points, so this next race will be the one to watch as Emilee tries to defend her Open Outlaw Track Championship from last year.
Camp Gladiator\’s Pro Clone class is riding a growth wave and fielded 15 total karts. We did require a B-Main for them with the bottom 6 and top 4 finishers going on to the A-Main. Mike Gracy in the #65 took the win with former Multi-Pro Clone Champion Mark Velasquez finishing 2nd for the night, and rounding out the top 3 Podium Winners was Brock Miller in the number 39. That Podium Win puts the #39 machine in 1st place points rankings for the Championship. Brock changed his kart number from 77 to #39 in memory and honor of former KAM driver and racer Jamie Lough who sadly and suddenly lost his life this past Spring.
At intermission we did our Candy Dash throw to the kiddos with several Pro Clone drivers doing the honors of tossing candy from their flat karts to the infield where the kids were gathered. My race parents came through on the candy donations too!! With every kid having a bag full of candy to take home.
Take a look at this YouTube video that my son-in-law shot with his drone. (Megan did a great job editing it too.)