05-30-05
KARTING ON THE MILWAUKEE MILE
Milwaukee, Wisconsin — By the end of the Memorial Day weekend, the karters that tamed the Milwaukee Mile knew all about drafting as the Burris Circle Tour and the Badger Kart Club joined forces to put on a spectacular 2-day event at the famous track. In its’ 100 year history, the Mile is the oldest operating speedway in the United States. Dylan Barbosa, David Brady, Louis Fredona, Ashley Heroniumus and Zaida Clevenger among others, joined famous drivers such as, Barney Olfied, the Andretti’s, the Unsers, Dick Trickle and Dale Earnhart, Jr. in Victory Lane.
The Burris Circle Tour F200 Champ Kart feature was as exciting as a thrill show as the field fanned out 9 wide at the start. The racers, looking for the best position – and the best drafting partners didn’t take long to form up into several groups. The drafting lines burned up the race track reaching speeds of over 75 miles an hour. The lead pack of 6 hooked together early to separated themselves from the rest of the field. On the white flag lap, they split up into 3 groups of two and roared towards the finish line. The final outcome was decided by 5/100ths of a second. The top 6 karts finished the race within a half a second with Dylan Barbosa crossing the line as the overall race winner. Louis Fredona (Jr. 3), Rachel Pinkerman (Jr. 3), David Brady (Sr.), Mike Nitti (Sr.) and George Clos, Jr (Jr. 3) rounded out the lead pack.
Ashely Heronimus came from the back of the field to take home the overall win in the Overhead Valve race. Driving in the F200 Jr. 3 class, Ashely worked her way through a powerful field. For most of the race, Ashely was battling with Briggs Animal drivers, Brad Richards and Peter Markwiez and at the finish, the drivers were in a virtual dead heat, with only 2/100ths of a second separating them.
Zaida Clevenger, demonstrating renewed confidence led the Kid Kart class by winning the feature race both days, becoming one of the youngest winners at the Mile. A veteran racer and first grader, Zaida, is thrilled to be taking her trophies back home to Stillman Valley, Illinois to share with her class. Other standouts in the Kid Kart class were, Joey Flores, Cory Cootware, Thaddeus Malosh and Dylan Hoffart.
The Yamaha Sportsman race finished in fine style with Brad Plunkett coming across the finish in first place both days. Brad, racing in the Burris Circle Tour 2-cycle Sportsman Lite Class was joined by Ken Parker, Sr. Sportsman Heavy and Nancy Olsen, Sr. Sportsman Lite – both from the Badger Kart Club. Sunday, Brian Smith, Darreck Travis, Ken Parker and Peter Olson joined Plunkett on the podium.
Junior racing was showcased as 13 different drivers are now champions on the Milwaukee Mile. A combination of Yamaha and Briggs classes mixed it up with these young guns taking advantage of the draft and racing to victory. Saturday class winners were Joey Immekus – Junior Can, Garret Wescott – Briggs Animal Jr., Daren Peach - Junior SSX Can, Mike Bartlett- Jr. 3 Lite, Mike Flores – Jr. 2 Lite, Trevor Kraemer - Briggs Animal Junior Sportsman and Kathy Lundy – Briggs Junior Sportsman. Sunday class winners were Patrick Olsen – Junior SSX Can, Mike Stroik – Briggs Animal Junior, Damian Jenks – Jr. 3 Lite, Jayla Meyer – Junior Can, Heidi Goodman – Jr. 2 Lite, Alex Rosenquist – Briggs Junior Sportsman.
In other action, Jacob Van Wazer, Brent Edmunds and Sean Clavey, took turns leading the field in the Jr. Sportsman Champ race. VanWazer was the victor both days, narrowly beating Edmunds on Saturday by only 2/100th of a second and snatching a vicory over Clavey on Sunday. Senior racers Aaron Katzenberg and Tyler Peterson won the Sr. Lite class, J.J. Adams and Dave Terrafino split the Sr. Sportsman features, Brian Burgad won the Briggs 4-Cycle class both days and Amy Ghilslain won in Sr. Medium. Rounding out the weekend in the fastest classes were Chris Lotz and Michael Lattos – Expert, Zack Emonns – HPV Senior Lite, Matt Brewster – HPV Senior Heavy, Frank Ericson – 100cc Yamaha Lite and Phillip Johnson and Scott Weber – 100cc Yamaha Heavy.
Badger Kart Club Race Director, Jeff Hofmeister, closed the Victory Lane ceremony thanking all of the drivers, crew and staff for a 2 day race featuring hundreds of miles of racing, hundreds of drivers and not a single safety incident. Burris Circle Tour director, John Nuttall said, “We had a great time this weekend, we made a lot of new friends and hope to be back next year.” Badger Kart Club’s next major event is the Road America Super Nationals June10th, 11th and 12th. The Burris Circle Tour now turns attention to the upcoming Durand Bulldog Sprints – a 2-day festival event and race in the streets of downtown Durand, Illinois over 4th of July.
View Past "FYI" Articles