Taft Claims Sunday Special

​The Keystone Unlimited All-Stars joined up with the Upstate NY UAS for a trip to Race-1 Motorspeedway for a Memorial Day Weekend show. This was a bonus race for the Upstate and the first “Wild Card” race for the Keystone region. After several days of hot humid weather in Northwest PA, the hopes were there that the showers would hold off for one more night. A few drops had come down by the time I arrived and looked like everything was going to pass.. looked was the key word. A steady shower followed some thunder and Mother Nature’s own light show. The track did get wet, but not nearly what the surrounding areas had. Prior to the track run in, a meeting was called to determine how to run out the races for the night. Instead of the 2 heats and feature, we followed the along with the other classes with a qualifying – heat- feature program.
With the rains subsiding, the Dubois banked oval was able to shed a lot of water and with the diligent work of the track staff, we were ready to practice and qualify.
 The UAS was the last group out for qualifying, as to let more karts work in the track and help keep the track from coming up. With a slick track, the prior classes saw times hovering in the 11-12 second bracket with a few breaking into the high 10’s. Early in qualifying, Kirk Cox cracked a sub 10 second time and the look on the spectators faces suddenly was priceless.
 
Here is the qualifying times listed fast time first for the driver (not in lap order):
 

1. 12[X} Kyle Pease 9.676 / 9.982
2. 62 Skip Giberson 9.740/ No Time
3. 22 Kirk Cox 9.769 / 9.925
4. 63 Ben Taft 9.951/10.041
5. 22S Steve Cox 10.047/10.076
6. 77 Denny Furlow 10.095/10.225
7. 919 Brett Messler 10.099/10.223
8. 79 Dan Burket 10.361/10.581
9. 6 Tom Voeltz 10.811/10.930
10. 12 Harry McElhaney 11.022/11.395
11. B99 Mark Bergfelt 11.455/11.571
12. 2R Larry Rigleman 11.617/11.962

 
Heats were separated into 2 groups, which saw Heat “A” go to Kyle Pease in a close race. Heat “B” was a great race which looked like Skip Giberson was going to take it, but a broken chain left him coasting and seeing Ben Taft sneak past for the win.
 
The feature saw a couple early cautions, mainly spins that took drivers into the infield. There were a few close calls, but all in all, a pretty solid race.
 
Feature results:

1. 63 Ben Taft 125 Sudam
2. 919 Brett Messler CRF250R
3. 77 Denny Furlow 500 Honda
4. 22S Steve Cox LTZ 400
5. 62 Skip Giberson YZ250
6. 6 Tommy Voeltz CR250
7. 12 Harry McElhaney Parilla Sudam
8. 2R Larry Rigleman Polaris 250
9. 22 Kirk Cox YZ426F – DNF Stahl
10. B-99 Mark Bergfelt  KTM 250–DNF
11. 12 X Kyle Pease KX250–DNF Head Gasket
12. 79 Dan Burket GX390– DNF Chain

 
All in all, it turned out to be a pretty solid night of racing. I cannot thank Any Watt and the staff at Race-1 for their hard work and optimism that the race was going to get in. The track was pretty good for the amount of rain it took. It is a lot of fun to be a part of an event that many have not seen a muscle kart before. I received a lot of compliments, questions, and saw some great reactions especially when the feature came around. Thanks again to everyone who came out and made the night a fun time! It was a pleasure meeting the Giberson crew and getting to catch up with those up north.
 
The next Keystone UAS race is a trip to Red Rock Raceway in Claysburg, PA for our first National ¼ pts race of the season on June 18th. Upstate NY has a trip to Paradise slated for a ¼ pts race with the Empire UAS on June 11th.
 
Steve T