RACE REPORT: Central States Challenge From Gateway International Raceway
(St. Louis, MO) The second event of the season for the Superkarts! USA Central States Challenge took competitors from across the Midwest to the arch city – St. Louis – and the Gateway International Raceway for round three of the series. Contested over two days, racers competed on a temporary circuit inside the facility that incorporated the oval, road course and other paved areas. Drivers were given plenty of track time Saturday to get accustom to the long and challenging course before qualifying took place at the end of the day. Two heat races and the main event on Sunday decided the winners for the event.
Evan Walters was one of the winners to leave Gateway as he made his first series start and scored the feature victory in S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto. The event began with Derek Crockett as the driver to beat following qualifying with a 52.275-lap time. Walters was second in the order with point leader Lukas Johnson third. Crockett however would be unable to compete in the races following an engine failure Sunday morning during warm-ups. Johnson took advantage as he would go on to win both heat races. In the final, Johnson and Walters went back and forth for the lead. Lap traffic would come into play and Walters took advantage. Taking the lead, he would hold on to the checkered flag to score the victory over Johnson and Kyle Gnau.
TaG Senior welcomed former TaG national champion Brandon Adkins and former series competitor Justin Vancil back to the Central States Challenge TaG Senior division. The two were classified 1-2 following qualifying with Adkins holding the advantage with his 53.498 lap time. Adkins went wire-to-wire in the first heat but in the second heat, he would drop to the tail of the field in the opening lap. That left Vancil to take the heat race win over Drake Ostrom with Adkins able to climb back to third in the eight-lap moto. Adkins was quick in the opening lap of the feature race, working himself back to the point. Adkins would lead until lap four when his chain popped off and put the Ohio native on the sidelines. This put Vancil back to the point he would hold off a charging Shane Walters (Shane started in 7th) for the victory with Ostrom completing coming in 3rd.
The series is now anticipating its first visit to the USA International Raceway in Shawano, Wisconsin for the second double-header of the year over the July 9-11 weekend. The event will be a warm-up for the upcoming Superkarts! USA Mother’s Polish SummerNationals at the same facility on July 16-18. The Central States Challenge drew at random two free entries to the SKUSA Pro Tour event for the point leaders in the SKUSA classes. S2 driver Lucas Johnson and S4 pilot Rick Freund had their names drawn out of the hat for the free entry to rounds three and four of the SKUSA Pro Tour.
Walters Motorsports would like to thank all our business partners for their continued support to the team and racing in general. These include; Caribbean Creme, Champion Racing, Intrepid Kart Technology, Leading Edge Motorsport, WaltersWebDesign.com and WaltersImages.com.
To find out more about being part of the 2010 SKUSA Central States Challenge, visit www.CentralStatesChallenge.com. It is recommended that regional competitors submit their membership and license applications to SKUSA headquarters as soon as possible.
For more information on Walters Motorsports please visit our website www.WaltersMotorsports.com
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