Here are some photos I took at the Mystic Dunes Golf Course while one vacation in Kissimmee, FL. For the record and these greens are next to impossible for anyone. I still had fun but I’ll stick to put put golf.
Designed by Champions Tour player and NBC golf analyst Gary Koch. Rated a 4 1/2 star course by Golf Digest, Mystic Dunes Golf Club is renowned as one of the most unique courses in Florida.
Walters Motorsports out of Saint Louis, Missouri recently returned from Tucson, Arizona where the team competed in the opening round of the SuperKarts USA Pro Tour. Champion Racing Intrepid drivers Evan and Shane Walters both came home with solid runs at weekends end, including a podium finish for Evan Walters. Now just a few weeks after the teams first national podium they are pleased to announce the new karting team website built by WaltersWebDesign.com. Please point your browsers to www.WaltersMotorsports.com to visit the new team website.
The Pro Tour weekend started off on the wrong foot for Evan Walters as he struggled with mechanical problems that forced him to miss crucial practice seasons. This was the first time the team had visited the Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson, Arizona and every minute of track time was needed to learn the track before timed qualifying sessions began.
On Saturday, 31 S2 karts hit the track for qualifying and Evan grabbed the 14th position despite his limited time on track while Shane took 22nd on the grid. At the start of heat race 1 Evan rolled through the field as he came across the line in 5th. When the green flag dropped on heat 2 Evan found he wasn’t done moving through the field and finished 3rd giving him a great starting spot for the 20 lap main event. As the karts lined up and took the green on the main event Evan would fall back to the fifth position for a good portion of the race. Meanwhile, On lap 1 of the race a kart drove over the back of Shane as he was then pushed off the racing surface and into the Arizona sand. He would get the Honda engine again but only ran a few laps before heading to the scale house. Evan on the other hand was able to work has way back to his starting position of 3rd where he would finish out the race and bring home his first national podium.
Sunday, Evan got off to a better start as he qualified in the 8th position, Shane wouldn’t get such a good start to the day qualifying 25th. The racing began and in the 1st heat both drivers would move up the grid slightly, 7th for Evan up one spot and Shane up two positions for 23rd. The second and final heat both drivers would again move through the field for an all important starting position in the final main event of the weekend. Evan again started 3rd on the grid while Shane started 17th. On the start Shane would pass several karts moving him to the 14th position by the end of lap 1. Evan would set the fast lap of the race on lap 3, however before completing lap 4 Patrick Cushenberry and Evan made contact on the exit of turn five in a racing incident, taking both drivers out of contention. Shane would pick off a few more drivers as the race progressed and as the checkered dropped he crossed the top 10. This was Shane’s second event in a shifter kart and he looks forward to the rest of the 2011 season as there is more room for progression in the new class of racing.
Overall, the team is very pleased with the opening round of SKUSA’s Pro Tour. After grabbing our first national podium Walters Motorsports is looking forward to the remainder of the karting season. Both Champion Racing Intrepid drivers have plans to run for SKUSA championship points in the S2 class where the season concludes in Las Vegas. Be sure to stay tuned to the new team website throughout the racing season to keep up with race results, event photos and videos.
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.
For more information on Walters Web Design please visit our website at www.WaltersWebDesign.com Also, please follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/WaltersWeb and on facebook at www.facebook.com/WaltersWebDesign to receive the latest race team news, photos, videos, results, and website releases.
For more information on Walters Motorsports please visit our website www.WaltersMotorsports.com. Follow the team on twitter at www.twitter.com/WaltersMTRSPRTS and on facebook at www.facebook.com/WaltersMotorsports to keep up to date with team results, new photos and website updates.
The final day of the Superkarts! USA Honda Racing/HPD SpringNationals completed a near perfect start to the 2011 SKUSA Pro Tour. The Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson, Arizona and the nearly 170 drivers on hand provided an exciting show from the morning hours in qualifying to the last corner of the final main event of the day. The weather was the best it had been all weekend with comfortable temperatures and a slight wind. Leaving the weekend, eight drivers have put themselves in the best position at claiming the Pro Tour championship, including a couple double winners on the weekend.
The front of the field looked much different in S2 qualifying on Sunday compared to Saturday. Evan Walters (Intrepid) held the provisional pole while a number of karts sat in the pit lane. Logan Jones (GP) took the spot from him with about six minutes to go. Jake French (Birel) was the driver to watch as he moved up to P2 on his out lap, then found some clear track to take the top position on the time chart. His 48.599-lap was best with Jones dropping to second. Patrick Cushenberry (CRG) ended up third in the order with Kyle Hathcox (CRG) and Arie Luyendyk Jr. (Zanardi) capping off the fast-five.
Holeshot for heat one went to Cushenberry from P3 on the grid but French came right back as they exited turn one to take back the point. Hathcox slid in behind them to form a three kart breakaway with Josh Lane (DR Kart) in fourth and Jones in fifth. Completing lap two, Hathcox drafted by Cushenberry for the second spot, allowing French to put three kart lengths on the two. With Hathcox into second, he cut right into the gap and closed right in on French’s bumper. Lap four, Hathcox drove past French in the same spot he advanced before and put himself at the point for the first time on the day. Completing lap seven, Cushenberry drafted around French for the second spot as Hathcox continued to stretch out his lead. At the checkered, Hathcox took the win by six-tenths of a second over Cushenberry and French. Daniel Langon (GP) was able to run down Lane and work by for fourth in the final lap.
This year’s Superkarts! USA Pro Tour is fast becoming one of the bright spots of American karting for 2011, as our sport is now rebounding from being hard hit by the recent economic recession. Despite the continuing issues with the national economy, karting is certainly fighting back as entry numbers in the primary regional series have been extremely encouraging, and SKUSA is part of this recovery. There is positive momentum building all over the country and SKUSA’s West Coast-centric ‘Pro Tour’ is enjoying significant buzz regarding good fields in virtually all of its classes. The opening round of the SKUSA Pro Tour – the Honda Racing/HPD SpringNationals in Tucson, AZ – is now less than a week away and the research performed by the EKN staff shows that this program will see significant growth for 2011. The inaugural Pro Tour launched last spring at Infineon Raceway with just over 100 participants and the forecasted numbers for this year’s opener are north of 170.
The 2011 SKUSA Pro Tour will consist of three events, anchored by the granddaddy of them all, the SuperNationals in Las Vegas in November. The season kicks off on the April 29 – May 1 weekend in Tucson, Arizona for the second running of the SpringNationals. As recently announced on EKN, Honda Racing and Honda Performance Development (HPD) have signed on as the title sponsor for the event, helping to raise the bar for an event that SKUSA’s Tom Kutscher is aimed at making into a “mini SuperNats”.