What a night of racing at the John Smith Memorial race at Blairsville Speedway! As always, Stan and his crew put together another great track and facility for the muscle karts to turn loose on. Nine muscle karts entered the event, including two travelers from the Appalachian Region. Breakage seemed to be the theme of the night… During hotlaps, Mark Bergfelt stuck a piston and had to do a “pistonectomy’ before trials got started. Ralph Spithaler’s engine wasn’t up to full song and he would not be able to trial. Brian Chery, joining us for the first time, had some issues with his ride that he could not make it for time trials. Let’s get started with time trials. Jim Klaiber was the first out and he laid down a solid lap to earn the quick time and pole spot for the first heat. 1.) 99 Jim Klaiber 12.38 2.) 707 Paul Deasey 12:554 3.) XXX Brandon Oldham 12:660 4.) 00 Cruz Vandall 12:667 5.) 38 Randy Adair 12:688 6.) 999 Mark Bergfelt 12:726 7.) 22 Rick Minnier 13.117 8.) 28 Brian Chery DNT 9.) 56 Ralph Spithaler DNT Brandon Oldham’s engine went after the first time trial lap, believed to be a broken camshaft, not sure how extensive the damage though. Rick Minnier stepped out of his twin animal ride so Oldham could make laps and score some points. After time trials, Spithaler was able to fix a loose carb and be able to come out for the heat. I think that covers the off track activity, let’s see what happened on the clay. Klaiber was dialed in and rolled to the heat win followed by Cruz Vandall with that monster 450 showing that they meant business. Randy Adair’s season struggles continued when a throttle link came apart and he had to come off. Chery had linkage issues himself and was not able to make it for the heat. Ralph Spithaler came from the tail of the field finish third. Heat finishing order: 1.) 99 Jim Klaiber 2.) 00 Cruz Vandall 3.) 56 Ralph Spithaler 4.) 999 Mark Bergfelt 5.) 22 Brandon Oldham 6.) 707 Paul Deasey 7.) 38 Randy Adair DNF 8.) 28 Brian Chery DNS I guess now is the time to ask if Klaiber’s ¼ point race gremlins would finally leave him alone and would Saturday be the day he gets the win. Well.. As the green was flying, Randy Adair slowed and came off the track. Later we found out his motor mount gave way and the chain popped. After the reset, the race started and Klaiber and Vandall took off, battling back and forth for the point position. At some points, Vandall was sideways coming out of 4. Paul Deasey was quickly making his way through the field, but problems sent him off the track. Later determined to be a loose nose that would catch the track and lift the front off, preventing him from turning. Back to the racing, will Klaiber get the win.. the 99 spun in between 1 and 2 bringing out the caution. At the restart, Klaiber was rolling, trying to make his way back up the front. I missed what happened, but Klaiber was slow coming out of 4 and eventually left the track. Vandall had established a solid lead and crossed the flag stand, winner of the John Smith Memorial race! 1.) 00 Cruz Vandall 2.) 56 Ralph Spithaler 3.) 22 Brandon Oldham 4.) 999 Mark Bergfelt 5.) 28 Brian Chery DNF 6.) 99 Jim Klaiber DNF 7.) 707 Paul Deasey DNF 8.) 38 Randy Adair DNF What a great show for the fans. I looked over and the front stretch was 2 and 3 deep of people trying to catch every bit of the feature. Great racing amongst all the drivers and a whole lot of smiles among the fans! I kept getting asked “What engine is on the 00..” It’s always great to see folks from the other regions and it was a pleasure to meet Jim and Cruz(I hope to see you guys again soon) and also welcome Brian Chery to the muscle kart world. Next up for the Keystone region is a trip to the generous 5th mile of Stonybrook Speedway on July 13th. This could be a good time to test and tune for the KUAS’ other ¼ points race on August 24th there.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 13:26:32 +0000
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