The Ultimate Karting Showdown is happening 10/27 & 10/28 between Lehigh Valley Grand Prix and Summit Point Karting.  Jens Scott of SPK dreamt up the battle and Mike McCreary from LVGP was excited for the challenge!!  The top 6 drivers from each track will duel it out at each facility.  On Oct 27th the battle will be held on the SPK turf and return up to LVGP on the 28th.

The race format will be 2 practice sessions of 20 minutes followed by 5 feature races.  Drivers will earn points in each feature finish.  The driver with the highest point total will be crowned the UKC champion!  The facility that accumulates the most points will get a trophy held in thier facility until the next battle.

“This is completely about PRIDE!  It is about who has the best drivers!  The excitement is building up and this will be a great event that we can build upon each year,” said Mike McCreary partner at LVGP.

The event will be a great opportunity to for the facilities to continue to build relationships with each other and have a blast with karting!  Look out for the race results!!

It was a competitive and fun round of Jr Leagues for the Spring Series.  The competition was tight from start to finish and the driver’s showed great poise and improvement.

The team at LVGP decided to spice up the race formats adding reverse track to the mix.  ”We felt that the kids had such a great grasp on the racing that we had the opportunity to shake it up,” said Jeff Shuey, Jr League Director.

Not only were the kids racing at a fast pace each week but it was the driver’s ability to understand the track and the passing points that enabled the staff to bring more race formats to the table.  All of the driver’s should be extremely proud of their results.

LVGP would like to thank all of the parents for bringing the kids each week to leagues and we hope to see you all in the Fall League!

Final Results:

Class A

1.  Z Racer (Zack Dunn) 7,059 pts. 2.  JoetheTraitor (Joey Brey) 5,865 pts.  3.  Agile Beast (Noah Kreitzer) 5,171 pts.  4.  Kalynnthemadness (Kalynn Stroble) 4,773 pts.  5.  JPSRacer24 (Jase Smith) 4,631 pts.

Class B

1.  Terminator (Nicholas Winton) 7059 pts. 2.  Jigga (Michael Sava) 5,638 pts.  3.  Dominator24 (Cole Wilkinson) 5,445 pts.  4.  Da Beast (Patrick Bassil) 4,351 pts.  5.  David (David Rush) 4,613 pts.

Class C

1.  Chandler (Chandler Gavin) & Speedyboy88 (Brett Fausey) 7,209 pts.  3.  Sgt Swift (Tommie Kleppinger) 5,831 pts.  4.  Harry (Harry Ryan) 3,263 pts.

The Jr Leagues at Lehigh Valley Grand Prix have become a showcase for some of the best Jr drivers in indoor karting.  Each week it is truly amazing to watch these kids race in 20 minute, wheel to wheel racing, features!  The program attracts kids from all different racing experience levels and provides a great racing experience for everyone!

“We have kids that race sling shots, quarter midgets and outdoor go karts that use the league as a way to keep their skills sharp in the off-season.  We also have participants that have never raced or driven a vehicle in their life!  It is exciting to watch them all improve over the 8 week program,” said Kyle Lick, assistant competition director.

The winter league had 3 classes for the competition.  The league started in mid January and ran until March 3rd.  Each week for 8 weeks the participants would race in a 5 minute qualifier followed by a 20 minute feature.  The fastest qualifier would start on the pole position for the feature race.  The Spring League will begin on April 14th and run for 8 consecutive weeks.  The cost is $175.

We would like to give a big congratulations to all of the Winter League participants and parents and we hope to see you in the Spring league!!  Here are the final results from the Winter League.

Class A

1. Zack Dunn “Z Racer” 5909 pts, 2.  Joey Brey “JoetheTraitor” 5609 pts, 3.  Kalynn Strobel “KalynnTheMadness” 5206, 4.  Noah Kreitzer “Sanitator” 4768 pts,  5.  Hunter Stewart “Flaming Bull” 4631 pts, 6.  Jase Smith “JPSRacer24″ 4528 pts, 7. John Coranati “Vito” 4217 pts.

Class B

1.  Brycen Jasionowski “BMAN” 5916 pts, 2.  Kiel Cochran 5785 pts, 3.  Josh Patterson “Bullet Bill” 5354 pts, 4.  Brandon Gehris “I Like Chicken” 5302 pts, 5.  Spencer Patterson “Spencer” 5080pts,  6.  Kimberlee Taylor “Kimbo” 3687 pts.

Class C

1.  Christian Eckes “Christian” & Alex McCollum “WildChild” 6252 pts, 3.  David Rush ”David” 5194 pts, 4.  Chandler Gavin “Chandler” 5171 pts, , 5.  Nicholas Winton “Terminator” 4518 pts, 6.  Alex Roan “Alex” 4080 pts.

The final round of our adult league series ended on Wednesday night.  The competition was fierce and the formats were kept a mystery each week.

In week one the facility did the usual 8 minute qualifier to determine the league groups.  After the qualifier the groups each competed in two 20 minutes feature races.  Kyle Lick won honors for the A group while Samanthalee Greco too the B group and Brian Roemer won the Group C.

Week 2 the format was a true test of endurance.  After the qualifying race each group participated in a 40 minute mini-iron man race.   Halfway through the race the field was inverted and sent backwards.  This added a twist and created challenges for drivers who had never driven the track backwards.  In the A group the honors were split between Kyle Lick and Jeff Shuey.  Group B was a dominate victory by Samanthalee Grecco winning both directions and the Group C was split between Brian Roemer and Jon Stangle.

Week 3 was the biggest surprise of the league series.  League Director, Ryan Suchon, made the decision to throw down powder and make the track surface slick.  None of the drivers had any practice opportunity, so the skill had to come from natural instinct and ability.  In group A Kyle Lick and Jason Frankenfield split the two victories.  In Group B Jim Wilson and Dan Deithorn were winners and in Group C Brian Roemer and Ed Stangle came out on top.

Week 4, the final week was the best week to make up points and climb or fall down the ladder.  The format was each group ran a 8 minute qualifier followed by 3 features that were 12 minutes.  The shorter features meant drivers had to be more aggressive and make moves early.  It also meant that there was an extra feature to earn points.  Jeff Shuey from the A Group took advantage winning 2 out of the 3 features helping him secure a third place in overall standings.  Jason Frankenfield was the other winner in the A Group.  In the B Group Samanthalee Greco continued to dominate winning the final 2 of the 3 features and Jim Wilson took the first of the 3 feathers.  In Group C Mike Krachun came out of the boxes hot winning the first 2 features and Michael Hartberger took the final race.

Overall, this was one of the most competitive leagues in LVGP history.  The formats were meant to keep the races fresh and exciting each week and we are thank to all the drivers who participated!!

Final Standings:

Group A

1.  Kyle Lick, 7,339 pts 2.  Michael Jachowski 7041 pts 3.  Jeff Shuey 6852 pts 4.  Jason Frankenfield 6703 pts 5  Andrew Pettijohn 6638 pts 6. Tyler Benson 4534 pts 7.  Clint Benson 4100 pts 8.  Martin Kompas 3232 pts.

Group B

1.  Samanthalee Greco 7732 pts 2.  Jim Wilson 7183 pts 3.  Daniel Deithorn 6663 pts 4.  Michael Egge 6541 pts 5.  Hunter Stewart 6142 pts 6.  Ashley Giroux 5249 pts

Group C

1.  Brian Roemer 7452 pts 2.  Mike Krachun 7261 pts. 3.  Ed Stangle 7009 pts. 4. Michael Hartberger 6591 pts. 5.  Walter Sahaydak 6279 pts. 6.  Jon Stangle 5568 pts.

Ryan Suchon and Kyle Lick are dirt racers.  They are also the Competition Team at LVGP.  To spice things up at last nights league they decided to add a little of their dirt racing background to the league experience.

Powder Night!  The league drivers got to experience the first ever Powder Night at LVGP.  Using a combination of baby powder and shuffle board wax they created an entirely new experience on the track.

Upon entering the track, driver’s appeared to be driving on ice!  Sliding all over the track and struggling to adjust to the new surface.  It was fun to watch the drivers compete.  ”The true driver’s can figure out how to go fast on any type of surface.” said Ryan.

Overall, the event seemed to be a huge success.  You could see big grins on the driver’s faces as they slid around the track!

Here is a link to a video taken by League Driver, Walt Sahaydak.

Practicing for the 3 hr endurance race on Sunday, Jianni Koburi aka Fox Racer set a new track record.  The previous record held by Andrew Pettijohn of 28.127 had no chance as Jianni dropped a 27.757.  Jianni is set to race the 3hr enduro race on 9/11.

The 3hr race is turning into a heated battle amongst the competitors.  Josh Schreiber, a strong competitor in the last iron man had some choice words for the competition, “Make sure you call everyone up and tell them they will be finishing behind me cause I’m gonna be doing work up in there!”

There are a couple of seats left for the race this Sunday.  Two classes will be running; amateur and pro.  For more details or registration contact competition@lehighvalleygrandprix.com.

Lehigh Valley Grand Prix 3 HOUR ENDURO RULES:

8:00am – 8:30am: Team registration and team weigh in.

8:30am – 8:45am: Drivers Meeting. Kart draw- Each Kart number will be put into a hat and you will pick the kart to start the race with.

8:45am – 8:55am: Team Kart preparation.

9:00am – Race begins.

Race Rules:
Teams of 1 -3 driver(s).

8 Minimum Stops, either driver exchanges or a stop and go in the pits.

No maximum drive time.

No minimum drive time.

Yellow flags- In the event of a caution, we will turn all the yellow lights on. At this time everyone will be required to go half speed. The goal is to not gain any ground or lose any ground from the person in front of you or behind you. If a driver seems as if they are going excessively fast under yellow they will be black flagged and pulled into the pits. Once everyone is at half speed the track marshals will straighten out the karts involved and then the race will go back to green. If the caution was caused due to someone spinning the other out, the driver who spun the other driver will then be black flagged under green flag racing conditions to assess their penalty.  You can NOT do a kart swap under a yellow flag.

Black Flag- The black flag is going to be used heavily in this race. Consider this your warning. If there is any type of contact, whether it be your fault or not you will get a black flag waved at you and then have to pull into the pits. When you receive the black flag you will pull into the pits with in 2 laps of receiving the black flag, and do a stop and go as your penalty.  As the race goes on your black flag penalties will get more sever. First black flag is a stop and go. 2^nd black flag is 3 second penalty, 3^rd black flag and on is a 5 second penalty. You can NOT do a kart swap or driver exchange while serving a black flag penalty.

Individual driver weight for the race is 185 pounds. We have weight provided on the track for those who do not make the 185 pounds.

1 MANDATORY kart change- The kart exchange must be completed between 2:00:00 – 1:00:00 in the race. Meaning in the middle portion of the 3 hour race the pit flag will be green for open kart changes. Then with one hour to go the red flag will close the pits for kart exchanges. Karts may be exchanged before the 2 hour remaining mark, and after the hour left mark, but will not count as a kart exchange. Failure to swap karts within the designated hour window is an automatic disqualification.

No Blue flags will be used throughout the race, using good judgment and sportsman ship is key when not using blue flags.

Remember the days when you used to go outside and rev up the go-kart in street or backyard?  Flying down the yard going 20 mph was a thrill that you would remember for a lifetime!  Times have changed, the toys have gotten bigger, faster and more technical.  The era of the backyard go kart is a thing of the past.  Homes are closer together, safety and liability linger and now the new age of electronics and entertainment have hit.

The go kart industry has kept pace with the ever changing demands of consumers.  What was once the backyard activity has now spawned facilities nearing 100,000 sqft and holding corporate teambuilding events, birthday parties, competition races and more.  What was a dream to many has now become a reality.  For roughly $20 a ride you can get the thrill of a lifetime.

Indoor karting facilities offer an experience like none other.  Road course style tracks, high performance karts, beautiful fit outs and high tech scoring systems make for an exciting afternoon.  To be a 10 year old kid or a 100 year old kid, it is amazing that racing has become so available.  No requirement for experience or investments, just the need for speed.

If you haven’t looked up go karting lately you might want to Google it and see what you can find in your neck of the woods.  I promise it will give you and adrenaline rush!

The economy has had a major effect on the racing world over the past 2 years.  I believe that continuing to invest in your products and delivering on your customer’s demands is key to survival.  Just yesterday Indoor Karting News released that it will be closing it’s doors.  Excuses such as economic factors and business model issues were the major reasons for ending the sites existence.  I strongly believe that this could have been avoided if the company simply listened to their customers.

IKN had some great ideas on how to grow the indoor karting community through forums, driver rankings and advertising for tracks, however, I feel the site had some major flaws.  The driver rankings did not include drivers from tracks who were not partners with the website.  How can you have a true national ranking when you don’t have 80% of the drivers listed due to their track not advertising on the site?  Also, there were major flaws in how the scoring was kept.  Drivers from tracks with a great number of major races had points that were weighed heavier than the tracks with less events.  Also, the rankings did not differentiate endurance competitions from individual races.  The site also did not involve a kids ranking.

To finish on a high note, overall, I felt the site was a great step for the industry.  It is disappointing to see it fail but I think there was some great learning for other sites and future competition strategy.  Lehigh Valley Grand Prix is now partnering up with Sodi World Series which is an international ranking series that has some great promise in growing this fast growing sport.

Lehigh Valley Grand Prix is gearing up for it’s biggest race of the year.  The 12hrs of LVGP is a test of speed, endurance and mental toughness.  Teams from all over North America will be arriving in the Lehigh Valley to prove who is the best.  Last year’s event yielded teams from Michigan, Canada, Charlotte, Phoenix and the surrounding regions.  The competition was fierce and one critical tactical error can cost a team the race.

What is perhaps the most amazing part of the race is the fact that some teams will only have 2 drivers!  6 hrs behind the wheel is a long time to be driving on an indoor track.  These drivers tend to have a tremendous amount of time behind the wheel participating in all realms of racing from outdoor karting, sprint cars, indy cars and some even from NASCAR.

These drivers will all be fighting for some big prizes.  The first place team will receive $2,400, 2nd- $1,600 and 3rd place will win free entry to next year’s race.  Teams are starting to confirm for this big event.  The entry is $1,200 and to reserve your team you must put down a deposit of 50%.

Even if you are not racing, it will be a great event to come and watch some of the best drivers from around North America fight it out for 12hrs!!!