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.

Looking back upon 2011 it is amazing to think it was only 12 months!  We gave witness to Tony Stewart win a Cup Championship and bring life back to NASCAR while on the other end of the spectrum we witnessed Dan Wheldon’s life taken.  LVGP inked a deal with Indy Car driver, Marco Andretti and found tremendous growth.  It was a year of excitement; changing the track layout and adding a new lighting system as well as a year that provide a positive outlook to what is ahead.

The management team, lead by Mike Achey has been putting new training programs in place to ensure that customers receive great service and a great experience while attending the facility.

The competition team, headed by Ryan Suchon, was hard at work this year introducing a new Summer Iron Man series that received rave reviews as all three races sold out.  There was also the introduction of the new and improved Jr. League series with new Assistant Race Director, Kyle Lick, taking the reigns.  We had our best received Jr. League in company history!

There was also the changing of the guard as LVGP named a new President to the facility.  Kristine McCreary, former President Mike McCreary’s wife, will be taking on a new title as the racing facility grows.  Kristine has shown great leadership in Sales and Finance and will continue to take the company to a new level.

Looking ahead to 2012 there are really exciting new products being added to the facility.  Construction has begun for the new bar Octane that will be opening in early 2012.  The bar has always been a dream of the team at LVGP as the facility looks to improve and add products to our customers.  Octane will provide a great venue for customer’s to enjoy beverages and a bite to eat after racing to talk up their on track experience.

Octane has opened the doors to new partnerships such as Pocono Raceway.  The team is excited to be working with Pocono to hold viewing parties for some of the NASCAR races this upcoming season.  The first party will be held for the Daytona 500 race on February 26th.

2012 will also be the year of the mobile device.  The facility is going to be unrolling the new mobile website that will include the ability to check hours, look up race results as well as purchase gift cards.  In a world that lives on it’s cell phone we are excited to give our customers a more convenient way to interact with LVGP.

As we close out 2011, the team at LVGP would like to give a big thank you to our 20,000 racers this past year!  2011 has been a great success and we attribute that to our customers that we value dearly.  Thank you so much and we look forward to providing you with an adrenaline rush in 2012!

~The team at LVGP

The 12hrs of VLK held at Victory Lane Karting in Charlotte, NC is always a great test to see how your team matches up against the best in the industry.  LVGP sent down 3 teams to take part in the annual event with hopes to prove that we have what it takes against the top drivers in the nation.

The field hosted competitors such as Fred Ogrim, Dan Burke, Johan Schwarz and other internationally ranked drivers.  Out of a 14 team field team LVGP took home 3rd, 7th and 11th respectively.  Missing 2nd place by a few tenths of a second to the team from Endurance Karting provided excitment for the drivers.

“Last year we fought for 5th place.  This year we proved we had what it took to get 2nd.  We just missed it, but I know they will be looking out for us next year,” said Kyle Lick aka Runt.

It truly was an exciting finish.  With just over an hour and a half left in the race Mike Bednar passed the kart off to Carl Bligan for the finish.  With a 1/4 lap lead, Carl had the impossible task of fighting off Dan Burke from Endurance Karting.  At the 55 minute Dan took advantage of some lap traffic and made an impressive move to sneak past Carl and team LVGP.  Dan managed to hold Carl off for the finish as the both crossed with a very little gap between them.

“We knew it was going to be tough to hold Dan off.  I have been on Dan’s team in the past and have seen him work his magic.  It was tough being on this side of it but I am extremely proud of Carl and the team for a strong finish and a great race!” Kevin Bligan, LVGP driver and father of Carl Bligan commenting on his son’s finish.

The LVGP teams all seemed to struggle in the pits throughout the race.  Seat belt issues plagued all 3 teams that were all running strong lap times.  It cost the team 2nd place but there was no chance the team had at catching the front runners from VLK.  There is great excitement on the improvement from last year but in the back of their minds the competitors know they left too much time in the pits.  Next year should be a fun and exciting test.

LVGP Team Roster

Kevin Bligan, Carl Bligan, Jason Frankenfield, Ryan Suchon, Kyle Lick, Jianni Koburi, Andrew Pettijohn, Pat Gillin, Michael Bednar

Click the Link for a video from the race!

LVGP will be holding a 12hr race at the end of March.  Look out for details!

The team at Lehigh Valley Grand Prix is always looking to improve products and to enhance the racing experience.  This fall the team has come together to establish, what could be the best league experience in indoor karting.

Competition Director, Ryan Suchon, and Assistant Competition Director, Kyle Lick, have evaluated the programs of the past and have taken their experiences to improve this next round.  Kyle is a new addition to the competition team and is now the director for the Jr Progam.  Kyle’s racing experience, knowledge of the karting facility and enthusiasm are sure to take the program to a new level.  Here is a list of areas that have been focused upon:

• Performance of Jr Karts-  We have torn apart all of the Jr karts to enhance the performance and experience of the drivers.  5 of the 9 karts used for the league racing will have new engines.  All of the karts will have brand new tires.
• Jr League Race Classes-  The fall leagues will now offer Jr league drivers the opportunity to race in adult karts pending they meet one of the 3 requirements.  The requirements are; 34.000 in a jr kart (prior to league start), 14 years of age, 55 inches in height.
• Points System for Adult and Jr Leagues-  The new point system is now heading towards an industry standard in the Sodi World Series.  All drivers are encouraged to register on the Sodi site to gain world wide exposure for their league results.
• Wall of Fame-  The facility will be adding a wall of fame to recognize top drivers in the facility.  League winners will be recognized on the wall for all the customers to see!!

For more information on the fall leagues email competition@lehighvalleygrandprix.com.