By Eric Cody
On Sunday February 21st, the Colorado Junior Karting Club kicked off its 2010 season with a meeting at Red and Jerry’s in Englewood. The club moved the meeting to the larger venue due to continued growth in the club during the off-season. “We basically outgrew our other meeting venues and Red and Jerry’s graciously offered us this larger space that will allow us to accommodate the club as we continue to add new member families”, said Scott Hannum, CJKC President.

The CJKC continues to grow despite the challenging economy which has contributed to stagnation and even declines in participation in Karting series across the region and nation. The February 21st meeting saw several new members attend as well as a strong showing from the returning members. Cost control, a focus on providing a fun and safe environment for the member families, and providing value to the Karting community has been central to the CJKC since it’s inception in 2007 and these principles have helped the club grow exponentially in just a few short years. The CJKC operates under the sanction of the International Karting Federation and hosts the IKF Region 4a Junior Karting Championship Series.

The CJKC was extremely busy in the off-season. In September they began to survey members to gauge their opinions on various issues facing the club in this economic environment. A key issue was the planned review of the club’s engine packages. The membership expressed a desire to move to a lower cost, sealed engine, to help even the playing field. The Briggs Racing LO206 engine package was chosen after 7 different packages were tested and considered. The Briggs Racing LO206 offers the basic engine package for approximately $449 that is sealed at the factory and only requires a few additional accessories to complete. The CJKC is rolling this package out for use in the Junior 1 Classes this year with a possible expansion down into the Kid Kart level in the future which would allow a 7 year application of the LO206.

Due to the large participation in the Junior 1 class in 2009, the CJKC will be implementing a new entry-level Junior 1 formula for 2010. This class was designed with both the new driver and/or recent Kid Kart graduate who is moving up to Junior 1 in mind. This class will use the new Briggs Racing LO206 engine, however, the club will spec a gear and other engine aspects to keep the speeds down for these transitional drivers as they get acquainted to the much higher speeds attained at the Junior 1 level. This class will also allow the club to break up the class which in some cases saw as many as 26-28 racers fight for 18 starting positions at some tracks.

Experienced Junior 1 drivers will have their class with the CJKC using the new Briggs Racing LO206 as well. This class will feature the more experienced Junior 1 racers with more options, more power and open gearing available to the teams. This class is expected to have the largest fields in the club and will provide some of the closest racing anywhere with most of the title contenders returning in 2010 to battle for the coveted IKF Region 4A Champions jacket.


Another exciting addition to the CJKC fo 2010 will be the Junior 2 Class featuring the Briggs Racing CIK World Formula engine package. This class was designed for the 12 to 15 year old who is either new to Karting or as a next step after they graduated out of the Junior 1 level. The World Formula engine package provides plenty of power to test the abilities of these racers as well as reliability and value, (basic package starting at approx. $995) allowing families to participate in Karting at a much lower cost than other classes available to this age bracket.

The new Briggs Racing LO206 and CIK World Formula engine packages built to the specifications of the IKF can be purchased at any of the following Colorado locations:

Action Karting at Bandimere Speedway
CRE Motorsports
IMI Motorsports Complex
Grand Junction Motor Speedway
Shockwave Karting
Mile High Power Supply

The 2010 International Kart Federation Region 4A Junior Championship Series hosted by the Colorado Junior Karting Club kicks off on April 18th at Action Karting at Bandimere Speedway. The CJKC will also be hosting a new member orientation day as well as driving and tuning clinics in the weeks leading up to Race #1 at Action Karting. Additional information can be found by visiting the CJKC website at http://www.cjkc.org.