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Thanks for the great picture of Cody. We will miss all of you too. The friends we have made over the years in karting are priceless. The competition on the track and the friendships off the track are what make our Colorado karting community so special. Thanks to all of you for the memories we will always cherish.
Cody’s helmet was done by Troy Kilpatrick of TK Designs. He did a great job and price was very reasonable. He is in Longmont his number is 303-588-4729
Hi Zac you have a Tag Open class for 16 and up will you have a Tag class for the junior drivers like Cody who are not 16?
Just wanted to thank Stacey and all the folks over at GJMS and all the racers who showed up. Cody and I had such a fun time over there this weekend after the main event he got out of his kart with the biggest smile and all the way home it was all he talked about was how much fun he had racing yesterday. For those of you who weren’t able to make the trip all I have to say is you missed one fun “club” race. A lot is being written about the “State of Colorado” racing on another blog on this site and I do hope some of what’s being said bring about some POSITIVE changes but the bottom line this weekend was that if you just quit talking and show up there is some really fun exciting kart racing here in Colorado!!!
Hey Stacey we are planning on being there too. Will Darren be providing his patented cement mixer margaritas 😀
I have to agree with Chris in that SKUSA and Rotax are the start to building a succesful state/regional series. With there TAG Masters/Seniors I belive there are 4 engine/weight packages available to run. We have some very fine S1-S5 Shifter drivers here in the state. I belive there were over 70 Rotax Drivers here in the state last year running. With the Local option that SKUSA has they could bring in the CJKC Briggs karts. That could put us over 100 karts if we come together to support this series. You need to have defined classes and spec/rules in order to have this run smoothly. I have been racing my son here in Colorado for 3 years now and over the last two years have raced every track with the exception of Bandimere more then once each season. I am probably the only one that makes regular trips over to race at Grand Junction from this side of the hill. The facts are these are the the groups I see that have the numbers. With the exception of the 4 stroke shifters Eddie and 5 or 6 other guys in the Springs run I have not seen karters that would possibly be left out. As Mike said log on speak out let us know you are out there.
As mentioned above some classes may need to be combined in order to fit them all in one day. My son will be racing in the Cadet classes and we are hoping to race both the Mini Max and Tag Cadet class. Last year some of us raced our Rotax karts at a Racing for Heroes event and a IMI club race where the CJKC was present. We included all the kids in one field and they had a lot of fun put on great races with no incidents. I know that the Micro Max, Tag Cadet, and CJKC JR1 Novice classes are simular in lap times and can be combined. I know that the Mini Max and CJKC JR1 Expert class are simular in there lap times and can also be combined. Some of the Rotax/Tag classes probably could be combined also according to there groups. I think the main thing we need to focus on is allowing this process to work out be oraganized by a national sanctioning body and for all of us to put past differences behind us and SUPPORT Colorado kart racing again.
I belive that Greg has a point in that a State/Regional series has to have a class and rules based on a National type structure. I believe in the SKUSA classes they do have classes at the TAG Senior and TAG Master levels that include a few different types of engine packages. The TAG Juniors use the Leopard only. Including the Rotax classes allows many kids racing Micro and Mini and Junior Max to enjoy the experince of racing in larger fields and is a good step up for them if they decide to race out of state. They can also race in the SKUSA Tag Cadet class which would allow them the possibility to race at Super Nats. Hopefully if SKUSA is the sanctioning body they will allow the Briggs package as there local option thus allowing the families at the CJKC to particpate. I have taken my son to race every track here in Colorado the reality of this is that the largest groups are those of us that race the Rotax package the SKUSA shifter groups and the CJKC. I have not seen at the club level any other engine packages that would constitute a class. There may be some of you out there but I don’t see any showing up to race. We do need to make this work. One thing I have seen in this discussion is that some people seem to really have some anger regarding the Rotax engine because of things that have happened in the past. I know most of us that race this series do not race it because of loyalty to a certain track. We race it because it is a good National series with relaible motors that allows for some really great racing. I have heard that in the past there were quite a few TAG drivers thta ran Leopard motors well SKUSA has that class dust off them karts and lets go race.
It’s obvious that everyone that has been posting and expressing there thoughts about this subject are passionate about karting. That they would love to bring everyone together under a true state series. But like some have said it’s been discussed on here for a couple years now with no progress. There is an altenative and that is for us all to come together to support an event like the “Racing for Heroes” events that are being planned. We attended the one in Grand Junction last year and had a great time.
Well once again as we the karters begin to express our interest in a state series a local track owner wants to play the blame game. Before anyone begins to say I’m just a mouthpiece for someone let me expalin. I have made my choices on what type of kart my son drives on the experience and fun we want to enjoy in karting not to favor a particular track here in the state. We chose the Rotax program as it gave us the opportunity to race at many places not only here but Arizona, Utah, and California with out having to constantly change our kart to meet the rules out of state. Last year we made a couple trips here in state and again had the opportunity to race with the CJKC which is where my son started racing and where we still have friends. Even though they have the Briggs program they allowed my son and a few others to race with them using our Rotax motors. The kids all had fun which I think is why most of us enjoy this sport. The kids didn’t care what motors they were running. They didn’t care about all this divisive BS going on here in karting. They just wanted to be out there on the track racing there friends having fun. Maybe we all should take a step back and learn from these kids. The adults karters in this state seem to have all taken sides in this dispute. They seem to all have opinions and seem to think there opinions are the only right ones. Its time for people to begin putting aside differences to open there minds to new ideas and to play nice. The promoters and clubs that do this will probably be rewared by larger kart turnouts which is what we all want. I want to end this by thanking SKUSA and Stan for at least attempting to give everyone more oppurtunities to race in a regional series by opening up more classes to not only the traditional SKUSA classes but to include the Rotax classes. Now lets see if the Rotax karters in this region respond. Thanks also to the CJKC for allowing my son and a few others tho race with your kids last year we had a blast would love the local IKF to also include Rotax as they do in other regions we could help increase your kid entried with your club. But even if there is not a state series lets not forget that some local tracks like SBR and Grand Junction will let everyone race support these tracks. Like i said take a look at the kids who enjoy this sport for the pure fun and enjoyment they have let’s all try to play nice.
I would be in favor of the 4 race weekend with a drop. With 3 being Miller, GJMS, and TTAC. The 4th you have many choices from PPIR, SBR, IMI or a steret venue such as John Bradley proposed. I would also suggest making a more serious effort to include the Rotax and Briggs (CJKC) classes. I know me saying this will upset people but facts are facts. Since here in Colorado both these groups have the most entries at there races. Along with the SKUSA shifter classes if an effort were made to reach out to these drivers you could have larger fields. If you truly want to have a touring Mountain Region Series look at what we have here in Colorado and Utah and adapt.
Eddie,
Some of us who attended the PPKRC’s first race are indeed running The SKUSA MR series this includes my son Cody and the entire Sodi group that came down to race at SBR. We all will be in Grand Junction that weekend.
Don Dempster
Yes thanks to all who put in the effort for the Racing for Heroes event at GJMS. A special thanks to all the first responders and military members in attendance for all that they do. My son Cody and I had a great time a great way to spend a Fathers Day weekend
