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BeaveRun Racers Fare
Well Against National Competition
NASCAR's Jamie
McMurray and Open Wheel's Ron White Join the Action
Wampum, PA
July 24,
2007 -
The best kart
racers from across North America descended upon BeaveRun Motorsports Complex
this past weekend to compete in one of the most highly anticipated events of
the season, the SSC East/CRG Nationals.
The fourth round of the WKA Manufacturers Cup featured nearly 450 entries in
twenty classes with on-track action covering three full days.
Not only did the
challenging Wilson Circuit at BeaveRun attract the interest of the best
current kart racers, two former karters refused to pass up the opportunity
to return to their roots and join in the action at one of the top karting
facilities in the country.
Current Star Mazda racer
Ron White took a break from his busy open wheel racing schedule for the
chance to run at BeaveRun for the first time. White currently sits fourth in
points with five top ten finishes in just seven starts already this season
in the Star Mazda Series. White ran in the ICC (shifter) class scoring a win
on Saturday followed by a second place finish on Sunday.
According to White the
chance to enjoy a weekend of kart racing again was well worth the effort.
"Getting
back into the CRG ICC shifter kart last weekend was a great and
exciting time.
Finishing first in Saturday's race and racing wheel to wheel with some of
the best kart drivers made it a great challenge and lots of hard work. With
Jamie McMurray as my team mate on the SSC East karting team it made the
weekend pretty fun!"
The Californian
continued, noting the challenges of the thirteen turn Wilson Circuit.
"The BeaveRun race track
was quite a fun track to figure out. It has lots of different types of
corners to get used to and made for some great racing. I normally race a
Formula Pro Star Mazda car around the country for team G-Fro & RC-20 so it
was a good change to go racing karts for the weekend."
White's teammate was
indeed NASCAR star Jamie McMurray of Roush Fenway Racing. The Nextel Cup
regular, and winner of the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway just
two weeks ago, ran the ICC class as well as the TAG class. While he didn't
fare very well in the TAG class, missing the feature race, McMurray had a
solid outing his shifter finishing sixth.
"I had a great time
racing at BeaveRun. It was really fun to get back out there and race my two
karts. I wish we could have made qualifying, but oh well, overall it was
still a great time. Everyone was out there racing really hard and track
position was very tough to come by."
For McMurray it was a
fun return to his early days in racing, turning wrenches alongside his Dad
for the weekend as opposed to the dozens of crew members attending to his
lone car at a typical NASCAR race.
"I think next time I
come out there, I'll only run one kart, it was tough having to work on two
karts! Overall I had a great time out there with my Dad and the rest of the
racers at BeaveRun."
Both drivers, who ran
with event sponsor SSC East/CRG, were easily accessible and spent a
considerable amount of time with the young racers in attendance.
While much attention was
paid to the Pro racers and gifted National caliber drivers, the local stars
of the BeaveRun Karting community drew plenty of attention as well scoring
several top finishes throughout the weekend.
Cleveland's Josh Rivera
started the ball rolling with an eleventh place finish in the Yamaha Heavy
class.
The strength of the
BeaveRun Junior program was evident on Saturday as well. In the Yamaha
Supercan Lite class,
Northeast Ohio racers
Sam Beasley (6th) and Robby Bujdoso (12th) along with
Canonsburg, PA's Chris Horan (13th) proved that the 12-15 year
old class at BeaveRun is helping to develop drivers capable of competing
with the best up and coming racers in the country.
The BeaveRun Cadet
Junior Sportsman racers (8-12 year olds) were not to be outdone though.
Trafford PA's Trent Walko qualified third out of 35 entries and was closing
on the leaders on the final lap of the feature event before a mechanical
failure sidelined him.
Breyton Santee entered
the event ranked third in National Championship points and appeared on his
way to a career best finish in the feature. The
North Kingsville, Ohio
racer dispatched the current points leader on the closing lap and was on the
back bumper of the race leader when a mechanical failure sidelined him as
well. Jacob Donald was in the hunt as well however and carried the banner of
the BeaveRun Cadets to a fifth place finish.
Jeannette PA's Donald
continued his impressive run on Sunday, qualifying fourth and finishing
third for his second podium finish of the weekend.
Santee and Walko fought
from deep in the field to finish ninth and tenth respectively.
Several other drivers
fared well on Sunday including Alan Hamilton of
Painesville, Ohio who
scored a tenth place finish in the Yamaha Lite class.
Beasley followed up his
Saturday success with a fourth place podium finish in the JICA class while
Bujdoso and Horan returned for 12th and 14th place
results in the Yamaha Supercan Heavy class.
BeaveRun's biggest
success came in ICA, one of the fastest classes run all weekend, as
McCandless Twp's (PA)
Matt Machiko scored a
second place finish followed by Jennifer Williams in fifth and Chris
Livengood in eighth. Williams and Livengood have been part of the BeaveRun
karting program from the very earliest days and continue to demonstrate the
skills honed at the complex in the highest levels of karting.
The BeaveRun
Championship Karting Series is next on the schedule with the seventh race in
the series on July 29th. Oval Racing then returns to the unique
tri-oval layout within the Wilson Circuit as the WKA Oval Nationals visits
BeaveRun from August 3rd - 5th.
For more information
regarding BeaveRun Motorsports Complex please visit the
BeaveRun website or call 724.535.1000. |
