Point Battles tighten in Round Six of the CES at Gateway Int'l
story & photos by Joe Brittin
Madison, IL - The sixth event of the MG Tires Championship Enduro Series, held at Gateway International Raceway on August 31 - September 2, tightened up the class point battles, now that the minimum of six events for year end awards have been completed by many competitors. With only two more events scheduled for the season, the pressure is on to produce better finishes and move up in the points. The best six of eight finishes will be counted toward the season point championship. The updated points list can be viewed on the www.championshipenduro.com web page. The awards banquet date has been set for January 26 in Carol Stream, IL.
Unlike last year's WKA race at Gateway on Labor Day weekend where temperatures soared into the high 90's, temperatures stayed in the low to mid 80's and the threat of rain on Friday never materialized. Nine rounds of practice were held on Friday and an extra round of practice was worked in at the end of the day on Saturday. Counting the Saturday and Sunday morning rounds, a total of 14 rounds of practice were held throughout the weekend! If you could not get dialed-in, it sure was not for lack of practice time.
Although there were two other big sprint races scheduled in the mid-west on the same weekend, the turn-out at Gateway was good, with over 250 entries. The biggest classes were the Yamaha Sprint and the SK-125s along with the Yamaha Heavy enduros having a good showing.
Friday practice went smoothly, and only one red flag was thrown during the Saturday practice for an enduro kart that got into the tire wall in turn two. Two sprint races were red flagged when karts got upside down, but no serious injuries were reported.
The Novice class, for ages 8 to 12, had a good showing each day. Several kids were getting there first thrills of long track racing at a facility that still showed signs of burnt rubber on the pavement from the previous weekends Indy car races. All of the Novice racers went home happy with a participation award and the experience of racing at a professional road race facility.
The SSC Shifter Kart Pro series had another exciting finish and had a new face at the top of the podium. Erik Winberg picked up the win with drafting help from Marc Miller, who finished second. Rounding out the top three was Clayton Prater, who has finished in the top three in five out of six events this year. Pole sitter and Saturday SK-125 S1 winner Todd Jurs got shuffled to fourth at the finish. Lance Lane rounded out the top 5 and also won the Sunday SK-125 S1 race.
Picking up two enduro wins were Jerry Culp in Yamaha Heavy and Yamaha Medium, Jonathan Gashel in 100cc Controlled Ltd. both days, Greg Hayden in Yamaha SSX both days, Kirk McElheny in Jr. Enduro both days, Kyle Schreiber in Controlled 99 both days, and John Larue in Yamaha Sportsman both days.
Picking up two wins in the sprint classes were Owen Wharton in K-1 80cc Shifter both days, Kevin Thompson in Yamaha Sr. Sportsman Sat. and Yamaha Sportsman Heavy Sat., Andrew Chase in Yamaha Sprint both days, Chris Bennett in 4-Cycle senior both days, Braedon Maurer in 4-Cycle Jr. both days, and David Frellen in Kohler Box Stock both days.
Next stop for the series is at Indianapolis Raceway Park on September 21 - 23. IRP will be open Thursday night for trailer drop off and camping will be available at the track. Contact Scott Grant at (317)632-2769 for more information.
