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“I never looked back, my dad gets on me when I look back and I never did this time. I want to thank God for a safe race, my mom and dad. The kart handled great and the motor was awesome.”Shay Chavous earned day two’s Florida All Stars win from the pole he earned with a 12.941-seconds trip. Chavous and Paschal scrapped over the early lead. Paschal dove low in turn one coming up with the lead. Chavous tries to take it from him, but spun. Chavous gathered it back up and chased Paschal down. Suddenly Paschal’s machine developed mechanical problems forcing him from the competition as Chavous returned to an inherited lead he took to the finish line. Local Ed Shriefels followed nine seconds later. Further back Brian Able, Tim Taft and Wayne Howe.
With the fourth annual ‘Christmas in Dixie’ dirt program in the book it was time to move across Cross Roads Motorplex to their asphalt track, which is almost identical in size and design to its famous dirt oval.
CID Part 2 Asphalt
Barnes Bags World 100
Story by Bruce C. Walls
Photos by Bruce C. Walls
Susan Taylor-Walls
JASPER, FL-Several years ago American Kart Racing Association (AKRA) owner and CEO Bill McCutcheon, FKA Owner/President and track owner Wade Murphy decided to include Asphalt racers to their annual "Christmas in Dixie" event. Each year since its inclusion the asphalt portion of "Christmas in Dixie" has grown. Last year (2007)
AKRA, FKA and track owner Wade Murphy decided to add an annual "World 100" race with $1,000 going to the winner to the asphalt action which was held again this year.
Racers began arriving early that morning. Threats of afternoon and evening showers never materialized and the show went on at a comfortable pace starting with racers getting two full rounds of practice.
After a short driver’s meeting racers returned to their pits for final adjustments before qualifying. Junior 1 Purple Plate racers qualified first. Piloting a Rampage Racing Engines powered Eclipse kart Justin McRae set a new track record qualifying lap of 14.887-seconds. Piloting a similar machine Dustin Smith grabbed the outside pole with a 15.030-seconds lap.
When the green flag flew teammates McRae and Smith quickly broke from the pack for their own fight for the front. Running nose-to-tail they battled through lapped traffic back into clean air. When they reached the stripe McRAE was 2.350-seconds late. Garrett Green was third across the finish line followed by R.J. Murphy (son of track owner Wade Murphy) and Kristin Clements who capped the top five.
“It was pretty hard getting around my teammate (Justin McRAE), but I managed to get by him,” Smith said. “Lapped traffic was a big help. The Eclipse kart worked real good, I like them, and the new Rampage motor was pretty sporty, it was fast.”
Stock Medium racers were next off the grid led by pole winners Matt Padgett and Bobby Knox Jr., who recorded lap times of 13.967 and 14.103 seconds, respectively. Padgett and Knox were in an early fight for the front when Hi Tech Racing Engines powered Millenium kart pilot Aaron Sapp sped by them for that lead. Sapp, of Brunswick, GA, kept his foot on the gas building a huge lead while the field behind him battled for positions. Kati Leonard fought her was from a fourth place start to trailing Sapp by 3.931-seconds. Padgett was third across the stripe followed by Michael Hughes. Hughes failed to bring his kart to tech and was disqualified. That moved Garrett Reinhardt up from fifth to fourth and Knox advanced from sixth to fifth for the official top five.
“The kart was handling real good. I just kept running my line and it paid off,” said the 19-year-old winner.
Spinning a 14.879-seconds earned Dylan Colding Junior Champ’s pole. Nick Hebrank was second fastest at 15.117-seconds. Colding captured the early lead with Hebrank and Houston battling for second behind him. Hebrank secured second and began reeling in Colding. When he reached Colding’s tailpipe Hebrank began challenging him for the lead. The battle heated up in the final laps. They were side-by-side on the white flag lap and when they reached the stripe for the final time Hebrank had it by just 0.063-seconds for the weekend’s closest finish.
Jacob Young did it all in Senior Champ. The Homestead, Fl based Kirby Speed Secrets Racing Engines powered Mongoose chassis pilot produced a 14.046-seconds lap for the pole and then went untouched in the feature shaking off early challenges form Dusty Chisholm and late race threats from Brittney Yates who trailed Young by just 0.117-seconds.
“I didn’t even know they were back there. I was just running my own race,” Young said adding, “The Mongoose Chassis was amazing. It’s the best chassis I’ve had so far and the motor was fast.”
David Hicken was a dominant factor in the dirt Box Stock classes during the dirt portion of "Christmas in Dixie." The Jacksonville, Fl native produced a first place in Box Stock Heavy along with finishes of second in Box Stock Lite and fourth in Box Stock Super Heavy. He was just a strong on asphalt taking Box Stock Heavy’s checkered flag 2.022-seconds ahead of pole winner Levon Bennett.
Third fastest qualifier Robert Lowrey leaped into an early lead with Hicken and Bennett locked in a fight for second. Several laps into it Hicken got a solid grip on second and started reeling in Lowrey. He reached Lowrey’s tailpipe and began pressuring him for the position. Entering turn three just before the mid-race signal was shown, Hicken dove low getting by Lowrey for the lead.
Bennett got by Lowrey in the final laps for a second place finish. Lowrey held third and was trailed in the top five by ARC factory driver Tom Cole and Frog Murphy.
Brenden, Fl based Prowler kart pilot Seth Adams rounded the track in 14.079-seconds for Junior 3 Gold’s pole. Brandon Sellers was second fastest at 14.088-seconds. The leaders tried muscling each other out of first place as they beat and banged their way around the track several times. Adams finally secured the lead and held off final challenges from Sellers and Jay Gnann. Sellers held onto second as they crossed the stripe for the final time. Adams beat him there by 1.228-seconds. Gnann, C.J. Leary and Brett Heatherly finished out the top five.
“The Prowler kart was good. It was a little bit loose at first, but it always takes a little while for the tires to come in pilot. Then it was real good,” reported the 13-year-old winner who pilots a Rampage Racing Engines power Prowler kart. “My dad was telling me from the fence line that someone was closing in on me, so I knew they were coming. I just tried harder and harder every lap. My tires started going away just a little bit. They started loosing rubber, but it was a good race.”
A 14.049-seconds rounding earned Oxford, Al native Justin Dopson Stock Heavy’s pole from where he mounted a successful campaign to victory lane. Outside pole winner Walt Barnes blasted into the early lead, but he slid sideways in the middle of turn one surrendering the lead to third fastest qualifier Bobby Knox. Dopson was right behind Knox poised to pass him when opportunity presented itself. When it did Dopson drove his John Hall Motorsports powered Phantom Icon kart by Knox for the lead. Daniel Brown followed him dropping Knox to third. That’s how they finished with Dopson comfortably 5.876-seconds ahead of Brown. John Passatt finished fourth followed by Barnes for the top five.
“He (Bobby Knox) got a good jump on the start. I had to let him have in and drive in on him a little bit there. I kept looking back to be sure I had a good lead and see how far behind me they were. The kart handled great, it did real good. My dad had it rolling.”
Garrett Green grabbed Junior 2 Blue Plate’s pole with a 14.938-seconds lap. C.J. Leary joined him on front row turning the second fastest lap at 15.086-seconds. Caution waved before the first lap was complete. Green led them single file back to the green flag. Green opened a small advantage over Leary in the early laps.
Smith closed in on Green and shot by him at the halfway mark. Behind them McRAE was building steam. Once his kart came in McRae blew by them taking the lead with just a few laps remaining. McRae held it across the stripe beating Green to the stripe by 0.356-seconds, but when he got to tech they found him illegal and awarded Green the win. Dustin Smith was third across the stripe, but like McRAE, Smith was found illegal at tech as well. That brought Leary up from fourth to second. Jimmy Pope advanced to third followed in the official finish by Yates and Matt Anderson.
Then it was time for the day’s highlight-The World 100.
WORLD 100
By Bruce C. Walls
Photos by Bruce C. Walls
And Susan Taylor-Walls
JASPER, FL-Based on the success of Cross Roads Motorplex’s Annual Dirt World 100, last year track owner Wade Murphy, AKRA CEO/President Bill McCutcheon and FKA Owner/President Jimmy Sims decided to hold a second World 100 during "Christmas in Dixie", this one on asphalt. A $2,000 purse was up for grabs. The winner pocketed half; the rest was evenly divided among the top finishers.
Piloting a Tornado Racing Engines powered Epic Kart Matt Padgett pumped out the pole winning lap in 13.703-seconds. According to Padgett, a 17-year-old Starke, FL native, staying out front, “It’s going to take a lot of patience and trying not to get wrecked. It stuck pretty good in qualifying and got better and better the longer I ran so I should be good for the race. I knew I had some good laps, but I didn’t know I had that much.”
Jacksonville, FL native Davey Hicken turned the second fastest qualifying lap a 13.896-seconds rounding. Joey Collins and Tara Henderson turned times of 13.948 and 13.955-seconds respectively for row two. Starting in row three were Dusty Chisholm and Justin Dopson. Further back Kevin Ingram and Tommy Townsend started in row three and behind them in row four were Walt Barnes, of Monroe, N.C. and Wayne Howe. Starting in row five were Chase Fitzgerald and Bobby Knox, Jr.
Hicken hustled into the early lead with Padgett and Henderson closing fast. Henderson passed Padgett as the lead pack began taking on lapped traffic. Further back Dopson began gaining on the leaders. He reached Henderson and took second from her. Two laps later he took the lead bringing Chase Fitzgerald with him dropping Henderson to third.
As battles for the lead raged at the field’s front Walt Barnes was working his way through the field from dead last. He was catching the lead pack
When they got the halfway signal Dopson had opened a comfortable lead. Fitzgerald was following him from several kart lengths behind. Hicken was in third at that point with Henderson and Padgett trailing in fourth and fifth. As the final laps of the first fifty-lap segment unfolded Dopson’s machine developed problems forcing him to surrender the lead to Henderson.
Barnes continued climbing through the field reaching second. He took the lead from Henderson in the final laps and held to the halfway flag. “My neighbor gave me a couple of tires. I didn’t have anything to loose so I tried them and wow this thing woke up,” Barnes said as he and his crew worked on his kart during the mandatory pit stop. “I’m stoked. It’s getting it done right now. Right now if the tires continue to be quick and the kart will stay together it looks like we’re a little quicker than everybody so we should be in good shape now.”
Henderson, of Loxahatchee, FL held onto second when the checkered waved. “We got fast at the end and I’ve got to just ride by him. We’ll have to see what happens, The Phantom Icon kart was handling good at first, but then it started getting a little tight at the end. But the Moon Power South motor always works.”
Racers and their crews were given a two-minute warning. Two minutes later they got the command to stop working on their karts. Then the field was lined up according to their first segment finish. Barnes, Henderson, Joey Collins, Aaron Sapp and Padgett made up the top five when they got the green flag.
Four laps into it Collins closed in on Barnes, challenged him for the led and took it. Next time around Barnes got it back bringing Henderson with him. Collins battled back to the front. Henderson was behind him, Barnes behind her. Barnes got back by her, dove low going into turn three and exited turn four back in the lead as the front pack began taking on traffic again with nine karts still on the lead lap.
Barnes began breaking away from the field as battles for positions raged behind him. In the final laps Collins climbed back to second finishing 3.440-seconds behind Barnes. Trailing in third Henderson was 4.260-seconds off the leader’s pace. Townsend was fourth across the stripe followed by Chisholm who capped the top five.
“Wow! From the back row to the front row,” Barnes beamed in Victory Lane. “I’ve really got to thank my neighbor parked beside me he loaned me two tires and wow, they made a big difference. I’ve got to thank Tod Miller for building a superb motor. That thing there is awesome. I’ve also got to thank Harrill Wiggins for the Phantom kart; it took a lot of licks in the first 25 laps and still came out quick. I’m proud of everybody in my family for keeping me in the sport, I’m proud of the people that come and continue to support this sport and racing in general.”
With the second asphalt World 100 in the record book plans for next year’s race are being made. But before that happens AKRA and Orange County Kartway owner Ollie Spain are making plans for a 150-lap race at Orange County Kartway in July. Once plans for that race are finalized AKRA will announce them.
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