Hayden, McGough End Pavement Season with Three Wins at
Riverhead
Junior drivers James Hayden and Brandon
McGough led all Rage Karts Speedway Pavement Series racers with
fine triple-win performances over the weekend at the inaugural
Bonsignore Kart Shoppe Nationals at Riverhead Raceway on Long
Island. Well over 200 entries made the event a positive one for
WKA and Riverhead Raceway. Competitive racing and strong entry
counts in most classes gave Speedway Pavement racers, officials
and fans something to be pleased about heading into the
offseason.
McGough capped a stout 2009 season with wins in three of the
four Briggs Sportsman 1 divisions – Sportsman 1 Heavy and
Sportsman 1 Champ Lite and Heavy. James Hayden matched Brandon’s
terrific weekend with three wins of his own, coming in Jr Champ
Lite and Heavy and Jr Champ Raptor Final 1.
Chase Dowling, Ryan Breithoff and Dean Grunet each drove to two
wins. Dowling’s triumphs came in Sportsman 2 Lite and Sportsman
2 Champ Lite. Breithoff entered six classes at Riverhead and
came away with victories in Briggs Jr Lite and Jr Champ Raptor
Final 2. Local racer Grunet drove to a pair of wins in the
Briggs Raptor finals.
New York’s Ryan Barbieri was the only driver to beat Brandon
McGough in a feature at Riverhead. Ryan won Sportsman 1 Lite
over Stephen Brewer Jr.
Trevor Trost and Dylan Duhaime didn’t let Chase Dowling get any
more than two first-place trophies to take home. Trost won
Sportsman 2 Heavy while Duhaime finished ahead of Matt Pappa and
Dowling to take his only win of the weekend in Sportsman 2 Champ
Heavy.
Maryland racer Chris Hammett found victory lane once with a big
win in Briggs Jr Heavy. Top WKA Pavement racers Tyler Robertson
and AJ Roderick split the ultra-competitive Briggs Champ Lite
and Heavy features.
Long Islander Justin Bonsignore won over a large 18-kart field
in Briggs Raptor Champ Final 1. The field was by far the best of
the season in the Raptor Champ division and also the largest
national class of the weekend. Bonsignore also took home the
winner’s check in a special Saturday night Sr Champ Money Race,
which was promoted by Riverhead. Over 35 karts started the
under-the-lights affair.
There were three different winners in the three Sr Briggs
divisions. New Englander Glen Meisenhelder took the win in
Briggs Lite. North Carolina racer Tyler Gauthier traveled north
and won Briggs Medium. The win capped an outstanding 2009
campaign for the Tar Heel, who won his first ever national just
last month at the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex. New York’s Chris
Daley got the win over Cole Lenhart in Briggs Heavy.
Three local-option classes hit the track at Riverhead. Alexa
Hipperling won Sportsman 1 Raptor Champ while Artie Tappen took
first place in Sportsman 2 Raptor Champ. David Hardman won over
a competitive seven-kart field in Sr Raptor Champ Over 35.
Six Kid Kart participants made laps over the weekend, comprising
William Ebert, Edward Fatscher, Julia and Nichola Dicanio,
Michael Hurley and Joseph Bertuccio.
As noted, the Bonsignore Kart Shoppe Nationals marked the end of
the 2009 season for WKA’s only pavement-oval tour. Only two
national events remain on WKA’s ’09 schedule: the Road Race
Season Finale Oct. 30-Nov. 2 at Road Atlanta and the SSC East /
CRG Nationals for the George Kugler / Bridgestone Manufacturer’s
Cup Series driven by Mazda Nov. 6-8 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Of
course, as soon as these events are complete racers will begin
to make plans for KartWeek 2010 Dec. 28-30 at Daytona
International Speedway.
Source: WKA PR
Posted: October
13, 2009
