Photos Results

Story by: Sue Nuttall 
13 races, 56 different feature winners and the Season Championships for the Burris Circle Tour came down to one broken rod, a first place finish with a 5/100ths of a second margin and a last ditch dive coming across the stripe.  When all was sorted out, Billy Hulbert earned the top spot in the Burris Circle Tour, the Midwests Premier Speedway Karting Series. 

The top 4 drivers in the series are in the Jr. 3 Lite Class, so the season hung on one feature race.  Starting the day, Jordon Thiel was in the lead with a 35-point lead over Hulbert.  These friends ran side-by-side all year with both the karts and drivers the picture of consistency.  A 2-time feature winner, Nick Chiapetta was only 10 points behind. 

Through lap 9 of the feature, Hulbert had the lead; Chiapetta and Thiel were tight in the draft.  Then suddenly, Thiel lost power and the yellow flag came out.  Thiels kart would not refire and he watched from the infield as his 14 week lead evaporated in a matter of seconds.  Mason Hadley jumped out into the lead on the restart and looked to be the spoiler, while Chiapetta appeared to be out of it in seventh place.  In the closing laps, it became a battle of will.  Hulbert got by Hadley while Chiapetta started picking off the competition with drafting help from Tyler Middleton.  Coming around the last lap, Hulbert was alone in the middle line, Chiapetta and Middleton were charging down the inside.  Midlleton moved left trying to find the line for the win, Chiapetta first went right then left - finishing in the second spot.  Middleton was third for the day, Adam Carlson finished fourth and Hadley rounded out the podium.  The top 5 finished within ½ second of each other.

The Overall Championship Points finished with Hulbert in first with 2147 points, Chiapetta with 2132 points, Thiel with 2124 points and Hadley with 2081.  What a finish!

The day wasnt over by a long shot.  The Jr. Sportsman Champs were just as interested in the points standings as the Jr. 3s.  For most of the race, Jacob Zellmer was in the lead and Colton Clevenger was following right behind him, using the draft to stay in front of the rest of the pack.  Coming around turn 4 on the final lap of the season, Clevenger pulled to the inside.  Zellmer did a great job of running a defensive line to hold off the last second charge in his 2 feature win of the year. Near the end of the pack Tyler Blume struggled with his equipment after being involved in an early race spin.  Although he finished in 7 place today, Blumes lead was just enough to carry him to first in the Jr. Sportsman Class points and in 5 place overall.  Zellmer finished in second place, just 5 points behind.  Colton Clevenger, Dylan Barbosa and Jacob Bandaly were other top finishers in the class.

Action was tight in every class.  Thaddeus Malosh won his first ever feature race in the Kid Karts and Austin Hintt, the Kid Kart Class Champion officially moved up to Jr. 1.  Cory Talaska won the Jr. 1 feature, narrowly beating Jr. 1 Class Champion Alex Stumpf.  Brian Freiberg and Matt Vice raced for the Jr. Champ crown with Freiberg winning the day and Vice dominating the class points.  Tyler Peterson won the Jr. 2 feature and Class Championship on his hometown track.  Brad Becker won his 3 feature of his rookie year, but it wasnt enough to overtake Sr. Champ Kart Champion Nicole Phillips.  Brandon Eash won the feature race in the Sr. Heavy Class and just beat Amy Ghislain for the Heavy Class Championship.  Eric Frieberg was a double winner, taking both the Sr. Medium and Yamaha Sportsman Class Championships.  Joe Chiapetta won the Sr. Sportsman Class and Tiffany Wester ran to the top spot in F200-OHV.

The Sr. Lites were the final race of the day and the fans were glad they stayed.  Again, the points were very close going into the day with Jimmy Johnson leading last years Overall Champion, Jeff Everts, by 5 points and Shane Morrissey by 20. The action heated up with 5 laps to go.  For a restart after a yellow flag, Morrissey was the leader, Everts was in second and Johnson was 6 positions back.   By the time the karts circled around Morrissey was out in front with his sister Ashley, an area stock car driver, tucked behind him in second.  Everts found a drafting partner in Ryan Rockhold but together, they couldnt get by the Morrisseys.  Jimmy Johnson was in fifth.  After a lot of positioning and no passing, the checkered flag dropped on the season.  Morrissey won the feature today, and Everts won the Sr. Lite Class Points battle by 5 points over Johnson.

The Burris Circle Tour will be back in 2004 with a full slate of kart racing at venues in the Midwest where the focus remains on great racing, safety and family fun.