Photos Results

Story by: Sue Nuttall 
Racing was as close as it gets when Ron Brannam took the checkered flag in the 30 lap Jay Gough Memorial Yamaha Race, July 6th at the Rockford (Illinois) Speedway.  The veteran driver beat Eric Freiberg at the flag by a mere 2/100ths of a second.  Freiberg led for 26 laps and thought he had the race won.  But as the drivers came around the final turn Brannam pulled out and drove by for the win. 

Freiberg, the fast qualifier, started at the back for the chance to double his fast qualifier winnings.  This left the pole open for Jessica Brannam, Ron’s granddaughter who moved up from Jr. Yamaha especially for this event. After the race Jessica said, “It was really cool to race with my grandfather for the first time.  I was on the pole and it was a little scary being in front of this many good racers.”  Jessica held her own and finished sixth in her first Sr. level race. 

The Memorial Race was organized by members of the racing community to remember Jay Gough, long time karter and good friend.  Sponsors of this event included KAII Racing, Precision Racecraft, AA Collision, the Guess Family, Gough Heating and Air Conditioning, Telmark-Sharp Racing and Raceway Kart Association.  Jay’s son, Derrick was the guest flagman and daughter Jade was the guest announcer. 

The 4 cycle Special Event brought out a competitive field of Sr. Drivers in the Sr. Sportsman and Sr. Heavy Classes.  Joe Chiapetta was the fast qualifier for the Sr. Sportsman and Brandon Eash led the way for Sr. Heavy’ s.  In the feature, Brandon Eash and Stan Guess used drafting to their advantage to pull away from the field and win their respective classes.  Joe Chiapaetta, Sean Duncanson and J.J. Adams took home trophies in Sr. Sportsman.  Amy Ghislain, Richard Strle, Tyler Taber and Jay Bagley finished at the front of the Sr. Heavy’s.  The consensus from the Sr. Sportsmen was that the 30-lap race was a long, long way. 

The Overall Points Championship for the Burris Circle Tour is dead even. Jordan Thiel, a Jr. 3 driver currently sits atop the leader board with 1005 points after posting an impressive second place finish today.  Just 5 points behind are Dylan Barbosa, Colton Clevenger and Tyler Blume, all Jr. Sportsman Champ drivers who share second place.  Rounding out the top 5, just 10 points behind the leader is Mackenzie Piller, also a Jr. Sportsman Champ Driver.  Today’s Jr. Sportsman Champ race featured another 4 wide drag race down the final stretch with Clevenger winning by a few tenths of a second.  Barbosa finished second, Piller and Jacob Bandaly finished third and fourth respectively. 

The top Jr. 3 drivers settled into a 4-kart train early in their feature race.  Billy Hulbert, Jordan Thiel, Nick Chiapetta, and Adam Carlson used every technique to get around -the high line, the inside line, drafting, pulling out, tucking in and a few other daring moves.  A last lap dash saw the leader Carlson keep his line straight and true to win as the drivers came across 4 wide.  Thiel, Hulbert and Chiapetta all crossed within 3/10th of a second of the leader. 

Other exciting last lap action included Jr. Champ Kart driver Matt Vice diving to the inside to take the win in the closing inches over Brian Freiberg.  Ben Stumpf found a little something extra to hold off a late charge from Dylan Hobbs in Jr. 2 to take his first Feature win of the 2003 season.  Alex Stumpf avoided a last corner spin in Jr. 1 Lite to take the checkered flag and Ryan Rockhold slipped by Brandon Eash and Anthony Danta in Sr. Medium. 

Other drivers in victory lane this week were Eric Freiberg-Yamaha Sportsman Feature, Shane Morrissey- F200 & Sr. Lite, Jessica Brannam-Jr. Yamaha, Nicole Phillips - Sr. Champ and Corey Domenick - F200 Jr. 

The Burris Circle Tour returns to the Lake Geneva (Wisconsin) Raceway, July 20th for the Mid Season Championships.  Gates open at 7:30 am for a day of action packed racing in a family friendly environment.