Photos Results

Story by: Sue Nuttall 
After 11 events in the Burris Circle Tour, the Midwest’s Premier pavement oval karting series, only 1 point separates Jordan Thiel and Billy Hulbert in the quest for the title of Overall Champion.  Although Thiel and Hulbert both drive in the Jr. 3 Lite class, the Overall Champion is the racer who is consistently the best finisher in the biggest class.
Thiel, from Appleton, Wisconsin, has been leading the points race since July 6th when he wresled the lead from Jr. Sportsman Champ driver Tyler Blume.  Until today’s race, Thiel had finished in the top 3 nine times and currently has 1827 points.  Hulbert, from Channahon, Illinois, has 4 feature wins to his credit, resulting in a total points score of 1826.

The Jr. 3 feature was a lesson in drafting around the big ½ mile oval at Illiana Motor Speedway – at least until the last lap.  The top 4, Thiel, Nick Chiapetta, Hulbert and Carly Mandarino drove nose to tail in the stiff wind and pulled a half a track in front of the rest of the field.  On the white flag lap, Hulbert dove to the inside, Chiapetta moved out and suddenly Thiel was doing a 720 degree flat spin and kept going (that’s 2 full revolutions).  Hulbert took full advantage of the moment and pulled into the lead.  Mandarino followed Hulbert up front and crossed the line just 1/20th of a second back.  Nick Chiapetta held on for third and Nick Miller advanced 3 positions on the last lap to take fourth.  Thiel finished 8th.

September 14th will be a day etched in Tyler Peterson’s memory for quite a while.  The young, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin resident is carrying on the family racing tradition winning the inaugural running of the Blue Plate Special – a race highlighting the skills of the Jr. 2 Lite (Blue Restrictor Plate) class.  He took the hat trick today winning the dash, heat race and feature.

 The Blue Plate Trophy dash was dead even, with Peterson edging out Tyler Kuder by a mere 8/1000ths of a second.  Head scorer, Jenny Weter said, “I’m sure glad we use electronic scoring.”  Ben Stumpf and Partick McCarty were also part of the “4 wide at the finish” spectacular finishing third and fourth respectively.

 After winning the heat race, Peterson put on another show of skillful driving and patience.  Pairing up with Ben Stumpf, the 2 young drivers pulled away from the rest of the field.  Although Peterson thought he had the win in hand, Stumpf is one of the strongest finishers in the Tour.  Predictably, as the karts rounded turn 3 on the final lap, Stumpf moved inside to pass.  This time Peterson was expecting it and also moved down for the block– holding on to the top spot and the victory.  Patrick McCarty finished third, his best finish of the year, and Tyler Kuder was fourth.

 Other Feature winners include: Matt Vice – Jr. Champ, Dylan Barbosa – Jr. Sportsman Champ, Alex Stumpf – Jr. 1 Lite, Morgan Schissel – Kid Karts, Eric Frieberg – Yamaha Sportsman, Shane Morrissey – Sr. Lite, Ashley Morrissey – Sr. Medium, Stan Guess – Sr. Sportsman, and Brandon Eash – Sr. Heavy.
 The Burris Circle Tour returns to Lake Geneva Raceway on September 21st where the featured event will be the “Purple Shootout”.