CASSITY, WISHARD ARE WINNERS AT CKNA SPRING NATIONALS AT CONCEPT HAULERS

Midwest racers Ryan Cassity and Justin Wishard led the way for Coyote Motorsports at the Cup Karts North America (CKNA) Spring Nationals at Concept Haulers Motor Speedway in Illinois, May 4-5. Here’s a rundown of Coyote drivers and how they fared at the big season-opening event.

Sportsman

Four Coyote drivers entered the Sportsman division at the CKNA Champions Cup Spring Nationals at Concept Haulers.

Blake Boon stayed near the front of the pack all weekend on his No. 22 Combat. The Rochester, N.Y., driver would finish second Saturday in the 18-kart field. He followed it up with a P4 finish in Sunday’s main, which marked the first time he finished outside the top three in any round of competition throughout the weekend.

Kolin Kiefer joined the Sportsman field at Norway on his No. 96 Coyote. Kiefer had a solid weekend, finishing 13^th in Saturday’s final and improving for a solid ninth-place effort Sunday.

Joshua and Joseph Bolin raced their Coyote’s in the Sportsman ranks. Joshua would record finishes of 12^th and 10^th, while Joseph would finish 18^th and 17^th.

Junior

Seven of the 23 Junior entrants were on Coyote’s and the weekend started with Loren Johnson winning the pole award on his No. 14. In fact, Johnson cleared the field by over three-tenths of a second with a blistering 53.752 fast lap. Johnson would also set the fast lap in the 12-lap main event on his way to a top-five result, finishing fourth. Johnson finished two spots ahead of Griffin Kimbrel, who finished a respectable sixth in the main event.

Joey Cline and his family traveled to Norway from western New York and took home a 13^th-place finish in the hotly contested division. Jeremy Mason finished 17^th, just ahead of fellow Coyote pilots Jason Pribyl and Logan Graham. Mary Badgley would not finish the main and was credited with 22^nd.

All seven drivers returned Sunday for more Junior competition with Johnson and Graham placing in the top 10 in the ninth and 10^th positions. Kimbrel would slip to 11^th on this day, finishing a couple spots ahead of Pribyl, Mason and Cline, who crossed the stripe 13^th, 14^th and 15^th. Badgley did not finish and was credited with 22^nd.

Senior Medium

Coyote karts made up more than half of the 10-kart Senior Medium field at Norway. In Saturday’s action, Ryan Cassity drove his No. 53 Combat to a runner-up finish, crossing the finish stripe right behind the winner. About a second back of the top two was Michigan’s Scott Kleman, who took third after winning the pole award earlier in the day. Josh Stiefel was fourth and Trentin Frederick fifth, giving Coyote a sweep of the second- through fourth-place finishers.  James Recendez and Paul Dykstra also entered their Coyote’s in Senior Medium. Recendez would finish seventh and Dykstra ninth.

Sunday’s Senior Medium action was all Ryan Cassity as the veteran Illinois driver took back the controls of the No. 53 Combat. Cassity would win the pole award, finish second in both heat races and cruise to the victory in the main over fellow Coyote pilot Kleman.

Frederick improved from his Saturday result to take fourth; Dykstra was fifth to give Coyote a sweep of the top five. Three Coyote drivers did not finish the main event Sunday – Stiefel, Recendez and Anthony Colandro.

Senior Heavy

Coyote would take three of the top-five spots in Saturday’s Senior Heavy final. Jim Lipari landed his No. 24 in the third, ahead of Kyle Lohmar’s No. 726 and Chris Cirillo’s No. 6.

Wishard joined the division on Sunday and promptly put his No. 20 in victory lane. Wishard would score the win over a strong 15-kart field after not racing Saturday. Lohmar finished just outside the top five with a P6 result. Cirillo was right behind Lohmar but had to settle for seventh. Lipari would retire early from the final after a pair of top-five finishes in the two heat races; he was credited with 13^th.

Masters

Five Coyote drivers entered the 22-kart Masters class and two of them placed in the top 10 in Saturday’s racing at the Spring Nationals. Randy Raridon drove his No. 3 to a good seventh-place finish to become the top finishing Coyote chassis on the day. Coyote drivers would finish nose to tail in 10^th through 12^th. New York veteran Tim Stiefel rounded out the top 10, Kevin Picklesimer was 11^th and Chris Pettit took the 12^th position. Tim Huss Jr. did not start the final on his Coyote.

Huss would get going on Sunday and drive to solid 11^th-place result. He finished just a couple of spots behind Stiefel, who improved one position from his Saturday finish to take 9^th. Picklesimer was 12^th and Raridon slipped to 13^th on Sunday and Pettit dropped out early in the race and was credited with 19^th.

CIK Senior

Josh Stiefel was the top-running Coyote in the 36-kart CIK Senior division. Stiefel kept his XP chassis up front all weekend and earned feature finishes of 5^th on Saturday and 4^th on Sunday. After years of racing on the Gold Cup circuit and locally in New York, Josh has solidified himself as one of the best senior 206 racers on the East Coast, and his results at the first two rounds of the 2019 Champions Cup have reflected that.

Anthony Collandro entered his No. 45 Coyote in CIK Senior and came away with a 28^th-place finish in Saturday’s stacked field. We’re looking forward to more improvement from Anthony throughout the course of the season.