JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 14, 2012) – Coyote Motorsports racers traveled to the 103rd Street Sports Complex in Jacksonville, Fla., this past weekend from areas throughout the eastern United States to compete in the much-anticipated 2012 World Karting Association Gold Cup Series season opener.
The Coyote pit area was full with sleek XP chassis and team members, while other Coyote racers worked out of their own haulers and found good success at the fast, half-mile sprint track.
The weekend kicked off with the Animal Heavy Money Race Friday night after a full day of practice. The popular 30-lap event produced results that the Coyote group has been working toward all winter.
Florida’s Sean Meier wheeled his new XP mount to the big win with a late-race pass on Gary Lawson and Jimmy Heavlow. Meier, who made the pass with one lap remaining, led the final half-mile and crossed the stripe ahead of fellow Coyote XP pilots Dylan Zobkiw and Dakota Bell. Lawson was fourth while Coyote racer Josh Stiefel ran fifth, making it four Coyotes in the top five positions.
“I haven’t seen a race like that in a long time,” Coyote owner Jim Lipari said about Friday’s Money Race. “There were about eight guys who could have won that thing, and we were lucky enough to take the top three spots and four of the top five. Sean, Dylan, Dakota and Josh all did a great job on their new XP’s. Races like that made me happy to be a spectator because it was so exciting to watch all that great talent battle it out!”
On track with Animal Modified was Masters Medium, which saw a fierce battle among Stevie Roberts and Coyote racers Chris Carroll and Tim Stiefel. The trio raced hard throughout the 14-lap affair before Carroll made a last-lap move past Roberts and Stiefel to take the hard-fought victory.
The weekend marked Carroll’s first Gold Cup race in a number of years and the veteran proved he still has what it takes to win races and best top competitors like Roberts and Stiefel.
The new LO206 Kid Kart class hit the track for the first time this past weekend, and Saturday’s feature saw young Dalton Smith race his Coyote Kid Kart to the victory over Cale Hall and Zac Fowler. Smith will go down in the record books as the first national winner in a competition Kid Kart class in WKA history.
Hamburg, New York’s Jake Lutz advanced from the Sportsman 2 ranks to the Junior divisions and proceeded to run up front all weekend in the faster classes. While Lutz wasn’t able to crack the Winners Circle in his first weekend running in Junior, he did race to strong finishes of second in Jr Heavy and third in Jr Lite and Medium.
Lutz did a terrific job all weekend while working with his father, Jim, especially considering all of the other top-five finishers in the three classes had at least a year’s experience in the Junior ranks.
Sarah Luoma nearly scored her first Gold Cup win in Sunday’s Restricted Junior main. Luoma, out of Ohio, battled hard throughout the race but fell just short of passing Dustin Demattia for the victory. Luoma finished second in the 14-lapper.
Joshua Stark finished top five in both of his feature races. The young New York racer raced his Coyote to a third-place finish in Sportsman 1 Lite and was fourth in Sunday’s Sportsman 1 Heavy.
Michigan’s Cayla Chapman raced her XP to a pair of top 10 finishes in her first weekend in the senior ranks. Chapman was seventh in Saturday’s Stock Lite and eighth in Sunday’s Animal Amateur Medium. The talented female racer continues to improve and gain experience and it should be only a matter of time before she cracks the top five.
Young Nick Fauci was impressive throughout the weekend as he continues to gain experience behind the wheel of his Coyote. The 8-year-old racer, who sports a cool red “Mohawk” haircut on his helmet, finished right behind Stark for a fourth-place finish in Sportsman 1 Lite.
Fauci nearly won Sunday’s Sportsman 1 Heavy. He was right behind Gabriel Zellner throughout most of the race and on the last turn made a decisive bid for the lead when he entered the last corner too hot and slid off the track. Fauci, who nearly made the pass for the lead and win, recovered to cross the stripe in fifth.
Brett Peters and Brad Buskirk shared a No. 12 Coyote at Jacksonville. It was the second time this season the Charlotte, N.C.-based friends competed at Jacksonville; they ran a Clone Money Race earlier in the year and finished a strong third.
At the Gold Cup, Peters raced to a decent ninth-place finish in Friday’s Money Race before Buskirk took the wheel Saturday in Stock Heavy, which saw him run into issues and drop out after only seven of the 14 laps. Peters returned to the seat for Sunday’s Stock Medium weekend capper. After showing good speed in practice, Peters experienced problems in the heat and feature and retired early from both events.
Russ Marinucci and Dakota Bell both scored top fives in the Coyote Motorsports-sponsored Stock Lite main. Marinuuci was second while Bell was fourth.
Stock Medium had a couple of XP’s in the top five with Bell and Meier finishing third and fourth. Bell challenged for the lead early in the race before settling for third, while Meier was the race’s hard charger as he raced from 12th on the starting grid to fourth in just 14 laps.
Other top Coyote finishers were Michigan’s Tyler Woods, who was fourth in both Jr Box Stock mains; Ryan Bavineau was third in Restricted Junior and Joshua Stiefel finished fourth in Animal Amateur Medium to compliment his top five in Friday’s Money Race.
“We’re happy with the way the season started,” Jim Lipari said after taking part in a WKA tire test at Jacksonville on Monday before returning to New York. “We worked hard all winter, learned from what we saw at Jacksonville last year, and I think our performance showed that. We’ll continue to work hard and try to win more races in Barnesville next month.”
Lipari refers to round two of the WKA Gold Cup, coming up April 27-29 at Barnesville, Georgia’s Lamar County Speedway. The event is the first WKA national at Barnesville since 1994, and it’s sure to be a historically rich event at the celebrated Georgia sprint track.
About Coyote Motorsports
Coyote is one of the original production go-kart chassis manufacturers in the United States.
Based in the Rochester suburb of Spencerport N.Y., Coyote is now owned and managed by longtime kart racer Jim Lipari. In addition to chassis manufacturing, Coyote is a full-service kart shop and machine shop capable of in-house manufacturing nearly all of the components on its popular line of karts.
Coyote is proud to conduct nearly all of its services at its home shop, including bending tubing with a computer-operated Pines 1000 tubing bender, TIG and MIG welding and painting with a state-of-the-art Nordson powder-coating system.
To learn more about Coyote Motorsports, visit www.CoyoteKarts.com and visit the Coyote Facebook page.
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Press written by New Concept Race Media. For more information, visit www.NewConceptRaceMedia.com.
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