SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Coyote Motorsports team and a host of talented drivers from all over the eastern half of the country traveled to Springfield, Illinois, recently for the June 1-3 Cup Karts North American (CKNA) Central Division Round 2 at the challenging Mid-State Kart Club, which promotes a strong Saturday night club program that Coyote racers have thrived at for years.
The Coyote camp had a terrific weekend at Mid-State in what was the second event of the season for the CKNA Champions Cup, now recognized as the most competitive Briggs LO206 traveling series in the country.
With many of our racers competing on new 2018 Coyote Combat chassis, Coyote drivers won seven main events on the weekend including double wins by Blake Boon in Sportsman, Ryan Cassity in Senior Medium and Jim Lipari in Senior Heavy. Justin Cassity won the Masters feature Sunday to give Coyote drivers’ seven wins on the weekend. Boon, Lipari and both Cassity’s all drove 2018 Combats to their feature wins.
“We’re very pleased with both our drivers’ and karts’ performances at Mid-State,” said Coyote owner Mark Lipari, who drove the team hauler to Springfield and helped manage the Coyote pit all weekend. “We’ve spent several years developing this new Combat chassis and we finally felt ready to release the kart a few months ago. We’re very encouraged with its performance and handling, especially after such a great showing at Mid-State. Our experienced drivers like Blake, Ryan and Jim drove well and won races, and I was very impressed with many of our younger and senior drivers. We had 23 top-five finishes on the weekend, which is outstanding. Everyone did a great job and I believe our customers were happy with the performance and speed of their karts.”
One driver certainly impressed was Ryan Cassity, who for years has called Mid-State his home track and lived up to the expectations at the CKNA Central round. Cassity swept the weekend in the event’s largest class, Senior Medium. Ryan would win every round of competition both Saturday and Sunday, comprising qualifying, two rounds of heat races and a 12-lap main event.
Driving a new Coyote Combat – our newest edition to our chassis line – Ryan would win Saturday’s Senior Medium main ahead of fellow Coyote racers Scott Kleman and Justin Wishard. Not only did the trio of Cassity, Kleman and Wishard sweep the podium in the final, they would finish one-two-three in qualifying and both heats!
Sunday’s Senior Medium class once again featured a dominating Cassity win with Kleman finishing 2.5 seconds back in the runner-up position.
Ethan Dietrich drove his No. 25 Coyote to respectable finishes in the Senior Medium class. Dietrich finished sixth Saturday and improved one spot to round out the top five on Sunday.
Boon Wins Again
Blake Boon and his Boon & Sons family team traveled to Springfield from Rochester, N.Y., and the youngster would equal Cassity’s accomplishment of a weekend sweep in what was his first time at the Mid-State Kart Club. Blake won each day’s Sportsman qualifying round, heat races and main event in a dominating event.
In addition to his success at Mid-State, Boon also scored a big win at the CKNA season opener May 5 at Concept Haulers Motor Speedway in Norway, Ill. Boon would win the Sportsman division Sunday feature at Norway, crossing the finish stripe ahead of 17 other competitors in an awesome race. Blake has had quite a 2018 spring on his new 2018 Coyote Combat and we’re looking forward to more this summer!
Team Coyote had several drivers in the Sportsman class at Mid-State. Brothers Joseph and Joshua Bolen ran great all weekend with Joseph finishing second to Boon on Saturday and third on Sunday. Joshua drove well also, finishing fourth both days in the tough class.
Lennon Kimbrel also drove a Coyote and recorded finishes of sixth both days.
Lipari Sweeps Senior Heavy
Coyote’s own Jim Lipari, a big fan of the Mid-State course, returned to the wheel and impressed with a sweep of Senior Heavy competition aboard his Kart City Performance-powered 2018 Combat. Lipari did the same as Cassity and Boon, winning every round of racing on his way to a pair of feature wins.
On Saturday, Lipari would win over fellow Coyote pilot Chris Cirillo, who made the trip west from his Long Island home. Cirillo ran well in Senior Heavy, finishing second Saturday just ahead of Wishard, and fourth Sunday after a close battle for the second and third positions.
Three Coyotes in Junior
Three drivers – Loren Johnson, Jacob Bolen and Griffin Kimbrel – entered the Junior class and each scored top-five finishes.
Johnson, Bolen and Kimbrel would finish third, fourth and fifth in Saturday’s 12-lap main. Kimbrel would take a nice third-place finish in Sunday’s Junior main, while Bolen and Johnson finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
Next up for the CKNA Champions Cup Central Division is Round 3 taking place at East Lansing Kart Track in Michigan. The event is set for Saturday and Sunday, June 30-July 1 and Coyote Motorsports will again be in attendance to race and support our customers.
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