Coyote Motorsports drivers Sean Meier and Chris Carroll wheeled their Coyote chassis to big weekends at the first major Briggs LO206 touring series event of the year, the Maxxis Sprint Series March 29-31 at the 103rd Street Sports Complex in Jacksonville, Fla., while Brad Farmer and Jason Yarbrough added top finishes to make for a successful weekend for Coyote drivers.
Veteran Brad Farmer, owner of Jacksonville-based Coyote chassis distributor Brad’s Karts & Parts, joined the LO206 Masters class for Sunday’s competition and drove his Combat to a strong second-place finish.
Jason Yarbrough was in competition on his Coyote XP for Friday’s Pro Gas feature. He would finish second place in the race.
Jacksonville native Meier drove his 2018 Combat chassis to feature wins Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the competitive LO206 Senior division. Meier had his No. 30 Combat up front all weekend and once again proved he’s one of the best ever to drive a kart around the high-speed 103rd Street course.
Carroll, a New York native now residing in Charleston, S.C., was on a brand-new 2019 Coyote Zenith at Jacksonville and he had the newly designed chassis up front and fast all weekend, challenging for wins and top positions in every round of competition in CIK LO206 Senior.
The highlight for Carroll and the new Zenith was Sunday’s main event, which saw the Chris nearly score the win but finish a close second place, only 0.092 seconds back at the stripe. The impressive run is a huge step in the right direction for the Zenith, as Carroll pointed out.
“I’ve had a very positive experience so far with the Zenith kart,” Carroll said. “The kart we ran at Jacksonville was the second version of the Zenith. After we tested the initial version at Ocala earlier in the winter, I gave Mark and Jim (Lipari) my feedback and thoughts on changes, and this second version is spot on for my driving style.
“We were fast out of the box and only made your typical caster, camber and wheel width adjustments all weekend,” Carroll continued. “So we didn’t make a lot of changes, which is perfect because we race out of a van and have limited resources. The kart was as fast on the last lap of the race as it was the first lap. Consistency is always important, and this kart offers that.”
Carroll expanded on why he thinks the new Zenith is a great option for LO206 karters.
“I got back into karting after a long break, and one of the most important things for me was simplicity,” Carroll says. “I want to keep our racing as simple as possible without having to make wholesale changes on the kart, changing axles all the time, stuff like that. The Zenith is going to offer its racers that simplicity that I like. Basically, I want to be competitive and go fast without having to kill myself working at the track. This chassis will offer that, and I think it will be a great option for 4-cycle sprint racers and teams once it’s released.”
Carroll would also record a strong performance in Saturday’s CIK LO206 Senior. After not qualifying, he would start dead last in the 17-kart field for the heat race and pass 10 karts on his way to a seventh-place finish. In the feature, Carroll would finish fifth, setting the stage for an even better day Sunday.
“Jacksonville is tough,” Carroll admitted. “We forgot the transponder in qualifying on Saturday, and we would have been second fastest, but instead we had to start the heat in last. We passed a bunch of karts to make it up through the field, but once that lead pack leaves you and they’re drafting together, it’s about impossible for one kart to run them down. The qualifying mishap basically set us back all day Saturday, but we still had a very respectable run.”
The Zenith chassis is continuing to be developed and there will be more news on its release soon.
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