SPENCERPORT, N.Y. (March 27, 2013) – The Coyote Motorsports shop is abuzz with energy and enthusiasm after a terrific March that featured great success at two big 4-cycle sprint national events.
Team Coyote had been preparing for the 2013 season openers throughout the long, cold winter in the Rochester, N.Y., area. The preparation and hard work paid off, as Coyote racers won seven feature races at the March 8-10 World Karting Association RLV Gold Cup Series opener at Jacksonville, Fla., and a big win in the Pro Clone headliner at the March 22-23 King of the Castle event at Indiana’s New Castle Motorsports Park.
“We’re really pleased with the start to the season,” Coyote owner Jim Lipari said. “Jacksonville was a great start to the Gold Cup and to win the Clone race at New Castle was outstanding. I have to thank everyone who supported us through this busy month. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without the help of Brad Farmer, Ben Wagenhals, Scott Meier, Barry Hastings, Mike Fauci Sr. and all our supporters, customers, friends and the families.
“We’re looking forward to another great season. All of us here at the shop have been working tirelessly on the new 2013 line of chassis that has a state of the art front end, computer engineered and tested to increase corner speed and give the driver a better feel behind the wheel, not to mention that it shaved a great amount of weight off of the kart. The new kart has proved itself already in the first 2 races of the season and we couldn’t be happier. We feel that the interest in 4-cycle sprint karting is very high, from what we can tell. I think we’ll see some great racing this summer at the upcoming events.”
At the popular 103rd Street Sports Complex in Jacksonville, Jason Yarborough (two wins), Scott Kleman, Sean Meier, Joshua Stiefel, Tim Stiefel and young Nick Fauci all captured feature wins to kick off the new WKA Gold Cup national tour.
Yarborough, a Florida native, wheeled his sleek, new No. 24 Coyote XP to two wins in the Junior category. Jason won Junior Lite on Saturday and Junior Medium on Sunday. In Saturday’s Lite class, Yarborough bested fellow Coyote racer Sarah Luoma for the score. Tyler Stiefel was fourth on his Coyote. In Junior Medium, Yarborough won a close race over Tanner Lee. T. Stiefel again came home fourth and Luoma was seventh. Adding to Yarborough’s stellar weekend, he won the Pole Award in Junior Lite and Junior Heavy.
The Stiefel family, which includes father Tim and sons Tyler and Joshua, had a fine weekend in North Florida. Tim, who was awarded his 2012 national championship laurels at Friday night’s Gold Cup banquet, began his defense of the Masters championship with a win in Sunday’s Animal Masters. He also finished fifth in Animal Heavy on Saturday.
Joshua Stiefel opened the weekend with a strong fourth-place run in Friday’s Money Race. Joshua finished just ahead of fellow Coyote pilots Dylan Zobkiw and Brad Farmer in the Money Race. On Saturday Joshua had a spirited battle with his dad in Animal Heavy, which saw Tim best his son for the fifth spot by only a couple of kart-lengths. Sunday’s racing saw Joshua run well in Animal Medium, coming home sixth in the 10-kart field. Josh capped the weekend with an impressive win in Animal Amateur on Sunday in a close race with fellow Coyote racer Cayla Chapman.
Sunday’s racing also saw Tyler Stiefel finish a close second in Restricted Junior.
Sean Meier and Scott Kleman earned feature wins in the Senior divisions at Jacksonville. Meier, driving the No. 24 XP out of the Coyote trailer, had an up-and-down weekend competing in the traditional methanol and new Pro Gas Senior Animal classes. In Animal Medium and Heavy, Meier recorded finishes of fourth and third in the mains.
An opening-lap incident in Saturday’s Senior Pro Gas Animal feature took out two Coyote racers in Meier and Zobkiw. Meier recovered to make it back to third before the checkers waved, while Zobkiw wasn’t able to continue after he challenged for the win in the prefinal.
It all came together for Meier in Sunday’s Senior Pro Gas Animal. Meier, Patrick O’Neal and Michael Greiner waged a great three-kart battle for the win. Meier was able to sneak past O’Neal and Greiner in the final laps to take his first and only victory of the weekend. The new Pro Gas class started 10 karts and was one of the most competitive races of the weekend.
Speaking of O’Neal, this report wouldn’t be complete without mentioning his fine weekend. While O’Neal wasn’t able to score a win on his Coyote, he had a number of impressive runs. O’Neal was battling for the win with Greiner in Saturday’s Pro Gas Animal 1 main before he had engine problems with only a couple laps to go, forcing him to retire. O’Neal finished a close third to Meier in the aforementioned Pro Gas Animal 2 main. In Senior Clone 1, O’Neal finished a close fifth in a very competitive 13-kart Clone field.
Scott Kleman made the long haul from his Michigan home to Jacksonville, where he picked up a big win Saturday in Animal Lite. Kleman battled hard with veteran Zachary Linsell throughout the Lite main event. Linsell led in the early stages of the race before Kleman muscled his red Coyote past the Pennsylvania racer. Kleman hit his marks throughout the race’s late stages to earn the win. He also scored the Animal Lite Pole Award.
Nick Fauci delighted the Coyote camp Sunday afternoon with his feature win in Sportsman 1 Heavy. Nick had a great race with Matthew Miller and made a slick last-lap move on Miller to pick up the win. Fauci was also competitive in the new Sportsman Pro Gas Animal classes, recording finishes of third and fourth in the impressive 13-kart fields. He set the fast lap time in Sportsman Pro Gas Animal 1.
Nick also was awarded the 2012 Most Improved Junior Driver award for his strong performances and noticeable improvement behind the wheel throughout the 2012 Gold Cup season.
Fauci wasn’t the only Coyote driver to find success in the new Sportsman Pro Gas classes. New York’s Joshua Stark recorded finishes of seventh and eighth, respectively. Stark also finished a very strong second and third in the pair of Sportsman 2 methanol divisions. Josh had two chassis at Jacksonville, one a new 2013 XP. He’ll look to continue his improved driving at round two of the Gold Cup this May in Indiana.
Cameron Clifford, Evan Bovee and T.J. Vargo each pulled double duty at Jacksonville. The three racers competed in the methanol and Pro Gas Sportsman divisions. Clifford came away with a terrific fifth-place finish in the Friday Sportsman Pro Gas Shootout. He also recorded a pair of fourth-place runs in Sportsman 2 Lite and Heavy.
Bovee, a newcomer to the Gold Cup, ran a strong fifth in Sportsman 1 Lite, sixth in Sportsman 1 Heavy and ninth in Sportsman Pro Gas Animal 2. Vargo, another New Yorker to gain experience on the national Gold Cup tour, ran sixth and seventh in the pair of Sportsman 1 methanol divisions and soldiered to a couple of 12th-place runs in the two Sportsman Pro Gas mains.
The Chapman family was another team that made a trip from Michigan to race at Jacksonville. Cayla Chapman was fast all weekend and easily experienced her best Gold Cup national weekend since she began running the series a few years ago.
Cayla nearly scored the win in Sunday’s Animal Amateur feature, but was edged out by fellow Coyote pilot Joshua Stiefel. She ran strong in Saturday’s Animal Lite, as well, rounding out the top five in the fifth spot. Cayla is eying a push toward the Animal Amateur championship with the help of her crew chief, former Gold Cup national champion Kaytlyn Fauci.
Cayla’s father, Michael, switched from the Masters division to the new Senior Pro Gas classes. Michael raced his Coyote to finishes of sixth and eighth in the pair of Pro Gas Animal main events.
Tyler Woods – another Michigan racer – had a solid weekend on his sleek XP. Woods entered the new Junior Pro Gas Animal divisions and came away with second-place finishes in each class’s final. Woods ran third in Restricted Junior on Sunday and was sixth in Saturday’s Junior Heavy main event.
These Michigan racers surely are happy round two of the Gold Cup will cut their travel time some 20 hours! The event comes this May at JET Karting in South Bend, Indiana, an awesome facility located just south of the Michigan / Indiana border.
North Carolina’s Joey Kuley made his return to the Gold Cup after a couple seasons focusing on WKA’s National Road Racing Series. Kuley rented a Pro Gas Animal engine from Kart City Performance for Sunday’s Pro Gas main, and came away with a respectable fourth-place finish. The Kuley family is already talking about running the Rockingham Gold Cup season closer this October.
T.J. Vargo and his family traveled south from their New York home. Vargo raced his Coyote to finishes of sixth and seventh in the Sportsman 1 main events as he continues to learn and improve behind the wheel of his Coyote.
Jacksonville veteran Brad Farmer – a loyal Coyote dealer in the Sunshine State – had a strong weekend at his home track. Farmer finished fifth and sixth in the Senior Clone main events. He also ran sixth in the Friday Money Race and helped Patrick O’Neal accomplish his solid weekend as O’Neal ran his Coyote out of Farmer’s trailer.
New Castle
A number of Coyote racers traveled to east-central Indiana for the first-ever Pro Kart Tour Right-Turn Edition event. A cold weekend at New Castle forced officials to run the full weekend’s events on Saturday before predicted snow arrived on Sunday.
The event’s headliner – a Pro Clone class – saw Coyote veteran Ryan Cassity make his return to sprint racing and bag the winning prize after a heated battle with favorite Gary Lawson. Cassity had his Coyote working throughout Friday’s practice and Saturday’s program. Cassity qualified second to Lawson before finishing second in the prefinal. Fans witnessed a classic battle between two veterans in the main event, which Cassity prevailed by a narrow margin over Lawson.
“I want to thank Jim Lipari and Coyote, Turner Racing Engines, G-Man, my dad and Rob Smith,” Cassity said. “It was cold but we had a great time and it was good to get back behind the wheel at a great track like New Castle.”
Other Coyote racers in attendance at New Castle included Steven Kilsdonk, another sprint racer who’s done a lot of Road Racing over the last couple years. Kilsdonk qualified an impressive third in Pro Clone and came away with a fine fifth-place finish of 27 starters in the main event. WKA Manufacturers Cup regular Cal Stewart finished fourth on a Coyote while Kyle Capodice was ninth on his Coyote.
Team Coyote will now return to the shop in preparation for some northern races this spring. Round two of the Gold Cup is May 24-26 at JET Karting in South Bend, Ind., while round three will be July 5-7 at G&J Kartway in Camden, Ohio.
The local season will be starting up soon at Genesee Valley Kart Club in Avon, N.Y. The WKA Divisional Series will run this spring at Avon, where Coyote will be on hand with their support trailer.
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.
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