May 9, 2012 – Coyote Motorsports racers scored three feature wins and plenty of top finishes at round two of the 2012 World Karting Association Gold Cup Series April 27-29 at the historic Lamar County Speedway in Barnesville, Georgia.
Coyote traveled to Barnesville for the first time since 1994, the last year WKA held a national event at the historic quarter-mile bullring of a sprint track located about an hour south of Atlanta.
“It was really neat to go to Barnesville,” Coyote owner Jim Lipari said. “I’ve never been there before and most of our team hadn’t, either. I think we performed really well, especially considering it was a new track for most all of us. The WKA officials and local workers did a great job prepping the track and hosting the event, and it looked like a good turnout.”
Ohio’s Sarah Luoma, Florida’s Sean Meier and New York’s Tim Stiefel all won national main events.
For Luoma, it was her first-ever Gold Cup national win, coming in a competitive Jr Medium class that saw her drive to an impressive victory over several top young racers. Sarah also accomplished a pair of third-place finishes in Restriced Junior and Jr Lite.
The Michigan Kart Supply Nationals saw Sean Meier make his second start of the season on a 2012 No. 30 Coyote XP. After scoring the Animal Heavy Money Race triumph at the Jacksonville season opener in March, Meier continued his momentum with a big win in Sunday’s Stock (Animal) Medium main, the largest class of the weekend.
Meier raced ahead of Jacksonville Money Race winner Gary Lawson early in the 20-lapper and cruised to an impressive victory. Meier also finished fifth in Saturday’s Stock Heavy feature.
Gold Cup regular and loyal Coyote racer Tim Stiefel captured his first Gold Cup win of the season in Sunday’s Masters Heavy feature. Stiefel bested defending Masters champion Stevie Roberts for the win. Tim finished second in Saturday’s Masters Medium.
Gold Cup nationals are a family affair for the Stiefels as Tim’s kids Joshua and Tyler are both strong WKA competitors. Tyler, Tim’s youngest son, finished seventh and eighth in the Sportsman 2 races while Joshua, now a senior competitor, scored a top-five result with a fifth-place finish in the Coyote Motorsports-sponsored Stock Lite feature.
In the Sportsman 1 category, Joshua Stark and Nick Fauci raced their Coyote chassis hard throughout the weekend in Georgia. Joshua came away with fourth and ninth-place finishes in the pair of Sportsman 1 Animal races while Nick finished fifth and sixth. Both youngsters continue to improve and gain valuable driving experience on the WKA Gold Cup circuit.
J.T. Coupal scored his best Gold Cup finish with a fine sixth-place result in Sportsman 2 Heavy.
Ryan Bavineau, C.J. Leturneau and Tyler Woods joined Sarah Luoma with strong performances in the 12- to 15-year-old junior categories.
In the aforementioned Jr Medium race, Luoma led a trio of Coyotes across the line as Bavineau finished second and Leturneau third.
Jr Medium wasn’t the only successful race for Bavineau and Leturneau. The two New Yorkers accomplished top-five runs in both Jr Heavy and Restricted Junior. Bavineau was second in Restricted Junior and fifth in Jr Heavy. Leturneau ran third in Jr Heavy and fifth in Restricted Junior. Give Luoma, Leturneau and Bavineau each three top-five finishes on the weekend!
Speaking of top-five results, Tyler Woods had a pair of them in the Jr Box Stock features. Woods finished fourth and fifth in the two features, and raced an Animal-powered Coyote for the first time in Gold Cup competition. Woods finished eighth in Jr Medium in his first attempt in an Animal class.
The Gold Cup Series has always been about families coming together and the Michigan-based Chapmans are a prime example of that. Cayla Chapman has been racing Gold Cup for over a year now and is a senior rookie. The Michigan Kart Supply Nationals saw her father, Mike, put down the wrenches for a bit and did some racing for the first time in Gold Cup.
Mike ran the Masters Medium on Saturday and finished third in it. Cayla raced her Coyote to a sixth in Stock Lite and ninth in the new Animal Amateur Medium class.
Another family team, the brother / sister duo of Dalton and Riley Smith, competed in the new LO206 Kid Kart class and came away with some top finishes. Dalton was the runner-up in Saturday’s Final 1 and finished third in Sunday’s Final 2. Riley recorded finishes of third and fourth in the two Kid Kart main events.
Gold Cup veteran and two-time WKA Triple Crown champion Dakota Bell is back in the Gold Cup after a short hiatus, and for the first time the Ohio driver is wheeling a Coyote with sponsorship from Jerry Cole’s Michigan Kart Supply and Baker Racing Engines.
After a strong opening race at Jacksonville, Bell backed it up with a runner-up finish to Meier in Stock Medium and a third-place result in Stock Lite. Dakota is still looking for his first win of the season but sure is racking up the top-five finishes while working for it!
In fact, Stock Medium featured a Coyote sweep of the top three with Meier winning, Bell second and Billy Fraser rounding out the top three.
Dylan and Jason Zobkiw raced hard in the senior Animal divisions. Dylan accomplished a top-five run in Stock Heavy, finishing fourth – just ahead of Sean Meier. Jason raced to a ninth-place result in Stock Medium on his Coyote XP.
Steve Frank, Patrick O’Neal and Brad Farmer represented Coyote in the Sr Box Stock divisions. O’Neal raced to finishes of third and seventh in the two mains; Frank was sixth in Sr Box Stock Final 2 and Farmer came home eighth in Sr Box Stock Final 1.
“I just want to thank all our racers and everyone for going to Barnesville,” Lipari said after the weekend. “It’s tough for the northern racers to have two races in the South in back-to-back months, but I think it all went well and WKA had some great races at Jacksonville and Barnesville to start the season. Again, thanks to everyone and congratulations to all drivers and teams on a successful Barnesville event. We’re looking forward to the rest of the season. Also, a big thanks goes out to Jerry Cole and his Michigan Kart Supply for sponsoring the Barnesville race.”
Next up for Team Coyote is the Baker Racing Engines Nationals, July 13-15 at South Bend, Indiana’s Michiana Raceway Park. Visit WorldKarting.com to pre-enter.
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