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2010 Vintage Kart Winter Nationals
at Barnesville, Georgia
By Bob Barthelemy - GSKA Vintage Race Director
In order to tell the whole story, I must start with the dedicated group of GSKA members that diligently labored at our workday on March 20th, Wednesday March 24th , and at the event Thursday through Saturday. I am very honored to be able to work with such a great team of people, thank you very much! With that said, I also want to thank each and every participant and individual at the event, (93) entries and over (120) karts were at this 4th annual event.
By Wednesday evening over a dozen trailers already in the pit area. Thursday’s events started a little after 7:00 a.m. getting the Bennett’s big hauler navigated through the pine trees to a clearing close to the concrete pit area. Registration opened at 8:00 and was quite busy most of the morning. Chip Bearing and Jimmy Gay started safety tech inspecting the karts by 8:30 and by 9:15 we opened the track for practice (all singles) & (all duals). After Lunch we started the controlled practice with six groups and that went very well up until about 4:00 p.m. when mother nature decided we needed just a little precipitation shortening our day by an hour an a half or so.
Friday morning’s entry count was at (77) when registration opened and quickly grew to (90) by the end of the day. Controlled practice started at 9:00 a.m. and continued till lunchtime when most everyone got to chow down on Mrs. Vickie’s delicious sandwiches at the Firehouse Café concessions (operated by the Barnesville Volunteer Fireman’s Assoc.) Controlled practice resumed after lunch and concluded by 3:45 p.m. At 4:00 p.m. we conducted the drivers meeting, National Anthem and prayer we had started the first round of heat race/ demonstrations. With the exception of a few instances of aggressive driving, which were noted and addressed, the Friday heat races went well. After the heat races complete we all gathered at the tower & concession area, asked the blessing, and ate a delicious BBQ chicken meal provided by the GSKA & the Firehouse Café.
Saturday morning’s kart show was a big success with (36) karts being critiqued by our esteemed Judges; Dan Klutz, Ed Sahagain, and Ron Withrow (our Grand Marshall) all doing an excellent job. Bob Lefferdo and his team handed out and collected and counted the peoples choice ballots. We had almost two hours of controlled practice before the lunch break. At the drivers meeting we again addressed the issue of aggressive driving and jumping on the start and made it clear to all that the black flag would come out quickly if needed. After the National Anthem & Prayer, the racing got underway. All of the heats and feature races were very exciting and enjoyable to watch, by the way everybody drove very respectfully all day Saturday. There was a very large group of spectators at the track watching the races from the grand stands.
The 50/50 raffle drawing and Awards presentation started shortly after the last race of the day. Some very nice donated merchandise from Vintage Speed, Comet Kart Sales, American Power Sports, Competition Karting Inc., Klotz Oils, and the GSKA was awarded as preliminary prizes at the 50/50 raffle (Thanks to our Sponsors). The grand prize ($265.00 half the total collected) was won by Dean Kossaras, who donated his winnings back to the VKA (way to go Dean)! Scott Ader, was recognized as a true gentleman as he had the fasted kart in the < 6.1 Am. Sidewinder class but acknowledging that his kart was a 1980 model and a little out of the VKA guidelines, voluntarily passing his award to Dean Kossaras. Another true gentleman, Lake Speed won the feature race in C-Open and passed his award to Craig Bennett, who ran and finished more consistently in all three of the races. Bob Leffardo presented the twisted sprocket awards (humorous) again this year and I believe some of the esteemed winners were Junior Neal, Lake Speed, Dicky Wilson, and Lou Smiley.
I also want to Thank Kerry Wilson, who provided the photographs of the winners at the awards presentation and some 500 or so action and static shots during the course of the 3-day event! Other than the little rain at the end of the day Thursday, God blessed with good weather the rest of the weekend. Overall I think the 4th annual event was very successful and we are already looking forward to and planning the 2011 event!
God bless you all,
Bob Barthelemy
GSKA Vintage Race Director
Kart Show Winners:
Original Unrestored: Mike McAlister, Cates Clone McDonald Kart
Original Restored: John McCorvey, Simplex
Restored Modified: Mike Lotz, Lancer B-Open
People’s Choice: Mike Lotz,Lancer B-Open
Demonstration Winners:
Sportsman MC49: Roy Fenwick
Jr. Sportsman: Austin Mack
Senior Sportsman: Pearle Gamble
Clinton Sportsman Jimmy Gay
Single American Sidewinder < 6.1: Dean Kossaras
Single American Sidewinder > 6.1: Jeff Barnett
Single Rear Eng. < 6.1 Pearle Gamble
Single Rear Eng. > 6.1 Hal Orndorf
Single Foreign Sidewinder< 6.1: Jeff Standridge
Single Foreign Sidewinder> 6.1: Lake Speed
Dual American Rear: Kirt Bennett
Dual American Sidewinder: Ken Grissom
Dual Foreign Open: Craig Bennett
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