9/21/2020
KC Sparks
Minnesota Missile Monday: Night of Highs and Lows
Minnesota Missile Monday: Highs and Lows of Racing
Newton, IA
Sept 21 2020
Newton Kart Klub Point Championship Night
After a weekend off from racing, the team was among seventeen other Box Stock teams that registered for racing action at Newton Kart Klub for the final points night of the 2020 season. Rookie, Aidan Leingang, entered the final night with a slight edge over Garret Warren and Lily Webster who were tied for second in the season points.
The fifteen lap feature for the Box Stock class started sixteen of the seventeen entries with Kaden Rice and Leingang pacing the field to the green. Rice got the jump out of turn four and led into turn one with Leingang right on his tail. Webster and Montana Mitchell quickly lined up and headed down the back stretch in pursuit of the leaders. KC Sparks started in the final position in a backup kart and patiently waited for the field to get sorted out before making a charge to the front. As the field crossed for the completion of lap one, Sparks quickly moved past three karts.
Rice opened up a 4 kart lead but after only two complete laps, the field was slowed for the first caution, putting Leingang back on his back bumper. Sparks was already up to twelvth in the running order.
When the field went back under green, the top four started to pull away from fifth place running Knox Peterson and ran nose to tail with Rice holding a slight edge over Leingang, Webster, and Warren. The field was slowed a few laps later when MItchell and Cameron Schwab got together with Schwab spinning to the top of turn four.
The restart had the top four continue to set a pace with Peterson hanging within striking distance. Haylie Allen was running in sixth and fighting off challenges from Nikki Ballard allowing KC Sparks to move up and contest the position. After swapping the position between the three drivers, Sparks moved into the sixth position but had three seconds on the track between himself and the top five.
Heading through turns three and four coming to the white, Rice missed the entry to turn three and drifted high out of four, allowing Leingang to pull alongside and into the lead as they passed under the flagstand. Rice overcorrected his error the lap prior and clipped a disc in effort to catch Leingang which resulted in the top two drivers spinning to the middle of turn four. With no time to change lanes, third running Webster slammed into the spun Leingang kart. Peterson had made a challenge to the inside of Warren for fourth, leaving Warren no place to go but also into the pile of karts. Peterson stuck the bottom of turn four to race across the line claiming his first ever Box Stock feature win.
Sparks was closing on Peterson and was able to claim the hard charger with a second place run. Cruz Dickerson kept charging and came home in third after starting ninth. Allen came across fourth with Leingang righting his kart and pulling across the line with a top five and sealing the season point title. RIce, Webster, Ballard, Sawyer Nott, and Lauren Pfoltner were the top ten finishers. Mitchell, Warren, Janelle Saffell, Paxton Millmier, Schwab, Anthony Guessford and Hunter Hanson were the rest of the field.
Heat winners were Sparks and Leingang in flight one, Webster and Rice in flight two. Sparks had to start at the back of the feature after flipping in his second heat and pulled out a backup kart.
With the shake up at the end of the feature event, Leingang became the 2020 Box Stock point champion. Webster is the season runner up with Warren placing third in season points. Saffell, Ballard, Mitchell, Nott, Sparks, Guessford, and Rozlyn Stoker were the top ten in season points.
Upcoming Schedule:
Saturday 9/26: Newton Kart Klub; King of the Korn - double classes
Sunday 9/27: Newton Kart Klub: Adrenaline Series “Cage Match”
Friday 10/2: Cedar Lake Speedway Indoor Arena; Rumble Series Practice
Saturday 10/3: Cedar Lake Speedway Indoor Arena; Rumble Series - Double classing
Saturday 10/10: English Creek Speedway; Championship Night
2020 Partner/Sponsor Appreciation
Autoland; Sioux Falls, SD
Furby’s Auto Repair; Sioux Falls, SD
GRP Motorsports; Stillwater, MN
Last Deck LLC; Jackson, MN
Heser Auto and Detailing; Jackson, MN
DRE Horsepower; Boyden, IA
Jared Bailey Photography; Carlisle, IA
MyRacePass; #TeamMRP #GetTheApp
TL Racing; Jackson, MN
YTD Stats:
Features: 37
Wins:6
Top 3: 18
Top 10: 35
Heat Wins: 17
Article Credit: Stephanie Sparks