Doug Pace: Spokane Kart Racing Association prepares for busy Sunday
The region’s karting stars get back to action on Sunday as the road course aces tackle the tricky track on the grounds of the Spokane Kart Racing Association’s facility.
Featuring divisions for adults and juniors, nearly 100 drivers in seven classes have competed at SKRA this season, including one of karting’s top racers, Spokane native Andrew Zimmer, who has captured International Karting Association wins nationwide.
Zimmer, who has earned top honors in three of the season’s four races, leads Niki Johnston by 46 points in the chase for the Senior Clone division championship. Johnston has been stout this season in two classes as she trails Senior Tag points leader Burt Gasaway for that division’s championship.
As the season nears the halfway mark, SKRA’s tightest championship battle comes in the Junior I division. Just 13 points separate youngsters Riley Miller and Cameron Blakesley. Miller topped Blakesley in the division’s June race with Trey Arnzen earning high honors overall.
Others to watch for this weekend include points leaders Collin Mims (Kid Kart), Edward Reynolds (Junior II), Carson Blakesley (Junior Tag) and David Robinson (World Formula).
SKRA’s grandstands offer free admission with a small fee charged to enter the hot pit area. Info: spokanekarting.org.
Top drivers head to Montana
The 27th Annual Montana 200, set for Raceway Park in Kalispell, continues the region’s high-profile late-model events for the country’s top drivers.
Always one of the best draws of talent, coupled with thousands of fans in attendance, the event is a big-race experience in a short-track venue. For years the race has offered spectacular vantages points from the grandstands while providing a tremendous tourist opportunity in the Flathead Valley with Glacier Park nearby.
This year’s entry list features drivers from across the country, including Spokane 200 winner Preston Peltier, who hails from Harrisburg, North Carolina, and Upper Lake, California, native Jeremy Doss, who is the reigning Montana 200 champion.
Shane Mitchell, Owen Riddle and Garrett Evans join Doss as past winners entered in this weekend’s race.
Winning a Montana 200 is a feat only one local driver, Marc Groskreutz, has accomplished. This year two drivers from the region, Joey Bird and Nicole Behar, make the trek in their attempt to join Groskreutz on the winning driver’s list.
Behar is the first female driver to qualify for the Montana 200 through time trials.
The East Valley High School graduate and NASCAR K&N Pro Series competitor brings plenty of momentum into this weekend’s race. The 19-year-old scored a Super Late Model win in last Saturday’s Freedom 200 at Stateline Speedway. Behar is also the record-holder as the highest-finishing (second place) female driver on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, a feat she earned in 2015.
Bird also brings a healthy dose of success to this weekend’s race as he scored his first career Super Late Model victory last month on the quarter-mile Stateline facility. When it comes to tracks shorter than a half-mile, Bird is one of the best on the West Coast as he has a top-five run on the Las Vegas Bullring, a top-three run at the Northwest Super Late Model Series opener at Wenatchee Valley’s Super Oval and several strong runs in the Idaho and Montana 200s.
Bird is hopeful of another strong quarter-mile finish and a possible Montana 200 victory.
“I know we have the car and the crew to do it,” he said. “The driver just needs to make it happen.”
Also racing during the weekend will be the track’s Hobby Stocks, Legends and Bandolero classes with plenty of out-of-town drivers expected to turn out for the spotlight event.
The Montana 200 is Big Sky country’s largest professional sporting event with more than $60,000 in purse money up for grabs. Info: mtracewaypark.com.