6/3/2019
KC Sparks
Minnesota Missile Monday: Paying our Dues at ECS, Finishing Weekend With a Sweep
Mother Nature finally decided to let us race!!! We had a fun family weekend racing Friday at English Creek Speedway and then Saturday made our way up to Plessis Motor Speedway for their season opener.
ENGLISH CREEK SPEEDWAY
The second points night at ECS finally happened with 17 restricted box racers registering for competition. With the new format of time trials, one heat, and the feature, KC had his work cut out for him to lay down a good time to set up a good night.
KC was last out for time trials as they went in groups for qualifying laps. KC was able to get some open track and laid down a lap of 14.743 to claim second quick and earn the pole for the second heat race.
The heat race saw KC lineup alongside his friend and rival, Logon Benge. The two drivers immediately put dirt between them and the rest of the pack as the duo headed off into turns 1 & 2 with KC maintaining a slight lead. The heat was slowed twice by cautions. On the last restart, Benge was able to get alongside KC but KC did not let him just go and fought all the way to the turn where KC was able to edge ahead. KC cruised to the heat victory ahead of Benge, Carson Freeman, Kinzley Sly, and Knox Peterson.
For the 10 lap feature, KC lined up on the pole due to a scoring program error putting the fist heat finish on the outside row and the second heat on the inside. The field made three attempts at the start before they were able to finally go green with Nolan Freeman jumping out to the early lead. KC did not let him get away though at on the fourth lap he had a strong drive out of two and pulled nearly even with Freeman going into turns 3 & 4. As they made the corner, Freeman crowded KC to the inside burm until Freeman drove across the front of KC’s kart and spun himself to the burm while KC fell back in the field coming back on track in 5th. The caution came out for Freeman and both drivers were sent to the back for the restart. KC wasted no time moving through the field, making racing lines and openings to get back to the top 5. As Kaden Rice took the white flag as the leader, the next 4 karts were side by side racing for second thru fifth. In the pack was Benge, Jett Williams, Freeman, and KC. As they filed out of turn four behind Rice, Freeman claimed second with Benge, Williams, and KC finishing top 5 from the back.
PLESSIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
The season opener welcomed 6 drivers to the Cadet class of winged cage karts. With a variety of experience in the class it was a fun learning day for everyone.
The double heat race format had Wyatt Schutte in his very first race starting on the pole alongside KC Sparks. KC followed instruction to let Schutte set the pace and wait for the green to go and it was a great start. KC was able to pull away and easily cruise to heat one victory over Kaecyn Krogman and Nixon Heiderscheidt.
Heat two has an inverted lineup forcing Sparks to start in the fifth position. Moore took the lap one lead until Heiderscheidt took over the top spot one lap later. A caution bunched up the field with Sparks having worked his way up to second. Heiderscheidt maintained the top spot for one lap until Sparks moved ahead and was uncontested for the second heat win.
With two heat wins, Sparks earned the pole position alongside Heiderscheidt with Krogman and Florence Drost in row two. Sparks was able to drive to the top spot in the race to turn one with Heiderscheidt, Krogman, and Taver West holding their own. When Sparks came up on lap traffic, he quickly moves past them cleanly giving himself clean track. Heiderscheidt, Krogman, and West ran in a pack up to traffic causing close racing among the entire field for the final few circuits. With two to go, West moved past Krogman but ran out of laps to overtake Heiderscheidt. Sparks took the win and sweep of the Cadet class to wrap up the racing action.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday 6/7: English Creek Speedway
SPONSOR APPRECIATION:
Autoland; Sioux Falls, SD
Furby’s Auto Repair; Sioux Falls, SD
Heser Auto and Detailing; Jackson, MN
Last Deck LLC: Jackson, MN
Jared Bailey Photography; Carlisle, IA
DRE; Boyden, IA
YTD STATS:
Features: 11 Wins: 3 Top 5: 8 Top 10: 11
Submitted By: Stephanie Sparks
