7/15/2019
KC Sparks
Minnesota Missile Monday: Hat Trick
Minnesota Missile Monday: Hat Trick
July 15, 2019
Racing is in full swing and KC Sparks ran three shows in two days taking home all three first place finishes. Friday night at English Creek Speedway was a fight to the finish. Saturday at Plessis Motor Speedway saw some well timed passes to claim the top spot in each feature.
ENGLISH CREEK SPEEDWAY
The place to be on Friday night was English Creek Speedway as 19 restricted box karts signed in for racing competition. The change to the format meant that the drivers would be running their qualifying times during hot laps to move the show along. KC drew a low number sending him out in the first group to hit the track and they all struggled with the dry conditions and slipping in the loose dirt. KC pushed hard and at the end of the time trial session, he was sixth fast.
KC started outside the front row for his heat race alongside Nolan Freeman. KC timed his start perfectly and took the lead racing into the first turn. KC led Freeman for the first two circuits until Freeman used a line just above KC to overtake the top position. KC worked on his racing line behind Freeman while Nixon Heiderscheidt, subbing for Kaden Rice, moved into third from the last starting position.
The feature line up invert was a four putting Lauren Pfoltner and Carson Freeman on the front row. Heat winners, Nolan and Logon Benge lined up in row two, with KC and Brantley Tjaden in row three. Several karts struggled at the start of the feature with the Rice kart breaking a pull start not making it onto the track surface. Kinzley Sly had clutch issues and the field stopped twice before making it to the start line. Carson Reutzel pulled off and when the green finally came out, Nolan Freeman suffered a clutch issue, not making it across the start line. After realigning the field, the green flew and Carson Freeman jumped to the early lead. In turn four, Trenton Peterson lost the handle and spun bringing out the caution. At this point, the Sly kart stalled again sending her pitside and the kart of Kolton Hoffer also pulled off.
A complete restart saw Carson pull just ahead of Lauren and pinch her down to the infield dust to claim the top spot. Lauren lost some momentum and Logon Benge moved into the runner up position. KC made a run around the outside of Lauren to move into the top three at the end of lap one. Benge was all over the back bumper of C. Freeman and on lap three Benge pulled alongside down the backstretch and the duo ran side by side for lap four with KC just behind. On lap five, Benge finally cleared the Freeman kart for the lead. Going through turn four, Freeman’s rear tires broke loose, causing him to spin just in front of KC, bringing out the caution. On the restart, KC got ahead of himself and tried to jump to the inside of Benge getting a poor start but a pair of tangled karts forced another restart. Benge paced ahead of Sparks, Peterson, Pfoltner, and Tjaden for the restart and initially jumped out to a 3 kart length lead heading into turn one. Sparks drove in hard into turn three closing the gap. On the next circuit, Benge and Sparks were side by side with Benge maintaining the lead. The duo drove side by side around the track with Sparks pulling ahead into turn three and Benge turning under out of four to pull back alongside down the front stretch. KC took the lead down the backstretch and Peterson made a strong move to the outside of Benge going into turn three to take second at the line.
On the final restart, Sparks led Peterson, Benge, Tjaden and Pfoltner to the line. With the pace vehicle out front, KC was waiting to get on the gas while Benge hammered down at the first line and jumped to the outside of Peterson and Sparks to overtake the top position by the start line. Benge motored ahead while Sparks started the pursuit. Benge led as the white flag dropped but Sparks was not done. Down the backstretch, Sparks drove to the inside of Benge and the duo raced wheel to wheel across the finish line. Benge crossed the line first with KC alongside and Tjaden crossing in third. Officials made a call that due to Benge jumping the final restart, he would be penalized two positions to third, giving Sparks the win.
KC mentioned after the race that he knew he was going to have to stay low to get passed his friend Logon because, “I could see him turning to catch the kart when he was getting out of the turns.” Dad says, “the growth as a driver on and off the track makes all the hard work worth it.”
PLESSIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY SHOW #1
Seven young drivers registered to run in the Cadet/Restricted Box class at Plessis for Saturday’s double header. KC’s first draw had him starting in the 6th position in the first heat race. Kaecyn Jones started on the front row alongside Tavor West. Jones struggled early on and the officials moved him back a row putting Nixon Heiderscheidt on the pole position. Heiderscheidt and West led the field from the drop of the green. Micca Haugen in his first race quickly moved into the third running position with Wyatt Schutte and Florence Drost. KC had to maneuver through the traffic in pursuit of the leaders. As the laps clicked off, Heiderscheidt had to much for the field and took the first heat win. KC worked his way to second ahead of West, Haugen, Schutte, Drost, and Jones.
The second heat race was paced to the green with Schutte on the pole and KC on the outside. At the drop of the green, Schutte had the better start and beat KC to the first turn. Schutte ran fast laps ahead of the field with KC in second and Heiderscheidt, Drost, and West in close competition. On lap 3, KC charged to the inside of Schutte going into turn one and made contact with the side of the Schutte kart spinning them both. Schutte was awarded the lead position and KC was sent to the back for causing the incident. Schutte was leading the heat race and looking for his first heat win. As the field went back to green, Schutte maintained his lead over Heiderscheidt while KC was struggling to get passed the Haugen kart cleanly and became stuck back in the field. Coming to the checkers, Schutte saw the turn one corner man waving the post race caution and let out of the throttle allowing Heiderscheidt to motor passed him at the line for the heat win. Schutte was second ahead of Drost, West, Haugen, Sparks, and Jones.
With two heat wins, Heiderscheidt earned the pole position alongside West. Schutte and Sparks lined up in the second row. On the drop of the green, Heiderscheidt jumped out to the lead with West and Sparks battling for second. Sparks was able to clear West and worked on chasing down Heiderscheidt. It took three laps before KC was able to get a nose to the inside of Heiderscheidt down the back stretch and the duo raced side by side through turns three and four with Sparks pulling ahead. The next several laps were run single file with the karts spread around the track. Lap seven saw the leaders catch the back of the field with Jones as the back marker. Sparks attempted to use the high side to go around while Heiderscheidt closed in and made a bid to the inside. As they crossed the line, Heiderscheidt had a lead but the caution quickly came out and the scorers went back to the last completed lap for lining up the field, putting Sparks back out front. The final sprint to the finish had Sparks leading Heiderscheidt for the final laps and taking the checkers. West came home third with Schutte, Haugen, Drost, and Jones filling out the field.
PLESSIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY SHOW #2
With a storm cell moving in, the staff at the track hustled to move the second show along. KC drew the front row for the first heat race. On the drop of the green, KC quickly pulled out to the lead ahead of Wyatt Schutte. KC cruised to the win while Schutte battled with Nixon Heiderscheidt for runner up with Heiderscheidt claiming the runner up position at the finish.
Heat two had KC working his way from the back of the pack. With the leaders quickly taking off, KC was caught back in traffic and spent much of the race working his way through traffic as Heiderscheidt beat Tavor West to the lead and paced the field out front. As the checkers flew, KC had worked his way to the third position.
Sitting in staging for the final feature of the day, KC recalled that, “Friday was for PawPaw Wilson, the first feature was for Papa Dan. I’m going to race this one for me.”
The feature saw the two rivals of Heiderscheidt and Sparks on the front row with Heiderscheidt having the early edge from his inside pole position. After a couple laps of chasing, Sparks was able to move around Heiderscheidt and take the top spot. West and Kaecyn Jones battled for third for the duration of the event. When the checkers flew, KC pulled off the double on the day and took home his second feature win. Heiderscheidt continues to challenge and develop in his winged kart racing bringing home second place ahead of youngsters, West and Jones.
The progression and development by the newer drivers from the first show to the second show was substantial as everyone increased their speeds and ran smoother lines with the quick turn around and frequency on the track. Gaining seat time and experience on the well prepared track at Plessis is a testament to the talent up and coming in the winged class as well as the efforts and dedication of Mike Stofferan to provide the racers a competitive track to race on.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday 7/19: English Creek Speedway
Saturday 7/20: Dirt Track at Slideways (Adrenaline Series) Day Show
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
MyRacePass.com #TeamMRP #GetTheApp
YTD STATS:
Features: 21 Wins: 8 Top 5: 16 Top 10: 21
Article Credit: Stephanie Sparks
