Fresh Oxygen Pumped into the CAN-AM Karting Challenge at Season Finale

Those in attendance this past weekend at the CAN-AM Karting Challenge season finale at Pat’s Acres Race Complex (PARC) in Canby, Oregon couldn’t help but notice some fresh imagery and a revived vibe. Big and bright yellow International Karting Federation banners and branding were laid out throughout the facility. In addition, the management crew all came from the SuperKarts! USA headquarters, which was new at the beginning of the 2018 CAN-AM season.

Joe Janowski was also in attendance and he dropped some big news in regards to 2019 and beyond. The IKF is making its way back to the Pacific Northwest and there are intentions to hold the IKF Grand Nationals at PARC in the future. Class structures, race formats and more are all in the works as the organizers of the IKF are very optimistic about its return to the spotlight.

I got a short history lesson one morning on the drive to the track from none other than Chris Egger, owner of PARC and a driving force in the success of karting in the Pacific Northwest. Egger is very excited and still very shocked to see the revival of the IKF program at his track, saying a couple times, “I never thought I would ever have an IKF event at my track again, but I guess things change.”

With the changes, Egger also explained his intentions to utilize the IAME KA100 engine next season as well as the Vortex VLR, bringing back the 100cc platform that seems to be getting a lot of attention as of late. The Briggs & Stratton 206 program also continues to thrive in the region, forming the largest grid of racers at the CAN-AM this past weekend, while there are no intentions of moving on from the shifter or TaG classes either. All in all everyone in attendance seemed happy with the direction the region is going in and the future of the CAN-AM Karting Challenge, which sounds like will have a name change next season.

Luke Selliken (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

On the track, champions were crowned after two days of great racing. Rain tried to spoil Sunday’s activity, but after a morning of driving on a wet track, it dried up and for the most part, all of the races were held on a dry track, even if the skies opened up a couple times to challenge drivers mid-race.

Rolison Performance Group’s Luke Selliken drove home the TaG Light championship after a weekend that really challenged his morale. On Saturday, he had to retire while leading both the Prefinal and Final with mechanical issues but rebounded on Sunday to finish second to his RPG teammate Hannah Greenemeier.

In a race that came down to the final laps of Sunday’s action, Jacob Gulick scored the title in Briggs 206 Senior over Brady Egger, who drove 12 hours from Montana State University to compete at his families track and chase the championship. Egger finished second in both Finals, with Gulick winner on Saturday and Egger relinquishing the lead to Artie Carpenter on the final lap on Sunday.

Josh Pierson in the champion in X30 Junior after taking two victories on the weekend over Cooper Becklin and Canadian Jason Leung. Pierson and Becklin battled hard in Briggs 206 Junior as well, where Becklin brought home the title.

Matthew Morgan took home the Pro Shifter championship, while Thomas Welch topped the Shifter Master category with Canadian Bryan Stauffer taking the vice-championship honours.

Graham Trammell enjoyed a fun weekend at Pat’s Acres. He was crowned champion in both Micro Swift and Briggs Cadet after winning races in both Micro Swift and finishing on the podium in Briggs Cadet.

After another great weekend of racing in the Pacific Northwest, the future looks very promising.

X30 Junior podium: Cooper Becklin (l), Josh Pierson (c) and Jason Leung (r) (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)