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Written by Matt Schuman, for NEXTnc
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
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BRET HARTMAN | for NEXTnc
Kyle Ray drives through a turn Sunday during a 125 Pro Shifter heat race at the Greeley Grand Prix at Island Grove Regional Park in Greeley.
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The fact that Kyle Ray was doing doughnuts with his go-kart in the pit area to celebrate his victory at the Greeley Grand Prix Sunday only seemed appropriate.
After all, he ran circles around most of the field in the 125 Pro Shifter class.
Ray, from Littleton, blistered through the 20-lap course in 17 minutes, 11.124 seconds, more than 11 seconds ahead of Marc Elliott (17:22.614) to win what is considered the elite class in go-kart racing. His best lap time was a quick 53.538 seconds. He also won the TaG Seniors division in 18:35.558.
Ray has been racing for seven years, starting when he was 12. He's been a 125 pro class driver for four years now and has won the Colorado Sprint Championship racing series the past three years, earning Driver of the Year honors all three years.
Ray isn't racing in the go-kart series this year because he is concentrating on racing midget and sprint cars at places like Colorado National Speedway.
But Ray wanted to race the Greeley Grand Prix because he loves the street-style course, which is different from regular go-kart tracks because it changes and racers don't get to practice on it all the time.
"At a go-kart race at a real track, people show up the week before and go practice and get tuned in," Ray said. "Here we've just got to show up and figure it out."
Ray also wanted to do the Greeley race again to hopefully get a little revenge for last year when he finished second to Alan Rudolph, who is one of the best driver's in the nation. But Rudolph didn't compete in the Greeley event this time around.
"I was kind of hoping that he'd be out here because I got my new motor now," Ray said. "I think we could have competed with him."
Just the fact that top go-kart racers like Ray and Elliott were competing in only the second Greeley Grand Prix may be a testament to the fact that the elite drivers in go-kart racing are hoping to make Greeley a big-time race.
Organizers of the Greeley Grand Prix have modeled it after the Rock Island Grand Prix in Rock Island, Ill., which is considered the top street-style go-kart race with more than 400 entrants participating from all over the world before thousands of fans each year.
While the Rock Island event has been around for more than 15 years and the Greeley Grand Prix is still in its infancy, drivers like Ray and Elliott would like to see it become an annual tradition for drivers like the Rock Island event.
Elliott came all the way from Sonoma, Calif., to race. He would like to see Greeley rival Rock Island.
"There is nothing like driving a go-kart 100 miles per hour on the street," Elliott said. "It is intense. So it would mean a lot to have something in Colorado of that caliber."
Elliott only wishes he could have beat Ray, who has been his main competition on the circuit for years.
"It is very tough to race somebody like him because he has been racing for a lot longer and he is very good on top of that," said Elliott, who has been racing for five years. "It makes for a good competition. It is good to have somebody like that to race against because it makes you want to push yourself even farther." | Only registered users can write comments.
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