Hot temperatures, fast competition open WKC-hosted AKRA Road Race Series at Summit Point

Report by Keith Shampine; photos by Bruce C. Walls

SUMMIT POINT, W. Va. — The much-anticipated Woodbridge Kart Club-hosted Summit Point Nationals took center stage in the road race karting world May 20-22 with the American Kart Racing Association (AKRA) / Hoosier Kartsport National Road Race Series season opener at Summit Point Motorsports Park.

Summit Point, the multi-circuit road racing complex located in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia just over the Virginia state line, has been the site of hundreds of road race karting events since the 1970s, and this year’s May nationals on Summit’s 2.0-mile Main Circuit will go down as one of the most competitive in recent memory. With more than 160 drivers in attendance for Friday practice comprising 477 race entries between Saturday and Sunday’s divisions, the 2022 version of the annual event was likely the best-attended kart race at Summit in at least 15 to 20 years.

A number of story lines emerged from the weekend, but none bigger than Regan Vehring’s triumph in the Animal Nationals presented by 4-Cycle Central, Vehring’s engine and kart shop. The special event for the 4-Cycle Sprint 390 class for methanol-burning Briggs Animal-powered sprint-enduros attracted 32 racers from around the eastern half of the country and paid $1,000 to the winner plus a number of other payouts and special cash and contingency awards. 

Vehring’s second-place finish to Joe Adler in Saturday’s 30-minute contest and his win in Sunday’s main event easily made him the best-average finisher between the two races. Vehring also won Saturday’s Linsell Speed Shop $150 Fast Time award and took home the custom toolbox championship trophy that he made for the race. 

Southern Kart Club racer Robert Garland Sr. netted a P5 finish Saturday and P4 Sunday for the 2nd place overall and the $750 prize and trophy. 

Virginia’s Scott Heath ran a Kevin Darling-owned sprint-enduro for the first time and came away with P3 overall and $450 plus a $100 Hard Charger award posted by Steve Johnson.  Maryland’s Tony Wimmer and N.C.’s Sean Ballantine completed the top five. 

Click here for official results from the 2022 Animal Nationals.

Twenty-eight Yamaha KT100-powered laydown-enduros took the green flag in Yamaha Pipe class each day to make for the largest field of enduros at Summit Point in quite some time. With many of the best laydown racers in the country in attendance, competition was fierce and Illinois’ Randy Fulks came out on top in Saturday’s Final 1. Fulks, 68, crossed the stripe 2.4 seconds in front of Colin Jedrzejek for his first win in over a year. 

Patrick Olsen left the grid late and spent the rest of the race slicing through the field, eventually taking the lead from Fulks with a few laps to go. But Olsen slid off the track on turn 1 exit while trying to hold off Fulks, handing the lead back to “Mr. Daytona” and settling for a third-place result. Nate Grindell was P4 and rookie senior racer Kekai Hauanio P5.

Olsen would return Sunday to score the Yamaha Pipe Final 2 victory. The Wisconsin racer wheeled his LAD Specialities Coyote Bullet to a 8.053-second win over Florida’s Chad Dokken, who retired early from Saturday’s race. Randy Fulks was third in the weekend capper with Jedrzejek fourth and Rick Fulks fifth.

Ian Morgan won Saturday’s Controlled final over Todd Hayden and Joe Thomas. Hayden returned Sunday to win Controlled Final 2 by a 13-second margin over Thomas with Timothy Koen third. 

Steven Miller was the only Junior Enduro entrant, winning both days.

Briggs 206 racing was hot at Summit.

LO206 competition kicked off with Saturday’s fourth race group comprising CIK LO206 Heavy and Junior LO206. Virginia’s Scott Heath won a close battle for what would be his lone win of the weekend. Heath won by a 0.070-second margin over his teammate Jon Miller. National sprint hot shoe Eric Fagan raced at Summit Point for the first time and finished just 0.141 seconds back in P3. Bill Gerland was fourth and Eric King fifth of 12 starters.

Rylee Arensdorf was triumphant in the Junior 206 Final 1. Shane Smith finished a close second with Ryan Suralik third, Nathan Guerreiro fourth, Samuel Powell fifth and Zach Masaitis fifth.

Thirty karts took the green flag in Saturday’s CIK LO206 Final 1. MGM Chassis co-owner Paul Rice came out of retirement for the race and wasted no time finding victory lane. Rice took the lead early and led most of the race and before Fagan passed him at the finish stripe for what appeared to be his first win in a Rob Krout-owned No. 175 MGM.  But after post-race tech and a protest, Rice was declared the winner after Fagan, Heath and Jame Russell were disqualified for excessive pushing. WKC regular Sean Conlon was P2, Gerland P3, Indy Kassy P4 and Lee Hurd P5.

With thunderstorms washing out day two’s 206 Heavy and Junior races, CIK LO206 Sprint Final 2 was the only 206 race Sunday. In another hotly contested 30-minute race, Jon Miller claimed the win when he and Heath shot past Zach Linsell and Fagan at the finish line. The margin between the top four was just 0.600 seconds. Gerland rounded out the top five of 20 starters.

In other action, John Morris earned a close win in Saturday’s CIK TaG 125 Medium contest. Morris finished just ahead of Paul Kennedy and Clark Gaynor Jr. for the popular win.

Ohio’s Mallory D’Augustine came out on top of Piston Port Sprint Final 1 in only her second race in a sprint-enduro. D’Augustine benefited from a three-kart incident in turn 1 between leaders Jim Sorrentino, Ed Shampine and Ryan Hoskinson. The accident, which sent Shampine to the hospital with a cut to his hand, brought out the red flag after Shampine nursed his kart back around the track, driving to the ambulance for medial attention. He received stitches and is otherwise OK. 

D’Augustine won over Adam Trumbley and Eric Stockford with just 1.5 seconds separating the three. Jerry Apuzzi was fourth and Jerry Revely fifth. 

In the same race, Regan Vehring won 4-Cycle Sprint 370 by 6.7 seconds over Josh Nevels and Jesse Schwabe; Shane Smith won Junior 100cc TaG Final 1, Ben Eberhart won Vintage Piston Post and Jody Linthicum claimed DKC IAME Sprint.

Pascual Torres and Stevie Young each won shifter races Saturday. Torres captured the CIK 125 Shifter final by an 11-second margin over Rob Morris, while Young took the Stock Honda Lite final by just 0.070 seconds over Steven Waddell; Torres was a close third.

Makena Rice won the 17-kart 100cc Air Cooled TaG final Saturday by a 22-second advantage over the remainder of the top five. Clark Gaynor Jr. was second by a slim margin over Eric King, Trevor Smyth and David Casaperalta. Second through fifth was nose to tail at the finish.

In the same race group Saturday, Sebastian Sagastume won CIK TaG 125 Heavy by a kart-length over Indy Kassy. Robert Wimmer was third.

Summit Point Nationals top-five results (click here for MyLaps results page):