NOLA Sprint Kart Championship Race #3 took place last month to beautiful day weather wise at NOLA Motorsports Park. The configuration slaighted for competition would be the .65 mile nine turn “Mardi Gras Mambo” that hosted 60 racers in twelve classes of racing karts.

In Rotax Senior Max, Race #3 proved to be John Robicheax's race. Fresh from the Ocala round of the Florida Winter Tour the weekend prior and debuting his new Exprit kart, Robicheaux lead the field from the jump taking the class win over Everett Thomas (CompKart) and Sebastian Guerra-Mondragon (TonyKart). Rotax Masters Max seen 2015 champion James Dix (BirelART) take the win in class over the ever consistent James Kreihs (FA Kart) in runner up and Curtis Terry (Kosmic) in third. In the Rotax DD2 and Shifter Kart race group, Chris Clement (CRG) held on to win DD2 Masters over a hard charging George Zarragoitia (BirelART) with Todd Meyer (CRG) claiming the final poduim spot. Everett Thomas debuted his new CompKart in DD2 Max and from there preceded to dominate the day leading all sessions from start to finish over J. Peter Licciardi (CRG) and Chad Clark Jr. (CRG). In the Shifter classes, Anthony Harwin (CRG) and Stephen Lamana (CRG) took top honors in their respective classes of Shifter Masters and Shifter Senior with Blane Toce Jr. (Arrow) returning after a year off to take the top spot in Shifter Open.

Rotax Mini Max provided the best racing yet again with Jesse Mitchell (BirelART) and Cole Killian (Tony Kart) being the main players. Mitchell having the edge most of the day on pace grabbed the win from Killian. Rounding out the poduim would be Noah Jourdan-Carollo (Tony Kart). The entries were light for Rotax Junior Max with only three on the grid with Bryce Boada being the noticeable missing entry. Tyler Bruno (Tony Kart) made the most of his absence though, scoring maximum points on his way to his third win of the year over Macon Moore (Kosmic) and Indiana kart racer Corbin Gurley (BirelART).

The Briggs & Stratton LO206 powered Junior 1 and Junior 2. Junior 1 driver Ayden Guilbeau (Coyote) claimed his 3rd win of the season, holding off Camryn Reed (Ionic Edge) who was fast all weekend. Brant Boada (CRG) held off a strong Ryan Gonsoulin Jr. (Exprit) and Jake Faulkner (Ignite) to take the final podium spot in class while Seth Corbin (Margay) took the Junior 2 win uncontested. In Senior 4-cycle, with reigning champion Greg Lacoste Jr. absent from competition this weekend, the class would see a new winner since June of last year. Proving that his pace from January was no fluke, Jason Lee (Margay) qualified in the top spot and never looked back. Jace Lacoste (Margay) and Scott Griffin (Razor) rounded out the podium in class. With the wins for Guilbeau, Corbin, and Lee, this gives them a great head start for this years Briggs & Stratton Weekly Racing Series presented by RLV. Race #3 was the first of seven races for NOLA Motorsports Park's participation in the program for 2016.

Following this race will be a month break for NOLA Sprint karters to recover from the hectic start of the 2016 season as well as prepare for not only race #4 in the championship but also Maxspeed Entertainment's Round 1 of the US Open Karting Series, the first international race held at NOLA since 2013. Next NOLA Sprint Kart Championship race is scheduled to be held on Saturday, April 16th, the weekend before the US Open, on the .70 mile layout know as “ProKart”. This configuration is every NOLA Kart racers favorite andis the most commonly used. This layout has been a constant on the NSKC schedule and has also been used for the Texas ProKart Challenge Regional race in October of 2013 and most recently Endurance Karting's 24 hours of America earlier this month.Registration is open for the April 16th race on Motorsportreg.com and is open to anyone who owns a race kart to come out and compete or get some practice for the following weekend's US Open.

The NOLA Sprint Kart Championship is a track run racing series for sprint style racing karts at NOLA Motorsports Park, located less than 20 minutes west of New Orleans. The Championship will hold 12 races over 10 months with the majority being single day events with two doubleheader weekends and two Saturday night races held during the summer months. Each race in the series runs on one of over 80+ configurations that can be set for the NOLA Motorsports Park Kart Track, the largest and most versatile karting facility in North America that has hosted two international karting events, the 2013 Rotax Pan American and Rotax Grand Finals. NOLA will also host the first round of the Maxspeed Entertainment’s US Open on April 21st thru the 24th. Race track length can run from as short as a quarter of a mile to a little over a mile in length.

Focusing on affordability and competitiveness, the NSKC’s kart classes are based on the national rule sets for the Briggs & Stratton’s Local Option 206, the United States Rotax Max Challenge, the US Open and Superkarts USA’s Spec Honda Shifter Categories, helping to ensure that experienced and novice kart racers from 7 years old to 30 years plus can all have a level playing field to compete in. There is even an Arrive & Drive class that racers who do not own karts can come and compete in called the NOLA GT MAX Cup that uses concession style Sodi brand karts powered by 21 horsepower Rotax FR125 engines. All classes race for trophies and awards each race with end of the year awards handed out to points champions. The NSKC is also part of national points programs such as the United States Rotax Max Challenge, Briggs & Stratton Weekly Racing Series and the Sodi World Series.

Albeit a local or sometimes referred to as a “club” series, the NSKC often draws over 60+ racers, rivaling that of some larger regional events, attracting racers not only from the state of Louisiana, but all across the Southeaster United States. For more info on the NSKC and NOLA Motorsports Park, visit our website at www.nolamotor.com or send an email to [email protected]