AKRA and Racers Enjoy Great Weekend at Barnesville

Colin Warren, Mateo Rubio, Peyton Bridges, Tanner Carter & Haley Kummer Score Multiple Wins

By Keith Shampine

Edited by Bruce C. Walls

Barnesville, GA-The American Kart Racing Association and Georgia Sprint Karting Association joined this past weekend to put on a successful and fun weekend at the historic Lamar County Speedway in Barnesville, Georgia, where racers, fans and officials enjoyed the second round of the Vega USA American Sprint Cup Series presented by TSRacing.com.

Teams from five different states – Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and North Carolina – made the trip to Barnesville the regional event, they were greeted by hot temperatures near 90 degrees throughout the three-day event.

Over 30 racers took part in a smooth Friday practice day on the 0.27-mile track that included seven complete rounds of practice with 10-minute sessions for every session from 11am to 6pm.

Saturday Racing

Several more teams joined the Lamar County Speedway pit area Saturday morning to start a day that saw Colin Warren (x2), Peyton Bridges, Cade Frazier, Tanner Carter, Mateo Rubio-Luengo, Haley Kummer, Joey Miller, Alex Giles and Steve Roberts raced to victory.

Payton Bridges dominated Saturday’s Boon & Sons 206 Kid Kart action. Bridges won the pole award, 10-lap heat and 15-lap feature over Rachel Richter, Round 1 Kershaw winner Brently Miller and AKRA newcomer Brock Mathis. Bridges held a solid advantage in each round of competition and was never seriously challenged

The Kart City Performance 206 Cadetdivision saw Georgia’s Tanner Carter drive his Razor chassis to the win over IONIC Edge Chassis driver Elijah Skaggs. Carter and Skaggs were the class of the 5-kart field with Owen Lloyd, Kelly Puckett and Louisiana’s Camryn Reed just a few tenths of a second off the leaders and finishing third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

While Puckett wasn’t able to run with Carter and E. Skaggs in the main event, he did score the Pole Award with a fast lap of 26.052. It marked Puckett’s first Pole Award of the 2016 season

TS Racing factory driver Colin Warrenwon his first race of the weekend in Razor Chassis / Roberts Kart Shop 206 Senior Medium. Warren, who also scored the Pole Award, outdrove Georgia’s Haley Kummer to the victory. Aren Smith, AKRA newcomer Morgan Harbin and Tyler Smith rounded out the top five.  

Mateo Rubio-Luengo dominated Saturday’s Target Distributing TaG CadetRestricted competition. Rubio won each round of competition over Bryce Sanders and Lennox Roock.

Colin Warren won his second race of the day over Matt Michel in TaG Senior. Alex Giles scored the TaG Junior victory and Haley Kummer won her first of two races over Aly Antley in Michigan Kart Supply Pro Gas Animal.

Joey Miller, Bob Barthelemy and Matt Skaggs waged a close battle throughout the day in IONIC Edge Chassis 206 Masters. After winning the pole, Miller had just enough to stay in front of Barthelemy and Skaggs in the 12-lap heat.

Come feature time, many thought local veteran Barthelemy would give Miller all he could handle, but Miller made some adjustments before the main and was able to keep several kart-lengths between him and Barthelemy. Miller would drive his Razor to his third 206 Masters win of the AKRA season. Barthelemy was second, Skaggs third, Jody Covington fourth and Andy Jones fifth.

Brdiggs & StrattonNorth Carolina’s Cade Frazier raced his MGM to victory over Louisiana’s Macon Moore.

Razor Chassis / Roberts Kart Shop owner Stevie Roberts joined the on-track action at his home track. Roberts, who now only races a handful of times each year, showed the TSRacing.com 206 Senior Heavy field he’s still got what it takes to win, scoring a clean sweep of the day’s competition highlighted by a 0.479-second win in the 18-lap feature over Colin Warren.

Warren kept his TS Racing Eagle chassis within striking distance of Roberts throughout the main event, but would never get within two kart-lengths of Roberts’ rear bumper, allowing Stevie to lead wire to wire for the victory. Joseph Skaggs finished 4 seconds back in third with Barthelemy and Ryan Taylor rounding out the top five.

Sunday Racing

A few more teams entered the gate Sunday morning for the final day of the American Sprint Cup Series’ second-ever event.

Bridges once again was the class of the field in Boon & Sons 206 Kid Kart. Bridges drove his Razor to the Pole Award – including a $50 bonus posted by AKRA – but made a mistake in the heat race, spinning out in the esses and allowing Brently Miller to race ahead for his first win of the weekend in a great race with Peyton and Rachel Richter.

Bridges would return strong in the 15-lap feature and lead wire to wire for the win. Miller would settle for second and Richter third. Brock Mathis drove his #88 to the fourth finishing position.

Tanner Cartermade it two for two in Kart City Performance 206 Cadet with a close win over Elijah Skaggs in Sunday’s 18-lap weekend capper. Skaggs stayed glued to Carter’s rear bumper throughout the race as the two drivers put on a good show out front. Cody Hall joined the action Sunday after competing with is U.S. Legends car Saturday. Hall would settle for third, Owen Lloyd fourth, Kelly Puckett fifth and Camryn Reed sixth.

Carter also pocketed the $100 bonus for winning the 206 Cadet pole.

Colin Warrenmade it two for two in Sunday’s Razor Chassis / Roberts Kart Shop206 Senior Mediumcontest. The Florida shoe won by 3.4 seconds over Tyler Smith, whose twin brother Aren Smith crossed the stripe just behind in P3. Haley Kummer finished P4, Cody Hall P5 and Jim Fry P6. Warren won the $50.00 AKRA Pole award for 206 Medium.

Mateo Rubio-Luengo won the fourth main event Sunday afternoon at B’ville. Rubio and his Darrin Tebbe-prepared Kosmic chassis scored the Target Distributing TaG Cadet Restricted triumph over a hard-charging Bryce Sanders.

The TaG Cadet 12-lap heat race was one of the best of the weekend. Rubio, Sanders and Tanner Carter battled it out throughout the race with Sanders taking a brief mid-race lead before Rubio shot back to the inside to retake the lead and eventually score the victory. Carter rode a close third during the battle and nearly moved his FA Kart into the lead at one point of the contest.

The 18-lap feature was clean and green with Rubio leading wire to wire to win over Sanders by a several-kart-length advantage. Carter settled for third, Peyton Bridges fourth and Lennox Roock fifth. Sanders won the $50 Pole Award on his Atlanta Karting built Maverick chassis.

Sunday’s IONIC Edge Chassis 206 Masterswas another great contest. Tennessee IONIC Edge pilot Matt Skaggsfound more speed Sunday and won the $50 Pole Award over Saturday Masters winner Joey Miller. Skaggs also won the heat by a close margin over Miller.

Thing became more interesting during the 18-lap main with Miller trying everything to overtake Skaggs. On lap 10, Miller would shoot to the inside of Skaggs into the hard left-hander at the end of the backstretch. Contact sent Skaggs through the grass with Miller taking the lead.

Two laps later Skaggs moved back to the inside of Miller to retake the lead and drive his #11 to his first AKRA win of the season. Tennessee’s Jody Covington finished a close third with Andy Jones P4.

Skaggs’ victory also put an end to Miller’s three-race win streak dating back to Round 1 at Kershaw, S.C.

Macon Moore and Cade Frazier swapped positions from the Saturday Briggs Racing206 Junior finish. On Sunday, Moore rode his IONIC Edge to the win over Frazier’s MGM. Moore won the AKRA $50 Pole Award bonus.

Haley Kummer once again scored the Pro Gas Animal victory over Aly Antley. Kummer also won a $100 bonus sponsored by Antley Racing for winning both day’s Pole Awards.

The weekend’s final race saw JosephSkaggs score his first AKRA win of the year in TSRacing.com 206 Senior Heavy. Skaggs drove his Arrow to an impressive win over Colin Warren, who would settle for P2 both days in 206 Heavy. Ryan Taylor drove well to a P3 finish with Aren Smith P4 and Ron Mathis rounding out the top five.

Warren won the $100 Pole Award bonus.

Joseph Skaggs’ fine weekend wasn’t just sucessful on the track. At Sunday morning’s Drivers Meeting, Joseph won the drawing for the Brute by Briggs generator, which retails at around $450. Thanks to Briggs Racing for posting the Brute by Briggs Inverter for a random drawing at every AKRA American Sprint Cup Series event in 2016!

Busted Knuckle Racing will have plenty of Vega FH front tires after Sunday’s Drivers Meeting. Bustle Knuckle / Miller Racing drivers Andy Jones, Joey Miller and his son, Brently, won three of the four Vega tire giveaways, each winning a pair of fronts! Ryan Taylor won the other pair. Thanks to Vega USA for sponsoring the tire giveaways at all American Sprint Cup Series races this year!

Click here to view MYLAPS results from AKRA at Barnesville.

Many thanks and appreciation to all racers, families and teams for attending at Barnesville. Thanks to the GSKA and their fine officials for helping accomplish a great weekend.

Also a great thanks to our series sponsor Vega USA, AKRA racing programs sponsor RockAuto.com, class sponsors Kart City Performance, Briggs & Stratton Racing, Razor Chassis, Roberts Kart Shop, IONIC Edge Chassis, TSRacing.com, Michigan Kart Supply, Target Distributing and Boon & Sons, and associate sponsor S&M Kart Supply.

Next up for the American Sprint Cup Series is Round 1 of the “Northern Tour” presented by Boon & Sons June 3-5 at the Genesee Valley Kart Club in Avon, N.Y.