Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) 2015 season in review

2015 May 31 CKRC 681Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Interview with John Kwong Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) President

Velocity: “Congratulations on the 2015 season at your new track in Strathmore.”

John Kwong: “Thank You.”

Velocity: “Is there highlights that stick out?”

John Kwong: “It is not like we have 1 large event that we had to overcome, it was a number of milestones that occurred during the year. The 1st one was just being able to host the 1st event and have the track race ready. Then reinstating some programs that were successful at Varsity Speedway Park: Try a Kart program, Rookie School, Jr. Summer Camp & the Alberta Shootout. It was great to see a lot of friends from the Northern club come down & support us.”

Velocity: “I see the last few races, the stands were open & people enjoyed them.”

John Kwong: “Yes it certainly gave a good vantage point. It took longer than we wanted it to, for the long term perspective; they are safe & built properly.”

Velocity: “One thing you were saying about this year was the introduction to your new kid kart program; how did that go this year?”

John Kwong: “That was one of the new programs this year. I think it was quite successful this year & shows great promise for next year.”

Velocity: “Did you have one class that really picked up this year with a big growth?”

John Kwong: “I think the 1st half of the season was stronger, that is typical for Calgary, we were finishing the track starting “a month later than usual. The 4 Stroke Senior had good strength as usual; the Brigs & Stratton program is quite strong as well. The Shifter class showed some resurgence, to the glory days when we had 10-12 Karts which we have not seen in 10 years. Probably the Shifter Class showed the most strength.

Velocity: “Is there any new projects for 2016?”

John Kwong: “Down the road we are looking at the south west corner as we did clear that area of top soil; it is slated to be an oval. More then likely will be dirt, as the sides wouldn’t be too great, as we don’t want it too large. Sometimes you can limit speed by designing the track properly. Again we have not worked out all the nuts & bolts of that. Not so much for our club; but we could rent it out for another club like the AMRA.

Velocity: “I have seen dirt motorcycles, but I have never seen dirt track karts before.’

John Kwong: “A little bit different, some of them are offset as they are turning left, so there karts are more to the left and they will use more stager & different body work then what we use. There is one guy from town that goes to Castrol and they are using 250cc motorcycle motto cross engines which might be more then we want because of the speed, safety and noise. The faculty itself has expanded the Paddock with clean fill so we will be expanding the paddock area further. Most of the big projects have been done; so now we are down to fine tuning things making it a bit more liveable. We are getting some more gravel brought in to paddock area, See cans & timing tower so that it is a little more user friendly in the spring, which turns into a mud bog.”

Velocity: “I know you guys run rain or shine, but you don’t run in lightning.”(1 Race was canceled due to extreme weather & lightning).

John Kwong: “No in the 1 race we did cancel was totally extreme conditions. In all the years I have raced I have never seen it that potentially dangerous, that much rain, lightning, wind & cold.

Velocity: “Obviously, safety wise you have to do that, actually in a kart you are pretty safe but everyone else is in peril like the Volunteers & Fred himself.

John Kwong: “Fred was on the big lightning rod.” (The tower was hit by lightning)

Velocity: “Fred was saying the plan is to be running a lighting rod from the tower so that it is taken out of the equation. At the same time you do not want to be the highest point with a radio, it is a great thing you made that decision.”

Velocity: “One thing I noticed is when you run 1 class you do get lots of laps, so it is quite an accomplishment when you run 3 classes on some weekends.”

John Kwong: “I couldn’t do it if I didn’t have support from my crew chief Gerald Creger, him & I have been doing this for 15 years now. For the days he could not make it out I recruited my brother in-law to help out. It is more of a team sport then people realize, I wonder why some guys can’t find guys like I found, I am fortunate.”

Velocity: “I remember you saying at the 1st race that running 3 classes was a bit too much to start the season; physically that has to be hard on the body doing all those laps.”

John Kwong: “This track is a lot more physical than the old track, otherwise I would have jumped in at the start doing 3 right off the bat, because I had done it before at Varsity. Being a longer track, more turns, G force & more physical.”

Velocity: “Is there any final points of the 2015 season?”

John Kwong: “Thanks to the club in general, all the volunteers/race marshals who stuck with us from 2013 to rejoin us & help out with the races in 2015. The members of the executive, we all pulled together to get this track put in for the foreseeable future & my crew chief Gerald Creger”

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 23352015 June 28 CKRC 8282015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 7352015 May 31 CKRC 523Photos by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Junior 1
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 12 Enzo Sartor 1737
2. 88 Jonathan Howe 1681
3. 68 Alexander Berg 1525

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 3918Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Junior 2/4-Stroke
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 7 Jill Altamirano 1775
2. 26 Garrett Cook 1647
3. 165 Steven Humeniuk 1611

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 1291Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Junior Rotax
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 206 Naila Deen 1292
2. 238 Evan White 992
3. 55 Brennan Peters 933

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 2035Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Micro Max
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 14 Shawn Kozma 1357
2. 17 Spencer Perreault 1177
3. 48 Ryan Dezall 0

2015 May 31 CKRC 318Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Mini Max
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 8 James Altamirano 1781
2. 12 Connor Peet 1171
3. 185 Tyler Kozma 1126
4. 43 Paul Galecki 751

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 1987Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Rotax Masters
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 5 Alan Haggerty 1768
2. 9 Josh Carter 1711
3. 161 Peter Magee 1611

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 3273Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Senior 4-Stroke Heavy
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 84 Dennis Bauer 1125
2. 25 Patrick Tompkins 782
3. 111 Phil Haggerty 538

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 2352Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Senior 4-Stroke Light
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 5 Alan Haggerty 1665
2. 15 John Kwong 1639
3. 44 Mark Hillier 1577

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 2292Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Senior Rotax
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 48 Mark Newson 1714
2. 15 John Kwong 1657
3. 36 Nigel Baines 1579

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 720Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Shifter
Season: 2015 – Final
Position, Kart # Driver Points
1. 337 Nathan Bartley 1642
2. 75 Nils Joergensen 1354
3. 35 Justin Woolsey 848

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 1528Photo by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

http://www.mylaps.com/en/championships/116784

Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC)

http://ckrc.com/

https://www.facebook.com/calgarykart.racingclub

2015 Sep 20 CKRC & Calaway 6922015 May 31 CKRC 10092015 May 31 CKRC 29802015 May 31 CKRC 29332015 May 31 CKRC 26972015 June 27 CKRC 10832015 June 27 CKRC 4872015 June 28 CKRC 2167Photos by VelocityMotorsportsNews.com Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) at North Star Raceway in Strathmore, AB

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.