The Outlaw Karts moved to a daytime race program at Champion Speedway on Saturday to give the younger drivers a shorter day, and to shorten the evening race program as a courtesy to track neighbors.
There were some teething problems, as with any new program, but the racing was excellent. A number of spectators took advantage of the free admission in the main grandstands. Fields were shortened somewhat by safety problems discovered as a result of the new tech inspection rules. Once racing got underway, the drivers had to contend with a variety of conditions, as the warm temperatures and a breeze conspired to dry the track. Conditions ran from very wet immediately after track watering to dry and dusty after several races had been run.
Caleb Price scored a hat trick in the beginner box stock class, winning trophy dash, heat race and the main.
Although Jay Primm took the early lead, Price stayed right there, mixing it up with Kellcy Bell to make it a three-way battle at the front. The leading trio pulled away from the field and were in a race of their own until Bell spun on lap 12 and went to the rear. Primm led the next four laps after the restart, but Price used a lapped car as a pick and took the lead on lap 17, holding it to the checker.
Primm finished second, Bell worked her way back to third and newcomer Joey Pearson was fourth. Ryan Lippincott rounded out the top five, followed by Tanner Thorson, Adam Walters, and R.J. Phillips. Price won one heat race and Primm won the other.
Hunter Colodny continued his winning ways in the box stock class with another hat trick. At the start, Colodny had his hands full with Jon Phillips from Colusa, Calif., who was running at Champion for the first time. Colodny took the early lead, but Phillips soon got by and led until the three-quarter mark. Behind them, Mackena Bell and Christian Steele staged a battle for third. Colodny regained the lead on lap 15, and Bell spun on the next lap, bringing out the caution.
Phillips tangled with a hay bale in turn 2 on the restart, dropping well back. Steele dropped out two laps from the end with a mechanical problem, sending Bell back into second. Brittney Kline, who had stayed in the front half of the field the whole race, moved into third ahead of the rapidly charging Phillips, who had to settle for fourth. Dallas Colodny rounded out the top five, followed by Jac Owen, Shelby Price, Steele, and Danielle Lippincott. Hunter Colodny won the trophy dash and his heat, while the second heat victory went to Phillips.
With a couple of competitors dropping out to take care of safety issues with their equipment, the 125cc field was reduced to three karts. James Harrington dominated the race, building his lead to half a lap at the checker. It might have been closer, except Matt Vallerino kept having problems negotiating turn four, negating his very quick performance around the rest of the track. Danny Harrington finished third.
Harrington became the third driver to score the hat trick, handily taking both the trophy dash and heat race.
Six karts started in the 500cc main event and only three finished. Josh Ostler captured his second main event win in as many outings and became the fourth driver to notch three wins on the day -- a hat trick in every division.
Alan Culver was the early leader in the caution-plagued main, but Ostler soon took over and stayed out of trouble to take the victory. Johnny Harrington, who had flipped his kart twice in his heat race, was third. Mark Bowers won the heat race that Ostler wasn't in.
Outlaw Karts are scheduled for their next Saturday afternoon program on June 8.
