Sainsbury Takes Long Road To Victory Lane At Charter Raceway Park
By John Wiedemann

Beaver Dam, WI – June 30, 2009 – After a fifteen year hiatus, Steve Sainsbury returned to racing in 2009.  Tuesday night Sainsbury made that return worthwhile as he drove his kart into victory lane at Charter Raceway Park.

Kyle Marten grabbed the lead as the green flag flew, starting the Animal Pro feature race.  Zak Emmons, running in the series for the second week, held second followed by Sainsbury and John Erdman.  The configuration at the front of the pack changed three laps later as Sainsbury took over the point with Emmons and Marten on his bumper.  Last week’s winner, Justin Peterson moved into the front running group of four as Erdman pulled off the track and headed for the pits.  Sainsbury slightly stretched his lead as the top four were all separated by a few kart lengths.  Never looking back, Sainsbury had his sights set on the checkered flag.  Leading the rest of the way, in the caution free race, Sainsbury captured his first victory in the series.  When he reached victory lane, Sainsbury finally took a deep breath, exhaled and exclaimed, “Not bad for an old fart.”  Emmons, racing in injured Regan Vehring’s kart, held on to second followed by Marten and Peterson at the finish line.  Vehring said that he hopes to return to racing in August.

Tristan Koenings led the early laps of the Briggs Junior/Animal 2 feature.  Aaron Zegers positioned his kart right on Koenings bumper until the halfway point when Zegers made his move for the lead.  Using the outside groove, Zegers was able to power past Koenings out of the fourth turn to grab the top spot.  A lap later, the leaders had to deal with heavy traffic as they reached the tail end of the pack.  Racing through the lapped traffic, Zegers started to distance himself from second place.  Koenings had to not only deal with traffic, but also the fact that Matt Berlin had caught up and was challenging for the second position.  The leaders weaving through traffic made for some excitement as the karters even raced three wide at one point.  Zegers pulled away and took the victory, his second of the season.  Koenings held off Berlin for second with Wyatt Blashe and RJ Tackman completing the top five.

Not wasting any time, Jesse Krahn dove to the inside of Travis Stadler in the first turn of the Briggs Junior/Animal 3 division feature race.  The karts got together and a little sideways, but as the field exited turn two, Krahn had the lead.  With all the action happening up front, Karly Stadler worked the high line to move up three positions into second place during the first lap.  The caution was displayed five laps into the race as Frankie Hoch retired to the pits.  Damage to the left rear of Travis Stadler’s kart, caused by the opening lap contact, also forced him out of the race.  With the field bunched back up, now was Karly Stadlers best shot at taking away the lead.  Krahn got a bit of a jump on the restart but through each turn, Stadler closed the distance.  Entering the turn a little higher than Krahn, Stadler caught up to the rear bumper of Krahn.  Krahn was too strong on the straights and time ran out for Stadler.  Krahn held on to the win, his first in the series.  Stadler settled for second place.

In Briggs Heavy feature action, Derrick Quella captured his first victory in the series when early race leader Bryan Tolan was forced to retire with mechanical issues. 

Elijah Koenig took home the trophy in the Box Stock division, the third time he has won this year.  Koenig and Christopher Peterson battled all night long with each of them capturing a heat race win.  The two racers never seemed to be a kart length away from each other for the entire evening of Box Stock racing.

The Oshkosh Kid Karts returned to Charter Raceway Park with Jake Gerrits and Dakota Reyes taking heat race wins.  Will Gerrits led the field at the start of the feature event, but Reyes dove down low and took over the lead as the pack exited turn two.  With three laps remaining in the race, Tyler Brabant used the top groove in turn four to drive past Will Gerrits into second place.  As the white flag flew, Brabant moved to the outside of leader Reyes and they crossed the line side by side to set up a final lap race to the win.  The outside groove worked well for Brabant as he moved past Reyes and took the checkers in first place.  Reyes followed closely behind with Will and Jake Gerrits finishing third and fourth.  The victory was Brabant’s second in a row in the Tuesday Night Series.

The Tuesday Night Karting Series returns to Charter Raceway Park next week, July 7th.  Pits open at 4:30pm, with practice at 6:00pm, and racing at 7:00pm.

Saturday night, July 4th is a Charter 6-division racing event on Armed Forces Night.

For more information, visit the Charter Raceway Park website at www.wismotorsports.com

Tuesday Night Karting Series
Charter Raceway Park
June 30, 2009
Results
Briggs Sealed Box Stock
A Main: Elijah Koenig, Christopher Peterson
Heat 1 Winner: Christopher Peterson
Heat 2 Winner: Elijah Koenig

Briggs Heavy
A Main: Derrick Quella, Bryan Tolan
Heat 1 Winner: Bryan Tolan
Heat 2 Winner: Bryan Tolan

Briggs Junior/Animal 2
A Main: Aaron Zegers, Tristan Koenings, Matt Berlin, Wyatt Blashe, R.J. Tackman, Kody Ray Priesgen, Justin Pearson, Jacob Benkevich, Paul Peterson, Dakota Young
Heat 1 Winners: Wyatt Blashe, Aaron Zegers
Heat 2 Winners:  Wyatt Blashe, Aaron Zegers

Briggs Junior/Animal 3
A Main: Jesse Krahn, Karly Stadler, Shelby Berlin, Travis Stadler, Frankie Hoch
Heat 1 Winner: Jesse Krahn
Heat 2 Winner: Jesse Krahn

Animal Pro
A Main: Steve Sainsbury, Zak Emmons, Kyle Marten, Justin Peterson, Chad Stouthamer, Derrick Quella, John Erdman
Heat 1 Winner: Kyle Marten
Heat 2 Winner: Steve Sainsbury

Oshkosh Kids Kart Club
A Main: Tyler Brabant, Dakota Reyes, Will Gerrits, Jake Gerrits
Heat 1 Winner: Jake Gerrits
Heat 2 Winner: Dakota Reyes