Finishing off the season with a huge success the Stars California Karting Championship Finale drew 194 entries from all 4 corners of the US, with some coming from Canada and one from Australia.  The event went reasonably well considering two  "chassis-pounding" speed bumps  dropped in the path of the organizers;

1. California forest fires necessitated a last minute move from the California Speedway in Fontana to the new Moran Raceway.  This is one of the nations premier facilities and probably made a much better choice given the quality of the track.

2. Rain and cold weather blew in on Saturday afternoon.  Even at small events, rain is a challenge for most Race Officials.  At an event of this magnitude it can be overwhelming for officials.  While the rain did stir communications, Paul Zalud and staff did a remarkable job in keeping the show moving forward.

Even with the relocation and rain, you can be sure Brian Lockwood has put together some excellent footage for the coming broadcast of the racing on SpeedChannel. 

ICC

Only 42 positions are allowed on the Group A grid, and with 43 entries, two were bumped to Group B.

In the practice, qualifying, and heat races the names of the leaders kept changing.  Darren Elliot, Alex Speed, Ron White, Bobby Wilson, and David Jurca were almost in a league of their own the entire weekend.  Darren Elliot, now old enough to enter Masters Classes like G1, demonstrated his  wisdom giving lessons to most of the field over the weekend.  In the Sunday afternoon Group A final, this is how the top 5 came out after 23 tours of the 1 mile track;

Missing from the top  was Ron White after being served a DQ after coming across the scales.   Third place Graham Rahal proved he has more then just the Rahal name going for him.  This young driver began racing the  ICC class  this year with an age waiver, and has made steady progress from the back to the front through the year. 

ICA

With 42 entries, the ICA class has taken off this year in America.  As a new class to the US of A, the Americans are still struggling to make it to the top as the podium would indicate.  Ben Horstman both a champion karter and snowboarder, came up from "down under" to take the top honors.  Jordy Vorrath and Robbie Pecorari both from Canada put on a close battle throughout the final race.

Pos	Name	Diff Time	Best Time	Best Lap
1	Benjamin Horstman	-	01:04.4	18
2	Jordy Vorrath	0.292	01:04.1	10
3	Robbie Pecorari	0.557	01:04.0	11
4	Chris Green	3.95	01:03.8	11
5	Kevin Glover	4.028	01:04.1	11

80cc Junior

80cc Junior has typically become the development class for racers looking to move up to 125cc shifter classes, and with it usually showcases the younger talent very well.  Kevin Lacroix has kept a pretty low profile this year, but taking home the victory, we can expect to hear more of his name in 2004.

26 drivers were entered but only 23 took the green in the final.  3 DQ's at the scales seemed to make one wonder if the scales may have drifted a bit.  Cole Whitt was among those DQ'd on weight, and while this driver is diminutive, it's not like his tuner to go too close to the edge on weight.

Rotax

Rotax was originally planned as a "filler class" early in the year, but with the good racing action this class brings it has been retained through the year.  Three fast young ladies included in the 19 entries as was SuperPro-turned-SuperG driver Howie Idelson.

Junior Superbox

Junior Superbox (a.k.a., "Supersportsman" or "4-Hole Can") has always been a big class, especially in California.  It is probably the best application of the Yamaha KT100 workhorse, and puts on very close racing.  The Superbox class brought 25 entries including Cole Nelson and Paul Harraka Jr.

Cadet

With the Junior 1 style Cadet class rounding out the classes, the Stars event had a class all ages of drivers.  There was no problem filling the capped limit of 40 entries.