The video clips from the USSN are now up.  80Jr show has been added, and its hot.   Rotax Pro race in 256KPS format and 56KPS format.  56K is pretty low quality but it gives you an idea of the type of content coming out on the CD's.

Full Race coverage of the 80Jr and 125 Pro races are coming soon.

CD's will be available on a 1.5 Meg/Second format with VCR quality, and a DVD version with DVD quality may also be offered.  Watch for details as we launch the ordering page.

Race Report from the from the US Shifter Nationals July 5, 6, 7

The United States Shifter Nationals (USSN) event was created to meet the criteria of crowning a national shifter class champions beyond the ordinary intramural national championships held by the many karting organizations in the United States.  Centrally located at the Oklahoma Motorsports Complex (OMC) in the middle of the summer enables the contestants of any series to accept the challenge to become the United States Shifter class champion.  Contestants came from as far away as South Africa and Bermuda to compete.

SKUSA Mountain region had strong representation as they chose to include the event as an event on their regional tour due to a last minute change of availability to one of their tracks.  Only a handful of competitors made the 1000 mile trek, but all who did said the event was very rewarding.

In addition to earning the status of National Shifter class champion, some tidy podium cash payouts came from the Calcutta.  Some of the Calcutta recipients took home more then they spent to come and compete.

The weather was mostly co-operative throughout the weekend.  With temperatures in the 80's and 90's, a few brief heavy rainstorms moved through Saturday afternoon delaying some qualifying and heat 1 races.  Race Director Tom Argy applied the extremely professional race management he is known for.

Media covering the event included correspondent Jon Anderson and photographer Bill Kistler of SKI magazine, one of the finest karting publications in the world.  Rolling Thunder Multimedia Productions were also on hand to provide 6 videographers and selected clips will be posted as soon as they have completed editing.

60cc Novice

Although considered a novice class in the shifter ranks, few of these young lions can hardly be considered novices;  they put on some excellent races and were the only class to finish the day with "victory donuts".  Reid "the Animal" Miller representing the KAM Karting team was practically untouchable through the weekend.  The final race was 15 laps.

60cc Novice Results

Rotax Junior

As the Rotax classes emphasize driving and chassis/carb tuning, the Rotax Jr classes put up some very close times front to back in the Final.  Changing weather conditions on Saturday challenged the tuners as the track conditions kept changing with the weather.  Adrian Carrio jumped into an early lead with a strong margin, but Jarrett Scarberry came on strong after a few laps and slowly reeled in the ever smooth "Ace" Carrio.  In the final the track conditions were still changing as the green surface began to gain some grip.  Lots of mid-pack excitement with too many passes to count.  The final race was 25 laps.

FMX/ICC

While SKUSA has created these classes new for 2002, they have been slowly gathering steam.  The Mountain region has a strong following of FMX competitors, while competitors in ICC were from Iowa and South Africa.  In both qualifying and racing, the FMX and ICC powered cars were very closely matched less then 0.2 seconds apart in lap times for qualifying and racing.  At Norman the ICC's seemed to have the upper hand ever so slightly.  The final was down to one entrant in ICC as Adam Johnson had some difficulties and chose to skip the race to concentrate on his K1 race.

With ICC starting behind the FMX class, Craig Allen put on a good show chasing down Brandon and Craig were turning lap times well over a second ahead of the rest of the pack and simply checked out.  The rest of the field were pretty evenly matched with lots of passes and re-passes.  At any one time there were 3 continuous battles going on for position. The final race was 25 laps.

ICC Results

FMX Results

Rotax Pro/Rotax Heavy

Rotax Pro had some excellent racing throughout the pack in all three races.  In heat 2 Chad miller was slowed by a car in front on the exit of the hairpin, closely followed by Blake Patterson, resulting in Blake "hooking up the trailer hitch to Chad the "Chainsaw's" exhaust.  In a superman act, Chainsaw reached around with one arm, foot planted firmly in the gas, and "cut away the hitch" of Blake's kart to pull away.  It was all for naught as the Chad's exhaust was knocked loose in the incident and on the next lap Chad pulled the KAM Karting VMT into the pits. 

The Final saw a 3 way battle in the lead between Jordan, Chad, and Blake.  Some laps a sheet of paper was all that separated them  Chad turned the fastest lap in pursuit of Blake having fallen back in a 5 lap duel with Jordan. for 2nd.  The final race was 25 laps.  The Rotax Pro race is one the featured races taped by Rolling Thunder Multimedia Productions.

Rotax Heavy was contested by a single entrant Doug Fellows, and ran with the Rotax Pros.  Doug had only taken delivery of his kart 2 weeks earlier and ended up winning a National title in his first race ever.  Not the way we all want to win, but hey, what a way to start your racing career!

Rotax Pro Results

80cc Senior

Most of the top 80cc - K1 teams in the country brought their equipment to compete in the USSN this year and provided some spectacular racing in all 3 races.  In the Final 12 cars were separated by less then a second as the dicing went on.  In lap 6 with Chris Jackson in the lead an unintentional incident occurred as Jeff Carter tapped Chris from behind after Chris locked the brakes slightly heading into turn 1.  Chris ended up being putted off the track, his race ended.  With Jeff Carter crossing the line first at the checker, the race finished under protest.  Jeff was penalized resulting in a finishing position behind Chris Jackson.  This penalty was assessed to pre-defined rules and there were no disputes.  The final race was 25 laps.

80cc Sr Results

G1

Geezers (if you can call someone 50 a Geezer!) had a chance to take a National title this weekend.  To give the "elderly" a break, the final race was shortened to 20 laps.  As OMC is quite challenging physically, and the track conditions were dramatically changing between practice and qualifying, the qualifying times spanned a 6 second range for the top 10.  By the final nearly everyone was more in tune with the leaders as the span of the final times for the top 10 was down to 2 seconds.  Stacey Cook, the Herber brothers, Gene Martin, and Sam Walls put on some fantastic clean racing.  About midway the stinger broke off Gene Martin's car giving anyone behind an added incentive to pass or drop back. 

Geezer1 Results

80Jr

Almost as expected, the 80jr race provided the most action of the weekend.  The first race started Saturday in the dry, but a storm blew in and by Lap 2 the track was doused, with high winds and lightning coming, so the race was stopped and a complete restart was run on Sunday.  The first two races had plenty of action among the top 80jr contenders in the United States who dared to enter.  Both races were clean showing the talent of these up & coming racing stars.  The Final had everyone packing into turn 1 some rows 3 wide on the opening lap.  As more than half the field was somehow involved, Tom Argy called a red flag and a complete restart.  To assure safety, the red flag was lifted and 10 minutes was provided to do any necessary repairs, such as tie rod replacements, etc.  On the second start, the race turned into a fierce battle everywhere behind the leader Adrian Carrio.  Cody Hadley showing all the skill he has developed in the last year finally broke free of the leading battle and went on a charge to catch Adrian on lap 14.  With a 3 second lead, Cody chiseled away a few tenths every lap following Adrian to the checker by about .03 seconds.  The rest of the pack put up a fierce battle all the way through tenth place in the 25 lap final.

This is one of the featured races that will be produced by Rolling Thunder Multimedia Productions.

80 Jr Results

125 Pro

125 Pro featured some of the top SKUSA SP S1 and IKF 125 drivers in the country.  Competition was tough and the top ten were within a second of each other.  Jake Peirson driving the new Memo Gidley chassis was leading the second heat with 2 laps to go when the radiator hose came off.  Jake pulled off the track to save his only  motor for the final.   In the 25 lap final, attrition took its toll on equipment with stuck pistons, lost chains, and a few crash and bends.  Out of 19 starters only 6 finished.  Micheal Johnson driving the new Evolution RT chassis mostly as a test of the unique new design made a charge from the back of the pack to 6th until the piston stuck.  There will be a feature story on this new chassis coming over the next week.

This race will also be a feature video.

125 Pro Results