MKA Racing News
Birchwood Grand Prix 2007
3rd Annual Street Race
\Saturday,
July 07, 2007
Article by Delight ‘DeeDee’ DeMulling, MKA News
\Photos
by Doug Zee and DeeDee DeMulling
With the
encouragement and support of Tom Telitz, other village residents,
the Birchwood City Council and the Volunteer Fire and Ambulance
Department; the Midwest Karting Association (MKA,
www.mkaracing.com) organized a race on the streets of downtown
Birchwood, WI to try and test their luck on 7/7/07. Most of the
drivers and crew were MKA members; however drivers from other race
organizations in Wisconsin and Minnesota attended as well.
The Birchwood Grand
Prix is the first of the 2007 Touring Championship Series, with
other races being held at Eau Claire Speedway, Eau Claire, WI and
Brainerd International Speedway, Brainerd, MN.
Many karters
arrived in town on Friday to help set up the track with
strategically placed hay bales, barriers and cones, followed by
dinner at Paul’s Pizza Den and late night refreshments at the
Bluegill Bar. Thanks to Paul Parkos for his generous donation of 3
gift certificates given to race volunteers who went the extra mile.
Race organizers
started early on Saturday morning, stretching caution tape the
length of the race route to warn motorists, pedestrians, and home
owners of the fast moving action. Spectators brought out their lawn
chairs, while pot luck tables began to fill as family and friends
joined picnics on the lawns along the race route.
An interesting
characteristic of the course layout is that there are very few curbs
along the streets in Birchwood, so hitting them is not one of the
nemeses often associated with street racing. A conscious effort was
made while choosing the course to provide ample passing zones but
also to keep speeds down to assure safety. “We also considered it
important to make the course interesting and challenging for the
drivers, “ said Jim Barnett, MKA President. 
Despite the heat,
there were a total of 47 karts, 14 classes and 8 heats. Officer
Pete Weatherhead used his radar gun to check the speed of karts
during the races. In the junior and senior classes speeds were found
to be 56 to 62 mph on the Wilson Street straightaway, with average
lap times just under a minute. Pete didn’t write any tickets though
and the racing was safe. The ambulance crew only needed to hand out
one band-aid.
Practice took place
with only a few minor incidents. However, Spencer Pitzele, #777,
thinking today was his day, found out lady luck wasn’t shining down
on him when he piled into Nicole Larson where she had spun just
seconds before. Spencer scrambled out of his flipped kart, but his
rear axle was bent and without an available spare, his day was
over.
After timed
practice all of the karts took a slow parade lap. The drivers waved
to the crowd and the spectators could actually see the faces of the
drivers. It was time for the 8 heats of the 15 lap feature racing
to begin.
Hometown boy, Aaron
Telitz finished 1st in the Briggs Jr. class (ages 12-15),
while his older brother Ted, wasn’t having as good of a day in the
Sportsman class when his motor mount broke while leading in lap 11.
Ted wasn’t alone in his misfortune though, 11 karts started in the
Sportsman class, but only 4 crossed the finish line with Brandon
Nash taking the checkered flag for first.
Kyle Bowe, Speedsters MKA point’s leader, placed 1st
in the Speedsters class (ages 5-7) with Hunter Daymond keeping him
in his sights while finishing 2nd. Sam Tabor in the
Rookies class (ages 8-11), took a 4th place, his first
trophy this year, while the MKA Rookie points leader, Taylor Snow
took 1st place. Miranda Carlson outlasted her brother
Shawn and finished 1st in the Mini Max class (ages 8-11)
when Shawn left the track in turn 6.
Luke Johnson, a
newcomer to the MKA races and racer at the Stockholm Karting Center
in Cokato, MN, was leading the Jr. Tag class (ages 12-15); until his
chain fell off in lap 14, opening the door for Anthony and Brooke
Siewert to take 1st and 2nd. Steve Barnett,
MKA Medium Can points leader, placed 1st while Hailey
Akey in the Junior Can class gave him a run for his money.
Spectators were curious to know if there were any female drivers and
were pleased to find out that there is almost one, if not more,
female driver(s) in every class.
A handful of dirt
trackers came to try their luck on the asphalt. Brent “Gomer” Good,
2006 Dirt Track Champion at Hwy 13 Raceway in Superior, WI placed
4th in the Animals class, with Bob Truchon taking 1st. “I didn’t
break anything and I had a great time racing,” smiled Brent.
Josh Goar took 1st
in the Senior Tag class, while Nevin Nelson, just about took out the
stop sign at turn 5 when he clipped the edge of the last chicane and
spun, smashing into the sign post with his rear track bar. All in
All, only that sign, bent forward just a bit, tire marks at the race
corners and a bit of loose hay is all the evidence that 47 racers
and several hundred race fans and family members spent the day in
Birchwood.
Bill Cutsforth, 5th-12th grade teacher
at Birchwood Public School has worked a corner every year of the
races so far and he even talked his friend, Dale Kingle, mechanic at
Turtleback Golf Course in Rice Lake, WI, to help this year. Dale
heard about the race on 99.1FM, WKFX just that morning and decided
to come check it out. “Dale, you should have worn a hat!”
Spectators from
Birchwood, Medford, Rice Lake and Edgewater came to spend the day
watching the races followed by a street dance, ice cream social and
beer garden hosted by Birchwood Public Safety. Jack Colbert,
volunteer fireman and driver for Greeners Budget Lumber for almost
30 years, had another large crowd on his front lawn this year and
one of the best shady spots along the route.
“We don’t like to
eat alone, and this is a reason to get our families to join us,“
joked a friend of Barry and Kathy Vangilder, while standing in their
garage with a plate full of food. On their garage wall hung a sign,
“GO #85!” The Vangilder’s made the sign to cheer Bob Snyder on after
he waved to them during the practice laps last year. Bob’s been
racing at Birchwood and hauling the barriers with him from the Eau
Claire Speedway, MKA’s home track every year.
Birchwood residents
are grateful to have such good sports and guests in their community,
and MKA is grateful to have a race route filled with enthusiastic
spectators.
Frank and Vera
Burhite, Birchwood residents since 1969 and race route home owners,
look forward to having the MKA racers come to town. “The MKA race
families are good people and our family enjoys coming to our home to
watch the racing,” says Vera. Frank is the Assistant Fire Chief and
hopes to have MKA come again.
MKA thanks the town
of Birchwood and especially the fire and rescue department for
inviting them and for their fine hospitality. MKA hopes to be able
to do a fourth Birchwood Grand Prix in 2008.
