The Las Vegas Kart Club held the annual Richard Kirsch Hangover 100 race on January 2. This event capped the club’s season as a fun day for the membership.  Club members tackled the endurance races for free, and everybody in the gates received a complimentary meal. There were even fun kart games for the participants to partake while not racing.

The concrete track at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway basked in the sunshine with the temperature peaking at 60 degrees. The warm weather created excellent track conditions on a track with tight turns that is typically very loose in the winter months. Everyone used the extra grip to run some great times on the Track 1 configuration during the long races.

The Kid Kart class lined up for the first race of the day after a couple of practicesessions for each group. The pea pick qualifying sent 2009 points champion Sport Cowan to the back of the pack for his Kid Kart finale, with usual frontrunners Dezel West starting fifth, Preston Anderson starting fourth, and Kanyon Vermillion starting third. Shannon Cobb and Gianna Marretti used the lineup to lead the pack through the first two laps, while West made a great start to move into third on the first lap. West took the lead on the third lap with Vermillion mirroring his move through the pack. Cowan carefully moved his way through the field to third by the end of the fifth lap, and set out on catching the front two. Eventually the front two became a pack of three running nose to tail for several laps before a motor problem ended Cowan’s day after sixteen laps.

West and Vermillion continued the battle in a race more than three times the typical distance. Vermillion eventually made a move past West to lead at the end of seventeen laps. However, West took the lead back on the next lap, and held on for the win. Vermillion stayed close to finish second. Anderson moved up steadily through the race for a third place finish. Gianna Marretti completed a solid race to finish fourth, while her younger brother Gino ran a consistent race to cross the line in fifth for his highest finish to date. Cowan finished sixth, followed by Cobb in seventh. Sisters Taylor and Rachel Schell, in her first race, rounded out the order in eighth and ninth.

The second group out was the Cadet class composed of Junior 1 and Rotax Micro Max participants. This group endured a fifty lap race in the hottest part of the day. Austin Shafer lined up on the front row with his Comer K80 in the Junior 1 class. Chloe St. George pulled the low number to place her Micro Max on pole. Sport Cowan pulled double-duty on the day to make his debut in the Micro Max race trying to learn from St. George and Shafer.

St. George put her strong experience to use in checking out from the boys once the green flag dropped. She completed forty-six of the fifty laps within a range of plus or minus one-half second, to run a very consistent race. Her consistency and cautious lapping of the others gave her the overall win, along with the Micro Max class first
place trophy. Shafer pulled into second after the start with Cowan following right behind. Several laps into the race Cowan made a mistake to fully spread out the field. Shafer completed in excess of the first forty laps very consistently as well to finish second overall, and take the Junior 1 win. Cowan battled fatigue, the heat, and learning
new speeds and techniques to finish third overall and second in Micro Max.

Juniors and Seniors took to the track for the feature and final race of the day. The Richard Kirsch Hangover 100 puts the fastest classes in a battle of karter versus fatigue in the race scheduled on the first Saturday after the New Year begins. The rules of this race require that at least one pit stop must be made. Tire changes or refueling are allowed, but not required. The race may be completed by an individual or team.

Twenty-four karts lined up to start the race, with nineteen going the Ironman route, four competing as two person teams, and one tackling the distance as a three-person team. Single gear classes represented included Senior Sportsman, World Formula, TAG Junior, TAG Senior Lite, TAG Senior Heavy, Rotax Junior Max, Rotax Senior
Max, and Rotax Masters. Two teams and one individual asked for a tough days work by racing the 125cc Shifter class.

The warm temperatures seemed to get everyone in exceptionally racy spirits. The field tore away from the green flag at a pace typically seen in much shorter races. An incident just past turn one brought out the red flag, and the field was restarted. The single-file restart allowed the race to proceed through its steady march to the century
mark.

Brian Williams used the pea pick advantage to lead the first nine laps powered by his Rotax in the Masters class. Matt Kaiser, also in Rotax Masters, steadily worked his way through the field from his ninth place starting position to take the lead on the tenth lap. Rotax Junior Max competitor Holden Delcoure took advantage of an incident collecting Kaiser to take over the top spot on the twenty-eighth lap. Delcoure held the lead through his first pit stop on the forty-second lap. The lead was inherited by Earl West to put a third Rotax Masters kart at the front of the field, as he tried to pull off father-son double wins on the day. Kaiser quickly worked his way back through the field, and passed West for the lead again on the fifty-fifth lap.

Kaiser dominated the second half of the race leading the rest of the way for the overall and Rotax Masters wins, finishing the 100 laps in just under sixty-four minutes. He held the lead even through his mandatory pit stop, which he took on the seventy-fourth lap. West and Holden Delcoure swapped the second and third positions through pit stops on laps sixty-four and seventy-nine, respectively. Brake fade cost West the second position when he was forced to run off track with seven laps to go. Gary Delcoure, Jr., in the Rotax Senior Max class, ran an extremely consistent race to move through the field, and take over the second spot when West faltered. Unfortunately, younger brother Holden ran him down, and made a last lap pass to take the second spot along with family bragging rights for the next year.

West resumed the race after his off-track excursion to finish in fourth behind Gary Delcoure, Jr. Brian Williams rounded out the top five. Bill Kaiser completed ninety-two laps before his World Formula motor blew to finish sixth. The seventh place was grabbed by the Gary Delcoure, Sr. and Mark Anderson team in the 125cc Shifter class. James Gratson, the sole 125cc Shifter Ironman, was the final participant to complete at least ninety laps in eighth place. The day proved to be long, but there was much fun had by all. This annual event is one the club members look to throughout the year. The club invites out of town karters to take on the locals in this endurance race next year. Mark the calendar for January 1, 2011. Visit www.lvkc.com for more information about the Las Vegas Kart Club, and to get details on next year’s Richard Kirsch Hangover 100.

Results by Class
Kid Karts
1. Dezel West
2. Kanyon Vermillion
3. Preston Anderson
4. Gianna Marretti
5. Gino Marretti
6. Sport Cowan
7. Shannon Cobb
8. Taylor Schell
9. Rachel Schell

Junior 1
1. Austin Shafer

Rotax Micro Max
1. Chloe St. George
2. Sport Cowan

TAG Junior
1. Joaquin Rodriguez, Jr.

Rotax Junior Max
1. Holden Delcoure
2. Darren George, Jr.
3. Josh Delosier
4. Trevor Dayton

Senior Sportsman
1. Rafael Munoz-Baez

World Formula
1. Bill Kaiser
2. Cory Ray

TAG Senior Lite
1. Joel Pinpin/Mike Gaite

TAG Senior Heavy
1. Dixon Jackson

125cc Shifter
1. Gary Delcoure, Sr./Mark Anderson
2. James Gratson
3. Suzanne Segal/Mark Segal

Rotax Senior Max
1. Gary Delcoure, Jr.
2. Eric Reid
3. Joey Ritorto, Jr./Ian Anderson
4. John Gratson
5. Casey Neuman

Rotax Masters
1. Matt Kaiser
2. Earl West
3. Brian Williams
4. Patrick Horner/Day Gang/Andy Lee
5. Mike Kelley
6. Mark Rodgers