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NKN - National Karting News
Amsoil Briggs

06.12.2012 - Dart Kart, Mid-Ohio host Road Race Grand Nationals this weekend

mid-ohioCONCORD, N.C. – This weekend marks the first WKA Grand National of the 2012 season with the Vega / TS Racing Road Racing Series driven by Mazda’s Road Race Grand Nationals at the famous Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

This weekend’s show is the second Dart Kart Club-hosted WKA Road Racing national in a little over a month. The Ohio-based club hosted round three of the 2012 national tour May 18-20 at Michigan’s Grattan Raceway before turning its attention to this weekend’s Grand Nationals, the fourth of seven stops on the 2012 National Road Racing calendar.

After a successful return to Grattan last month that saw a respectable entry count of nearly 350 and exciting competition throughout the weekend, Mid-Ohio pre-entry numbers are on track to produce back-to-back lucrative spring national events for the DKC and WKA.

A karting tradition
Mid-Ohio has been a staple venue for enduro-style karting events for nearly five decades. This will be the 11th consecutive year a WKA national has been held at the Lexington race plant.

The DKC began promoting karting events at Mid-Ohio in the mid-1960s, about 10 years before WKA was formed. The first DKC-hosted WKA national at Mid-Ohio was in 1974. WKA national racing was absent at Mid-Ohio from 1983 until 2002, when the track was added back to the national schedule as a spring event. A DKC-hosted national has been held each spring every year since.

rr logo.2012Stout competition
Mid-Ohio has long been a well-known venue for big starting fields and some of the best Road Racing competition of the year.

Laydown enduro classes normally produce sizeable grids at the 2.4-mile road course. Over a dozen racers have already pre-entered for this weekend’s pair of 100cc Yamaha laydown divisions.

Last year 20 of the fastest karts in the world took the green flag in Unlimited 1 and 2. The classes saw nearly the same amount last month at Grattan and another large field is expected this weekend.

Stock Honda, a 125cc shifter division, is one of the most popular Road Racing classes. Last year 20 racers ran both Stock Honda 1 and 2, and DKC has posted that 13 Stock Honda competitors have pre-entered for the 2012 Grand Nationals.

Weekend schedule
The Mid-Ohio paddock is open for kart teams Thursday for parking, pre-registration and pre-tech. Pit pass sales and pre-entry pickup will begin at 4 p.m. Pit gates will be open from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. for trailer drop-off. Pre-tech will run from 7 to 10 p.m. at Garage 20.

Gates will open at 6 a.m. Friday through Sunday.

Friday will feature a full day of group practice before seven national class groups run Saturday and six more close out the weekend on Sunday.

Click here to view a detailed Road Race Grand Nationals schedule and other important event information.