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Minnesota Missile Monday: First Feature Win at ECS

Minnesota Missile Monday: First Feature Win at ECS
June 10, 2019

The 1KC was back on the track this past weekend for the third points show at English Creek Speedway.

ENGLISH CREEK SPEEDWAY
The night started out with 19 karts registering for competition in the restricted box class and time trials hit the track. KC went out in the first group as his honorary drawer for the week drew the #1. This proved to be a great draw as KC set the time to beat with a 14.234 second lap around the 1/5 mile dirt oval. After all the drivers completed their qualifying laps, KC was awarded quick time with Kaden Rice second with a 14.361 and Sawyer Nott third with 14.501 seconds.

With the new inversion for heat races of the top four positions, the top three drivers in qualifying started in the fourth position in their respective heat races. KC was led to the green by a pair of young ladies in Lauren Pfoltner and Kenzly Sly. Nolan Freeman, defending point champion, lined up alongside KC for the start of heat one. At the drop of the green, KC moved to the high side outside of Sly and into the lead as the field exited turn two. Freeman tried to follow but was held up as Sly ran in second for the first lap. KC continued to lead as Freeman moved cleanly around Sly and into the runner up position. The field of seven became spread out around the speedway with KC claiming the heat win ahead of Freeman, Sly, Pfoltner, and Taver West.

After much speculation about the lineup procedure for the feature, the decision from officials was straight up from the heat race finishes. This put KC on the pole for the second week in a row. KC and Logon Benge paced the field out of turn four to the green flag. After a slight hesitation behind the pacing four-wheeler, Benge had the edge going into turn one but didn’t crowd KC who had the inside line through the turn. As the leaders exited turn two, neither driver wanted to give up the position and raced side by side into turn three. At the end of lap one, KC had edged ahead of Benge with Freeman and Rice in close pursuit. KC began to put some distance between himself and Benge while Freeman was battling with Rice for third. Coming out of turn four, Rice and Freeman banged wheels causing Freeman to life and Rice to take the position. Lap 5 saw the caution fly for the first time when Knox Peterson spun to the inside of turn two. The field realigned in single file with Benge back on the tail of KC and Rice, N. Freeman, and C. Freeman running top five.

On the restart, KC was crowded to the pace four-wheeler again which caused Benge to turn to the right just before the green came out and Rice to move to the inside of Benge for the position. Freeman and Freeman tried to split around Benge going three wide into turn one. KC held the lead ahead of Rice and Benge. After a couple more laps with KC and Rice pulling away from the field, Rice was using the bottom of the corners to close in on KC. As they were completing lap nine they came off turn four with KC having a slight edge. Rice was not able to hold his kart down and turned into the side of KC’s kart, sending him spinning to the infield. KC didn’t lift and rejoined the field but the caution had already been displayed.

Officials determined that on the front stretch, the cause for KC spinning was Rice making contact with the left rear tire and allowed KC to maintain the top spot while Rice went to the tail. Trying to make the most of his opportunity, KC led Benge, N. Freeman, C. Freeman, and Sawyer Nott back to the green. Benge took a look to the outside of KC while C.Freeman peeked to the inside of his brother N. Freeman as they all headed into turn one. They continued to race nose to tail for the remaining circuits with KC holding off the challenges and capturing his first feature win ever at English Creek Speedway.

“It feels great!” declared an excited KC Sparks as he rolled across the scales. Benge and N. Freeman were quick to offer congratulations as the top three finishers while in tech. “I wanted to do well and this is as good as it gets,” KC claimed when asked about his night. “I don’t want to win like that, but I’m glad that I did.”

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Saturday 6/15: Plessis Motor Speedway - Double Show start time 3pm

SPONSOR APPRECIATION:
Autoland; Sioux Falls, SD
Furby’s Auto Repair; Sioux Falls, SD
Heser Auto and Detailing; Jackson, MN
Last Deck LLC: Jackson, MN
Jared Bailey Photography; Carlisle, IA
DRE; Boyden, IA

YTD STATS:
Features: 12 Wins: 4 Top 5: 9 Top 10: 12

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