The Trophy Karts were a popular addition to the schedule

Another two rounds of racing have come and gone and there have been significant changes in the points chases. Several of the top drivers had their troubles last weekend and some ground was made up by other drivers that were slow starters in 2006. Rounds 13 and 14 also marked the return of the desert trucks to Chula Vista after an absence of a year. However, the classes were sparsely populated and the 7s and 7 trucks ran together instead of the originally planned separate races. The smaller turnout resulted in less action on the track as the field was quickly strung out. There was not much time to prepare for this race for the desert trucks and the vehicle count should be up during the final two rounds of racing in October. The other new class to make their first ever appearance were the Trophy Karts. This class was limited to drivers that were between 7 and 15 years of age. Their small size did not diminish the action with several roll-overs occurring during the races. Going big over the tabletop jump seemed to be a prerequisite, even when in traffic. The crowd was very enthusiastic cheering on the future racers.

The change to turn three led to much less carnage and bottlenecking as the high banked sweeper let the traffic flow through smoothly. A few drivers did have trouble in the corner, mostly due to coming in too fast on the downhill run into the corner entry. Turn two also received a little work smoothing out the banking making it less sharp. It was dubbed and "Art Schmitt modification" after Schmitt made contact with the outside wall rolling his Pro-Lite. Schmitt did recover to finish 2nd to make up for a potential bad day. Let's get to the points section below.

Single buggy

Troy Morgan holds down the Single Buggy point lead

The name to remember from last weekend was John Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was a regular in them Midwest Single Buggy division and finished 4th in the points. He did race at Chula Vista in 2005 but this was his first trip west in 2006. Fitzgerald made the most of his trip West taking both wins to sit 9th in points after only two races in the division in 2006. The Volkspower racing team occupies two of the top three spots with Troy Morgan holding down 1st with 73 points. Kevin Graves continues to run well with 65 points and Morgan's teammate Jeff Knupp is in third with a total of 60 points.

The Boyer team buggies practice side by side

Pro 2

Carl Renezeder has a slim 1 point lead in Pro-2

The Pro-2 division points race has become very interesting with the top three knotted within 1 point. Many had Scott Taylor written off in 2006 but he came storming back with a pair of wins to put him in a tie for 2nd place with Jerry Whelchel. Carl Renezeder leads the points with 145 points. Taylor and Whelchel sit 1 point back with 144 points. Round 14 was Whelchel get into the turn one wall leaving him to drop out on the first lap. He had been the points leader coming into Sunday's race. Other notables include Mike Oberg in 3rd place with 142 and Todd LeDuc sitting in 4th with 139 points. At this point in the season with two rounds left, any one of the top 6 could be the 2006 points champion. It will certainly be an exciting finish to the season.

Evan Evans tries to get past Scott Douglas in practice

Pro Lite

Chad Hord took over the top spot in Pro-Lite

Perhaps the biggest news in Pro-Lite was the failure of Jeff Kincaid to finish on the podium. Kincaid was leading the points coming into last weekend but a 20th and 24th place finish dropped him into 2nd place. Chad Hord took over the lead with 188 points, 24 ahead of Kincaid's 164. The 24 point cushion may be all Hord needs to win his first Pro-Lite championship. Kyle LeDuc had a win to move him up to 3rd place with 132 total points. At this point in the season it still appears as though the points champion will be either Hord or Kincaid but anything can happen.

Art Schmitt tries out two wheels through the whoop section

Pro-4

The weekend sweep extended Johnny Greaves points lead over 2nd place

Johnny Greaves returned from his big crash in Crandon to sweep the weekend and extend his points lead over Carl Renezeder. Greaves holds down the top spot with 191 points to Renezeder's 170. Scott Douglas used a pair of 3rd place finishes to move into 3rd place in points with 160 points. Adrian Cenni continues to be fast but has been unable to put together a whole race for a win. Cenni led both races before succumbing to a roll over in Round 13 and getting a black flag for contact in Round 14. Good finishes by Greaves in the final two rounds of racing could make Greaves a back to back champion in the Pro-4 class.

Carl Renezeder nearly goes over in turn 1 but kept it on all fours

Super Buggy

Gary Nierop had another strong run to maintain his lead in Super Buggy

The Midwest representatives continue to lead the points in Super Buggy over their West coast rivals. Gary Nierop had one win and a 3rd place finish to maintain the points lead. Nierop has 96 points and leads Cory Heynen who sits in 2nd with 67 points. Matt Kross is a distant 3rd with 56 points. Heynen has been stricken with bad luck in the last three rounds at Chula Vista resulting in Nierop building his lead. A strong finish could give Heynen a chance for the title in 2006. Stay tuned to Off-Road.com for complete coverage of the final two rounds of racing October 21-22.

Cory Heynen tries to get around Jeff Elrod in Turn 2

Misc. Photos

The sun sets on another weekend of racing at Chula Vista

His other fiddle is made of gold

CORR drivers are rarely seen in the back seat

The prize that awaits the winner

I said you could touch it, not hold it

His parents wouldn't buy him a Trophy Kart so he settled for a Matchbox Car

Photos by Jeremy Pyatskowit