CKNA Summer Nationals at PITT Race!

CKNA continues to provide a place for drivers to compete on a national level by adding the Summer National being held this weekend,  June 21^st – 23^rd at Pitt Race International (PRI), in Wampum, Pa. This race is the forerunner to the Grand Nationals at New Castle Motorsport Park (NCMP) scheduled for Oct 10^th – 13^th.

The Wilson circuit kart track at Pitt Race will challenge a driver’s skill and endurance. Last year, CKNA held a divisional at Pitt featuring over 180 entries.  Some of the top drivers from all the CKNA divisions were there.  Drivers like Todd Baron, Wyatt Fink, Owen Lloyd, Emil Osman, Elmer Edmonson, Spencer Hite, Sean Meier, Caleb Smith, Colton McQuade and Eli Yanko (all the way from Canada). There are too many to mention. But I think you can get the picture.  The CKNA Summer Nationals will be a race that all drivers would like to place in their book, regardless of how they fair.

This is the race you want to attend to test your skills, or hone your skills, with the best 4 Cycle racers in North America. This is a historic race since it is the first time our growing organization will be hosting a Summer Nationals. As of June 15th, classes are already filling up with over 250 entries.  Senior Light leads the charge already at the cap of 60 entries.  Junior and Sr. Medium are not far behind.

As the event grows near and we have a better idea of the number of entries in each class and what the event’s schedule will look like, we have decided to modify the caps to allow for some last-minute racers if they want to join us at the event. Our largest 3 classes (Sr. Light, Sr. Medium and Junior) will have the caps increased to 74 which we believe will accommodate any last-minute racers looking to join us. These classes will be running the “Split National” event format meaning there will be an LCQ, and not all of the participants will make the feature race. All of the other classes will have the caps reduced to 40 and will race together in each race. There will be no LCQ in the 40 kart classes.

Pitt has a big 206 following. The Pitt Race Karting Series (local club) has had a record start in 2024. In their opening few days they averaged over 100 entries. So, you can bet there will be some strong challenges from the local 206 kart club. Some of them attended last year’s CKNA’s divisional and this year we’re being told they plan on being there in strong numbers for the Summer Nationals.

Check out the “Race Lineup” on the CKNA registration web site to see who will be competing in the Summer Nationals. There is a good number of top competitors. Some of the top drivers from the PITT kart club, along with some newbies to CKNA are willing to compete with the best 4 cycle racers in North America.

Thanks to Baron Racing, the event is being live streamed by the premier kart racing coverage provider, “Kart Chaser”. All of Saturday’s action will be available for free on Kart Chaser’s YouTube channel, and Sunday’s races will be available to those with a Kart Chaser Subscription. Have the folks that can’t make it watch it from home. “Kart Lounge” (https://kartlounge.com/) will also be providing race coverage articles.  Yes, this is the first CKNA Summer National and you want to be there to get you place in kart racing history.

Tony “The Toe” Cirillo & Greg Jasperson