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Dear CKNA family,
Thank you to everybody that attended Grand Nationals 9. Over 540 entries competed together on the same weekend, with the same engine. For most, it was an enjoyable weekend of racing with family and friends.
However, I know that some left the track with a bad experience, and I feel it necessary to write an open letter to everybody regarding some of the controversy surrounding a few of the finishes at Grand Nationals 9.
First and foremost, we fell short of the standard that CKNA has held for itself over the last 10+ years. The majority of the attendees had a great time racing against the best 4-cycle racers in North America and beyond. Our staff gave 110% all weekend, and I am eternally grateful for all the sacrifices they make to come to the track each weekend. Without them, none of us would have the opportunity to spend the weekend at the track. As the head of CKNA, the responsibility for any of the issues that arose at Grands are mine, and mine alone.
Throughout the weekend, there were at times issues with communicating penalties in a timely manner, producing accurate grid sheets and getting the information out to our racers correctly. To be honest, we relied too heavily on the additions of the full electronic penalty system, the largest camera system we ever utilized and communications via Discord. None of those systems are to blame, we simply relied on them too heavily before we had mastered using them. And while I know that was just as frustrating for the competitors as it was for us; those are very correctable issues and we are already taking steps to ensure that does not happen again.
However, on Sunday, we had two very important calls that had to be made. Both of these calls impacted the outcome of their respective races, and I want to take the time to explain how each of these calls was made and why.
#1 Junior Final:
The Junior classes finish could not have been closer. As we have always done, the staff and I proceeded with the unofficial podium presentations based on the results from Timing and Scoring. This showed a separation of .017 between #65 (1st) and #9 (2nd). Post race, the #9 contested the final result. Upon reviewing the official start/finish camera, the decision was the #9 had actually beaten #65 to the line.
As you can see from this photo it was incredibly close. However, all 4 of the officials present during this review agreed they saw clear and obvious evidence in the still frame of who had won.
This all came down to transponder placement, which has been a topic of discussion all year. CKNA made the decision to move the transponders to the back of the seat starting in 2025 due to the inordinate number missed passings we were seeing at our races. This change reduced the number of hand scored laps by close to 90%, accomplishing that goal. This ensures that races are scored correctly and keeps our officials free to do their respective jobs during the course of a race.
Because us and our racers were concerned that seat placement could influence scoring in the event of a very close finish, we added verbiage to the rules that allowed us to utilize cameras to confirm the winner of a race to eliminate that concern:
Transponders will always over-ride any Official’s visual opinion of a photo finish, unless an official Start/Finish camera is utilized at the event or as the result of an official request for review via competitor supplied footage.
In this case, our officials did exactly what the rules required them to do. And while we feel horrible for the young man and his family that were moved to second place, we followed our rules and procedures exactly as we stated we would in the CKNA rulebook.
To try and prevent this from happening again, we are re-evaluating our transponder placement rule. If another solution can be found that eliminates the issues of missed passings without having to go to video to confirm a race result, we will do it for 2026. Also, in the event of a photo finish at an event we intend to do unofficial podiums at, we will skip the podium proceedings for that class until the review process has completed. Furthermore, if the decision is to continue with video verification of photo finishes, we will ensure that any decisions are triggered automatically rather than via protest, and that those decisions are delivered promptly and clearly to the competitors involved.
#2 Senior Light Final
An on-track call was made against the #19 for contact with the #111 with a few laps remaining in the race. The #111 did not finish the race, and the #19 continued on to win prior to the enforcement of the penalty. Again, we proceeded as we have for many years and performed the unofficial podium presentation as the karts had been scored at the line. Upon the #19 upon being notified of their penalty, he filed a request for review of the call post-race.
In this instance, I instructed all my regular staff to have our Race Director handle this review. This was to ensure the most impartial review possible. I wanted to make sure that none of CKNA’s regular staff had any say in the outcome because however unfounded, I hoped this would eliminate any accusations of bias towards any of the parties involved.
Our race director viewed the footage from our official camera system as well as from the #19’s onboard and determined that in his view it was a racing incident. His interpretation of the videos was that the #19 was far enough along side the #111 for enough time that the #111 knew he was there and should have conceded the corner. For what it is worth, I agree with his decision based on our footage alone.
Since that time, onboard footage has been posted to social media which shows the incident from directly behind (3rd place). In that footage, it appears the #19 was not alongside the #111 and had plenty of time and space to avoid the contact.
CKNA Camera System
3rd place on-board
To summarize, I feel we got this one wrong. I believe the onboard footage from 3rd place shows compelling evidence that the #19 contacting the #111 was avoidable. Our race director made the correct decision with the information/video provided. I agree with his opinion of the CKNA system’s footage. The on-board footage from the 3rd place kart was not seen by any official until after the fact, therefore he was never afforded the opportunity to consider it.
Where our mistake came is that for a call of such magnitude, we should have taken the extra step to gather additional footage from other competitors. Our rules permit us to do this, and it should have been done. Had we taken that extra step, we would have had the opportunity to consider all the footage before making a decision.
To the families and teams of the drivers that were affected by this call being overturned, you have my apologies. Based on this new footage, I believe we got this one wrong and there is really no way for us to set that right. All I can do is give you my commitment that we will learn from this and implement procedures moving forward to ensure that it does not happen again. While this may further slow the review process, we want to exhaust all our options before determining the outcome of a race.
As a group, we are already working towards correcting these issues by changing procedures, processes and delegating more responsibility to our many qualified people instead of asking a few people to do it all. Over the coming weeks and months, we will outline those changes so all our supporters know what we will do to improve.
Finally, I understand that many people are frustrated or upset by some of these circumstances from the weekend. I am too. But the attacks that people are making on other fellow racers or my staff are unwarranted and unacceptable. And while we are understanding of our racers expressing their disappointment in CKNA, we can not tolerate personal attacks, threats of harm or on track retaliations against staff, fellow racers and their families. What we have seen online in the last 48 hours by some people online goes far beyond these standards and will result in action by CKNA.
We know we may have lost some customers because of this. But I also know the team behind me is the most caring team in the sport. We are all just as passionate about the sport as the racers are, and will do better moving forward to show everybody why CKNA has been the premier 4-cycle karting organization for all these years.
If you want to receive a more detailed explanation or express additional concerns to me directly, I encourage you to reach out to me via email (greg@cupkarts.com) and I can either reply in detail or set up a time that works for me to call you directly. While conducting the review of these incidents, I have not been replying to all emails as I wanted my entire focus on this situation. But I will begin reading through any remaining emails and responding tonight.
Thank you to all the racers and their families that have supported us throughout all these years. The entire CKNA family is dedicated to doing better next year, and every year after that.
