Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA

SKUSA: Great Lakes SKUSA - Camden

Willis Brothers/CRG Racing Professional Kart Racing For The Future May 27, 2001 SKUSA Regional, Camden, Ohio Willis Brothers/CRG Racing Dominate 80 Senior Again Willis Brothers / CRG Race Team participated in the 2nd 2001 ...

Willis Brothers/CRG Racing

Professional Kart Racing For The Future

May 27, 2001 SKUSA Regional, Camden, Ohio

Willis Brothers/CRG Racing Dominate 80 Senior Again

Willis Brothers / CRG Race Team participated in the 2nd 2001 Regional SKUSA event of the season May 26th and 27th at the G & J Kartway in Camden Ohio. This was a Regional event held by the Great Lakes SKUSA Region. Almost 100 karts ran in the 8 divisions.

The Willis Brothers/CRG Team brought 6 team drivers to challenge in 4 classes. Representing the Willis Brothers Team were James Willis in 125 S-1 with his CRG Rebel, Chris Leonard and Peter Koch in K-1 (80 Sr) with their CRG Demon and Rebel respectively, Matt Melster and Graham Rahal in 80cc Junior with their CRG Demons and Jesse Fischbach in 60cc Junior with his 60 Cadet.

This event had Peter Koch dominating the 80 Sr. class with Chris Leonard a close 2nd in the two 10 lap heats and the 20 lap final. Koch had a commanding lead early on and did not look back easily taking the win. Leonard managed to close the gap late in the feature while pulling away from the third place kart. Overall, it was another show of strength for the WBR/CRG 80 Senior program.

In the 80cc Junior final Graham Rahal and Matt Melster got excellent starts and worked together again the entire race putting pressure on the top 2 karts while finishing in 3rd and 4th respectively. The 80 Junior program is also showing big gains against the competition. Both drivers are continuing to improve and the first win is surely just around the corner.

In the 125 S-1 class James Willis was forced to start the 20 lap final from the back of the field due to problems in the 2 heat races. James was clearly the fastest kart in the feature lineup and showed this immediately. With less than 5 laps remaining James had cut through the entire field and was nose to tail with the race leader. A last lap pass attempt resulted in the leader initiating contact with a spin by James ending his chance of another WBR victory. James recovered quickly and would settle for a controversial 5th place finish.

The last member of the WBR/CRG Team to run was Jesse Fischbach in the 60cc Junior class. This is a class for kids under 10 years old who are getting their first taste of shifter kart racing. Jesse showed everyone that the Willis Brothers/CRG Team has another strong driver waiting to move up to the next level. Jesse ran times that would be competitive times for an 80 Junior.

Other Team notes- Rahal tuner Clay Filson ran the 125 G-1/G-2 class (35 & over) finishing 4th. This was Clay's first ever shifter kart race.

<pre> Willis Brothers/CRG Race Team Drivers-

*James Willis (age 17, Middletown Ohio) CRG Rebel chassis/Belluw Motor Mods SKUSA Super Pro, WKA 125 National Tuner- Steve Willis / Terry Pastor

*Chris Leonard (age 17, Loveland Ohio)     *Peter Koch (age 15, Springboro Ohio)
 CRG Demon chassis/Woltjer power             CRG Rebel chassis/Doug Koch power
 SKUSA K-1 (80cc Senior)                     SKUSA K-1  (80cc Senior)
 Tuner- Jim Leonard                          Tuner- Doug Koch
*Graham Rahal (age 12, Dublin Ohio)        *Matt Melster (age 15, Waukesha Wisconsin)
  CRG Demon chassis/Woltjer power            CRG Demon chassis/SSC Power Center
  SKUSA & WKA 80cc Junior                SKUSA & WKA 80cc Junior
  Tuner- Clay Filson                         Tuner- Brad Melster

*Jesse Fischbach ( Westlake, Ohio) CRG 60 Cadet chassis/Kawasaki power SKUSA 60cc Junior Tuner- Jason Fischbach

-CRG

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Rock Island GP preview
Next article WKA: USTAR TV Rougemont race report

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA