The LO206 classes at New Castle Motorsports Park were among the largest and most competitive in 2014 (Photo: New Castle Motorsports Park)

Although it’s taking place outside the sightlines of those racing on the club level – the foundation of the sport – there is a little turmoil bubbling away in the karting industry regarding national level racing. A new power struggle is now fully in play, one involving sanctioning bodies, manufacturers, importers and race promoters, as they’re all trying to get a piece of a pie that seems to remain roughly the same size year after year. It’s a shame, because a lot of effort is being put into a very small community that likely represents less than 5% of the US karting population.  Away from this chaos, the rest of the sport is beginning to see the benefits of what Briggs & Stratton Racing has been focused on for the last five years, which is growing and stabilizing the base of the sport with their ‘out of the box’ concept – the Briggs Local Option 206 engine.

As EKN has documented in previous #OperationGrassroots articles, the LO206 engine is the perfect package for a wide range of future karters. The continuing success of this engine could be attributed to its lower speed and horsepower, the affordable cost of running the engine for a season, or just the pure enjoyment of the racing against 20-30 others with the same engine without having to worry about how much money the others have put into their engines. Time after time, racers at all levels of the sport have been able to take the engine right out of the box, strap it onto their kart, and run at the front of the field.

A perfect example of this formula occurred this past summer at the ASN Canada Canadian Karting Nationals when eventual Briggs & Stratton Masters champion David Patrick arrived to the track on Wednesday, pulled a brand new engine out of the box and placed it on his kart for the event. Patrick went on to record the fast time in qualifying, and then proceeded to win the main event.  The LO206 levels the playing field and allows driver ability and chassis set-up to shine.  EKN’s own Rob Howden and David Cole have done the same thing at the Rock Island Grand Prix in recent years, running well with motors that were pulled right out of the shipping box.  Cole ran in the lead pack in LO206 Heavy this year, finishing fifth, while Howden finished fourth in LO206 Masters after qualifying second, posting the fast lap in the process.  Both engines were pulled out of the box and bolted to their respective karts.

Adrenaline Fix Karting helped provide trackside support for numerous drivers in the LO206 classes at NCMP (Photo: Adrenaline Fix Karting)

Briggs & Stratton has been working feverishly to promote the LO206 engine across North America. Most recently, racers themselves have been taking on the task of growing the category at their own tracks. The 2014 season at New Castle Motorsports Park in Indiana was a benchmark year for Briggs racing. Over the winter, a group of racers began discussing the option of adding the Briggs LO206 engine to their Clone categories in the Kart Racing Association (KRA) program. In just a month’s time, 90% of the previous year’s racers agreed to support the addition of the LO206 engine to the two Senior categories. The LO206/Clone Senior and LO206/Clone CIK classes saw a total of 34 KRA members on the year, averaging over 20 drivers each weekend in both divisions.

Among the group at New Castle looking for a change was Jim Conlin of Adrenaline Fix Karting. “Our program attended 20 events in 2014, providing a total of 224 entries at New Castle Motorsports Park, Circleville Raceway Park and selected street races. A total of 24 different drivers raced with us, eight making their debut in a competition kart. On the average, eight drivers in the two KRA LO206 classes were from under the AFK tent. Our drivers took 469 green flag sessions, making north of 4000 laps, including qualifying, heat races and finals. That equates to roughly over 200 hours on the Briggs LO206 engines and had ZERO mechanical problems with the internal engine components.”

From a driver’s perspective, Steve Knight came out and won both championships at the KRA program. The Senior division saw Knight win eight of the 14 races to win the title by 178 points, while the CIK chase went down to the wire. He and Stephen Davis amassed the same amount of points after 14 races, with the tiebreaker going down to the most number of pole positions, which went to Knight. Not only is he one of the top drivers, the Comet Kart Sales employee has helped a lot of his fellow competitors with chassis setups and other tips, and now they were knocking on his rear bumper at the end of the year.

Steve Knight drove to the class championships in both L0206 categories at NCMP in 2014 (Photo: New Castle Motorsports Park)

“It’s a great class with growing numbers all over the US,” Knight told EKN. “It’s economical, simple, and the racing doesn’t really get much better. These motors will race competitively for 4-5 seasons with very minimal maintenance. We had one of the most exciting years at NCMP, thanks to the LO206 classes. It has really struck interest with a lot more people wanting to join the class next year as a second class. I have had at least a half dozen more people that are going to join in 2015. We have had guys come from Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan just to run with NCMP’s LO206 class. As the season progressed, a number of guys got more and more competitive. In the last three races, we easily had seven to eight-kart lead packs nose-to-tail. Everyone in the pits lines up at fence to watch the LO206 races because they are so exciting. Guys and girls are racing each other all over the track and there is never a dull moment.”

The future is bright for the LO206 program at the New Castle Motorsports Park, bringing new people into the sport and rejuvenating the passion that old karters felt the first time they sat in the seat. New Castle’s story is not alone, as the LO206 excitement is being enjoyed at tracks all across the continent – from the west to the east and from Canada down in the Lone Star State.

EKN will be providing continuing editorial on the development of the LO206 all over North America.

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