A year of expansion for the Cup Karts North America organization has led to what will be the biggest gathering of 4-Cycle racers, if not the biggest karting event of the season in the USA and possible around the world. This weekend is the CKNA Grand Nationals 7, set for September 28-October 1 at the New Castle Motorsports Park. Roughly 420 drivers will make up the 501 entries in the nine classes competing on the near 1-mile circuit to put their names into the record books as a winner at the CKNA Grand Nationals!

The event begins on Thursday, September 28 with unofficial practice contest all day, providing four sessions for each category. The larger divisions – Senior Medium, Senior Light, Senior Heavy and Junior – are broken up into two groups each all weekend long. Friday is the first official day of action with a ‘Happy Hour’ session before qualifying. The opening round of heat races will fill up the afternoon schedule on Friday. Saturday hosts a full slate of racing with Heat 2 and Heat 3 contested. All races are set for eight laps each, and each heat is progressive, meaning drivers will start the next round where they finished in the previous session. When all three heat races are completed, points will be tabulated with the highest point total earning the main event pole position. The top-50 in Senior Light, Senior Medium, Senior Heavy and Junior transfer automatically. The top-10 from the four LCQ races run on Sunday morning move on to the Finals Sunday afternoon – making those fields for the main events at 60 drivers taking the green flag.

The track layout for the CKNA Grand Nationals 7 is the same as last year – Track 43. The 1-mile ‘National’ layout is the basis for the GN7 circuit, excluding the I-70 and utilizing the cut-through along with the ‘Monza’ section to be just under the standard mile course. Several prizes will be handed out to competitors throughout the weekend. Over $25,000 in prizes will be raffled off during the event, with Thursday and Friday evening having the Champions Award banquet for the divisional programs. CKNA will once again be providing live coverage of the GN7, working with Kart Chaser.

eKartingNews.com will be trackside throughout the event with Editorial Assistant Nate Dean providing full trackside coverage. Dean will oversee the social media, daily reports and top-10 updates during the event while Rob Howden and David Cole return back behind the wheel to compete once again. Each will be providing their own social media blogs from the Precision Performance Karting / Brandon Jarsocrak Racing / Coyote and LSR Motorsports / CRG Nordam tents with Howden competing in Legends and Masters while Cole returns with a double dip in Senior Heavy and Masters.

Colin Warren seeking to be the first three-time winner in Senior Medium (Photo: AG Digital Content)

The Senior Medium category is the largest, reaching 99 on the official entry list as of Monday at Noon – however, has surpassed the 100-driver mark heading to New Castle. The only driver to win twice in the six-year history of the event is Florida driver Colin Warren. He is coming back from Spain, competing in an international 4-cycle event, placing third. Warren gained victory in 2017 and 2021 to be among his seven total CKNA Grand Nationals victories. He finished third in Medium last year, behind 2022 winner Mick Gabriel and James Overbeck. Gabriel is not returning to defending his crown, while Overbeck will make his second start in Medium after winning Junior in 2021. Keegan Clark is the third driver returning from last year’s podium as the Indiana driver has continued to improve from 2019, finishing 10th two years ago. The other race winner in the field is Gary Lawson. The RIGP Emperor won in 2018, and has four top-six finishes in his last four starts, skipping Medium in 2022 to race only the Heavy class.

All four divisional champions are in the field with Nick Ksobiech (North), Christopher McKeithan (North East), Alex Murphy (Canada) and Warren (South). Ksobiech has a best finish of 12th last year as Murphy will be making his event debut. McKeithan – who finished fifth last year in Junior – is among the top Senior rookies with a number of top performing Juniors have graduated this year. Last year’s Junior winner Eli Warren is among them, including Henry Wheeler, Addison Ianniello and Spencer Conrad – who has three straight podium finishes at the Grand Nationals. Big names from the 2-cycle world are among the entries, including Brandon Jarsocrak, Austin Jurs, Pauly Massimino, and Adam Maxwell added the long list of top Briggs contenders in this enormous field.

Eric Fagan won both Senior Heavy and Masters – returning for both in 2023 (Photo: EKN)

Many of the same contenders will be the second largest category – Senior Light. At 91 entries, there is a mix of double duty racers along with those just racing one or the other. The two former winners in this category are in the field with two-time winner Colin Warren (2020, 2021) along with last year’s victor Canadian Jordan Prior. Warren was second to Prior a year ago, who was making his first start in the category a year ago. Fellow podium finishers Dylan Amundsen and Austin Jurs are returning, along with Nicky Palladino, James Overbeck, and Pauly Massimino who finished inside the top-10. All four CKNA Division champions are in the field with Warren (South), Henry Wheeler (North), Hudson Brown (North East) and Jonathan Treadwell (Canada). Wheeler was a Junior a year ago, while Brown placed 20th and Treadwell a DNF one year ago in this class.

The growth of Senior Heavy, increasing by over 65% from a year ago makes it a class that will require the ABCD heat format and LCQ with 63 drivers registered. Defending winner Eric Fagan is the only former winner in the field, looking to be the first repeat winner in the category. Last year’s podium finishers Sean Maier and Riley Scott are back, along with AJ Roderick, Michael Dittmer and Nick Ksobiech who all finished inside the top-10. Ksobiech is among the three CKNA Division champions in the field, along with Elmer Edmonson (North East) – who has two top-seven results in 2019 and 2020 – and Jason Rothman (Canada) making his CKNA Grand Nationals debut. Roughly two-thirds of the field is making their first start either in the class or at the Grand Nationals.

An amazing total of 80 drivers are registered in the Junior category, which means all the heat races will have a minimum of 40 drivers on track at the same time. What makes this field unique is the inexperience the drivers have at the CKNA GrandNationals with only 14 having raced in the class last year, and 14 moving up from Sportsman that were at last year’s event. This year will welcome the eighth different name to the former winner’s list – as 2017 had the two main event format. Caleb Tarter is the top returning driver from a year ago, placing ninth. The entire podium from last year’s Sportsman class will make their Grand Nationals debut in Junior this weekend. Isaac Malcuit, Derek Wargo, Landon Buher, Brady Schad, and Josey Chambers are in the field. Wargo is the CKNA South champion while Schad – a two-time winner in Kid Kart (2017) – is the North champion. Emil Osman (North East) and Declan Black (Canada) make all four CKNA Division champions in the field. Nathan Dupuis and Jackson Wolny are a couple names familiar on the national scene in the 2-Cycle world who could be among the contenders on the weekend.

Ryan Cassity returning to defend his Legends victory a year ago (Photo: AG Digital Content)

The Masters division is celebrating another strong field, featuring 40 or more entries for a fifth straight year. Three former winners are in this year’s driver list, including two-time winner Michael Welsh, 2021 victor Michael Dittmer and last year’s winner Eric Fagan. Fagan is looking to match the back-to-back performance of Welsh to become the second two-time winner. Dittmer finished second last year while Welsh is back after missing last year. Two others from last year’s podium are returning with Geoff Shaw and Ryan Cassity in the field. March Stehle and Todd Baron make it six of the top-10 drivers returning. Nearly half the field raced last year with seven more already having Grand Nationals experience. The rest are new to the event, including some of the younger names like Ben Cruttenden and Bill McLaughlin. Among the CKNA Division champions in the field include Todd Baron (South), Sean O’Shea (North), and John Price (North East). This year also marks the return of the EKN grudge match. EKN Publisher Rob Howden and EKN Managing Editor David Cole will rekindle their fight that began back at their 2019 event debut.

This is the third time the Legends class has been offered at the CKNA Grand Nationals with the class reaching over 40 drivers for the first time. A total of 44 will compete, including the full podium returning. Ryan Cassity will attempt to become the first two-time winner in the category having won last year’s main event. James Perkins, Eli Yanko, John O’Keefe and EKN’s own Rob Howden joined him on the podium. Inaugural winner Todd Baron was among the contenders all weekend until a tire issue put him on the sidelines. A total of 20 are returning with the rest of the field making their Grand Nationals debut. Among the notables are former RIGP winners Todd Bolton and Jeff Scott along with Todd Jurs – father of Austin Jurs. CKNA Division champions in the field include Baron (South / North East) and Steve Lyons (Canada).

Aston Wyatt among those fighting to be the inaugural Cadet winner at the Grand Nationals (Photo: CKNA)

It is a new era for the Sportsman division at the CKNA, this year making it 10-13 years of age with drivers 8-10 now competing in the new Cadet class. The Sportsman is at a solid 35 drivers with over half returning from last year. Only two drivers finished 2022 in the top-10, Tyrone Kemper Jr. and Alex Haese. Holden Harder is the only CKNA Division champion, representing the North. For one driver, it will be the chance to add their name to the list of CKNA Grand Nationals winners including Isaac Malcuit, Keelan Harvick, Ben Maier, Logan Adams and two-time winner Aryton Grim.

The new Cadet division is opening with a field of 32 drivers. It is a young and inexperienced field with only two drivers with Sportsman experience at the Grand Nationals with Alyssa Eddy and Cooper Mull. A total of 10 drivers competed in the Kid Kart division a year ago. Parker Stewart was the 2022 Kid Kart winner, bringing with him Liam Fohr, Giovanni Fiorita, Elam Stoner, Conner Lypka, Ryder Thompson, Reagan Hodges, Myles Wilson, Hudson Howard, and Lincoln Willey. CKNA Division champions Aston Wyatt (South) and Daniel Draganov (North) are in the field.

A field of 12 drivers will make up the Kid Kart division, all making their first start at the CKNA Grand Nationals. All three CKNA Division champions are among the driver roster – Blaise Hindery (South), Jaxon Reinholz (North) and Spencer Hite (North East).

Be sure to follow all the EKN Social Media outlets for updates, photos, videos and more from the Cup Karts North America Grand Nationals 7.

Provisional Senior Medium Entry List

Provisional Senior Light Entry List

Provisional Senior Heavy Entry List

Provisional Junior Entry List

Provisional Masters Entry List

Provisional Legends Entry List

Provisional Sportsman Entry List

Provisional Cadet Entry List

Provisional Kid Kart Entry List

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