CONCORD, N.C. — This weekend marks the return of World Karting Association’s Gold Cup Series for 4-cycle sprint racers with a visit to Charlotte Motor Speedway’s fast 0.6-mile kart track inside turns 3 and 4 of the super-speedway. The event is the third and final kart race of the season at the CMS kart track following early March’s CKNA Spring Nationals and the WKA Manufacturers Cup National in late March.
Today (Tuesday) is the final day to pre-enter for the event to save some money versus entering at the track. Pre-registration ends at midnight and all classes will be $. Click here for WKA’s online registration site.
Kart Lounge will be in attendance Friday afternoon through Sunday’s last final to cover the event with Tom Baker from Steering Wheel Nation joining us to provide driver interviews and other media.
Racing will kick off late Friday afternoon after practice with a Ground Shaker Shootout for Stock Briggs Vintage karts and the special 206 Senior Shootout knockout / elimination race presented by Kart Lounge on the CMS Fast Track layout.
The winner’s share of the Senior Shootout — originally announced as $400 to win — has now been upped to an even $500 to win with $20 going to second and $100 to third. As announced earlier this month, the Shootout is an elimination-style race with the yellow flag being waved after every three laps and the last two karts in the running order removed from the track until a winner and top-three is determined. Click here for the original 206 Senior Shootout announcement.
In a new development, 206 senior racers will have another shot at some cash on Sunday afternoon. Kart Lounge is posting $250 to the winner of Sunday’s Senior Heavy 380# final. This will be awarded in addition to WKA’s $250 winner payout to the overall weekend top-three in each division, giving senior 206 racers an opportunity to walk away with over $1,000 between Friday’s Senior Shootout, overall class win(s) and the Sunday Senior Heavy final win.
“With STARS racing a short distance away at GoPro Thursday through Saturday, we thought this extra incentive may entice a few racers to come over and run Charlotte on Sunday. If not, we’re happy to give back a little more to the event and the racers supporting it. We’ve always respected ‘race chasers’ who’ll compete at any opportunity, and we’ll see if any senior 4-cycle racers give the GoPro-Charlotte double a shot,” Kart Lounge’s Keith Shampine said.
For all information on the Charlotte race and the WKA Gold Cup Series — including event timeline and class structure — visit the Gold Cup Series page on WorldKarting.com.