PALMETTO, Fla. — Precision Performance Karting, a Florida-based Coyote Racing Chassis-backed 206 karting team and parts supplier, has concluded a winning spring season as the hot race weekends of summer rapidly approach.

A winter off season never really existed in 206 sprint karting in 2023.

Since the Cup Karts North America (CKNA) Winter Nationals at Jacksonville January 6-8, PPK racers have seen plenty of time in hotly contested 206 sprint action with the opening rounds of Trackhouse (formerly GoPro) Motorplex’s Karting Challenge club series, CKNA’s Spring Nationals at Charlotte, CKNA South rounds at FinishLine (Biloxi), Monticello and CMP (Kershaw), and a trip north to the Motorsports Country Club of Cincinnati for the CKNA North series opener.

Chris Carroll, Brandon Jarsocrak, Christopher McKeithan and James Overbeck have carried the torch in senior competition, while Cade Jaeger joined PPK as an arrive-and-drive customer for the Spring Nationals, where he finished P5 of 60 entrants in the Junior final, and officially joined the team the next week.

Cade Jaeger wastes no time winning with PPK / Coyote

Jaeger’s Charlotte success carried over to CKNA North April 21-23 at MCC. With PPK owner John Seglem making the trip from Florida to help tune Jaeger’s No. 64 Coyote Zenith, the Wisconsin racer was super impressive in his first as an official PPK team driver.

After finishing P2 in Saturday’s Junior final, Jaeger returned Sunday to score his first career win on a PPK Coyote. Jaeger drove to victory in the 15-lap final and left Cincinnati with a share of the Junior points lead.

Seglem is confident Jaeger’s Cincy win will be his first of many on a Coyote.

“Cade has been outstanding. He showed up at Charlotte in his first time on the chassis, qualified P2 and ran top five all weekend in a 60-kart field in one of the most competitive races of the year. Then he backed it up with a win at MCC that easily could have been two wins. We’re very happy to have Cade Jaeger on the team,” Seglem said.

Christopher McKeithan hitting his stride

Since joining PPK in December and moving up to senior, in less than six months Christopher McKeithan has become one of the top senior 206 racers on the East Coast.

The Gastonia, N.C., pilot recently wrapped up three straight weekends of racing in three different states.

He’d run Trackhouse’s Karting Challenge April 15 and finish P4 in Briggs Senior Final 2.

The following weekend he’d haul north to Cincinnati to compete in the CKNA North opener. Running Senior Light and Medium, McKeithan did not score a win, but he was the most consistent driver in the senior ranks with top-three finishes in each of his four finals. In Light, he finished P2 both days to PPK teammate James Overbeck. In Medium, he’d run third Saturday and come away with another close P2 result in Sunday’s main.

The final weekend of April saw McKeithan back at the controls of his No. 19 PPK Coyote Zenith at CMP in Kershaw, S.C., for the final rounds of the Cup Karts South series. Following up a Senior Medium win at Monticello in early April, McKeithan returned to the top step of the podium in the class Saturday at CMP, triumphing over a 15-kart field for his second win of the season in the headline Medium division.

In the Light division at Kershaw, he’d add to his pair of podiums at Biloxi in February with a second-place run in Saturday’s final before winning his first race in the class in Sunday’s main event.

“I never expected the amount of success we’ve had with Christopher to happen so quickly,” said Seglem. “I thought I was getting a bit of a project in Christopher. But, he has proven me wrong and I’m OK with that!”

McKeithan closed the series with three wins, seven podiums and a pair of third-place finishes in the Light and Medium final standings.

“It’s been a good experience racing so much, so early in the season,” McKeithan said after racing concluded at Kershaw. “We’ve showed up at each track with relatively the same setup and the Coyote has been fast out of the gate everywhere we go. I have to thank my dad, John Seglem, Jim Lipari, Dave Koehler at GT Machine and my grandfather for the support.”

Four wins so far in 2023 on PPK / Coyote for James Overbeck

As planned, the Cincinnati, Ohio, racer has been bouncing around thus far in 2023 between 2-cycle KA competition and the Briggs 206 with his No. 48 Coyote Zenith.

In 4-cycle racing, Overbeck impressed at Jacksonville back in January with a pair of P3 results in Light and Medium.

At Trackhouse, Overbeck continues to shine with two Briggs Senior wins in five starts thus far in the 2023 Karting Challenge. He won Round 1 back in February and picked up his second win of the series in the most recent Round 6 on April 15.

Less than a week after winning at Trackhouse, Overbeck was back on the top step of the podium with at one of his home tracks at MCC for the CKNA North opener. Like McKeithan, Overbeck entered Senior Light and Medium and MCC and would win Saturday’s Light final over his teammate and finish P5 in the day one Medium main. On Sunday, he’d win again in Light — once again over PPK teammate McKeithan — and close out the weekend with a P3 result in Medium.

Between Trackhouse and CKNA racing, Overbeck has four final wins and nine top-three results (podiums) in 13 starts thus far in 2023, solidifying his place as one of the most consistent and winning 206 senior racers in the country.

Brandon Jarsocrak wins two poles, three podiums in three CKNA National starts

While working as PPK’s arrive-and-drive coach and tuner plus continuing to help with research and development on the Coyote Zenith chassis, four-time USPKS X30 Pro champion Brandon Jarsocrak has competed only twice this year on his No. 138 PPK Coyote.

The Pennsylvania native ran Light and Medium at the Jacksonville Winter Nationals and qualified pole of 35 entrants in Medium and came away with a pair of podiums in the finals — P2 in Light and P4 in Medium.

A couple months later Jarsocrak ran the Spring Nationals at Charlotte and again put his PPK / Coyote on the pole in the 66-kart Senior Medium field. He’d go on to win one of the two odd group heat races and finish P5 in the 16-lap final, right behind his PPK teammate McKeithan.

Aside from testing, Jarsocrak’s next 206 race likely won’t be until the Grands at New Castle this fall.

Austin Hill nets podiums at Monticello

Versatile Florida racer Austin Hill has made several starts this year on his No. 15 PPK / Coyote and he’s had some very solid runs.

After showing consistent speed resulting in two top-10 results in Light and Medium finals at the Spring Nationals in early March, Hill headed to Monticello and proved Charlotte was no fluke. 

The dirt karting veteran netted two podiums and three top fives in four finals at the 1-mile circuit. Hill started the event with a P5 finish in Saturday’s Light final and improved Sunday with a P3 run in Light before closing the weekend with his best race, a close P2 in Medium. Hill also went purple in Sunday’s Medium heat race. 

Chris Carroll fast at Charlotte

Plagued by undiagnosed health issues since Cup Karts Grands in September Chris Carroll has raced sparingly in 2023 having only entered a mix of races so far this season including the Winter Nationals, Spring Nationals, WKA at Jacksonville and CKNA South at CMP.  Carroll looks to be at the track a bit more consistently now that he’s back to feeling 100%.

Carroll’s best performance was at the toughest race, the Spring Nationals at Charlotte. The New York native, South Carolina transplant was a front-runner all weekend in the Senior Heavy division. After qualifying P5 of 46 entrants, Carroll recorded finishes of P4 and P6 in the heat races and finished just off the podium in Sunday’s main event with a close P6.

According to Seglem, “Chris plays a leadership role that is important to have with these younger drivers. He sets a tone early in the weekend and has been a major contributor to our success thus far. He genuinely cares about Coyote and PPK and it’s evident in his passion when he’s at the track.”

PPK will be back at Trackhouse’s Karting Challenge May 20-21 with a couple new racers set for arrive-and-drives then it’s the Sunshine State Karting Challenge (SSKC) at Andersen May 26-28.

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Precision Performance Karting (PPK) is a South Florida-based Briggs 206 race team fielding American-made Coyote Zenith chassis at national and regional series including Cup Karts North America and Trackhouse Motorplex.

In addition to the race team, PPK is an authorized distributor for premium karting products including Coyote Zenith karts and components, Odenthal Racing Products’ motor and camera mounts, Hilliard clutches, Rocket Sprockets’ gears, RLV Tuned Exhaust products, and Vega and MG tires.

For more information on PPK, visit ppkarting.com and follow Precision Performance Karting on Facebook and @ppkartingfl on Instagram.