KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (MGM Press Release)— Another scorching summer is just about complete and the temperatures weren’t the only thing hot this year. On the track, Paul and April Rice’s MGM Chassis Co. experienced another outstanding summer season that included wins and championships in national, regional and club racing across the country.

Over the last several years the MGM Chassis brand has grown tremendously. Not that long ago the sleek sprint chassis were predominantly run by racers on the East Coast. Today, sprint and road racers field their MGM Espionage chassis in competition throughout the country, including the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, Texas, throughout the greater Midwest and of course, up and down the East Coast.

“We’ve been at this a long time and our hard work has definitely paid off the last few years,” MGM co-owner April Rice stated. “We had growing pains, ups and downs, wins and championships but also some tough times when we struggled to get the handle. Since we brought out the Espionage back in 2016, we feel like we’ve been as consistent as any chassis in the country. The wins and championships over the last few years prove it, and this year has been another great one.”

While the summer is about over, the 2021 race season certainly isn’t. 

Next month, the biggest Briggs LO206 race of the year will take place with the Cup Karts North America (CKNA) Grand Nationals 5 running Sept. 30-Oct. 3 at New Castle Motorsports Park in Indiana. The following month the Maxxis 4-Cycle Sprint Series will hold their prestigious annual Grand Nationals Nov. 19-21 at 103rd Street in Jacksonville, Fla. And MGM’s home track, GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville, N.C., has three rounds left on their 2021 Karting Challenge calendar. 

On the road racing side, many MGM racers plan to attend the Sept. 24-26 AKRA / Dart Kart Club Nationals at Pittsburgh Int’l Race Complex in Pa., and the Southern Kart Club will be back in action Oct. 16-17 at Roebling Road Raceway in Georgia.

Here’s a look at who’s been hot in recent months on their MGM Espionages — 

• Most recently, North Carolina driver Connor Yonchuck had a huge weekend at GoPro Motorplex’s round 8/9 doubleheader Sept. 11-12. Yonchuck swept Saturday’s two Briggs Senior finals, and won one of the two Sunday Briggs Heavy finals. Each class started around 20 karts. 

• In Junior at GoPro, George Wheeler and Katie Yonchuck are two of the top racers in every round. Last weekend Wheeler raced to a pair of P2 finishes in the Briggs Junior finals while Yonchuck won the pole award and finished P5 in the first final before getting involved in a wreck in the second final. 

• Dylan Amundsen continues to represent MGM in the Sunshine State. The Florida native was the dominating driver in 206 Senior competition at the Cup Karts South season closer at Bushnell on August 21. Amundsen swept the weekend in main event competition, winning Friday night’s special money race and going on to win the Senior Light and Senior Medium finals Saturday. Dylan ended up second in Light final points and third in Medium’s final standings in the first year of the Cup Karts South series.

• Five championships in Maxxis — MGM drivers had another awesome Maxxis Sprint Series in 2021. 
  • Brady Atwood was the top junior racer all year in the six-race series, scoring a number of feature wins and winning both Junior Yellow and Junior Black class championships.
  • Cale Martin wheeled his Espionage to the Senior Medium and Senior Heavy titles in his first year in the series. Martin ended the season on a high note with his first win of the year at Kershaw in Senior Medium
  • Neil Moore, also in his first year racing sprint, won the Masters championship. The highlight of Moore’s season came in June at Charlotte, where he held off Tim Skinner to win the Sunday Masters final.

• The Maxxis series closed their 2021 points season Saturday night, August 14 at Carolina Motorsports Park. In the first-ever race under the lights at CMP, MGM racers scored three feature wins with “Hot Dog” Eric Fagan holding off fellow MGM racer Ryan Bennett to win Senior Heavy; Tim Skinner scoring the win in Masters; and, as mentioned above, Cale Martin putting an exclamation point on his championship season to win the Senior Medium feature.

• Levi Wilbur had a big weekend at the Cup Karts North closer in August at East Lansing, Mich. After an average Saturday, Wilbur raced his No. 6 Espionage to one of the best days of his career Sunday. Wilbur would finish P3 in the Senior Medium final and win the 17-kart Senior Light main event, beating some big names in LO206 racing in the process!

• Chris Brough had an outstanding year in the club series at Michiana Raceway Park. In only his second year of racing, Brough won five features in LO206 competition, which attracts anywhere from 17 to 25 racers weekly at MRP. He also accomplished five pole positions five more podium finishes on the season. Chris will be running the Grand Nationals at New Castle next month.

• Travis Varney closed the 2021 Colorado Karting Tour Sept. 12 with a P2 finish in the Junior 2 final standings. Varney ended up with two wins, four P2 results and one P3 for his best seven finishes on the year. Travis’s coach James-Michael Sullivan had a great year in CKT, as well, scoring six wins on the season including a win on Sunday.

• The DeMaster family had another super season at Road America’s Tuesday night club series. Jon was the top driver in Masters all season and won the season closer and the class championship. Emily finished third in the World Formula final standings and Tanner ended up sixth in the Junior points. 

• Other shoutouts include MGM friend Neil Breitenbach winning the Cup Karts South Legends championship (good luck at the Tillotson World Finals, Neil).
• Kevin Darling winning Saturday and Sunday’s CIK LO206 races at the Summit Point AKRA Road Race Nationals in August.
• Scott Heath finishing P2 to Darling in Sunday’s CIK LO206 at Summit Point.
• Brody Kellner for the awesome on-board videos from Sandy Hook.
• Cam Burris making great strides in his rookie season in Senior.
• Zach Linsell, who’s getting married this weekend, showing great speed but not having much luck since winning at Daytona.
• Ethan Dietrich finishing third in Cup Karts North 206 Senior Heavy final standings.
• Ageless veteran Steve Bushell still showing awesome speed at every track he goes to.
• All the MGM drivers racing to wins at top finishes in the KRA series at New Castle and at Twin Fountains Raceway in Tennesseee.
• Shawn Davis and Jim Davis finishing second and third on their Espionages in the season closer at Wilmington Raceway Park in Ohio.
• Ethan Hanshew, Collin Miller, Brody Kelly, Kellner, Atwood and all the other MGM drivers running well and representing at Sandy Hook and Nicholson speedways in Maryland.
• And all the MGM racers coast to coast for making us look good! 

For more information on MGM Chassis, visit mgmchassis.com.