February 9, 2024

 TONY BERRY COLLECTS KARTING VICTORIES

SPOKANE — Former local sprint and late model driver Tony Berry has been putting a ton of miles on his tow rig to go race karts across the West in the stock KT100 class as well as the Unlimited All-Stars, the top open motor sanctioning body in the US.

And he’s done quite well in the process returning from trips to Tucson, Ariz. and Salem, Ore. with wins at both tracks in KT100.

Berry recaptured some fond memories at Salem with the win on the sixth-mile track. “We won the first midget race there,” several years ago Berry was reminded.

The 14th annual Buddha Kinser Memorial is one of the premier UAS races in the country, and brings some of the stiffest competition across all of the classes.

“We started fourth alongside my teammate Kily Fleming and had some good racing with friends on the way to the front to pick up the win KT Heavy,” Berry reported in a Facebook post. “My Matt Jones YOA motor was on point.”

Berry said he’d be remiss if he didn’t thank good friend Ricky Worley, “Who saved my ass on Tuesday and machined a sleeve to make our new ignition work in the UAS machine.”

In the Holiday Classic at the fifth-mile Tucson Kart Speedway run Dec. 28-30, Berry shook off problems the first two days and captured the 20-lap Saturday feature, again in KT100.

“Thursday we had to pull off, Friday I ran second to the boss, Bryan Nevins Jr.,” Berry wrote in a Facebook post. “Saturday I made the last minute choice to bolt 50 pounds of lead on and run KT Super Heavy.”

Nevins and Berry once again had a notable race. “He pushed me the whole way (literally) to my first Holiday Classic win,” Berry said.

“I cannot thank my team, Kily (Fleming), Mike (Bartle) and Loren (Bartle) enough for all that they did this week,” Berry said, adding “And the larger team: Bryan, Bryan Nevins, Sr., Hailey Leone Askland, Scott Bohle, Tyler Rose Bohle, Travis Hooper, Joshua Warbis and everyone else. It was truly a team effort to get through a week like this.”

Team driver, Kily Fleming, joined Berry on the trip and was one of Berry’s earliest crew guys when he drove sprint cars.

“He bought karts for he and his daughter to race at Sunset,” Berry said. “A couple of years later, he bought a kart with a KT100 on it and enticed me to get back in the seat.”

Berry decided he wanted to get back in karting in a bigger way and has been building the program to compete at a high level.

The Tucson trip and win was somewhat of a scouting trip for Berry who plans to run the UAS (Unlimited All Stars) Nationals at the track in September.

“We don’t have much planned yet for the summer,” Berry said. “I am trying to put together a four race KT series in the region and we plan to run as many UAS races as we can in both our region and the neighboring ones in Idaho, Colorado and California.”

INBOARD HYDROS INVADE EASTERN WASHINGTON

SPOKANE — The 2024 Region 10 inboard hydroplane schedule features 10 races with seven at Eastern Washington sites.

Races east of the Cascades include stops in Chelan, Entiat, Patewros, Wenatchee, Brewster and Manson. West side events take place in Yelm, Olympia and Oak Harbor.

Notable races include the Entiat Vintage Raceboat Regatta (July 20-21), Manson Hydrofest (Sept. 28-29 and Mahogany & Merlot (Oct. 4-6) in Chelan where vintage unlimited make an appearance.

Classes include: 1 Litre Mod, 1.5 Litre, 2.5 Litre stock, 2.5 Litre Mod, E350 Stock, all are hydros. Others include SE Flat Botton Drag Boats. SA Flat Bottom Drag Boats, Cracker Boxes as well as different classed of vintage boats.

Races take place on both one-mile and mine and two-thirds courses where speeds can reach 120 miles per hour.

Further info is available by contacting Doug Cossette doug@spokanewall. com/509-995-6498 or Dave Cossette drcmec@msn.com/425-785-5888.

The Mr. Jiggs hydroplane, driven by Josh Harnack, lays down a spectacular roostertail. Mr. Jiggs and others are scheduled to run Region 10 races in 2024, seven of which take place in the Inland Northwest. Tim Crowley Photos

The 2024 Region 10 inboard hydroplane schedule features 10 races with seven at Eastern Washington sites.

Races east of the Cascades include stops in Chelan, Entiat, Patewros, Wenatchee, Brewster and Manson. West side events take place in Yelm, Olympia and Oak Harbor.

 REGION 10 INBOARD RACING SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION EVENT
April 27-28    Yelm, WA                        Lake Lawrence Run for the Record
May 11-12     Chelan, WA                   Norm Evans Apple Cup
June 22-23    Olympia, WA                Black lake Regatta
July 13-14      Oak Harbor, WA        Hydros for Heroes
July 20-21      Entiat, WA                     Entiat Vintage Raceboat Regatta
Aug. 17-18     Pateros, WA                 Terry Troxell Memorial Hydro Classic
Aug. 24-25     Wenatchee, WA        The Quake on the Columbia
Sept. 7-8          Brewster, WA             Tony Newton Memorial Regatta
Sept. 28-29    Manson, WA                Manson Hydrofest
Oct. 4-6            Chelan, WA                  Mahogany & Merlot