Showing posts with label Karting Scholarship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karting Scholarship. Show all posts

12/30/2008

Two Drivers Split Top Honors for Skippy Scholarship


The 12th annual Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shoot-Out was held on December 27-29 at Sebring International Raceway. According to inside sources, this was the tightest group of competitors in years. Two drivers were awarded top honors: Sage Karam (13) and Court Vernon (16) were both awarded a fully funded season in the Skip Barber National series. The second place drivers also tied, with Dennis Trebing (16) and Nick Andries (18), both winning a funded half-season in the Skip Barber National. The judges either like Florida kids quite a bit or the natives have put in quite a few laps around Sebring while living in the Sunshine State (3 out of the 4 scholarships went to Floridians).

I believe Sage Karam has just become the youngest driver in history to win a fully-funded Skip Barber National ride at the age of 13. Gabby Chaves, who was also 13, won a smaller scholarship, while Alexander Rossi won the big prize at the age of 14. The average age of drivers entered in the shoot-out this year was an astonishing 18, compared to years past. The average age of the scholarship winners' this year is 15.75 years of age.


(LtoR: Nick Andries, Court Vernon, Sage Karam and Dennis Trebing)


Sage Karam of Nazareth, PA, has had a very successful career in go-karts, winning both the Stars of Karting East/West titles in Cadet last year. This season saw the 13-year-old make the jump to the ultra competitive Junior ICA class, where he finished 10th nationally.

Court Vernon of Key Biscayne, Florida spent the year running the Skip Barber Eastern Regional series (winning eight races and the championship) along with his karting efforts. He also made an impressive start in a Star Mazda car at Road Atlanta finishing ninth in his first outing.

Dennis Trebing of Cape Coral, Florida didn't start racing until two years ago, when he jumped into a Junior TAG kart and won every race during his inaugural season. Last season, he moved up to the TAG Senior class where he won his first race. Late in 2007, the 16-year-old, made the transition to cars by running a regional Skip Barber race at Sebring where he finished 4th out of 15 drivers on a rain soaked circuit.

Nick Andries of Pinellas Park, Florida began his racing career in karts at the age of 5. He graduated from the Skip Barber 3-Day School at the age of 16 in 2006. This season saw him make the move to cars, running alongside Trebing in the Skip Barber Regional series. He stood on the podium in his first Regional weekend.

(photos: http://www.skipbarber.com)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

12/11/2008

Skip Barber Karting Shoot-Out: Entry List

Skip Barber released their entry list for the 2008 karting scholarship shoot-out. The event will take place December 27-29 at Sebring International Raceway. Skip Barber Racing provides close to $130,000 in scholarships, which can be used in numerous Skip Barber Racing Series. The top driver in attendance will receive a fully-funded ride in the 2009 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda.

There will be 50 drivers in attendance this year, which seems to be a pretty common entry number for the shoot-out (based on years past). I've noticed that the ages of drivers invited to the shoot-out have been going down in recent years, but after looking at the entries this year, there seemed to be a much better spread. I decided to dig into the recent entry lists in an effort to get some real numbers. Here is what I found...

Percentage of Drivers Age 15 or Younger
2008- 20.00% (10 drivers) with the youngest being 13 years of age.
2007- 29.41% (15 drivers) with the youngest being 12 years of age.
2006- 24.49% (12 drivers) with the youngest being 13 years of age.
2005- 17.02% (8 drivers) with the youngest being 13 years of age.

After looking at these numbers, there is no denying that the average age of aspiring race car drivers is declining. It's nice to see the entry list stabilize a little this year, with the average age of an entrant coming in at 18-years-old. While getting into the program and gaining car experience at a young age is a positive thing, there is certainly no shame in letting kids develop longer in go-karts. So many of today's "racing-parents" want their children in F1 before they're eighteen. Hopefully this growing trend will start to stabilize and slow down, rushing a young drivers development will only hamper their future efforts.

Without further ado, here is the 2008 Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shoot-Out Entry:

DRIVER/AGE/HOMETOWN
Julian Albarracin, 14 Bogota, Colombia
Joffrey Amaya, 15 Miami, Fla.
Nick Andries, 18 Pinellas Park, Fla.
Darrick Antell, 18 Greenwich, Conn.
Timothy Bachman, 14 Bakersfield, Calif.
James Bailey, 22 Oakland, Calif.
Thomas Bonatz, 20 Birmingham, Ala.
Thiago Calvet, 22 Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Ian Costa, 19 Danville, Calif.
Nick DeCuzzi, 16 Brunswick, Ohio
Michael Dorrbecker, 15 Queretaro, Mexico
Ashley Freiberg, 17 Homer Glen, Ill.
Kyle Gimple, 17 Minden, Nev.
Mikhail Goikhberg, 22 Vaughan, Ont.
Bradley Hagerman, 22 Sarasota, Fla.
Keenan Harris, 17 Bolton, Ont.
Dalton Hartye, 17 Boonton, N.J.
Sage Karam, 13 Nazareth, Penn.
Matthew Keel, 19 Austin, Texas
Greg Lacoste Jr., 24 Slidell, La.
Corey Lewis, 17 Nazareth, Penn.
Travis Lowe, 21 Pasadena, Calif.
Tyler Lux, 17 Wayzata, Minn.
Isaac Lyons, 19 Hillsborough Down, Northern Ireland
Matthew Mair, 15 Miami, Fla.
Mason Marotta, 14 Bakersfield, Calif.
Jake McCurdy, 20 Rockford, Mich.
James Migita, 23 Columbus, Ohio
Peter Minnig, 18 Falls Church, Va.
Eric Morse, 18 Bridgeville, Penn.
Nate Norenberg, 22 Plymouth, Minn.
Michael O'Chocke, 23 Powell, Ohio
Spencer Pigot, 15 Windmere, Fla.
Joshua Reaume, 18 Victoria, B.C.
Tomas Saldana, 19 Madrid, Spain
Antonio Saro, 15 Atizapan de Zaragoza, Mexico
Benjamin Searcy, 19 Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Felix Serralles, 16 Mercedita, Puerto Rico
Jimmy Simpson, 16 Indianapolis, Ind.
Nathaniel Steele, 20 Tully, N.Y.
Blake Teeter, 18 Wichita, Kan.
Kevin Tittle, 19 Santa Barbara, Calif.
Dennis Trebing, 16 Cape Coral, Fla.
Dexter Tuttle, 19 Charlotte, N.C.
Andrew Vargas, 19 Hayward, Calif.
Daniel Vela, 14 Miami, Fla.
Court Vernon, 16 Key Biscayne, Fla.
Tyler Walsh, 17 Shorewood, Minn.
Joey Wimsett, 16 Beavercreek, Ore.
Esteban Yanguas, 22 Bogota, Colombia
Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)