Blokart Western Regionals

A friend of mine from college, Brian Kent, took his family in '99 for a distance cruise that would find them in New Zealand in '01. Looking for ways to earn a living, he eventually came across the Blokart - a compact landsailor - and came to an agreement with the manufacturer to become the US Importer. Brian remains based in NZL, but he has teamed with his brother Joe in California, and together they have formed Cart Action Racing.

Long story short, this past weekend they held their first racing event in the US, the Western Regional Championships in Long Beach, CA. For sailors, a trip to Long Beach often means coming to Long Beach YC (below) for events like Congressional Cup or Long Beach Race Week,

or Alamitos Bay YC (below), for one-design championships,

or the US Sailing Center (below), which is home for college and high school sailing teams.

However, the blokart event location was breaking new ground, so to speak, and is part of the Kent's plan of bringing blokart racing to the people, and creating track type racing for the landsailor. They have worked hard to establish local sailing parks for the blokart, and this event was held in a beach parking lot near the local sailing sites, with hay bails marking the track.

On Friday I headed up to Long Beach for their "Sponsors and Dignitaries Invitational Race." I am not sure where I fit into that weighty title, but it was meant to be a precursor to the main weekend event, and it gave a few of us a chance to see what it was all about.

I hopped on the track to get some practice in, and quickly learned that I was the passee and not the passer. The track layout easily gives the karters a measure of their skill, and it is fun to dual with the others. Since I stunk, it was perhaps a blessing that the wind died out prior to our race. Below are some photos from the day:

The schedule was for their fleet of twenty something blokarts to compete in heats, which would provide the chance for several folks to share a kart. Click here for images that photographer Glennon Stratton took during the racing on Saturday. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt