Norway Motorsports Park Ignite Challenge 2025 – photo by Mark Schwigen
This weekend kicked off the 2025 Ignite Challenge series with the Chicagoland Double-Header event. Two races at Kart Circuit Autobahn on Saturday, and two races at Norway Motorsports Park on Sunday, covering nearly half the 10-race schedule in two days. Given the results and the potential I’ve shown so far this season in the Norway Club series, I wasn’t expecting the word “disaster” to be the word that came to mind to describe this weekend, yet here we are.
We unloaded on Saturday to Kart Circuit Autobahn under the Bobby Krug Racing Services tent, feeling confident across our 4 total drivers and two senior drivers that we would have a strong day. I had slightly mixed feelings since Autobahn was a new track for me, but I figured as long as I got used to the track I would be competitive. I was correct, but unfortunately not in the right way. I had a really hard time getting used to this track, and the fact that everyone around me wanted to race me and prevent me from running a clean lap, I couldn’t break inside the top half of the field after practice. Qualifying wasn’t any better, not finding any more speed than 15th out of 21 Ignite Seniors. In race 1 I was able to survive the lap 1 chaos and make up a few positions throughout the race up to finish 11th. Going into race 2, I had some ideas of how I might be able to improve and get that last bit of speed out of the kart, and starting in 12th I was hoping I could make up some more ground and salvage a top 10 out of the day. Once again, I had a terrible start and lost a few spots immediately, and a few laps later, hanging near the back of a middle pack, a kart up the road spun out, collected the guy I was following, and I had nowhere to go and went off into the dirt. Thankfully I was able to keep going and at least finish the race in 16th, but definitely a day to forget after all of that.
Then we fast forward to Sunday, racing at our home track with hopes of redeeming ourselves on yesterday’s sub-par performance. I hit the ground running to start the day, placing third and seventh in the two practice sessions with the only time lost being from the lack of a draft. However, since I would be rolling off 7th for qualifying, that meant I would have 6 people in front of me to draft off of. That is exactly what I did, but an accordion effect meant I was actually losing more time in the braking zones than what I was making up on the straights. I and fellow Norway racer Patrick Bernatowicz caught onto this, and after backing off from the pack and spending a couple laps running on our own at the end, we ended up locking out the front row with Patrick on pole and myself in second. Now I am starting on the front row at my home race in the Ignite Challenge, and all I got to do is do what I’ve been doing for 2 and a half months, and I would either win the race or step on the podium. The race starts, I slot into third out of the first few turns, and the balance of the kart all the sudden fell apart. Fighting the kart for rear-end grip, I could barely keep people behind me, let alone move back up to the front and have a shot at winning. After 14 more laps of falling like a stone in water and watching my chance of winning at home run away from me, I crossed the line in 7th place, furious and defeated. The theory we had as for why the kart was performing the way it did was because of the heat. We had put my normal Norway setup on the kart that had worked like a dream the last few weekends, but once the track got hot enough that setup just didn’t work anymore. Regardless, I had a chat with Bobby and my mechanic about it, and we made some changes to help point us in the right direction for race 2. Starting 7th in race two, with a much more competitive field, it was going to be extremely hard for me to fight for a podium or a win even if I was able to stick with the front pack. After another chaotic start letting the lead back run away, I settled into 7th with Aidan Liber behind me and the rest of the pack dropping back. At this point the gap was a few seconds to the front pack, and it was just me and Liber kind of in our own world. He had every right to pass me back and duke it out for that 6th place spot, but he didn’t. Instead, he decided to work with me and attempt to catch up to the leaders. Sure enough, with two to go, we were right behind the leaders ready to take advantage of the chaos. Going into the last few turns of the last lap, the sea of karts parted in front of me and I made my move, passing two karts and almost getting a third for a podium, but settling for fourth place with Liber following me through for fifth.
First of all, as a result of me and Aidan Liber working together, we both were able to finish in the top 5 against near impossible odds, so huge thanks to Aidan for helping make that happen. Secondly, huge thank you to everyone at Bobby Krug Racing Services and CKT Racing Engines for all the hard work they did to prepare me for this weekend and give me a great kart to drive, and I hope next time around we can get results that reflect that hard work. Lastly, thanks to Margay Racing and Skip Barber Racing School for putting on the Ignite Challenge Series, and when we go back to Iowa in a few weeks, expect us to be back on top!