Racers came to Quesnel from as far as Vancouver Island and Edmonton for the second race in the regional series hosted in B.C.
Racers circled the track Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They youngest racers were six years old and the oldest racer was in his 80s. Races were divided by age and engine power.
There were two-stroke and four-stroke engine categories for seven- to 11-year-old, 12- to 15-year-olds and 16 and up. There was also a category for what organizer Gary Smith called the heavier guys. There was also a new category this year for shifters which are the fastest kart category.
"Everybody's got to run the same motor. So it's now just up to kart and driver," Smith said. Smith is the president of the Vancouver Island Karting Association and helped put the event in Quesnel on.
Smith said this is the third year they've run the four-race series and the first year they've gone to Quesnel for one of the races. The first race was on Vancouver Island, Quesnel was second with Chilliwack being third and the final race being in Oliver, B.C.
"A lot of people have said a lot of good things about (Quesnel's) race track. The words I'm hearing are 'my favourite race track I've ever been to,'" Smith said. He said around 100 racers participated in Quesnel. "Which is great for a first year because a lot of people are hesitant to travel, but I guarantee you when we come back next year we'll be at 130, 140."
He said that the positive reviews from the racers who did go to Quesnel will get the word out about Quesnel being a good spot for races.
"I started racing go-karts when I was three and a half years old. My grandfather formed the club on Vancouver Island back in the early 70s," Smith said. He added that his whole family is involved in kart racing from his uncle to his daughter. Smith's racing career extended to him becoming a NASCAR racer in the 90's. He said he helped get the kart racing club back into shape after it was dormant for 17 years.
"I started the club back up and the first race day we had eight carts and now we had 120 entries at our last race," Smith said. "I love the sport. I have passion for the sport. The camaraderie from people travelling, even though we're competitors we're all helping each other."
Whitney Mack and Ben Olson are two 12-year-old racers from Quesnel participating in the races.
"My brother wanted to race but he didn't have enough confidence to race with other people so I wanted to try and that's how I got into racing," Mack said.
Olson did well on Saturday, qualifying second in his first run which means he started near the front of the pack for his following races. He said when he started racing he didn't like it but grew to like it more.
"Racing against other people, I started to get better and better," he said. Olson has been racing karts for five years.
One upcoming event at the track in Quesnel is minibike racing in August. The track is also used by a local corvette club for races.