Driver Spotlight: Olivia Horn

Olivia Horn

Olivia Horn is a 16 year old girl from Ohio that has a passion for racing. She and her father share the love for the sport. Her father raced motor cycles and when Olivia was young they would watch NASCAR races together. As soon as she was old enough, he offered her the opportunity to race karts and according to Olivia, “I fell in love with the sport.”

After 8 years in the sport of karting Olivia is competitive on a National Level. This year she raced in both the Great Lakes Sprint Series and WKA Man Cup Series. This season she obtained her first national podium. She earned a 2nd place finish and shared the podium with her teammate who finished in 1st. More recently she earned 2 more national podiums in Yamaha senior and Parilla senior. Olivia has aspirations of winning a national race in the Parilla Senior class which she hopes to do in the near future.

Olivia looks up to NASCAR drivers Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus. “They’re such a great team, and they work extremely well together,” she said. Olivia’s long term goal is to one day pursue a career in IndyCar or one of the other professional branches of motorsports.

To read more about Olivia Horn and follow her career, visit her website: www.oliviahornracing.com or Facebook Page

We're Moving Up...

 

Moving Up, A New Adventure

 

This is Ashlee's 2nd season in racing. She's 7 years old and qualifies to race in either the WKA Kid Kart or Yamaha Rookie Sportsman classes. Our plan was to finish the season in the kid kart class. We had plenty to work on with getting down the racing line and enhancing her driving skills. We thought this would be best in kid karts. Unfortunately this year has been very challenging. We cannot get her engines to perform and it has left her (and us) frustrated.

 

We let her start practicing her Yamaha cadet kart. At first she was a bit resistant, she was comfortable in her smaller kid kart. We kept encouraging her to give it another shot. After a few times out she gained confidence and decided she loved it. Now we had the challenge of getting her back in the kid kart.

 

She's decided she liked the faster new kart. This was great! Now the only challenge, our local track doesn't offer the Yamaha Rookie Sportsman class and she's not old enough to compete in the Yamaha Jr. Sportsman class. What to do??

 

Luckily a father of another racer found himself in the same predicament and we've convinced the track owner to offer the new class. This will be the first race weekend for Ashlee, her cousin and friend to race this class. She is so excited!!



Driver Spotlight: Ashley Graaf



Ashley Graaf

 

In 2009 Ashley decided to follow in her brothers footsteps and give kart racing a try. She loved it from the minute she stepped in the kart. She began that year in the Briggs and Stratton World Formula Rookie Class. By 2010 she moved up to the Junior class and earned 4^th place overall. Ashley earned many podium finishes in her first two years but she finally earned her first victory in 2011. Out of all the victories and accomplishments she’s had in her career, the first victory has been her proudest moment.

Ashley is currently racing in the KPV 100 Sr and world formula open classes at Stockholm Motorsports  Park in Cokato, Minnesota.  Her goal for this season is to learn more about the 2-stroke engine. According to Ashley her long term aspiration is, “To go as far as I can in this sport.” A couple of the drivers she admires are Danica Patrick and the late Dan Weldon.

 

To learn more about Ashley Graaf visit her website at www.AshleyGraaf.Weebly.com, follow her on Facebook at: Ashley Graaf Racing, or Twitter: racerbabe00.

Driver Spotlight: Sara Brinkac

 

Sara Brinkac

Sara Brinkac knew she wanted to race “as soon as I stepped foot in a rental kart and was told I could not drive.” She was only 6 but the seed had been planted. Sara is in her 7th year of racing and is currently racing a 125cc 6-speed go-kart.

Sara’s biggest accomplishment was when she won the Western Canadian Championships. Another proud moment was when she won the most improved junior award, which is an award that Greg Moore when he was racing at her club. This season she hopes to race competitively in the S5 class and raise enough money to participate in the California Pro-tour series.

A few of the people that Sara admires in the racing world are Formula 1 drivers Sebastian Vettel and Ayrton Senna. She hopes to one day professionally race touring cars. Check out her website to purchase t-shirts or stickers. The proceeds help fund her racing.

 

 

To follow Sara’s career her twitter feed is @hardeightracing, her website is Hardeightracing.com and her Facebook is Hardeight Racing- Sara Brinkac #44.