07/15/2026
While much of the country celebrated the Fourth of July holiday, the Cup Karts East division made its first-ever visit to LaFayette Motorsports Park in upstate New York for another exciting weekend of competition. Twenty-eight Coyote Motorsports drivers took to the track across seven classes, bringing home a staggering seven wins and 16 podium finishes, with strong runs from everyone who made the trip.
Precision Performance Kartingโs ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ was the story all weekend long, pulling triple duty competing in the Senior Light, Medium, and Heavy classes. Wakefield showed speed early in the weekend and never looked back, winning both the Light and Medium classes on Saturday. He came just two laps short in Heavy after suffering a mechanical failure while leading. On Sunday, he had something to prove, winning the Heavy race by four seconds. Wakefield was then able to repeat his Saturday magic in the Light and Medium classes, earning his fourth and fifth wins of the weekend in what we believe is the first-ever CKNA senior class clean sweep in a single day.
PPK teammates ๐๐ข๐๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐จ and ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐๐ค both showed great speed throughout the weekend, battling at the front of the field in both Medium and Light. On Saturday, Lourenco bested Thek in Light, coming home with an outstanding P3 while Thek finished fourth. Medium saw the reverse, with Thek grabbing P3 and Lourenco having a solid run in seventh. Sunday saw a complete Coyote sweep of the Light podium, with Lourenco in second and Thek in third. In Medium, Lourenco grabbed another runner-up finish while Thek had a strong sixth-place run.
Another PPK entry, ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐๐ญ๐ณ, opted to only run the headline Medium class and had a strong showing, scoring a runner-up finish (P2) on Saturday before grabbing another top-five finish on Sunday, crossing the line in fifth.
RRD - Roderick Racing Development drivers ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ and ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ค showed speed all weekend in the Medium class. After opting out of the rain on Saturday, they came back strong on Sunday, with AJ grabbing a podium in third while DeMaster crossed the line in fourth.
Other RRD drivers ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐๐ค๐ก๐จ๐๐ and ๐๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ also had successful weekends, with Eickhoff coming home fifth in Senior Medium on Saturday, while Kerl snatched four top-10 finishes with a fourth and fifth in Light and a pair of eighth-place finishes in the Medium division.
๐๐ฅ๐๐ฒ ๐'๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง and veteran racer ๐๐จ๐ก๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ both took their Coyote Zeniths to successful runs in the Medium class, with O'Brien leading the charge on Saturday with a fourth-place finish to Price's sixth. On Sunday, Price bested the pair with a 10th-place run to O'Brien's 12th.
๐๐๐ง๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ซ๐ and ๐๐ฒ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐๐จ both had strong weekends to build off in the highly competitive Senior Medium field. Barnard scored a solid 11th on Saturday and, after a crash in the prefinal, had an inspired drive to come home 13th on Sunday. Cataldo opted out of racing in the rain on Saturday but showed speed on Sunday. Unfortunately, some rough luck left him with a 15th-place finish.
The New York native father-son pairing of ๐๐ข๐ฆ and ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ก ๐๐ญ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ both took to the track on their Coyote Zeniths. Josh showed speed all weekend in the headline Medium division, but bad luck plagued the younger Stefiel, resulting in a DNF on Saturday and a 14th-place finish on Sunday. Tim Stefiel had quite the opposite weekend, as he was able to grab the lead on Saturday in tricky conditions and hold on to score the win in the Legends class. In dry conditions on Sunday, Stefiel continued his magic and, after a spin in the prefinal, drove from the back of the grid all the way to the front to complete his sweep of the Legends class.
๐๐ข๐๐ก๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐, ๐๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ, and ๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ค ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข also competed in the Legends class aboard their Coyote Zeniths. Mazga led the group, scoring a podium in the tricky Saturday conditions with a third-place finish before following it up with a fifth-place finish on Sunday. Cornwell improved all weekend and scored a best finish of fifth on Saturday and sixth on Sunday. Ostrowski also showed great improvement every session he was on the track and brought home a pair of seventh-place finishes.
๐๐๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐ก๐จ๐๐ฆ๐๐ค๐๐ซ was the sole Junior driver under the Coyote banner and showed solid speed throughout the weekend, bringing home a pair of eighth-place finishes.
The ๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ค๐๐ซ siblings, ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐ง๐ and ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข, were the two Cadet entries taking to the track. Brianna bested Levi on Saturday, scoring a fifth-place finish, while Levi took the honors on Sunday, coming home fifth with Brianna in sixth.
East Series regular ๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐๐ค๐ข๐ฐ took to the track in the competitive Heavy class and had a stellar drive in the rain on Saturday, coming home in the runner-up position. On Sunday, Zobkiw showed speed in the dry, battling for a podium throughout the race before settling for a solid sixth-place finish, putting him well in the title fight heading into the final race.
The final two Coyote drivers were ๐๐จ๐ก๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ซ and ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ, who both piloted their Coyote Kryptonites in the Sportsman class. Dwyer led the charge both days, coming home on the podium with a third-place finish on Saturday and a top-five run on Sunday in fifth. Angelo showed speed throughout the weekend but had some unfortunate luck, which relegated him to a pair of eighth-place finishes.
As always, thank you to all of our drivers, teams, families, and supporters for continuing to represent the Coyote Chassis program throughout the season. We look forward to seeing everyone at our next major event, the ๐ช๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ at ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, taking place July 31 through August 2. We hope to see you all there!
