NEWS
View the upcoming board meeting agenda occurring Tuesday, November 7th at 7:00pm via Microsoft Teams
The OVKA Rules Committee will meet online on Wednesday November 8th at 7pm at the link on the Board Meeting Page at OVKA.com. In preparation, please send any suggestions for rules updates to our Race Director at: dylancradlebaugh@gmail.com or as Direct Messages to the OVKA facebook page.
***In your suggestions for modified rules, please take the time to include the existing referenced rule number from the 2023 rulebook wherever applicable.***
This committee took the time in 2022 to clean up quite a lot of the language in the rulebook before 2023. Our hope is that we will only need to focus on minor revisions this upcoming year.
As discussed in this month's Board Meeting, here is the TENTATIVE 2024 OVKA Schedule. We've worked hard to factor in your feedback from this season, while also providing off-weekends for practice and family events between nearly every points race on the calendar. Here are the highlights:
CHARITY RACE: will be moved to the Spring, the day after Karting 101. This will act as a great Warm-Up Race for everyone to get used to the new track surface and dial in their setups.
NIGHT RACES: three Night Race dates (5/18, 6/8, and 8/3)
DOUBLE HEADERS: two double-header weekends (6/22-23, and 7/20-21)
MEMORIAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: 7/6-7
Congratulations to G&J Kartway on the completion of the major paving work and thank you for arranging for these upgrades for 2024! We also want to thank Wagner Paving Inc. for their fine work and dedicated efforts this week.
While we know many of you are excited to get out to test the new surface, G&J Kartway remains CLOSED while work is fully finished on the track and we allow time for the asphalt to cure. The track surface is still very fresh, and hot, sticky racing tires can risk pulling the asphalt apart if not given the proper time to fully set. Allowing a healthy curing period well into this winter will protect against premature damage and guarantee a longer useful life for the new track surface.
We will work with G&J Kartway to announce the official re-opening date for practive when it is appropriate, and we appreciate your cooperation and understanding in helping to protect the significant investment that has gone into this project.
As always, keep up to date on all of our social media channels, as well as OVKA.com!
G&J Kartway Repave
Work at G&J Kartway officially kicked off on Monday, October 10th, 2023, with removal of the top layers of track surface, and grinding out and filling in of the larger cracks and seams that had opened up in the old asphalt layers. Work will continue while the weather holds to begin paving the new asphalt layers.
OVKA Off-Season Hangouts
JOIN US: Next Saturday for our first Off-Season Hangout at Dayton Cars & Coffee. We're going to schedule several of these meetups in the upcoming months at rotating locations around Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky, for our members to get out and mingle away from the hectic schedule of race days.
Come out and get to know your fellow OVKA members and help spread the word about OVKA Kart Racing!
ATTENTION RACERS:
G&J Kartway will be CLOSED starting on October 9, 2023 for a full circuit repave, modernization of the track's curbs, upgrades to facility's overhead lights, and other renovations.
OVKA would like to extend our gratitude to the Gregg family for the extensive and ongoing planning effort that has gone into this project, and we look forward to working with the track to debut a refreshed G&J Kartway for OVKA's 60th anniversary season in 2024.
This is a large slate of projects whose schedules may be influenced by weather in the coming months, so we thank you for your cooperation and understanding while the track is unavailable. If you plan to store trailers or equipment at G&J over the winter, they must be moved completely out of the pit areas and back against the tractor pull field.
As always, you can stay up to date with news at OVKA.com and our social media channels. We will keep you appraised of the progress of work and the planned reopening schedule throughout the offseason.
We ask you to please take the time to thank Gary Gregg and the whole Gregg family for their decades of support, hard work, and dedication to keep club-level kart racing thriving and affordable.
View the upcoming board meeting agenda occurring Tuesday, October 3rd at 7:00pm via Microsoft Teams
RACE REMINDERS:
The final OVKA points race of 2023 is SATURDAY September 30th, running a standard daytime timetable and will use the 5 min Qualifying-Prefinal-Final race format on the classic "A" configuration at G&J Kartway. See the SERIES INFORMATION page for more details.
**We will be hosting a Chili Cookoff (with prize giveaway) in the afternoon on Saturday, so bring plenty of chili and a big appetite**
THE FOLLOWING DAY (October 1st) is the annual OVKA Charity Race. This non-points event raises donations to the local Camden Food Pantry as well as funds for local services and clubs in the area. The race day will start an hour later than the standard schedule (8am Gate Time).
All regular OVKA classes are available for registration, and the race day will use the Pea-Pick format (two Heats and a Feature) with a random track configuration drawn for each round. Come out and join us for a fun and easy-going end to the season!
Join our Banquet Committee online on Wednesday 9/20 to discuss logistics, scheduling, and new ideas for the 2023 OVKA Season Awards Banquet! The meeting will be held on the usual Teams Meeting link on the Board Meeting page.
The 2023 Banquet will be held Saturday, January 20th at the Cincinnati Marriott North in West Chester, Ohio. Registration details and more will become available in the coming weeks on the Banquet Page.
The penultimate points race of the 2023 OVKA Season is Sunday, September 17th, on G&J Kartway's 2B configuration, and we will once again be using the 5 min Qualifying - PreFinal - Final race day format.
A reminder that Saturday September 16th will pass as an unused weather-date for the OVKA season, so G&J Kartway will be available for Open Practice all day with no scheduled events.
All Rules and Race Day Info can be found on the Rules and Series Information tabs. We hope to see you all out at the track! If you've ever been curious about racing with OVKA or just visiting to check out the Kart Racing scene, come out and visit us at G&J Kartway!
The 2023 OVKA Season enters its final stretch in September with our last Saturday Night race of the season on September 9th. This race will use the standard Saturday Evening Timetable with Gates at 2pm, and Races at 6. We will be running the 5-minute Qualifying - PreFinal - Final Format on Configuration B. We hope to see you there!
We love our karters, and we love kart racing at other tracks, too! It has come to our attention that a number of our members who also participate in Motorsports Country Club of Cincinnati's Pro-Am Championship are planning to "Do-the-Double" on Saturday, August 19th and compete at both MCC & OVKA on the same day!
In support of these ambitious competitors, the decision has been made to push back the starting times for our Round 11 Night Race by 2-hours from our standard evening race schedule. The new schedule for 8/19 will be:
GATES OPEN: 4:00 pm
SIGN-IN / PRE-TECH OPEN: 5:00 pm
CLASS WARM-UPS: 6:00 pm
SIGN-IN CLOSES: 7:00 pm
DRIVER'S MEETING 7:30 pm
RACING STARTS: 8:00 pm
All Competitors MUST submit an Entry Form by 7:00 pm on Sat 8/19 in order to race. If you are unsure if you will make this deadline due to transit time between tracks, we recommend you print & sign your Entry Form ahead of time and contact an OVKA competitor to turn it in for you at Registration.
We will leave Pre-Tech OPEN as long as needed to accommodate travelling racers. (ALL KARTS MUST SUBMIT A SAFETY PRE-TECH FORM BEFORE TAKING TO THE TRACK).
Reminders:
-Race #11 will now be run to the 5-min Qualifying / Pre-Final / Final Race format, due to the format switch made for Race #9.
-Per the 2023 OVKA rulebook, drivers who fail to participate in a Warm-Up session will start on the tail for the Pre-Final. Please review rules 306 & 308.2 in the OVKA Rule Book.
-As always, tinted helmet visors are not permitted on track after dusk. Please change to a clear or amber visor at the Race Director's announced time.
We hope to see you all out on August 19th, and welcome any visiting racers looking to join us at G&J Kartway!
View the upcoming board meeting agenda occurring Tuesday, August 1st at 7:00pm via Microsoft Teams
The OVKA Championship Season continues on August 5-6 with our final Double-Header weekend of the year on track configuration 1B!
Visit the Series Information page for the full rules and more! Come out and join us!
View the upcoming board meeting agenda occurring Tuesday, July 11th at 7:00pm via Microsoft Teams