LANCASTER – This weekend, residents, visitors, professional go-kart racers and their teams all converged on The BLVD for the third annual Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix. The event drew approximately 35,000 attendees to downtown Lancaster on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to enjoy the high-speed thrills and heart-pounding excitement of Grand Prix racing.
There were a few spills as the competitors vied for perfection in each race. On Saturday, during the Mayor’s Gold Cup Invitational, Mayor Parris flew around a hairpin turn and collided with a hay bale, flipping his kart.
“The whole point of a race is to get into the action, go full-throttle, and enjoy some healthy competition,” remarked Mayor Parris. “This time my main competition came in the form of a hay bale.”
After his spill, the mayor got up and finished his namesake race. The Mayor’s Gold Cup was won by Assemblyman Steve Knight, with BLVD developer Scott Ehrlich and Vice Mayor Ron Smith taking second and third respectively. Mayor Parris later made a visit to the hospital for an examination and precautionary observation.
The Mayor’s Gold Cup Invitational was one of several VIP and community races held through Friday and Saturday. The races included Guns and Hoses, BLVD Association, Commissioner, and Faith races, as well as The BLVD Champ series. The first-place winners were Brad Hunt, in the Faith race; Fabian Terracciano, in the Commissioners race; Mike Stafford, BLVD Association; Mike Berk, Guns and Hoses; with Dustin Pulliam winning the title of the 2011 BLVD Champ. The Vintage Karters also competed on Friday, showing off their old-school style vintage karts.
The crowds were riveted by the skills of the many professional racers tearing up the track on Saturday and Sunday. First-place winners were Daniel Langon, in the Pro Shifter class; Jimmy McNeil, in the S4 class; Anthony Sawyer, TaG Cadet; Steve Ryckebosch, TaG Master; Nathan Seegrist, TaG Junior; Shawn Cricca, TaG Senior; Jeffrey Dyer, Senior PRD.
This year’s racing extravaganza was sanctioned and coordinated by SuperKarts! USA (SKUSA.)
“The entire City staff has been a complete joy to work with. They just don’t know how to say no,” said SKUSA CEO Tom Kutscher. “When we walked the course layout together, I made quite a few recommendations as to how we could make improvements. The City got right on it, and as a result we had a very successful three-day event here in Lancaster.”
“Our partnership with SKUSA has allowed us to step things up and take this event to the next level. We appreciate the expertise which comes with their many years of experience in the go-kart industry,” said Mayor Parris.
In addition to the riveting action on the track, a street festival along The BLVD offered live music and entertainment, delicious food, kids’ go-karts, face painting, a rock climbing wall, and a cruise-in car show.
“The Grand Prix is a truly amazing event for our City. It provides a venue to bring residents together and build community, as well as bring visitors and business traffic to our rapidly-growing downtown area,” remarked Mayor Parris.
“So many people are a part of making the Grand Prix a success. We would like to thank Lancaster Honda and our many sponsors for their ongoing generous support of this event, as well as The BLVD businesses and local vendors. We’d also like to recognize SKUSA, for the marvelous job they did in organizing the racing. In addition, I want to personally thank our City staff—they were unbelievable. They dedicated many long hours and a lot of hard work to making this event extraordinary,” said City Manager, Mark V. Bozigian.
“Everyone did an excellent job coordinating the event,” stated Parris. “When the community comes together to put on a community event, it’s a beautiful thing.”
[Via press release from the City of Lancaster]
See sights from The Blvd on Saturday here.
Greta says
LOL! That is pretty funny video of Rex eating pavement! I love how he looks back at the end… Don’t worry Rex, you are now in last place! Perhaps someone should send it to America’s Funniest Home Video. Please note: I am only laughing because I know he is okay. Otherwise it would be pretty heartless…
AV Town Crier says
If they say they had 35000 then you better believe. They were just hidden by the ‘cloak of invisibility’ that’s all.
Gee, people, can’t we give them a little break here.
Matt Keltner says
You see, that’s the thing. They can’t…they just b*tch-b*tch-b*tch until the cows come home!
Scott Pelka says
35,000 people would fill Jethawk stadium up 6+ times…There is no way they saw any such crowds for all three days combined. They are just trying to justify the huge amount of money spent on this. And since it was so easy for Rex to flip over how dangerous was it for the kids to ride in these death traps. So irresponsible for the city do do this.
Scott Pelka says
35,000 No way. That number was an estimate from a press release sent out from the city. Just look at the photo… only a few hundred at the most as far as the eye can see, plus other photos on this site can back that statement up.
William says
That’s like those crowd estimates of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann rallies where ‘millions and millions’ showed up. Maybe, Rex can do like Fox News and show photos from another time when there were big crowds and PRETEND.