The second stop on the 2026 Cup Karts North America East Division took the program to the LaFayette Motorsports Park on July 3-5. The Lafayette, New York facility welcomed the third and fourth rounds of the championship program in a late move of location after issues forced the event to be relocated from Kelly’s Motorsports Park. Competitors, teams and staff celebrated the Fourth of July holiday all weekend in a three-day event. Saturday was met with weather delay with a two-hour delay during the Feature races due to storms in the area. The highlight on track was the five win performance by Christopher Wakefield.
All three Senior categories featured double digit entries, including Senior Medium at 19 as the largest class of the weekend. Both days were led by Christopher Wakefield, making his series debut on the season. A 35.065 lap time secured the RLV Fastest Qualifier award with a wire-to-wire win in the opening heat race. Wakefield battled with John Price in Heat Two before going green-to-checkered in the 10-lap. Levi Getz was second in his season debut as was Lucas Thek in third. Clay O’Brien and Brady Eickhoff rounded out the top five. Wakefield was quicker Sunday with a 34.598 to claim the RLV Fastest Qualifier award by more than two tenths. He then went unchallenged for the rest of the day, winning the heat race and driving away to lead all 20 laps for a 1.2 second margin of victory. Aidan Lourenco was second with AJ Roderick in third. Emily DeMaster and Getz, who recorded fast lap of the race, completed the top five.
The action in Senior Light was a battle all weekend long. Florida driver Lucas Thek claimed the RLV Fastest Qualifier award with a time of 35.642 with four drivers within 58 thousandths. Qualifying 13th, Christopher Wakefield drove up to the win in Heat One. Wakefield was shuffled back in Heat Two late as Ryan Suralik took the win over Thek. Suralik led the opening half of the Feature before a charging Wakefield took over. Wakefield led the second half of the race to claim the victory over Suralik and Aidan Lourenco. Thek was fourth with Round One winner Rian Kerl in fifth. Lourenco stepped up Sunday morning to claim the RLV Fastest Qualifier award over Ryan Mille and Thek. It was Thek that led the second half of the heat for the race win and pole position for the Feature. Thek and Lourenco exchanged the lead over the first 16 laps until Wakefield took control. He would lead the final three laps to claim a second victory in the category. Lourenco and Thek joined him on the podium with Kerl fourth and Miller fifth.
It was a near sweep of the weekend for Wakefield in Senior Heavy. Wakefield earned RLV Fastest Qualifier award with a 36.010 lap time and led every lap of the two heat races. He was pulling away from the field in the Feature, leading the first eight laps until a mechanical issue put him on the sideline. This promoted Brady Atwood to the lead and the victory, a third straight on the year. Jason Zobkiw was second with Cooper Van Horne in third. David Lamphere and Kloe MacKenzie completed the top five. Wakefield stormed back on Sunday, claiming the RLV Fastest Qualifier award by over two tenths before winning the heat race by over four seconds. The Sunday Feature was all Wakefield, earning fast lap of the race in a four-second margin of victory. Atwood was second with Logan Hickman standing on the podium in third. Van Horne and MacKenzie rounded out the top five.
Junior class was first in the order on the weekend, featuring 12 drivers on the weekend with two different winners. Trevor King opened the event with the Saturday RLV Fastest Qualifier award, edging Paulie Hart by only 13 thousandths. King slipped down the order in the opening heat as Hart drove to the win. Hart was the winner on track in Heat Two with a penalty dropping him to second, giving King the win. The two were at the front early until Hart was shuffled back to fourth. He would work his way back forward, taking the lead on lap 11. From there, Hart showed way to victory. King was second with Wyatt Fink in third. Will Crites was fourth with Sydney Miller placing fifth, recording the fast lap of the race. New names were at the front on Sunday with Fink securing the RLV Fastest Qualifier award by 40 thousandths over King. Fink led all 12 laps of the heat race with Hart second and King third. Alex Miller was fourth in the heat and drove up to battle for the lead in the Feature with Hart. The two exchanged the top spot multiple times over the 20 laps. By lap 18, Miller secured the position and led the final two laps for his first victory of the season. Fink improved to second with Hart ending up third. Charlie Marron and King completed the top five.
The win streak continues for Tim Stiefel in the Legends class, but not without a fight both days. James Inscoe was the RLV Fastest Qualifier award winner for Saturday qualifying, clearing the seven driver field by two tenths. Both Insoce and Stiefel were a DNS in Heat One to allow Eric King to score the win. King led all 10 laps of Heat Two with Inscoe and Stiefel driving up to second and third. All three led over the 15-lap Feature with King at the point for the first six laps. Inscoe led for four laps before Stiefel took control for the final five circuits to claim a third victory. Inscoe was second with Michael Mazga slipping by King for the third step on the podium. The pace continued for Stiefel going into Sunday with the RLV Fastest Qualifier award. Inscoe was able to take advantage of Stiefel slipping down the order early in the heat race to take the win. Stiefel ended up fourth and ran there until about the halfway point of the Feature. Inscoe led and remained there until the final lap when Stiefel was second. On the final circuit, Stiefel grabbed the lead, and earned his fourth win on the season. Inscoe settled for second with Michael Gaulin in third.
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All three younger categories featured double winners. Sportsman was led by Kyle Cameron. Jacoby Livingston and Logan McCloskey were the top drivers to begin Saturday. Livingston was the RLV Fastest Qualifier award winner while two-time race winner McCloskey came away with the heat race wins. Cameron came from the tail of the eight driver field, taking the lead from McCloskey on lap six, leading the rest of the distance for the victory. McCloskey settled for second with John Dwyer into the third spot. McCloskey came back on Sunday for the RLV Fastest Qualifier award and the win in the heat race. Cameron fought for the spot late but came up short by 67 thousandths at the line. Cameron once again found himself at the tail of the field at the opening of the Feature. McCloskey led before Charlie Connard took the lead for the first time. It was for only two laps as Cameron was up to the point by lap 12. McCloskey took back the position for one lap but it was Cameron lead the rest of the distance for the victory. McCloskey was runner-up once again as Connard claimed the third spot on the podium.
It was a near sweep of the weekend for Cole Lamphere in his season debut in the Cadet class. Levi Shepker was the RLV Fastest Qualifier award winner for Saturday with Lamphere third in the session. From there, Lamphere dominated the two heat races and led all 15 laps to record a 6.2-second margin of victory. Two-time race winner Wyatt Berelsman was second with Clark McGruder in third after Shepker retired after one lap. Sunday was a complete sweep by Lamphere. He cleared the field by three tenths for the RLV Fastest Qualifier award before leading all 12 laps of the Heat and 20 laps of the Feature, winning by eight seconds. Berelsman was runner-up again with Harper Greer moving up to third for a first podium result of the season.
Multiple drivers were at the front in the Kid Kart division, led at the end of each day by Dawson McCloskey. Round One winner Hudson Hendler was the RLV Fastest Qualifier award winner to begin Saturday before Round Two winner Sylas Lynn drove to the win in both heat races. McCloskey was able to jump to the lead at the start of the Feature, leading all 10 laps for the victory. Hendler was second with Tyler Rollins up to third. Eli Haggard found speed overnight to clear the field by over two tenths for the RLV Fastest Qualifier award on Sunday. McCloskey was second before grabbing the heat race win, and then led all 20 laps of the Feature to complete the double win weekend. Haggard was second with Lynn in third.
The series finale for the Cup Karts North America East Division is set for August 29-30 at the New Jersey Motorsports Park. The Millville, New Jersey facility will welcome the program for a two-day, two round event to decide the 2026 series champions
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