FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Dustin Heath claimed one of the richest prizes in indoor go-kart racing by winning Saturday night’s second annual John Limbacher Memorial, held as part of the 21st annual Rumble in Fort Wayne.
The 20-lap feature for the Clone 360 division headlined a full day of racing for the go-kart and quarter midget fields inside the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, with winners crowned in 13 classes.
Heath made his move for the top spot on a lap-nine restart, following a slowdown for a wayward wheel in turns one and two. He got a run on leader Zach Axlen coming to the green flag and worked to Axlen’s inside through the first pair of corners.
It was exiting turn two that chaos broke loose. Axlen and Heath made contact at the exit of the turn, which sent Axlen spinning around backward and hard into the outside wall on the backstretch.
Heath was able to continue without stopping and went on to the win, worth $2,000, while Axlen had to fight back through the field and ultimately ran fourth behind Heath, Josh McKnight and Shawn Kluck.
Dustin Lundgren completed the top five.
After the race, Heath was somewhat apologetic about his move for the win, noting that he never meant to get into Axlen.
“I never want to have contact with Zach like that; he’s my buddy and we always race each other real respectful,” said Heath. “Tonight I felt like he might have been better than I was, so I had to make my move when I had the chance to. I got a good run on the start and took it.”
Axlen didn’t quite see the incident from the same point of view, however.
“I guess the guy behind me did what he had to do to win; he just drove in there behind me on that restart and took me out,” said a frustrated Axlen. “This is one of my favorite races to come to and to have it end like this is really disappointing. I’m optimistic, though. Hopefully the extra money will start bringing in some more go-karts and we can really make some nice things happen.”
The race was created in honor of the late John Limbacher, who passed away just prior to the 2017 Rumble and was a tremendous supporter of the annual indoor event.
“This is a great moment for me. I actually grew up with the Limbacher family,” Heath noted. “John’s son Jon is still a great buddy of mine, so to win this race is really cool and one I’ll remember for a long time. It’s definitely my biggest win here in Fort Wayne, for sure.”
In other karting action, Matt Dove (400 Clone), Sam Weaver (Senior Champ), Tristan Chamberlain (Junior Sportsman), Donny Schatz’s niece Amelia Eisenschenk (Junior 3) and Knox Carmin (Kid Karts) also picked up feature victories.
Brian Rundstrom Jr. (Light 160), Colson Gray (Heavy 120), Mason Hoskins (Heavy 160), Kanon Posey (Junior Honda), Landon Hathaway (Senior Honda) and Taylor Nibert (Animal) each visited victory lane during the quarter midget portion of Saturday’s program.
To view complete race results, advance to the next page.
