SALISBURY, N.C. – After winning his first Open division feature at Millbridge Speedway over the summer, Colby Horn set his expectations high for the inaugural Keith Kunz Motorsports Giveback Classic presented by Toyota Racing Development.
Those high expectations took a step towards being realized on Tuesday night, when Horn set the overall fast time in qualifying over the 67-kart Open division field for the historic event.
Horn powered his No. 22h entry to a lap of 10.2652 seconds (58.450 mph) around the one-sixth mile oval during Flight B of two-lap time trials, topping reigning QRC Open winner Tyler Seavey’s time of 10.2711 seconds set during Flight A earlier in the program.
The 14-year-old from Longview, Texas, was speechless after climbing from his car, struggling to pull his thoughts together on the victory lane stage as he soaked in the moment.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Horn admitted. “When we started three months ago on this journey and my dad told me that we were going to be able to do this … I never dreamed starting it off this strong. I was talking to Mike Wheeler before qualifying, and he told me to put down a solid lap and take it to the house, but I didn’t think it would be that solid.
“I didn’t really expect the lap to be what it was, honestly,” he added. “When I pulled my car into the line for the scales, I thought I didn’t make weight, and then someone told me I was fast time overall. It was just a surreal feeling and something I’ll remember for a long time. Now we want to build on it.”
Seavey, who was second-quick overall and led Flight A qualifications, both tipped his cap to Horn and remained confident about his own chances for Wednesday night’s 50-lap, $2,000-to-win finale.
“Our lap felt pretty good there,” noted Seavey. “I think that all we needed to do tonight was get ourselves in good position for our heat, and we did that, so now we start fourth on Wednesday with a shot at it. Hopefully we can get into the pole shuffle and beat this little guy ahead of me.”
Kyle Hossfeld was third-overall at 10.3160 seconds, set during Flight A, while Caden Kvapil (10.3444, B) and four-time track champion Tom Hubert’s nephew Michael Hubert (10.3541, A) completed the top five on the speed charts.
Reigning Saturday Open division title-winner Andrew Wehrli ended up sixth-fastest on the overall time sheets after leading the way during Monday night’s three-hour open practice session.
Heat races for the KKM Giveback Classic will take the green flag at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening.
QUALIFYING RESULTS: KKM Giveback Classic; Millbridge Speedway; Oct. 30, 2018
Qualifying Flight A: 1. #91 – Tyler Seavey, 10.2711; 2. #5L – Kyle Hossfeld, 10.3160; 3. #30H – Michael Hubert, 10.3541; 4. #36 – Mikenzi Whittaker, 10.3754; 5. #84 – Dillon Latour, 10.3844; 6. #71w – Dylan Smith, 10.3851; 7. #13 – Bricen James, 10.3985; 8. #2x – Max Mittry, 10.4188; 9. #02 – Ethan Mitchell, 10.4400; 10. #8c – Anissa Curtice, 10.4740; 11. #3 – Karsyn Elledge, 10.5179; 12. #1w – Mike Wheeler, 10.5392; 13. #11x – Brent Crews, 10.5613; 14. #82 – Dayne Amyx, 10.6172; 15. #4 – Mariah Ede, 10.6179; 16. #55D – Dawson Hammes, 10.6205; 17. #3F – Scott Fox, 10.6358; 18. #49 – Briley Pompe, 10.6500; 19. #19 – Pierce Urbanosky, 10.6721; 20. #5K – Kyle Tellstrom, 10.6859; 21. #20 – Andrew Neff, 10.6882; 22. #69 – Richard Cisney, 10.7507; 23. #21K – Sean Knox, 10.7530; 24. #13* – Casey Starr, 10.7956; 25. #55K – Wesley Knox, 10.8658; 26. #15C – Carter Chevalier, 10.9147; 27. #78 – Dwan Harris, 11.0464; 28. #18 – Gracie Sonntag, 11.0519; 29. #77H – Jerrod Huisenga, 11.0963; 30. #70 – Nick Brand, 11.1980; 31. #22r – Brody Sim, 11.2772; 32. #45 – Lucas Pejakovich, 11.2838; 33. #2 – Wyatt Brown, 11.3612; 34. #$5 – Emilee Lowry, 11.5517
Qualifying Flight B: 1. #22h – Colby Horn, 10.2652; 2. #35K – Caden Kvapil, 10.3444; 3. #54 – Andrew Wehrli, 10.3573; 4. #86J – Jesse Colwell, 10.3642; 5. #35 – Carson Kvapil, 10.3689; 6. #60L – Landon Brooks, 10.3872; 7. #6 – Clark Houston, 10.3930; 8. #33 – Joey Robinson, 10.4114; 9. #57 – Daniel Whitley, 10.4230; 10. #9B – Brandon LaChance, 10.4444; 11. #09 – Tyler Letarte, 10.4570; 12. #18T – Tanner Holmes, 10.4572; 13. #77x – Jake Park, 10.4875; 14. #42x – Chase Majdic, 10.5363; 15. #83 – Jett Hays, 10.5565; 16. #53B – Tanner Brown, 10.5619; 17. #45 – Nick Sheridan, 10.5984; 18. #151 – Duke Johnson, 10.6073; 19. #1m – Shane Marquez, 10.6590; 20. #37 – Eric Scofield, 10.6679; 21. 199 – Christian Osborne, 10.6754; 22. #33t – Tyler Driever, 10.7259; 23. #30 – Casey McClain, 10.7501; 24. #5 – Mike Madill, 10.7881; 25. #42s – Richard Sutton, 10.8087; 26. #1mc – Mallorie Mcgahan, 10.8264; 27. #53m – Sean Robbins, 10.9081; 28. #68 – Landon Ellis, 10.9526; 29. #51 – Chaz Woodward, 10.9685; 30. #57m – Charlie McDonnell, 11.0094; 31. #98 – Kaleb Wyrick, 11.2697; 32. #42 – Christian Osborne, NT; 33. #11 – Alex Bodine, NT.
