MONTICELLO, Fla. — Veteran 4-cycle sprint racer Macon Moore has been fast on his No. 611 IONIC Edge Chassis thus far in 2023. This past weekend at Rounds 4 and 5 of the Cup Karts North America (CKNA) South Division at Monticello Karting in the Florida panhandle, the Louisiana driver was able to put all the pieces together and score his first CKNA win of the year on in Saturday’s Round 4 Senior Heavy final.
Racing against a short but strong 8-kart field with several top 206 Heavy drivers in attendance, Moore started out Saturday with a P4 qualifying effort and would advance from there. He’d finish P2 in both heat races and go on to win the 10-lap final in a hotly contested race against heat winners Aren Lloyd and Ron Klys. Moore and his Edge would best Lloyd for the win by a tight 0.103-second margin with Klys right behind in P3.
(Cup Karts South photo)
Moore spoke about his latest win and how the race played out.
“Ultimately, my plan was — because of the way that track works — was to sit somewhere in the top three and have myself in second for the last lap. Through the race I studied the guys I was racing with and planned the pass that I made,” Macon said.
On Friday’s practice day at Monticello, Moore tested the newest design of Kyle Luttrell’s IONIC Edge Chassis and he gave his thoughts on the kart and its handling.
“The new kart felt fast right out of the box,” Moore said. “I believe I can make it faster than the current Edge I’m running with some more time on it and tuning. I’m sure we can get more out of it.”
The Baton Rouge, La., native would continue his momentum into Sunday morning, netting the RLV Tuned Exhaust Products Heavy pole award before finishing a close P3 in the Round 5 heat and final.
Saturday’s win at Monticello came after Moore has been knocking on the door at recent CKNA races at Jacksonville, Fla., in January; Finishline Karting in Biloxi, Miss., in February; and the Spring Nationals at Charlotte Motor Speedway in early March.
At the Jacksonville Winter Nationals, Moore won the Senior Heavy pole award in an 18-kart field and finished top five in both heats before a disappointing DNF in the final.
He recorded solid finishes of P2 and P3 at the South Division’s Rounds 2 and 3 Senior Heavy finals at Biloxi, and went “purple” in both races with the fastest lap in each 14-lapper.
At Charlotte, Moore was one of the fastest drivers in the Heavy division at what’s considered the second biggest race of the year for 206 sprint.
After missing it in qualifying and timing P27 of 46, Moore and the IONIC Edge team went to work and made an outstanding comeback. The Cajun would advance 14 spots to finish P13 in heat one and move up another five positions to finish P8 in the second heat.
In the 16-lap Spring Nationals final, he’d advanced as high as P4 midway through the race and had a legitimate shot at a win until contact slowed his progress and relegated him to a 12th-place result. Despite the finish not indicating his Edge’s speed, Moore was one of the quickest Heavy racers in attendance, and his fast lap of 47.855 in the final was the second-fastest of the race, and only two one-thousandths of a second off winner Sean Meier’s quick time.
On the local level, Moore has been dominant at his home track, Moore Raceway Park in Lafayette, La., where he won every race he entered on his IONIC Edge in 2022. He also scored a recent win at Finishline in Biloxi at a Karting The Coast series event.
IONIC Edge Chassis would also like to welcome Richard Batts to the team. Batts recently purchased a new Edge and entered his first race on it at Monticello. He ran the Legends class, and finished 13th in Saturday’s Round 4 final.
Next on the schedule for the IONIC Edge Chassis team is a return to Carolina Motorsports Park’s 0.7-mile kart track April 28-30 for Cup Karts South’s final rounds of the 2023 season. Round 6 will take place Saturday, April 29 and Round 7 closes the series on the last day of April.
For information on IONIC Edge Chassis and support, contact Kyle Luttrell at 404-516-8934 or [email protected], visit the team’s official website at luttrellracing.com and like / follow IONIC Edge Chassis on Facebook.