Barf's mini racer Season 2 - race reports (2024)

Looks like he is the perfect height to me.. at least from the pic..

Keep chasing the dream guys..! Lot of work, travel, tests and hopefully smiles!

Happy bday kiddo!

Round 7 - Redding Kart track.
Once again a new venue for the club and therefore all the racers and a good one too. We arrived Thursday night so Brenden could get maximum track time through the 3 days and in true Brenden style he was quickest right out of the gate on the Barf backed NSR50. He would stay that way right up till qualifying Saturday afternoon when Rocco got him by .12 for pole. We also had some welcome surprise racers show up. Bryan and Jordan Edgington, 16 year old Jordan has moved up to big bikes this year and is running a GSXR750 in AFM. He has already got an AFM race win under his belt along with a couple other podiums so he is a serious competitor after starting mini racing back in '03.
Brenden really put his Bridgestone tires to work this weekend and they were AWESOME. He's the only rider out there on DOT's yet he's always right at the top of the time sheets. Brenden even put his Safe-t Armour to work Sunday morning. I think he knows what I mean now when I tell him he has a new tire on and he needs to scrub it in. He went right out and tried to throw it into 1 and hit the pavement and thanks to all the right gear he got right back up and back on the bike.

Race 1: miniGP stock.
This is the NSR class and their are currently only 5 in the club. Brenden was in the number 2 spot on the grid but faltered on the start and slotted into 3rd. He was right on the tail of Fernando when into the the last corner Fernando hit the pavement. Brenden did exactly what I have tried to drill onto him and looked for his way around and didn't fixate on the downed rider. This brought out the red flag. On the restart Brenden got a better start and was right on Rocco. It became an individuals race for all 4 riders as they spread out and rode their own races, Brenden coming home in second and making up points on his team mate Cory. Now only 5 back for second in the class.
Race 2: MiniGP mod on the NSR.
This class was STACKED with fast riders. Rocco and Max on their KTM50's, Bryan and Jordan on their XR124's and then Brenden and Cory on their NSR's. Brenden and Cory gave up both HP to the KTM's and experience to the XR's and were slotted 5th and 6th on the grid, but that didn't stop them from putting up the big effort. Brenden slotted in behind Brian and went to school. Bryan is a master at "the good line" and Brenden was learning it. I have to say Brenden wasn't far off the exact line but made some lap time improvements non the less. Unfortunately for Bryan his breaks went away and Brenden quickly got around and set off after little Max but by this time he had taken his HP advantage and left. Brenden came home 4th today.

GP65 on the mighty Metrakit:
In this one Brenden was 3rd on the grid and almost 2 seconds off pole. But Jordan having the experience didn't mean Brenden was going to settle and was determined to make it a battle. Brenden did an AWESOME job trying to win this race. Even though Jordan had quailfied nearly 2 seconds faster than Brenden, B put up a great fight. He dropped his lap times right down there with Jordan and was never more than 4 bike lengths behind. He even closed right down a couple time just waiting for a mistake and ready to pounce. It didn't happen but he was ready for it. This was the best 2nd place Brenden has had and I couldn't have been more happy with his performance.

As always a BIG Thank you goes out to all Brenden's sponsors without which this wouldn't be possible. So thank you Barf mini racing and Budman.
Ace custom graphics. Thank you Mike.
Kniesels Collision centers.
Viet's performance for the AWESOME Bridgestone tire's. They truly work great every weekend. Thank you Lance and Jeff.
John Lorenz of flattrackers.com for the Amsoil products and for spear heading the raffle earlier this year.
Lucky8design.com Thanks uncle Darrell for the incredible Resume. Your the best.
Impact safe-t-armour for the chest and back protector that I tested once again this weekend.
GoPro cameras. Thanks Matt for supporting Brenden with the best sports camera on the planet.
Trench and traffic Safety. Thank you John and Bob for you support.
Local 3 operating engineers.
Tom Adler.

Round 8 back in Reno next month.

Here it is. The Round 8 race report.

Well, we went back to Reno for round 8 of the 10 round season. Brenden really likes this track and was excited to go back up there to race. We arrived late on Friday night, so late that the gates were closed and no one was awake to let us in. So back into Reno we trek and ended up sleeping in the parking lot at Grand Sierra. I don't recommend this by the way. BLAZING bright lights and busy all night long made for very little sleep.
We headed back out to the track at 7 am to my wife dislike since I woke her up so early. I made up for it though with a starbucks visit. You know what they say, keep the wife happy and everyones happy.
Saturday brought the normal run around. Me changing gearing, jetting and general clean up of the bikes so Sunday can run smoothly. The race director was new this weekend and so practice was a bit hecktic. But it got done and qualifying was in the afternoon.
Brenden did well at qualifying putting it on pole in the NSR stock class. This was the first time this season anyone has out qualified Rocco. He did get out qualified in GP65 by Fernando though. Fernando is now riding a Metrakit GP 70 pro series which has 4 more HP than Brenden's SP. You can both see it and hear it too. In The 50 Mod class Brenden qualified 3rd behind the lightning fast KTM50's. The are not only 100lbs lighter but have 3 more HP too.
Sunday,Sunday,Sunday.
Here we go folks.
First up - NSR stock.
Brenden lines up on pole and gets the holeshot. Rocco dumped the clutch and sent the front end to the sky but kept it upright and slotted into 3rd into T-1. Brenden held the lead for 4 laps but Rocco got around on lap 5. Brenden kept on the charge though and finish a close second.
Second race was 50 mod.
Once again Brenden is up on the BARF NSR50. He actually got a great start and almost the hole shot against the KTM's but little Max Toth snuck it in on him. MAn is this kid gettin FAST quickly. Rocco got through shortly after and Brenden had a lonely race for 3rd. He did make a mistake at one point and nearly ran off track which allowed Cory to close up. But Brenden quickly opened up the gap again and brought it home on the bottom step of the podium.
GP65
This is Brenden's favorite race of the day. He LOVES the mighty Metrakit and all it's HP. Brenden got the hole shot and that's all she wrote. Once again winning by 30 seconds and laying down his fastest laps of the weekend during the race.

We have to thank all of you that make this possible. So the rest of you please see the sponsors below and show them some love as they do for Brenden. Also a BIG thanks to the Wendy Toth. She bought Brenden a Safermoto vest this weekend when the rep came out to watch MinimotoUSA. Safety is always first and we thank her for helping Brenden be safe.
Pics to follow. Thanks for reading and supporting Barf's mini racer
P.S. congrasts to Anthony Alonso and Barf for the great success across the pond and at Red Bull rookies cup.

Kid ends the day with a big smiles on his his favorite bike.
Mom got a smile tx to a Bux run and likely B's run....

Dad should be happy for making everyone smile.

Keep it going D.

Oh.. yeah. We have another fast young man chasing his dreams.
Like Anthony with a solid family behind his passion.

I am betting he will be in the mix for success as he moves up.

So cool..all over again.

Round 9 - Atwater kart track. Barf mini race report

Well this weekend was a good one once again. We had very little practice time before qualifying on Saturday mainly due to a "green" track. The rain Monday through Wednesday had wiped all the rubber away and brought sand onto the track. All us dads and one mom were out there with brooms in all the corners trying to sweep it clean.
Qualifying came up quickly and everyone seemed to be off pace due to the slippery track. Brenden's teammate had a big crash 2/3rd's into the NSR class qualifier. His back end started to come around and then it stuck. BAM, highsided him off and he landed on his shoulder. His dad and I took got him iced and started heading for the Hospital. As we arrived I did another check, he had full range of motion and the adrenaline had subsided. He said he felt ok and wanted to go back. The kid is a trooper, he raced the next day and did well. Mondays doctor visit found a sprained shoulder.
Sunday came around and the racing began.
Race 1 - NSR stock
Brenden was 2nd on the grid and got a rocket hole shot. He held it for 4 of the 8 laps till Rocco slid it under him going into the bus stop. Rocco had quite a lead for a while but lap traffic got him and Brenden closed up but it was too late and Brenden came home 2nd.
Race 2 - GP65
Rocco actually out qualified Brenden on a flyer by .5 of a second. Brenden didn't let that stop him though and he once again got the hole shot and never looked back. Rocco kept him honest for the first couple laps but Brenden was able to open up a comfortable lead and bring it home on top of the box. That's his 6th win in this class this season. Boy does he love this bike.
Race 3 - MiniGP mod
Brenden qualified 3rd in this one against the lighning quick KTM's of Rocco and Max. Brenden almost got the hole shot once again but Max slipped under him at the last second and Rocco went around the outside right behind Max. Brenden kept the little KTM's right in his sights for the first few laps but they're just too fast and Brenden came home 3rd.
Race 4 - Formula Moto
Brenden's sponsor/mentor Tom Adler showed up and surprised Brenden on Sunday morning to race his wicked CR85. Man what a good looking bike and super fast. But the class only had 2 riders. I asked Stoney if Brenden could race it and he said he was going to put Rocco in there too, though that didn't happen. This is a 12 lap race. Brenden did a good job holding on for the first 7 laps but then the Cr85 and CRF150 started to gap him. He came home in 3rd. Notice I didn't say last though there were only 3 of them. Brenden had his head down and was trying hard. I think he did a great job and it was good for him to be out there pushing against the big bikes. Thanks Tom for coming and as always, talking to Brenden with words of encouragement. He truly loves it and we love having you there.
Over all a great weekend with no serious injury's to any of the kids = success. As always we couldn't do it without all of our sponsors and you all mean so much to us. THANK YOU
One more round Nov 9th - 11th at Buttonwillow. If you can make it please come watch the season finale. There will be festivities and the awards banquet on Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for reading and your support,

Dean and #44 Brenden Ketelsen

So here it is, the last race report of this the second season as BARF's mini racer. For those of you who looked in and read this year we appreciate it. Especially you Budman since most of the time it has only been you.
Round 10 : Buttonwillow kart track.
Since it was the season finale for both NorCal and SoCal, a double points round and the end of the year banquet on Sunday afternoon we ran a few races on Saturday. The only one for Brenden was the GP65 class.
Since he was already the Champ in this class he was on pole. He got what looked like an awesome holeshot and was already 8 bike lengths in front on the first lap when I see him get a black flag. He didn't understand and slowed up and allowed the group to close down on him. I waved him to go and he got back into it. He had jumped the start (by and inch) and had to come in for a stop and go. I ran over to the pit and waved him in. He went through and up to the race director (Stoney) but by this time the rest of the field had gone by. With 8 laps to go Brenden put his head down and ran some amazing laps. He was making passes where he normally would not and on the last lap coming onto the back straight he made a pass for the lead. Then it happened, the bike all but died. Apparently I had lost the clip that holds the plunger onto the float bowl and didn't know it. The bike temporarily starved out and 3 bikes went past. She came back alive and Brenden pushed hard through the last 6 corners and just narrowly missed out on 3rd by half a bike length. I was SO PROUD of him. I had never seen him want it so bad in his 4 years of racing. Everyone came over to congratulate him on his effort and said that was the best race of the season.
Sunday brought MiniGP stock up first. I told him if he finished well and wrapped up 2nd in the class he could race the next on which was Formula Moto against the big bikes. He did just that, he was last off the start . He said "I didn't want to jump again". But he was able to get around for 3rd on the first lap and then on the last lap a rider crashed and Brenden got 2nd by default.
Next up, Formula Moto:
Brenden was a late entry in this one and therefore was last on the grid. He tentatively left the start as the big bikes bunched up into T-1. Brenden was right in line though and on lap 3 made a pass on one of the CRF150's who crashed on that lap trying to catch Brenden back up, He would remount and was ok. By this time the lead 3 had quite a gap. Brenden put his head down though and with 2 to go was right on the heals of #37 Tom Adler on his wicked fast CR85. Brenden tried hard but just couldn't get it done and came home 4th once again. He did lay down the fastest laps of the race though even against the CRF150's, the cr85 and one RS85 on board his Metrakit gp70.
The 50 Mod class:
This was Brenden's 3rd race in a row, that's 32 laps straight with only a switch of a bike in between. Brenden got the hole shot in this one but couldn't hold off the KTM's on the back straight. This is where he would stay and came home 3rd. He did wrap up 2nd place in the class though.
So here is how the season ended up for your Barf mini racer in 2012.

GP65 on the Metrakit GP70 : Class Champion

MiniGP Stock on the Barf NSR50: 2nd in points

MiniGP mod also on the BARF NSR50: 2nd in points

In the overall club championship: 2nd

It was an awesome season. Brenden has really improved this year. He has had some awesome battles on the track with few crashes and thank goodness no serious injuries.
We would like to say a HUGE thank you to all of the sponsors below. You have truly made this season possible and we thank you. Brenden is looking forward to continue his winning ways next season and we hope you will be there with us once again.

You all ROCK!

Dean and #44 Brenden Ketelsen

I loaded a video and some pics from the weekend on Brenden's athlete page. You can check it out at Facebook.com/Ketelsen44 Be sure to like him while your there

Your son sounds like a true winner with true grit.
To learn at such a young age that a great personal effort may supersede his number 1 finishes in terms of satisfaction makes him a true star athlete.

Congrats to his season and to you for watching over him.

GP65 on the Metrakit GP70 : Class Champion

MiniGP Stock on the Barf NSR50: 2nd in points

MiniGP mod also on the BARF NSR50: 2nd in points

In the overall club championship: 2nd

Pretty damn nice!! Congrats D and B!!!
A good year.. ending with racing racing racing.. the kid had to get tired.

Growing fast.. growing faster.

With Season Two in the Books, I am going to be supporting Brenden in 2013 as much as possible again.

If you wish to help Brenden through the season, I am committed to put aside 5% of all orders now until the end of Season 3 to Brenden.

All you have to do is contact me here if you are seeking Moto-related items.
SHorai Battery, SUOMY (Dirt and Street) Full Line of Oneal Gear, Vortex Racing, Chains, Plugs, Oil (AMSOIL, BelRay, Lucas, KLOTZ, Maxima and castrol.

Looking to rebuild your Dirt bikes I have Wiesco, Ethena pistons and gasket sets. bearing and more.

Disclaimer: I am not a brick and mortar, all items are special order and take 1 - 5 days. Shipping is Free within 15 miles of 95037 and all items can be picked up as well.

Thanks Budman and John. The 2013 season is about to start. Here are the dates, please come out and watch if you can.

2013 SCHEDULE
SCHEDULE HAS CHANGED, PLEASE NOTE!
ROUND 1 – TOM DASH MEMORIAL SPEEDWAY – ATWATER CA – 5-7 APRIL 2013
ROUND 2 – WILLOW SPRINGS KART TRACK – ROSAMOND CA – 25-26 MAY 2013
ROUND 3 – SHASTA KART TRACK – REDDING CA – 14-16 JUNE 2013
ROUND 4 – GRANGE MOTOR CIRCUIT – APPLE VALLEY CA – 26-28 JULY 2013
ROUND 5 – WILLOW SPRINGS KART TRACK – ROSAMOND CA – 10-11 AUGUST 2013
ROUND 6 – TOM DASH MEMORIAL SPEEDWAY – ATWATER CA – 6-8 SEPTEMBER 2013
ROUND 7 – BUTTONWILLOW RACEWAY – BUTTONWILLOW CA – 18-20 OCTOBER 2013

Whehooo!!!

Go B!!!!

Rock it Dean. I mean I hope brenden rocks it and you enjoy every minute of it

Thanks Budman. Super excited to see the SupermotoUSA date only conflict with Minimoto one time too. So we should be able to make most of them also. Still trying to work on support issues but Brenden is looking forward to the season for sure. Here is the Supermoto dates.

Prairie City Kart Track
Prairie City SVRA — Sacramento, CA
April 13-14

Round 1 – Sonoma Raceway — Sonoma, CA
May 4-5

Round 2 –Sonoma Raceway — Sonoma, CA
June 15-16

Round 3 – Shasta Kart Track — Redding, CA
June 29-30

Round 4 –Sonoma Raceway — Sonoma, CA
August 3-4
Round 5 – All Dirt Race
Prairie City Dirt Track
Prairie City SVRA— Sacramento, CA
September 15-16

Round 6 - with World Superbike (tentative)
Laguna Seca Raceway —Monterey, CA
September 29-30

Round 7 – Prairie Kart Track — Prairie City SVRA, Sacramento, CA
October 12- 13

budman said:

GP65 on the Metrakit GP70 : Class Champion

MiniGP Stock on the Barf NSR50: 2nd in points

MiniGP mod also on the BARF NSR50: 2nd in points

In the overall club championship: 2nd

Pretty damn nice!! Congrats D and B!!!
A good year.. ending with racing racing racing.. the kid had to get tired.

Growing fast.. growing faster.

Click to expand...

That's quite an accomplishment, and a great way to end the Season. Congrats, B & D! Wishing you both another phenomenal 2014 season of racing This is great, Nor-Cal, and or Cali has surely produced some very talented kids in moto racing. We can only hope it will continue.