When asked about his thoughts going into the upcoming season, Kyle Batty kept it short and simple – “Can’t wait. Let’s bang ’em up.”

It’s easy to see why Batty is excited, though, as he is coming off a career season which saw him score six feature victories en route to finishing second in points to Tim Norris.

“Our team had an excellent 2016 season,” he told Short Track Musings. “I won a handful of features and my brother, Tim, had a great sophomore year with a bunch of top 5 finishes. We had some mechanical issues we will be better prepared for this year.”

The season included close battles, such as taking the lead from Mike Westwood on a late restart at Flamboro in July, to dominating at Sauble Speedway in June after taking the lead on Lap 5. Though for Beatty, it’s the pair of wins at Sunset Speedway and Full Throttle Motor Speedway that stand out from the year.

“At Full Throttle we had electrical issues so I wasn’t able to finish either heat races,” he recalled. “Finally sorted it out in time for the feature but I dumped it into the grass early on… but thankfully it was a 50 lapper so I managed to come back for the win. And Velocity… because it’s Velocity.”

Now on the heels of success, the driver of the No. 38 Cornerstone Account & Tax Service / B&B Backyards entry is focused on going for the championship this year.

“I’ve been racing Pro Challenge eight years and never cared much for points racing,” he said. “But this year we’re going for the championship. We’re going to be focused on being more consistent not necessarily winning features.”

The Pro Challenge schedule has been out for awhile, and one of the tracks which has caught Batty’s attention is the addition of Peterborough Speedway to the schedule.

“We tested there a handful of times last year but I never got to race there,” he said. “The car was a rocket so I’m really looking forward to competing there.”.