Tuesday, October 3, 2006

MSOKC Race No. 11 - September 24, 2006 - Two in a Row

Originally sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 11:13 PM

NEWS – Race No. 11 of the 2006 MSOKC season was a week ago Sunday. We've had another race since then – the second of three on consecutive weekends – so I'll make this short. Henry had new tires and we decided to go back to the Briggs Raptor engine for Conor.

PRACTICE – In spite of some dampness on the track from showers the night before, Henry ran 45-flats in the first practice session and mid 44s in his second, so the new tires were definitely doing the trick. Conor was back in the sub-50 range, but all day we had to deal with the significant oil leak that his Raptor has developed. Peter was a bit more tentative with the dampness, but managed to work into mid 58s in his second practice session.

ROOKIE BOX – Peter started last (of six) in his first heat. He made his way to fourth at the start and made another pass on Lap 2 to bring him up to third. He spent the next four laps trying to find his way around a relative new-comer who is quickly coming up to speed. He finally got around on Lap 5 and finished second. In his second heat, starting from the pole position, he made a great start and led from start to finish. He benefited from traffic that kept the only other kart that may have presented a challenge at bay. In the feature, again starting from the pole, he made another great start and led handily for the first few laps. He them began to receive pressure from behind. He responded with a string of laps in the sub-57 second range with a best of 57.24. On the last lap, on the last turn, the kart behind made a lunge down the inside, but came up about a foot short (0.038 sec). This gave Peter his second feature race win in a row and his third of the season.

JR. UNRESTRICTED – The fast guy in Conor's class was away at a Great Lakes Sprint Series race a week ago Sunday (where he won one of the classes he competes in and finished second in the other three), so Conor's class consisted of only two karts. The race director decided to combine Conor's class with the class he competed in last year, since some of them were away at the GLSS race, too. Conor started both heats and the feature on the front row and led every lap. The only question was whether or not he would lap any of the karts in the other class. He came close in the feature. His lap times with his Raptor, the best of which was a 48.81, were about a second to a second-and-a-half better than the previous race with his restricted Briggs Animal.

80cc SHIFTER – Henry class consisted of eight karts. He started the first heat from the sixth position. He dropped a position at the start but made passes on each of the first three laps to bring him up to fourth. He lost a spot on the next lap while trying to find a way around the kart in front of him and finished fifth. Starting third in the second heat, Henry got away well and ran in third for the first five laps. With only faster karts in front of him, he recorded a string of laps in the mid 44 second range (best of 44.39). He was passed on the last lap and finished fourth. Starting fourth in the feature, he again made a good start to hold his position. He made a pass into third on Lap 2 only to loose it to another kart on Lap 3. He ran in fourth for most of the feature, but his lap times started to fall off towards the end. I later figured out that we have been running too much air pressure in Henry's front tires. While this makes them come up to temperature more quickly, they loose their performance towards the end of a long run. Henry lost a position on Lap 9 and finished in fifth.

NEXT RACE – All three boys solidified their positions in the championship. With Peter's second win in a row, he even increased his chances of moving up. The next race – a make-up race for a rain-out earlier in the season – was last Sunday. The final race of the season is next Sunday, October 8, 2006, where 20 bonus points towards the championship are on the line.

Bill

Lap times and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=169441