Monday, August 25, 2008

2008 Commercial Point Grand Prix and Zoom-Zoom Nationals

NEWS – MSOKC Race No. 9 was this past weekend, which made six days of kart racing in a span of 15 days for us. The 2008 Commercial Point Grand Prix was a two day event on August 9-10. Both Henry and Conor participated. The following weekend, Conor participated in Round 5 of the World Karting Association George Kugler/Bridgestone Manufacturer’s Cup Series Driven By Mazda (a.k.a. the Zoom-Zoom Nationals) at New Castle Motorsports Park in New Castle, Indiana, which was a three day event. If you count the day we spent at Circleville Raceway Park doing rental karts with some of Peter’s friends for his birthday celebration, that makes seven days of karting in the past 15.

COMMERCIAL POINT GRAND PRIX – The CPGP is a street race through the town of Commercial Point, Ohio, that benefits the Jackson Township Fireman's Association. As in previous years, qualifying and merchandise races were on Saturday and trophy and a 'pro' race for Henry were on Sunday.

80cc SHIFTER – Henry’s class consisted of 10 karts. Prior to the first practice session, we switched to the gear ratio that Henry used last year and narrowed the rear track to cope with a racing surface with very little rubber laid down. Henry was pleased with his setup and we made very few additional changes during the remainder of the weekend. Lap times from the second practice session set the starting order for the 15 lap merchandise races on Saturday. Henry’s best lap (32.411 seconds) was fourth fastest in his class but only 0.002 seconds faster than the fifth place kart. Henry got a good start in his merchandise race and ran in fourth for the first two laps. Two karts muscled their way past on Lap 3. On Lap 12, the second place kart became confused during a local yellow flag incident and assumed the checked flag had flown. He pulled off on the next lap, which promoted Henry to fifth, which is where he finished. Starting from fifth in his trophy race on Sunday, Henry got away a little bit slowly but was back up to fifth by Lap 2. He gained another position when one of the karts in front of him pushed too hard and ended up in the hay bales. He ran in fourth to the finish. Finishing positions from the trophy races set the starting order for the 20 lap pro race. Henry got away well again and ran in fourth for the first six laps. The two leaders pulled away and Henry was the meat in a three kart sandwich. On Lap 7 Henry made a good run through Turn 6 and was able to make a pass at the end of the long front straightaway, where speeds approach 75 mph in this class. Henry’s engine had developed a slight misfire at high rpm on Saturday. We made some changes that seemed to correct the problem early on Sunday, but the misfire returned late in Henry’s pro race. He adjusted by short-shifting a bit, but he was not able to pull away from is two closest pursuers. He was fast enough to hold on to third position, however, which earned him a cool $100 in prize money.

YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – Conor raced in the CPGP in 2006 before the track layout was shortened from a 0.6 mile nine turn circuit to a very fast 0.5 mile six-turn circuit. The karts in his class this year are much faster than his previous class and there are a lot more of them – 10 for the CPGP. Conor tends to acclimate quickly however, which was evident in practice and qualifying. His qualifying time (34.151) earned him the pole position for his merchandise race by nearly half a second. Unlike our club races where this class uses a rolling start, the CPGP uses a Le Mans style start there the karts line up at an angle along the side of the track and start from a dead stop. Conor’s kart did not get away well and the second place starter was the first to reach Turn 1. Conor was right on his tail for the first eight lap and was finally able to make a pass for the lead at the end of the long front straightaway on Lap 9. These two had established quite a lead by that point. Conor pulled out a bit of a lead over the second place kart and held on for a comfortable victory. In spite of strategy discussions and a clutch adjustment, the start of Conor’s trophy race on Sunday was a carbon copy of his start on Saturday. It only took him two laps to make a move at the end of the long front straightaway this time, however. From where I stood for the races all weekend, you can’t see the karts again until they re-appear in Turn 6. I was surprised to see Conor still in second the next time around, but even more surprised to see a different leader! I later learned that the previous leader had tried to re-pass Conor in Turn 3 and ended up in the hay bales. This slowed Conor a bit, which let the other kart get by. There was a red flag incident on Lap 5 for another kart that went into the hay bales hard. This bunched everyone back up at the re-start. Two laps after the re-start, Conor again rounded Turn 6 in second, but again there was a different leader! I’m still not sure how this happened, and it doesn’t really matter, because the next time around, Conor was in the lead. The previous leader had dropped to third, which allowed Conor to open up a gap over the next few laps. The second and third place karts switched places on lap 12, but Conor managed the gap to perfection, pushing just hard enough to claim a clean sweep for the weekend. A local video journalist for WBNS 10TV News followed Conor around all day on Sunday. The 90 second segment aired Sunday evening. In addition to some nice coverage of Conor's trophy race, it focused on the family-based nature of kart racing. The segment can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iby9mrGS6Z8.

ZOOM ZOOM NATIONALS – We had decided prior to the CPGP that we would enter Conor in the final WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series event of the season. NCMP is a beautiful kart racing facility located about 30 miles east of Indianapolis. Our primary objective was to learn as much as we could and to have Conor experience racing with the fastest guys in the country in his class. Conor and I left Friday morning at 6:00 AM for the Friday practice day and Peter and Laura joined us on Saturday. Saturday’s line up included the ‘Heavy’ version of Conor’s class (320 lbs minimum) and Sunday included the ‘Lite’ version (305 lbs). There were 47 karts entered in Conor’s class each day. The top 25 from the timed qualifying session transfer to the main and the remainder go to the ‘last chance qualifier”, which is a six lap consolation race. The top five from the LCQ transfer to the main, making up the 30 kart field. Our goal for both days was to make it into the main. When we arrived on Friday, we were assigned a factory technician from Margay (Conor’s chassis manufacturer) to help us with setup and anything else we needed. Conor did well acclimating to the new track and our setup wasn’t too bad. On Saturday, Conor posted the 24th fastest qualifying time, which put him into the main event. In his pre-final, which would set the starting positions for the main, he advanced to 19th on Lap 1 and to 14th on Lap 2. Most of this was due to attrition, but he seemed to be finding his groove. He lost a position on the next lap and then fell to 28th when he dropped a wheel into the dirt in the corner leading onto the very long back straightaway. The ‘draft’ is big at New Castle, and if you don’t get a good run leading up to the long straightaway, you get passed like you are standing still. He wasn’t able to recover from this and ended up finishing 29th. In the main, he made up a few positions before becoming involved in an incident that resulted in a bent steering spindle, after which he had to drop out. We thought we had made some positive changes for Sunday, but in qualifying, the best Conor could do was 36th. This put him into LCQ, which turned out to be a good thing. Starting 7th, he made his way up to as high as 2nd before finishing 4th, which again put him into the main. This was a big confidence boost for Conor, who is not used to finishing in the back of the pack. He made up several places in the pre-final, which still put him near the back for the start of the main. The first few laps of the main again went well, but he again found himself involved in an incident. This time, the nose of his kart was deranged. We had talked beforehand about just completing all 12 laps, which he did, albeit at the rear with no one to draft with. So, we met our goal of qualifying for the main both days, and learned a lot in the process which was our objective. Hopefully, some of what we learned will benefit us during the final four Mid Start of Ohio Kart Club races of the season.

NEXT RACE – MSOKC Race No. 9 was this past weekend (details to follow). Both Peter and Conor entered Race No. 9 leading the championship in their classes, but a lot can happen in four races. In the mean time, Peter and Conor have started back to school (7th and 10th grade, respectively). Race No. 9 was the last race of the season for Henry, who is getting prepared to head off to college at the end of the month.

Bill

p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=341467 and http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=346565

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Local News Coverage of Commercial Point Grand Prix

A video journalist followed us around on Sunday during the Commercial Point Grand Prix. The 90 second segment aired Sunday evening. In addition to some nice coverage of Conor's feature race, it focused on the family-based nature of kart racing. The segment can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iby9mrGS6Z8

Full coverage of our CPGP will follow soon.

Bill

Monday, August 4, 2008

Schedule for 2008 Commercial Point Grand Prix

The schedule for the 2008 Commercial Point Grand Prix, which is August 9 and 10, 2008, is shown below. Conor's class is 'Yamaha Jr.' and Henry's class is '80cc Shifter'.

2008 Commercial Point Grand Prix
Schedule of Events

Saturday
7:00 a.m Gates Open
8:00 a.m Registration opens
10:15 a.m Drivers Meeting
11:00 a.m- 2:30 p.m Open Practice by class. 2 rounds second round as qualifier
2:30 p.m-3:30 p.m Flags of Honor and National Anthem
3:30 p.m Merchandise Races Start
1. Kid Karts
2. Briggs Animal Med.
3. T.A.G
4. Yamaha Super Can Lite
5. Yamaha Jr.
6. 125 Shifter
7. Briggs Animal Hvy
8. Yamaha Jr. Sportsman
9. Yamaha Can Hvy
10. 80cc Shifter
11. Rental Kart Class
Merchandise awards to follow

Sunday
7:00 a.m Gates Open
8:00 a.m Registration Opens
8:30 a.m Drivers briefing
9:00 a.m – 11:00 a.m Open Practice by Class, one round
12:00 p.m –Trophy Races
1. Kid Karts
2. Briggs Animal Med.
3. T.A.G
4. Yamaha Super Can Lite
5. Yamaha Jr.
6. 125 Shifter
7. Briggs Animal Hvy
8. Yamaha Jr. Sportsman
9. Yamaha Can Hvy
10. 80cc Shifter
1/2 hour break following Trophy Races Pro Races to follow
1. T.A.G Pro Race
2. Yamaha Can Hvy Pro Race
3. 80cc Shifter Pro Race
4. Briggs Animal Hvy Pro Race
Following Pro Races, Awards Ceremony

Bill

Friday, August 1, 2008

MSOKC Race No. 8 – July 26, 2008 – Disaster Averted

NEWS – We spent the week preceding Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club Race No. 8 in Kansas City visiting family after having taken Conor to Iowa City to see Dr. Menezes. Much to his delight, Dr. Menezes received his very own full-size version of Conor’s ‘Ice Man’ poster. Henry decided to stay in Kansas City with Laura for a few extra days (we had taken two cars – a long story), so Race No. 8 was a two kart affair for Bruce Brothers Racing, and the first that Laura has missed since we began this adventure in 2003. Peter’s original set of Bridgestone tires are in good shape but Conor’s were marginal. Although we have a new set for him in the trailer, we decided to try to get another race out of his original set, which turned out to be a big mistake. It ended up working out okay in the end, but it made for a frustrating evening of racing. Race No. 8 had been scheduled as a normal heat race format event but was changed to qualifying format to make up for problems experienced with the AMB timing system from Race No. 7.

PRACTICE – Race No. 8 was a Saturday night event under the lights at Circleville Raceway Park. We arrived at the track about an hour early to allow Conor to break in his d engine and clutch, which had both been freshly rebuilt. Peter and Conor are now almost identical in height and weight, so this also allowed us to have Conor take a few laps in Peter’s kart. Conor was about a second per lap faster than Peter and he suggested some changes to make Peter’s kart faster. We tried some of these, but they didn’t seem to suit Peter’s driving style, so we migrated back to his original setup throughout the day. Conor’s engine break-in was straightforward, but it took a while to get the clutch engagement speed set correctly. Saturday was hot and humid, so lap times for everyone seemed to be down a bit from what they had been. The exception to this was one kart in Conor’s class, who had bolted on a new set of tires for the final practice session and went about a second per lap faster than everyone else. Conor complained of a lack of front end grip, which was preventing him from turning into the corners effectively (i.e., he had a big ‘push’). This set us off on a series on radical chassis changes that seemed to have an incremental beneficial effect, but never did get us to where we wanted to be. Once the qualifying sessions begin, the rules prevent changing tires, so we were stuck at that point.

BRIGGS SPORTSMAN – There were three karts in Peter’s class again on Saturday. Peter easily had the fastest lap time in his qualifying session, which put him on the pole for the start of his heat race. The outside position on the front row is sometimes a better place to be at CRP. To prevent the ‘slingshot effect’ coming out of Turn 10 by the outside pole sitter, Peter brought the ‘field’ around very slowly for the start, and only mashed the throttle after everyone was fully onto the front straightaway. This worked perfectly and Peter led his heat race from start to the finish, but the margin of victory was only 1.55 seconds after six laps. Peter was able repeat this performance under the lights in his feature race, which was shortened from 10 to 8 laps to make up for a rain delay earlier in the day, resulting in another perfect 1-1-1 day of racing. His margin of victory in the feature was a slightly more comfortable 2.15 seconds

YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – There were 10 karts in Conor’s class on Saturday. Conor’s practice lap times weren’t looking so hot, so we were a bit anxious about the qualifying session, which was split into two groups of five karts each. Conor went out in the first group and could do no better than the fourth fastest time. Fortunately, no one in the second group could do any better, so fourth is where Conor started his heat race. He was able to improve to third at the start, but then came under pressure from the fourth place kart on Lap 3. While doing his best to maintain his position, Conor locked up the rear brakes entering Turn 3 on Lap 4 and had a lazy spin. He lost four positions in the process but was able to make one up on Lap 6 to finish sixth. A fourth and a sixth place finish were somehow good enough for a fourth place feature race starting position. Sometimes it takes a few laps around the oval to get this many karts lined up properly for the start and sometimes it doesn’t. The flagman liked what he saw the second time around and threw the green flag, apparently to the surprise of the pole sitter (and Conor’s main championship rival). Fortunately, Conor was lined up in the other row, one kart back . Conor was not only able to get around the third place starter, he was able to pull along side the pole sitter through Turns 1 and 2. This put Conor on the inside for Turn 3. Conor held his line, but the pole sitter refused to yield and ended up spinning through the grass as the result. This action also separated Conor and the leader from the pack by a small margin, which was all that Conor needed to hold on to second place all the way to the finish. What could have been a disaster of a day for Conor (championship-wise) ended up turning out okay. And, his new tires were saved for another race day…

NEXT RACE – Next up for Bruce Brothers Racing is the Commercial Point Grand Prix (http://www.cpgrandprix.com/), a race through the streets of the village of Commercial Point, Ohio, on August 9-10, 2008. There are classes for Henry and Conor, but no class for Peter again this year. Conor will race on Saturday and Sunday and Henry will race on Saturday and twice on Sunday. This really is a fun event, so if you have an inclination, I would encourage you to attend. Admission is free, but pit passes are required for access to the behind-the-scene activities (us eating lunch, etc.). There are food vendors, beer wagons, etc., and all proceeds benefit the Scioto Township Firemen’s Association. Commercial Point is located about 13.5 miles south-southwest of Columbus, just south of Grove City.

Bill

p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=334977