MSOKC Race No. 1 – April 11, 2010 – An Excellent Start to the Season

NEWS – Bruce Brothers Racing had an excellent season debut for Mid State of Ohio Kart Club (MSOKC) Race No. 1 at Circleville Raceway Park (CRP) a week ago Sunday. We qualified both karts on the front row, Peter won a heat race, and both boys ended up on the podium.

PRACTICE – We managed to get in two practice days prior to Race No. 1 – one to shake out the cobwebs and the other to do some fine tuning. Off-season changes included a complete engine rebuild on our Yamaha SuperCan kart (Peter) and a significant reconfiguration of our 8Occ shifter kart (Conor). MSOKC also has a new club spec tire for 2010 – MG “Reds” instead of Bridgestone YJCs. We used old tires for our first practice day and scrubbed in and tested the new MG Reds on the second practice day. On Sunday morning, we did a bit of fine tuning and were feeling in pretty good shape.

YAMAHA JUNIOR – Race No. 1 was a qualifying format race, which means that starting positions for the subsequent heat race would be determined by best lap times during a three-lap qualifying session. Peter’s lap times had been good during practice, so we were optimistic for qualifying. There were nine karts in Peter’s class, so they split the session into two groups. Peter went out in the second group and posted the second fastest overall time (46.650 seconds). In his heat race, he timed the start perfectly from outside the front row and lead easily into Turn 1. Just about the time he began to receive pressure from behind, there was an incident involving two karts running towards the end of the field and the race was red flagged. Everyone was okay, but since the leaders had completed half of the laps (four of eight), the race was not restarted, which gave the win to Peter. A second and a first earned Peter pole position for the start of his feature race. As Peter demonstrated in the heat race, the outside starting position on the front row is sometimes a better place to be. At the start of the feature, he had to concede Turn 1 and dropped in behind the new leader. Except for one retirement, the first four ran nose to tail for 10 laps. Peter finished second but did record the fastest lap of the race in the process. The outlook for the season is looking bright for Peter.

8Occ SHIFTER – Our 8Occ shifter kart got front brakes over the winter, a rear axle upgrade, and a top-end engine rebuild. Conor seemed to have liked the changes during our practice days, so we were optimistic on Sunday for him as well. His qualifying session was also split into two groups – five karts in each. Conor also posted the second fastest qualifying time – he and one other kart were the only ones to break into the 44 second range (44.992 for Conor). While he had done well with his standing starts during practice, he muffed the one for his heat race. He got away immediately, but bogged the engine down and dropped to fifth. While the leaders got away, it took Conor seven laps to get around the fourth place kart. A second and a fourth was good enough for a third place start for the feature. He made an excellent start in the feature, but had to back off a bit to avoid the pole-sitter in Turn 1 (see video below). He settled into third and pressured the second place kart all the way to the end for a third place finish. The outlook for the season is also looking bright for Conor. We were particularly pleased with the reliability of his kart in light of all the changes that were made over the winter.

NEXT RACE – MSOKC Race No. 2, which will feature standing starts for all classes (like the 8Occ Shifter class), is Sunday, April 25, 2010 at CRP.

Bill

p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=520354

Video from MSOKC Race No. 1 - April 11, 2010

This video is from the start of Conor's feature race a week ago Sunday. He is the black and yellow kart on the inside of the second row.

Bill

Pictures from MSOKC Race No. 1 - April 11, 2010

Peter lines up for his pole position start in his heat race.










Conor prepares himself for his heat race.

A full race report will follow.

Bill

Bruce Brothers Racing – 2010 Season Preview

It seems like Christmas was only a month or so ago, but somehow, Easter has come and gone. Since Christmas, Laura and Peter have been to Peru for a tournament with Peter’s soccer team and Conor and I have been to Australia for the Australian Grand Prix. Henry was home for a few days of Spring Break with some of his Brown University friends.

The racing season for Bruce Brothers Racing gets underway this Sunday with Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club (MSOKC) Race No. 1 at Circleville Raceway Park. Peter will contest the Yamaha Jr. SuperCan class again in 2010 and Conor will contest the 80cc Shifter class again. Both karts have fresh engines and we have made some significant updates to our 80cc Shifter kart – some cosmetic (new bodywork - see earlier post) and some more significant (larger diameter rear axle and front brakes).

Our race schedule for 2010, which once again includes the MSOKC series and the Commercial Point Grand Prix (CPGP), is as follows:

Race No. 1 – Sunday, April 11 – Qualifying, 20 bonus points
Race No. 2 – Sunday, April 25 – Standing start
Race No. 3 – Sunday, May 16 – Clockwise
Race No. 4 – Sunday, June 6 – Normal
Race No. 5 – Saturday, June 26 – Night Race
Race No. 6 – Saturday, July 17 – Night Race, qualifying, standing start
Race No. 7 – Sunday, July 25 – Normal
Race No. 8 – Sunday, August 1 – Qualifying, standing start
CPGP – August 14-15 – Non-points event – street race fund raiser
Race No. 9 – Sunday, August 22 – Clockwise
Race No. 10 – Saturday, September 4 – Sunday schedule, qualifying, Hog Roast
Rain Date 1 – Sunday, September 5 – Rain Date No. 1
Race No. 11 – Sunday, September 26 – Normal, qualifying, 20 bonus points
Race No. 12 – Sunday, October 3 – Clockwise, standing start, 40 bonus points
Rain Date 2 – Sunday, October 17 – Rain Date No. 2

CRP is located on U.S. Route 23 just north of Circleville (click here).

Bill

New Livery

Our 8Occ shifter kart has a new look:










Both karts have new tires (MG "Reds") and our Yamaha SuperCan kart also has a new nose:










Bill