MSOKC Race No. 8 - July 30, 2005 - A Pair of Deuces

Originally sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 3:12 PM

NEWS - Henry and Conor participated in MSOKC Race No. 8 this past Saturday. Peter sat this one out while recovering from a gash to the back of his head that he managed to get while we were on vacation (he and Henry were wrestling). The race on Saturday was supposed to be an evening event. When we arrived at the track, we learned that the proprietor, Steve Tatman, had suffered a mild stroke that morning. We have since learned that he is expected to make a full recovery, but his absence did necessitate compressing the schedule on Saturday (he is the only one who knows how to work the fragile lighting system). Saturday was also Henry's 16th birthday!

PRACTICE - I had done some maintenance to both Henry's and Conor's karts, so upon our arrival, we decided to take advantage of the open practice session that precedes evening races. Reasonable lap times were recorded, but no significant advances were made. During the organized class practices, Henry's lap times were on par with his main rivals, but Conor's main rival had obviously made a significant advance.

JUNIOR UNRESTRICTED - Henry started his first heat from the sixth position (of seven). The slowest kart in his class elected to keep his outside front row starting position. When the green flag flew, the outside row of karts dove under the slower kart in Turn 1. By Turn 2, several karts were in a tangle. Henry managed to get through without too much damage, but the heat was red-flagged in order to clear the track. At the restart, there was a similar incident in Turn 2, but this time everyone managed to keep going. In the scramble between Turns 2 and 3, Henry managed to squeeze by everyone into the lead. He lead for several laps but was passed by the eventual winner on Lap 3. He held on to finish second. In his second heat, starting from the second position, he made a great start and was in the lead again by Turn 3. Both he and the second place kart were passed by the eventual winner at the end of the long straightaway leading to Turn 5. The kart behind Henry managed to get by on the next lap, but Henry was able to return the favor on the lap after that. Henry was able to hold the other kart off for the next lap or so, but Henry eventually finished third. Henry's heat race finishes earned him the third starting position for the feature. He followed the pole sitter through Turns 1 and 2 and established himself in second between Turns 3 and 4. By mid distance, the top three has separated themselves from each other and the rest of the pack. The fourth place kart eventually made his way into third and began to close in on Henry, but was stopped by a broken chain on the white flag lap. Henry cruised home to his best feature race finish of the year (second). Not a bad result for the birthday boy.

JUNIOR SPORTSMAN II - Conor started from the fifth position (of six) in his first heat race. He was able to pick off one kart at the start, another in Turn 9 on the first lap, and another between Turns 7 and 8 on lap 3, bringing him up to second. His main rival, who had started on the front row, had gotten away by then, so second is where he finished. Because of the compressed schedule, we just about missed getting Conor to the grid for his second heat. After being paged on the public address system, we got him there just as engines were being fired up. Starting from the pole, he was passed going into Turn 1. He ran second for a lap before he was able to get by into the lead. Over the next few laps, he extended his lead while recording some reasonable lap times. By Lap 4 (of 6), he was caught by his main rival, who had started from the rear. He was able to hold her off until the end, but just barely (less than a kart length at the end). In the feature, starting from outside the front row, Conor made a great start and was in the lead by Turn 3. I was hoping that if he got into the lead, he would be able to hold off his main rival for the distance. His lead was short lived, however. Be bobbled a bit in Turn 4 on the first lap and his main rival got around him on the long run to Turn 5. The leader disappeared at a rate of about half a second a lap, which is about the rate that Conor was leaving the rest of the field. Like Henry, Conor cruised to a second place finish.

SCCA OVR Points Event No. 1 (re-scheduled) - We also decided to try our first 'double header' last weekend. After a long day at the track on Saturday, Henry and Conor decided that they wanted to participate in another SCCA Solo 2 event. So, on Sunday morning, we packed everything back up and headed for the parking lot at Cooper Stadium. The morning was spent converting both karts over to SCCA configuration (tire and gear changes, removing Conor's restrictor plate, etc.). During the first few runs of the first heat, which was to include the karts, it became apparent that there was a problem with the timing system. After a long delay, it was announced that the problem was insurmountable and that the event would be run as a non-points 'fun' event with no official timing. This was a big disappointment for the boys, as they were hoping to participate in enough points events to be eligible for the championship. This would have necessitated at least another double header, but the problems on Sunday put an end to those hopes. The boys made their un-timed runs anyway and had fun doing so.

NEXT RACE - The next MSOKC race is a Sunday, August 7. I sent Conor's engine back to our engine builder, SRD Racing (http://www.pghdirectory.com/srdracing/) on Monday (UPS Next Day Air) for a freshen up and ordered some clutch parts for him. The new clutch parts arrived and have been installed, but UPS seems to be having trouble with Conor's engine. They misdirected it on the way to the engine builder, which resulted in it arriving a day too late for the work to take place. The engine builder sent it back without opening it, but UPS misdirected it again. As of now (Thursday afternoon), we are just hoping that it arrives in time for the next race. If it doesn't show up tomorrow, we're going to have some scrambling to do. For Sunday, I have a few setup changes to try that I hope will be beneficial to both Henry and Conor. The five surgical staples that Peter received in the Emergency Room in Kansas City came out on Monday, so he should be ready to go on Sunday, too. Practice starts at 10:30 and the green flag falls at Noon. In the mean time our thoughts and prayers are with Steve Tatman and his family.

Bill