Subject: MSOKC Race No. 12 - October 7, 2007

Originally sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 5:07 PM

NEWS – Tomorrow is the final race of the 2007 MSOKC season – a make-up for Race No. 10 which was rained out. Race No. 12, the last regularly-scheduled race of the season, was last Sunday, October 7. The only special preparation kart-wise was playing 'musical tires' to make use of what we have as opposed to buying new ones. The other special preparation for Race No. 12 was packing an unusually large quantity of Gatorade for an October race, as temperatures were predicted to be in the 90s.

PRACTICE – Henry continues to turn some of his fastest laps of the day during practice. He was obviously pushing hard however, as he spun in Turn 6 in both of his sessions. 'Borrowing' two of Peter's tires to use on the front of Henry's kart didn't seem to have too much of an adverse effect on Peter's performance, as his lap time were as good as ever.

JUNIOR SPORTSMAN 2 – Peter's class had a season-high of seven karts, including two from other local clubs whose seasons have concluded and the former club member who has joined us for several races late in the season. The two from other clubs were on non-spec tires for our club and would be disqualified at the end of the day. Peter lined up last for the start of his first heat. He went from seventh to fifth at the start and then from fifth to fourth to third in the first three laps. He dropped position on Lap 4 but made it back up on Lap 6 to finish third. Peter started from pole position in the second heat and pulled out a lead over the next few laps. The faster karts that started towards the rear made their way forward, but could not catch Peter, who went on to record another heat race win. A third and a first was good enough for the pole position for the feature. Peter made a good start and went side by side with the former club member through Turns 1 and 2. Peter's engine is in bad need of a rebuild, and he didn't have enough to hold on to the lead going into Turn 3. He settled into second but pushed the leader hard throughout the first lap. It became apparent that the former club member was in need of a new set of tires as badly as Peter is in need of an engine rebuild. He went wide in Turn 10 and Peter dove to the inside for the pass. But so did the kart behind Peter. These two got together and the other kart actually rode up on the side of Peter's kart, pushing him into the infield. Peter dropped all the way to last place. Only minor damage was sustained and Peter was able to regroup and continue, however. He made his way past one kart on Lap 2 and two karts on Lap 3. He then reeled off several laps in the 51 second range, which brought him to the tail of the leading group. The leader was still struggling with tire trouble and was holding up the three karts behind him. Turn 10 of the last lap was a repeat of the first lap. The leader went wide and the second place kart dove underneath. Peter crossed the line fourth but was promoted to second when the former club member elected not to go to post-race tech inspection and one of the other karts in front of him was disqualified for tires.

80cc SHIFTER – There was some confusion during the grid formation for Henry's first heat, in which he was supposed to start fifth (of 10). Another kart had lined up in Henry's position, and Henry was directed to the sixth grid position. He got away well and ran in sixth for the first few laps. He was being held up by a group in front of him when a kart behind made an aggressive move in Turn 4, which put Henry in the grass. He fell to ninth. He made up one position and finished eighth. Henry was supposed to start Heat 2 in sixth, but tried to return the favor by lining up fifth. The starter was a bit more diligent this time and made Henry go around again and line up sixth. He must have been seething, because he made an aggressive start and muscled his way to fourth in the first few turns. He ran in fourth, in sight of the leaders, to the finish. We were hoping that an eighth and a fourth might be good enough for a better starting position than sixth, but that is where Henry started the feature. He got away well, making up one position at the start. He ran in fifth for seven laps in close contact with the group in front of him. Sunday must have been the day for returning the favor, because the kart in front of Henry did just that to the kart that had pushed Henry off in Heat 1. Henry was able to get by, too, and finished fourth.

NEXT RACE – Peter had enough points to claim the Junior Sportsman 2 championship as of the previous race. Henry's results last Sunday were good enough for him to claim third place in the highly competitive 80cc Shifter class. With only the best nine of 12 races counting towards the championship, we don't even need to show up tomorrow. The weather is finally starting to feel like fall, it's supposed to be nice tomorrow, and we have just enough rubber left, so that's what we're going to do.

Bill

p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=258023