PRACTICE – We spent some time getting Peter’s clutch adjusted during his practice sessions. During Conor’s practice sessions, it became apparent that the gear change we made for Race No. 3 was not the hot ticket. With new tires and a return to his previous gear ratio, Conor set a personal best lap time of 44.57 seconds (56.54 mph average speed) in his second practice session.
YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – This was Peter’s fourth race on this set of tires. Many of the others in his class had new tires for this race. That was the bad news. The good news was that we seemed to have nailed the clutch adjustment on Peter’s kart, because in both of his heat races, he easily maintained his position during the standing starts. However, after the start of each, he lost two positions; in the first heat because of an oversteer condition and in the second heat because the two fastest karts in his class started behind him. Yamaha SuperCan karts scream when they are running, but they do not like to idle. Peter’s engine stalled during the lineup for his second heat. One of the other dads got to Peter before I did and got him going just in time for the drop of the green flag. Peter’s heat race finishes resulted in a lowly eighth place starting position for the feature. For the feature, we made a chassis adjustment to account for the oversteer condition. He got away well at the start and made two passes at the end of the long straightaway – one on Lap 6 and the other on Lap 8. The second pass appeared to be just as clean as the first, but he was given a pointed-black-flag warning by none other than his brother (someone else had made the call – Henry was just the messenger). Peter ended up finishing sixth, but did record a personal best lap time (46.56) while tracking down the fifth place kart.
8Occ SHIFTER – Conor had a bit more luck than Peter in his heat races, but not much. He lost two positions in his first heat race but gained two positions in his second. Like Peter, he got away well during both of the standing starts, which are the norm for the 8Occ shifter class. In his first heat, he lost one position at the start, but was much faster than the karts in front of him. While trying to find a way past, he left the back door open and lost a position on Lap 4, and finished fifth. In his second heat, he gained a position at the start and another on Lap 6. Like Peter, his heat race finishes resulted in a less than desirable starting position for the feature – sixth. He made up a position at the start and was in position to make up another one in Turn 9 at the end of Lap 1 when the kart in front of him did a lazy half spin. Unfortunately, Conor hit the sideways kart and damaged the nose of his kart (see picture below - click to enlarge). He didn’t loose a position initially, but it became apparent over the next lap or so that the dragging nose was slowing him down. He lost a position on Lap 2 but gained it back on Lap 5. He caught the fourth place kart on the last lap, which would normally be a good thing. He tried to go around the outside in Turn 9, but was pushed into the marbles and lost two positions.
NEXT RACE – MSOKC Race No. 5 is another reverse direction (clockwise) event at Circleville Raceway Park on Sunday, June 14, 2009. Peter will be touring the Eastern U.S. for two weeks, camping with a group of teachers and friends from school, so Conor will be our lone participant. During the last reverse direction event at CRP, Conor won easily and recorded the fastest lap time in each of his three races.
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=425016
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