MSOKC Race No. 12 – October 4, 2009 – Well Used YHCs

NEWS – Bruce Brothers Racing was back in action for Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club Race No. 12 at Circleville Raceway Park this past Sunday. Most everything was still ready to go from Race No. 11, which was postponed because of rain. Laura missed this event, as she was spending time with family in Kansas City. The weather was typical for central Ohio in October – cool and crisp in the morning with periods of clouds and warm sunshine in the afternoon.

PRACTICE – After a quick spin in Turn 2 on the first lap, Peter’s practice sessions went as planned. Conor complained about a lack of front-end grip in his second session. For the optional third session, we decided to replace his one-race-old Bridgestone YKC tires with some well-used Bridgestone YHCs. He was immediately 0.4 seconds per lap faster, so we decided to leave them on for the rest of the day.

YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – Peter started his first heat from pole position. He got a great start, but got pinched down on the exit of Turn 1, which resulted in a lazy spin. He somehow managed to avoid being collected by the rest of the field and rolled off the track backwards into the infield. He was high-centered, and when he got out to give himself a push, the engine died leaving him stranded. He got another great start from the rear in his second heat, gaining two positions in the process. He made a nice pass on Lap 2 and ran in fourth to the finish. There was a lot of confusion at the start of Peter’s feature race, where he was lined up in fifth. The head flagman was not happy with how fast the front row starters brought the field around. After several unsuccessful attempts to slow them down, he sent them back to the starting grid for a talking to. The pole sitter was quite angry, but should have known better. The penalty involved inverting the front two rows for the restart, which came off without a hitch on the first try. Peter maintained his position at the start but dropped to sixth on Lap 2. His lap times were up and down for the first few laps, after which they stabilized in the high 46-second range. He ran on the tail of the lead pack to the finish.

80cc SHIFTER – I’m always glad when the random draw for heat race starting positions has Conor in the front and the back instead of two in the middle. He can usually make up a few positions when starting from the back and stay towards the front when starting from the front. Such was the case on Sunday. Starting from the ninth position in his first heat race, Conor worked his way to fifth by the end of Lap 1. He got bottled up behind a slower kart for a few laps, but managed to get around on Lap 6 for a fourth place finish. From the outside of the front row in his second heat, Conor got a flyer of a start and was in the lead by the apex of Turn 1. He pulled out a bit of a gap over the next few laps but got reeled in at about mid distance. He got a little loose coming out of Turn 10 on Lap 6 but managed to hold his position and held on for the heat race win. A forth and a first earned Conor the second starting position for the feature. He made another flyer of a start, but had to back off and settle for second in the first turn. He latched onto the rear bumper of the lead kart and kept him honest for 10 long laps. Conor finished second but recorded the fastest lap of the race (44.822 seconds) along the way.

NEXT RACE – The make-up date for the rained out MSOKC Race No. 11 is next Sunday, October 11, 2009. The rained out race was a qualifying format event in the reverse direction at CRP, so the make up will be the same. Peter is pretty well fixed with his position in the championship, but Conor is hanging on to a slim margin for third place. We’re going to have to dig through our pile for another set of those well used YHCs for Conor…

Bill

p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=482508