Season’s Greetings from Bruce Brothers Racing and 2009 Season Review

NEWS – Bruce Brothers Racing hopes that you and your families had a Merry Christmas and we extend our best wishes for a Happy New Year.

MSOKC RACE NO. 11 – The 2009 Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club season ended on October 11, 2009, with a make-up race for the rained out Race No. 11. Peter’s position in the championship had already been decided, so he elected to attend an organizational meeting for a trip that he and Laura are taking to Peru in January with his soccer team. Conor’s position was less secure, so we put everything together one last time in 2009. The rained out race was a qualifying format event in the reverse direction at Circleville Raceway Park, so the make up was the same. Conor qualified fourth and finished third in the heat race. He started from the third position in the feature, made a pass for second on the first lap, and ran in second on the tail of the eventual winner to the finish. This easily secured his position in the championship.

2009 SEASON REVIEW – Both Peter and Conor moved up a class for the start of the 2009 MSOKC season – Peter from Briggs Sportsman to Yamaha Jr. SuperCan and Conor from Yamaha Jr. SuperCan to 80cc Shifter. Henry was away for the majority of the season finishing his first year and starting his second year at Brown University, but he did get to participate in two events over his summer break.

The move to Yamaha Jr. SuperCan was a big jump for Peter – nearly three times as much horsepower as he was used to. His lap times improved continuously as the season progressed, but so did those of his competitors in this highly competitive class. The highlight of the season for Peter was the Commercial Point Grand Prix, where he quickly came up to speed on this very fast street circuit and, after starting third in the feature event, went on to finish second after a close battle that went right down to the wire. Peter finished sixth in the MSOKC championship in this class, which was contested regularly by as many as 10 karts.

Conor’s move to the 80cc Shifter class was also a big jump (nearly twice as much horsepower), which included having to learn to shift gears and master standing starts. He managed a feature race win in only his second start in this highly competitive class. He also recorded second place finishes three times and numerous fastest laps of the race. His Commercial Point Grand Prix results were respectable considering he was in the only kart in this class without front brakes. Conor, who was by far the youngest participant in this class that was contested regularly by as many as 12 karts, finished third in the MSOKC championship.

Henry made only two starts in 2009, but made the best of both of them. He earned a pole position and recorded a feature race win in our Yamaha SuperCan kart in MSOKC Race No. 5 while Peter was away at camp. He and Peter shared this kart for the Commercial Point Grand Prix, and after a heat race incident that resulted in a 25th place starting position for the feature, he passed 17 karts on the way to an eighth place finish.

Peter will contest the Yamaha Jr. SuperCan class again in 2010 and Conor will contest the 80cc Shifter class again, although we have some updates planned for our 80cc Shifter kart (including the addition of front brakes). We have no specific plans for Henry in 2010, but I suspect he will again get to participate in several events. The MSOKC season begins on April 11, 2010, and the Commercial Point Grand Prix is August 14-15, 2010. In the mean time, the MSOKC season ending banquet, where trophies and prizes will be awarded, is January 9, 2010.

Bruce Brothers Racing would like to thank everyone who provided support and encouragement during the 2009 season and we look forward to continued success 2010.

Bill

p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results for MSOKC Race No. 11 can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=484852