MSOKC Race No. 7 – July 25, 2010 – The Return of Pietro

NEWS – Peter is home from his four week trip to Italy, where he spent most of his time lounging on a beach on the northwest coast of the island of Sardinia. When I was 14 years old, I got to spend part of the summer on the southwest shore of Buckeye Lake! In any event, it’s good to have him home. We had what can best be described as a mediocre day at the race track for Mid State of Ohio Kart Club (MSOKC) Race No. 7 on Sunday, July 25, 2010. Both Peter and Conor had some great dices during the day, but we came away knowing we had left some valuable championship points on the table. None-the-less, we had our usual enjoyable day. The day dawned much cooler than the day before, but the skies opened up not long after we had unloaded. This postponed the order of events by about two hours. So that everyone could get home at a reasonable hour, the number of laps was shortened from eight and ten to six and eight for the heat races and feature race, respectively. This would work both for and against us as the day progressed – Conor needing more laps in his feature race and Peter needing less.

PRACTICE – The washing that the track got before practice began meant that no lap records were going to be broken on Sunday. Less than ideal atmospheric conditions, which changed as the day wore on, and re-rubbering of the track necessitated many chassis and engine changes throughout the day to stay on top. We experimented with different setups during practice. Peter had badly damaged his right front spindle in his most recent feature race (Race No. 4), so he had a chance to try out the repaired one during practice and to break in his new tires.

YAMAHA JUNIOR – The random draw for starting positions had Peter starting in the third position for his first heat race (of seven karts in his class). He was lined up behind a relative newcomer but with good equipment. I advised Peter to stay behind the pole sitter in an effort to pass the second place starter in the first corner and then the pole sitter in Turn 4. That turned out to be bad advice. The pole sitter checked up in the first turn which resulted in Peter dropping all the way back to sixth by Turn 4. On Lap 3, Peter got a good run through Turns 9 and 10 and managed to pull out a double pass going into Turn 1 on Lap 4. This resulted in a fourth place finish. There was a pileup in Turn 3 on the first lap of Peter’s second heat race, in which he started fifth. The action occurred ahead of Peter. He managed to miss it and advanced to third in the process. He got around Turn 9 well again on Lap 2 and dove to the inside in Turn 10 to take over the second position. These two ran nose to tail for the remainder of the distance with Peter hanging on for a second place finish. A fourth and a second earned Peter the third starting position for the feature. Peter had complained that his kart was too tight during his second heat, so we made a slight adjustment to loosen it up. Unfortunately, this was not enough. Peter held his position at the start, but the two in front began to draw away fairly quickly. One of the karts involved in the second heat pileup caught Peter on Lap 2 and got around him on Lap 3. He completed the laps in a comfortable fourth place.

80cc SHIFTER – Conor started from pole position in his first heat race. He led into Turn 1 and began to pull away a bit over the next few laps. The series leader, who had started from the rear, caught and passed Conor on Lap 4. Conor had to defend his position for the remainder of the laps to bring home a second place finish. In the second heat, it was Conor’s turn to start from the rear (seventh). He gained a position at the start, and two more on Lap 2. He was faster than the next kart in line but ran out of laps and finished fourth. A second and a fourth earned Conor the third starting position for the feature. He made a great start, but the second place starter dove to the inside to keep Conor behind in Turn 1. On Lap 3, it was Conor’s turn to get around Turn 9 well and dive to the inside in Turn 10 take over the second position. He pulled away slightly, but it was apparent that he was pushing hard to do so. After loosing a position by locking the rears during Race No. 6, Conor had been nudging his brake bias forward all day. He must have gone a bit too far because he locked the fronts in Turn 3 on Lap 5 and took a detour through the grass. This was enough to let the kart behind through. Conor caught back up in the next lap, and made one last ditch effort to regain the position in Turn 10 on the last lap, but came up about a kart length short for a third place finish.

NEXT RACE – In the week leading up to MSOKC Race No. 8, which is Sunday, August 1, 2010, both Henry and Peter had birthdays – 21 and 15 years, respectfully (how can that be?). For Race No. 8, which is a qualifying format event with standing starts for everyone, Peter got a carburetor and clutch rebuild and Conor got a top-end engine rebuild. After that, there is a much-needed two week break prior to the Commercial Point Grand Prix, which is August 14-15, 2010.

Bill

p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found here: http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=569762.