MSOKC Race No. 10 – September 3, 2011 – Five in a Row for Conor

NEWS – MSOKC Race No. 10 on Saturday September 3, 2011 was a qualifying format event at Circleville Raceway Park that followed the normal Sunday (day race) schedule to allow time in the afternoon/evening for the annual MSOKC Hog Roast. There was plenty of food for everyone, a variety of games, and a Powder Puff race in the rental karts for wives, girlfriends, and mothers of the regular racers. Peter’s engine was not back from the engine builder yet, and he had a practice session with his Upper Arlington Crew team that day, so Conor was our lone participant. Laura and Peter came to the track later in the day for the Hog Roast, but we couldn’t talk Laura into entering the Power Puff race again this year.

PRACTICE – In our continuing our quest to sort out the problem that causes Conor’s front brakes to drag when they heat up, we replaced the line to his right front brake. These are made of braided stainless steel over rubber tubing, and the thought was that the rubber inside may have swelled and was acting like a check valve – letting fluid out but not letting it back. Conor tried out this change during his practice sessions with mixed results.

80cc SHIFTER – There were only five karts in Conor’s class instead of the usual 8 to 10. In his qualifying session, Conor recorded a time of 45.477 seconds on the first of his three laps. He improved this to a 45.423 on his second lap. His third lap was spoiled when one of the other karts had spun in Turn 3 and took his time getting out of the way. His best lap was good enough for pole position however – by a scant 0.078 seconds. Conor got a great start in his heat race and led from start to finish. The second place kart caught up with Conor at about the half-way point and was even able to stick his nose in the inside on a couple occasions over the next few laps. Conor was able to respond and won by just less than 2 seconds. Conor got another great start in his feature but the second place starter did not and got bottled up behind another kart for the first few laps. This allowed Conor to open up a fairly healthy lead. The second place starter made a pass on Lap 5, but by that time Conor was out of reach. Conor backed off over the next few laps and won his fifth feature race in a row, and sixth out of 10 events this season, by a comfortable 4 second margin.

NEXT RACE – The 2011 MSOKC season is winding down with only two events to go. Race No. 11 is Saturday September 24, 2011, and will again follow the normal Sunday (day race) schedule. In the meantime, Conor has recently moved into his residence hall at The Ohio State University and classes will start later this week. Peter has been back in school for some time now. He has his first regatta of the season in Toledo with his crew team on that day, so he will again be absent.

Bill

p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=710260.