Bruce Brothers Racing – 2012 Season Preview

The 2012 season gets underway for Bruce Brothers Racing this Sunday, April 22, 2012, with Mid State of Ohio Kart Club Race No. 1 at Circleville Raceway Park. Peter will contest the Spec 100 Pipe class again and Conor will contest the 80cc Shifter class again. Peter’s engine got a complete rebuild prior to the 2011 season finale, so his kart needed very little work during the off-season. Conor’s engine got a top end rebuild and we also rebuilt his front brakes – I think we finally got the front brakes on this kart figured out. We even had time for a practice session already this year. Part of my spring cleaning included our race trailer – we’ll be getting better gas mileage in the truck this season.

For Christmas, Henry got the boys and me a GoPro Hero video camera for taking on-board videos in high definition. We were able to try it out a couple of times during the off-season. The first was at a new indoor karting facility in Cincinnati (http://www.cincykarting.com/). The other was at an outdoor facility in Bahrain (http://www.bahrain-karting.com/) – Peter and Conor tagged along with me on a business trip there for their Spring Break. Videos for the latter, including the on-board, can be found here:

Bruce Brothers Racing at Bahrain International Karting Circuit

Bruce Brothers Racing - Two Laps Around Bahrain International Karting Circuit

Bruce Brothers Racing - Under/Over pass in Turn 1 at Bahrain International Karting Circuit

Our race schedule for 2012, which once again includes the MSOKC series and the Commercial Point Karting Classic (formerly the Commercial Point Grand Prix), is as follows:

Race No. 1 - Sunday, April 22 - Normal/Qualifying/20 bonus points
Race No. 2 - Sunday, May 6 - Normal (may be combined with Sunday portion of Vintage Kart event)
Race No. 3 - Sunday, May 20 - Clockwise
Race No. 4 - Sunday, June 3 - Normal/Standing Starts
Race No. 5 - Sunday, June 17 - Normal
Race No. 6 - Sunday, July 1 - Clockwise/Qualifying
Race No. 7 - Sunday, July 15 - Normal/20 Lap Combined Feature for 80cc Shifter, TaG, and Spec 100
Race No. 8 - Sunday, July 29 - Normal/20 Lap Combined Feature for SuperCan Heavy and SuperCan Novice
Commercial Point Karting Classic - August 4 and 5 - Non-Championship Event
Race No. 9 - Sunday, August 19 - Clockwise/Standing Starts
Rain Date No. 1 - Sunday, August 26
Race No. 10 - Sunday, September 9 - Normal/Qualifying/Hog Roast
Race No. 11 - Sunday, September 23 - Normal/20 Bonus Points
Race No. 12 - Sunday, October 7 - Clockwise/Qualifying/40 Bonus points
Rain Date No. 2 - Sunday, October 14

CRP is located on U.S. Route 23 just north of Circleville (click here for a map). As always, thanks to everyone for their encouragement and support.

Bill

MSOKC Race No. 12 – October 2, 2011 – Peter Finishes With a Win

NEWS – The winter has come and gone, and I’m just now getting around to reporting on the final race of the 2011 season. Bruce Brother Racing was back to a two-kart team for Mid State of Ohio Kart Club (MSOKC) Race No. 12 on Sunday, October 2, 2011. Conor had just moved into his residence hall at Ohio State and elected to sit the previous race out. Peter’s engine had returned from the engine builder in time for Race No. 11, but his UA Crew rowing team had their first regatta of the season in Toledo that day, so he also missed Race No. 11. Race No. 12 was a reverse-direction (clockwise) event at Circleville Raceway Park that featured qualifying instead of the normal heat race format. We had to pick up Conor from his residence hall on our way to the track, which was a bit weird.

PRACTICE – Both boys practiced on older tires and would race on one-race-old tires. Peter spent a bit of extra practice time breaking in his rebuilt engine. It became apparent that the engine builder did a great job because Peter dipped into the 46 second range during practice. His engine was so strong that we decided to change the gear ratio for his qualifying session. In spite of his older tires, Conor was fast during practice, too.

SPEC 100 PIPE – Peter’s qualifying time was only a tenth of a second slower than the fastest time of the session, but there was another kart in between, so he qualified third. In his heat race, Peter ran in third for the first six laps. He made an excellent pass for second on Lap 7. On the last lap (Lap 8), the leader came to a stop with what I recall was an engine problem, giving the win to Peter. A third and a first earned Peter the pole position for his feature race. He got snookered during the rolling start and settled in to second place. He was stuck to the rear bumper of the leading kart for the first nine laps (of 10). After displaying incredible patients, he finally found his opportunity – an awesome out-braking maneuver entering Turn 4 – on the last lap. Peter finished his season with a feature race win and lowered his personal best lap time to 46.198 – the fastest lap of the season for anyone in this class.

80cc SHIFTER – Conor’s qualifying session ended with him having the second fastest time but only two tenths slower than the fastest qualifier. He got away well from the standing start of his heat race and was able to muscle his way into the lead on the inside of the second corner (Turn 9 in the reverse direction). He went on to lead every lap and won by a comfortable margin. A second and a first earned Conor the pole position for his feature race. He made another great start and led easily for the first five laps or so. The second place kart began to reel Conor in and eventually made a pass on Lap 9. The eventual winner is a relative new-comer to this class who is an accomplished national-level kart racer but is not used to shifting. He is obviously finding his stride.

NEXT RACE – Conor had already clinched the series championship in the 80cc Shifter class and Peter had missed too many races to be in contention for the championship in the Spec 100 Pipe class, so Race No. 12 was a low pressure event for us. Since then, we have attended the MSOKC season-ending banquet, stored the equipment for the winter, and have gotten it back out again. The first race of the 2012 season is this Sunday, April 22, 2012.

Bill

p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=723410.