NEWS – After a very enjoyable and rewarding one-off
Commercial Point Karting Classic, Bruce Brothers Racing managed to regain some
of the form we showed in club racing during the beginning of the 2012 Mid-State
of Ohio Kart Club season. Both boys had
some difficulties during MSOKC Race No. 9, which was a reverse direction event
at Circleville Raceway Park, but the end result was much more satisfying than other
recent club racing results.
PRACTICE – After the CPKC, the setup on both karts had to be
changed back to suit CRP – mainly gear ratio changes, a return to club-spec
tires, and an axle change for Peter’s kart.
The intermittent ignition problem on Peter’s kart seemed to have been
resolved during the CPKC by using a borrowed, used ignition unit. I was subsequently told that these units
either work or they don’t, and since Peter’s old one still worked, we elected
to stick with it instead of buying a new one.
During practice, it worked just fine.
Both boys enjoy reverse direction events at CRP and both recorded
competitive lap times during their practice sessions.
SPEC 100 PIPE – There were only four karts in Peter’s class
for Race No. 9, and only three of those were regular competitors. The random draw for starting positions had
Peter starting from fourth in the first heat and first in the second heat. In his first heat, Peter made a pass for
third on Lap 2 and a pass for second on Lap 6.
He was not quite as fast as the eventual winner and finished
second. In his second heat, Peter
maintained his position at the start and drove a very smart race for a heat
race win. He was not quite as fast as
the second place kart (the winner of the first heat) but managed to keep the
lead without blocking. A second and a
first earned Peter pole position for his feature race. During the break, we made a few changes to
the rear axle to improve on what Peter described as “binding up” in the
corners. Peter maintained the lead at
the start of his feature, but it became immediately apparent that the problem
was not resolved. He managed to hang on to
the lead for the first few laps, but then had to surrender it on Lap 4. The other two karts passed Peter as the
problem continued to worsen, and Peter pulled into the pits before the
checkered flag. The non-regular
competitor waived post-race tech inspection, so Peter was credited with a third
place finish.
80cc SHIFTER – Similar to Peter, Conor started from the rear
in the first heat and towards the front in the second, but there were 12 karts
in his class for Race No. 9. A lot can
go wrong during a standing start with 12 karts, so Conor took it easy at the
start of his first heat. He dropped a
position at the start (from 10th to 11th) in the first corner (Turn 10 for
reverse direction events), but was able to gain three in the next corner when
three karts tangled. He made a good run
onto the back straightaway on the first lap and picked off another kart in Turn
4 for seventh. In the same corner on the
next lap, two other karts tangled in front of him. This time, Conor had no place to go and had
to come to a complete stop and get out and push before he could continue. This dropped him to 11th. It took him five laps, but he caught up and
passed one kart on Lap 7 and another on Lap 8 for a ninth place finish. He set the fastest lap of the race (45.281
seconds) in the process. From the third
starting position in his second heat race, Conor maintained his position at the
start, made a pass for second on Lap3, and another for the lead on Lap 6. A ninth and a first somehow managed to be
good enough for pole position for the feature.
Conor made a great start, led every lap, and recorded the fastest lap in
the process. This was our first MSOKC feature
race win since Race No. 5 on June 17, 2012.
NEXT RACE – It sure was refreshing to get at least one kart
back on the top step of the podium (see picture in an earlier post here). After
the feature races were over for the day, we reverted to the previous rear axle set-up
we had on Peter’s kart and sent him out for a few test laps. From the sound of the engine, you could tell
that the problem was still there. We
then changed the ignition unit to the one we used for the CPKC and sent him out
again – and it worked just fine. What
Peter thought was the rear axle binding up in the corners was a slight misfire
when the engine was under heavy load. Unfortunately,
the information I got about the ignition unit was apparently incorrect. We will be buying a new one for MCOKC Race
No. 10, which is Sunday, September 9, 2012, at CRP. This event will feature qualifying instead of
the normal heat race format to allow time in the afternoon/evening for the
annual MSOKC Hog Roast. There will be
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.
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results from Race No. 9 can
be found here.
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