NEWS – Although we had a few difficulties a week ago Sunday for Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club Race No. 11 at Circleville Raceway Park, the end result could not have been a whole lot better. One of the difficulties was, of all things, a tire that would not hold air. All had gone well during the previous race, so the only major preparation for this event was a partial clutch rebuild for Peter.
PRACTICE – Race No. 11 was the penultimate event of the year. Peter had two decent sets of used tires to choose from and Conor had a set of one-race-old tires that had been flipped around on the rims to race on. Peter split his two practice sessions deciding on which set to use and fine tuning his clutch. Conor practiced on a well-used set of tires initially and then switched to the better set. During his second session, he slowed on his second lap and then crept around to the pit entrance with a flat right rear tire. Submerging it in a bucket of water resulted in no bubbles, so we assumed the leak was the result of the tire spinning on the rim under acceleration. It seemed to be holding air after we re-inflated it, so we decided to use it.
SPEC 100 PIPE – The field in Peter’s class has thinned out toward the end of the season – only four karts for Race No. 11. Peter started his heat races from the third and second positions, respectively. At the start of his first heat, the two karts on the front row banged wheels going through Turn 10, which caused Peter to have to back off a bit. He lost a position as the result, but gained it back on Lap 3 (of eight). He caught the leaders but was not able to make any further progress. In his second heat, he timed the start perfectly and went through Turns 1 and 2 side-by-side with the pole sitter, which put him on the inside for Turn 3. He took the lead and held on for a heat race win. A third and a first earned Peter pole position for his feature race. Peter put on another display of how to perfectly time a rolling start at CRP, even though pole position is not necessarily the best place to start. Videos of Peter grabbing the lead from both the second position and pole position can be found here and here. With Peter setting the pace, the first three ran in lock step for 10 long laps. Peter prevailed in the end for his fifth feature race win of the season. The gap between the top three was less than 0.6 seconds.
80cc SHIFTER – There were 11 karts in Conor’s class for Race No. 11, including one new competitor. Conor started his heat races from the second and eighth positions, respectively. The start of his first heat race went well for Conor – he was in the lead by nearly three kart lengths by the exit of Turn1 – but didn’t go so well for several karts towards the rear. A mid-pack kart spun/got turned around and was hit by the new guy, which caused him to go briefly up-side down – see video here. Five karts were involved in some way, so the race was red flagged. After a brief delay, engines were restarted for the second attempt, which didn’t go very well for Conor. When he dropped the clutch as the green flag fell, he discovered he was in neutral! He somehow managed to get going without causing a melee or loosing too many positions. If he would have sat there for another split second, he would have been engulfed by the entire field (see video here). What could have been a disaster turned out to be third position by Turn 3 on the first lap. Conor made a pass for second on the second on Lap 2 and another for the lead on 5. One of the non-regular competitors, who was on brand new, super-sticky, non-spec tires and would be disqualified at the end of the day, reeled Conor in on the last lap and piped him at the line by 0.001 seconds. In the pits, we noticed that his right rear tire was nearly flat again, so we replaced it with a well-used one. With championship points in mind, Conor took it easy at the start of his second heat. He finished Lap 1 in eighth place. He worked his way to fifth on Lap 2, gained another position on Lap 4, and stayed there to the end. A second and a fourth was good enough for the second starting position for the feature. The first two got away well and Conor settled in behind the leader. On Lap 4, the leader made a mistake in Turn 6 and Conor was able to get by for the lead. He went on to win – also his fifth feature race win of the season in this class – by 2.3 seconds.
NEXT RACE – For the third time in 2012, Bruce Brothers Racing scored feature race wins in both of our karts. Conor’s win consolidated his firm lead in the season championship and Peter’s win took him from two points behind to three points ahead with one event remaining. The final event of the season is MSOKC Race No. 12 on Sunday, October 7, 2012. Both boys are looking forward to this, as it’s another reverse-direction (clockwise) event at CRP that will feature qualifying instead of the normal heat race format.
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results from Race No. 11 can be found here.
PRACTICE – Race No. 11 was the penultimate event of the year. Peter had two decent sets of used tires to choose from and Conor had a set of one-race-old tires that had been flipped around on the rims to race on. Peter split his two practice sessions deciding on which set to use and fine tuning his clutch. Conor practiced on a well-used set of tires initially and then switched to the better set. During his second session, he slowed on his second lap and then crept around to the pit entrance with a flat right rear tire. Submerging it in a bucket of water resulted in no bubbles, so we assumed the leak was the result of the tire spinning on the rim under acceleration. It seemed to be holding air after we re-inflated it, so we decided to use it.
SPEC 100 PIPE – The field in Peter’s class has thinned out toward the end of the season – only four karts for Race No. 11. Peter started his heat races from the third and second positions, respectively. At the start of his first heat, the two karts on the front row banged wheels going through Turn 10, which caused Peter to have to back off a bit. He lost a position as the result, but gained it back on Lap 3 (of eight). He caught the leaders but was not able to make any further progress. In his second heat, he timed the start perfectly and went through Turns 1 and 2 side-by-side with the pole sitter, which put him on the inside for Turn 3. He took the lead and held on for a heat race win. A third and a first earned Peter pole position for his feature race. Peter put on another display of how to perfectly time a rolling start at CRP, even though pole position is not necessarily the best place to start. Videos of Peter grabbing the lead from both the second position and pole position can be found here and here. With Peter setting the pace, the first three ran in lock step for 10 long laps. Peter prevailed in the end for his fifth feature race win of the season. The gap between the top three was less than 0.6 seconds.
80cc SHIFTER – There were 11 karts in Conor’s class for Race No. 11, including one new competitor. Conor started his heat races from the second and eighth positions, respectively. The start of his first heat race went well for Conor – he was in the lead by nearly three kart lengths by the exit of Turn1 – but didn’t go so well for several karts towards the rear. A mid-pack kart spun/got turned around and was hit by the new guy, which caused him to go briefly up-side down – see video here. Five karts were involved in some way, so the race was red flagged. After a brief delay, engines were restarted for the second attempt, which didn’t go very well for Conor. When he dropped the clutch as the green flag fell, he discovered he was in neutral! He somehow managed to get going without causing a melee or loosing too many positions. If he would have sat there for another split second, he would have been engulfed by the entire field (see video here). What could have been a disaster turned out to be third position by Turn 3 on the first lap. Conor made a pass for second on the second on Lap 2 and another for the lead on 5. One of the non-regular competitors, who was on brand new, super-sticky, non-spec tires and would be disqualified at the end of the day, reeled Conor in on the last lap and piped him at the line by 0.001 seconds. In the pits, we noticed that his right rear tire was nearly flat again, so we replaced it with a well-used one. With championship points in mind, Conor took it easy at the start of his second heat. He finished Lap 1 in eighth place. He worked his way to fifth on Lap 2, gained another position on Lap 4, and stayed there to the end. A second and a fourth was good enough for the second starting position for the feature. The first two got away well and Conor settled in behind the leader. On Lap 4, the leader made a mistake in Turn 6 and Conor was able to get by for the lead. He went on to win – also his fifth feature race win of the season in this class – by 2.3 seconds.
NEXT RACE – For the third time in 2012, Bruce Brothers Racing scored feature race wins in both of our karts. Conor’s win consolidated his firm lead in the season championship and Peter’s win took him from two points behind to three points ahead with one event remaining. The final event of the season is MSOKC Race No. 12 on Sunday, October 7, 2012. Both boys are looking forward to this, as it’s another reverse-direction (clockwise) event at CRP that will feature qualifying instead of the normal heat race format.
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results from Race No. 11 can be found here.
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