September 14th, Barberton Regular Show
Results
Briggs Medium class: 3 entries
Heat 1: Started-1st, Finished-1st
Heat 2: Started-3rd, Finished-1st
Feature: Started-1st, Finished-1st
Animal class: 2 entries
Heat 1: Started-2nd, Finished-2nd
Heat 2: Started-1st, Finished-1st
Feature: Started-2nd, Finished-1st
This week we made our final trip to Barberton for the season. With
many of the track point battles wrapped up, the kart turnout was a
little low. However, this let us play and experiment though, and also
allowed us to get the Animal back on the other kart to have a lot more
fun. :) They limited practice time to only two rounds, and since they
basically ran all the senior classes together, we were only able to
get each kart on the track for one round of practice. That was ok
though because we were trying virtually the identical set-up on both
karts.
Medium class:
For the first heat, we started on the pole. The guy starting 3rd was
taking his first competition laps ever. I think he was kinda nervous,
but we tried to help him out as much as we could. We had a very clean
start, and I was able to grab the lead into the first turn. Throughout
the race I tried different entries into the 3rd turn to see how the
kart would react. Sometimes it handled really well, but other times
not. Either way, we were able to come home with the win. For the
second heat, we started 3rd, right behind the new guy. We had made a
couple changes between heats to see what would happen. The rookie
pole-sitter didin't have great acceleration, so on the start I jumped
to the outside so we wouldn't run over him. The other kart, Shane
Ixos, grab the lead into the first turn, but I was able to get under
him coming off the 2nd turn. He battled back on the outside down the
backstretch though, and I fell in behind him before going into the 3rd
turn. I was able to get through 3 and 4 better though, and passed him
down the front-stretch. We were able to hold onto the lead then,
winning the 2nd heat. Since we won both heats, we lined-up for the
feature on the pole. Again, we had a good start, as Shane battle on
the outside through the 1st and 2nd turns. I was able to get a better
run off of 2 though, and we didn't look back from there. Again, I
tried different entries into 3, and learned a little about what may
fix some of our annoyances. Ultimately, we were able to lead flag to
flag, and finally come home with our first Barberton feature win!! We
were so close all year, and I'm happy we were able to get one there.
Animal class:
We started on the outside pole for the first heat of the Animal class.
Actually, the other guy, Jim Turner, was running a motor under F200
rules which are a little different from the WKA Stock Animals, but we
were pretty closely matched. We had a pretty even start, but he took
the lead into the first turn. He washed-up the track though, and I
was able to get under him coming off of 2. Jim came back down the
back-stretch and made a move going into 3. I was able to come off
the 4th turn a lot better though, and I moved under him again. He
had the power down the stretch as he moved inside of me going into 1
again. I stayed behind him this time as we came out of 2 and down
the back-stretch. We entered 3 and I was setting him up for the pass
off of 4 again, when the motor decided it didn't want to run at full
throttle! I made one more lap around the track trying to figure out
what was wrong, but everything seemed ok to me. The thing would
idle ok, but would seem to choke itself out at full throttle. So,
instead of chasing that all day, we decided to just switch motors.
Starting on the pole for the 2nd heat, we had nothing to loose. With
the fresh motor on, we had a very even start. I was able to grab the
lead going into 1, and keep it from there on out, taking the 2nd heat
win. The track, or Jim, really didn't care how we started for the
feature. However, I knew there would be a much better race if we
lined-up like we were supposed to. Since both of us had a 1st and
2nd, we were to line-up by pill draw which would put me outside. Again,
we had a very even start, and he grabbed the lead into 1. I was able
to pull under him off of 2, but he battled back on the outside. I
was forced to make a very low entry into 3 which caused me to come off
4 really high. He got a nose under me going into 1 again, and we
repeated the previous lap, swapping the lead back and forth. All
day, Jim really couldn't handle in the turns, but man, he could fly
down the straights. Well, after about 4 laps of criss-crossing
for the lead, I was able to get a good run off of 4. The next time
around I was given the checkers. Apparently, Jim had a problem with
his brake pedal, and he didn't want to be racing out there with it
like that. So, we came home with our 2nd feature win of the day!
Well, that about wraps it up from Barberton. Oh wait, I did forget to
mention that the guy that pitted next to us wanted me to take his
2-cycle, Spec 100, kart out on the road course during practice. I
decided, sure, why not. The kart is definitely different because
you're sitting up, and it reacts extremely quick to steering input. It
was fun to take around there, but nothing really special. You could
man-handle the thing as long as you were quick enough to catch it
because it had plenty of horsepower.
Our next racing action will be this Saturday and Sunday at the Toledo
Speedway for the final two races of the NOBSS points series. We're
currently 4th in the points, and I think there's still a chance that
we could get into 3rd with a couple of good runs. Saturday, gates
open at 11:30 with racing probably around 2:30, and Sunday, gates open
at 10 with racing around 1. It's $5 for spectators on both days which
means you're not allowed on the hot grid. You are allowed to be in the
pits around the karts. See you there!
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