August 17th, Henricks Mopar Classic-Archbold
Results
Medium class: 19 entries, Top 16 to Feature
Heat 1C, 8 laps: Started-1st, Finished-3rd
Heat 2C, 8 laps: Started-6th, Finished-4th
B Main, 8 laps: Started-2nd, Finished-3rd
Feature, 20 laps: Started-13th, Finished-9th?
We travelled to Archbold this week-end for the 5th Annual Archbold Grand Prix which I guess you could also call a go-kart demolition derby. Right off the bat, let me say: yes, it is short track racing and there's nothing wrong with rubbing or close racing, but when other karts are used as brakes and back-boards, you have to draw a line somewhere. Anyway, there were over 100 karts that showed up for this event that takes place on a temporary circut in a car dealer's lot. When I say temporary, I mean the course is marked out by straw-bales. This year, the venue was moved from the Nofzinger Pontiac dealership to Henricks Dodge dealership across the road. The track had a little longer straights then the previous year, and aside from the ripples on the one stretch, was set-up fairly well. We decided to run both karts as well, with Sean Lynd driving the other kart in the Heavy class which had 21 entries.
With the amount of entries in both the Medium and Heavy classes, they split the heats up into 3 groups so there were only about 6 or 8 karts in each heat. I was in the 3rd grouping, or C, and since I drew a pretty good pill, so for the first round of heats, I started on the pole. When we left the pits, apparently the flagman thought I was going to fast, so I slowed way down. Well, coming off the 4th turn he decided he wanted to start the race. However, I was still keeping the pace slow since that's what he asked for. I did start once we were on the straight-away, but it was a really bad start. He did throw the yellow though, and we had a complete restart. The restart wasn't that much better since the outside pole-sitter had a huge jump. I was able to get past him off of 2 though. The next time into the 1st turn, another kart got his nose under me and made the pass. I rode behind him for a lap before I had a great run off of 4, and passed him going into 1. I tapped the brakes a little in the middle of the turn to prevent him from pulling off the cross-over off of 2. Well, he just rammed into the back of me which sent me up the track, and he went passed. He could not get off the turns, and from then on out, he would not come off the bottom of the track. Even down the straights, he would stay really low which in my book is blocking. Well, I was trying to find a way around when another kart stuck he nose under me. He had position, so I let him have it. He too quickly found out the leader was driving like a moron, and we all were bottled up behind him. I wasn't able to get back by though, and we came home in 3rd. For the second round of heats, we started last. On the start, I had quickly moved up to 3rd off of the 2nd turn. Well, in the middle of 3 and 4, and actually coming off the turn, I got slammed in the side. I pretty much spun-out and came to a near hault. The flagman didn't do anything about it though. I had lost a ton of and was pretty angry at that other kart. So, going into the 1st turn I lost control of the kart, and spun into the bales. This closed up the field, and I was right behind the guy who hit me. Through the caution laps I let him know I was there by pretty much wearing out his bumper. I ended up getting the flag pointed at me, but I saw nothing wrong since it was obviously legal to hit other people earlier in the race. Anyway, this guy couldn't get off the turns either, and I was still riding him pretty hard. He decided he wanted to block a little coming off the turns as well, so finally off the 2nd turn I hit his LR tire. I ended up on top of him all the way down the back-stretch, and tore off some of his side bodywork. I got off of him and went past hoping he realized I wasn't very happy with him. By this time though, there were only 2 laps left and we ended up 4th. After getting bumped in the heats, we had to run the B Main event in order to get into the feature. The top 6 finishers from the B would advance into the feature. I started on the outside pole for the race and had great start. I had outside position going into the first turn, but the pole sitter drove in way over his head, big surprise, and ended up hitting me and forcing me up the track, almost into the bales. When everything shook out, I was running about 8th out of the 9 in the B. There were only 8 laps, so I had my work cut out for me. I quickly moved up to 7th coming out of 4, and then fell in behind our "good buddy" Rex. Basically, I let him clear the way on the bottom until the kart really started to come in. I was sitting 5th when I passed both Rex and the 3rd place kart coming out of 4. I started to run down the leaders, and was right on their bumper when the checkers fell. So, we made it into the feature race, but we had to start 13th. I knew there were slower guys ahead of us, and the start would be interesting. Before the start, I actually got into the back of the guy ahead of me since I thought they were going green. He really wasn't too happy about that, but oh well. Anyway, on the first start there were karts everywhere. Someone spun in the 1st turn, so there was a restart. The restart was much better as I started to pick off karts. Again, I pretty much followed the guy ahead of me as he cleared the lower line. A few laps in though, I had to fall in-line behind Rex, I made the move to pass him on the inside, when all of a sudden the track was blocked. I had no place to go, and ended up t-boning someone. His kart ended up on top of mine, but I really didn't have too much damage. Unfortunately, I had to restart back in the pack again. I started to make my way back up again, and just passed Rex and another kart, when the caution came out again. On this restart, someone near the front pulled a brake-check, so instead of me hitting Rex, I steered to avoid him. At the same time, the kart behind me just passes me. Now, all of this was under yellow conditions, I don't know how that stood, but it did. Well, that kart and Rex were pretty evenly matched, so I was trying everything I could to find room by them without hitting them. I wasn't able to, and came home somewhere around 9th. Most of the day, we couldn't even buy a break. Like Kevin Greer said afterward, "It just looked like you were the pinball in the middle of it."
Sean's luck wasn't much better in the Heavies either. He would have finished 2nd in his first heat race, but Seth spun him in the 4th turn coming to the checkers. Sean definitely wasn't happy, and I talked with about it. Seth thought Sean knew he was there, but Sean didn't. In the 2nd heat, the motor spraying alcohol bad. Sean was able to bring it home in 4th, but soaked his glove in alcohol. We found that the carb to tank bolts were loose. Sean started 9th in the B main out of 12. He had made it all the way up to 3rd with about 4 laps to go when the chain jumped the sprocket. He said that he was getting hit from behing pretty hard on restarts. We think after one hit, the rear wheels were off the ground. When the kart came down, the sprocket guard hit the ground bending it. With it bent, the chain wouldn't stay on the sprocket, and the chain jumped. I felt so bad for him because that kart was flying.
Well, that was pretty much our day. I think that was the most equipment we tore up since we stopped running at Fremont. I don't know if we'll go back there next year because the guys that drive there are just stupid and wreckless, and the flagman had no control over the track. I should know better though by just looking at their karts. They don't even have enough respect for their own equipment, so why should they care about anyone else's. I think running 300 laps would have been much more fun, and believe it or not, much safer.
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