August 23rd, Michigan-Ohio Burris Speedway Series-Toledo
Results
This week-end, we decided to race closer to home at the Toledo Speedway. We thought about going up to to Jackson, but when we re-checked ALL the schedules we saw that Toledo was having a show. It was part of the the MI/OH Burris Series, which we haven't be a part of all year, but that just means we don't have to worry about any points. Plus, we could use it as a learning session for our two final NOBSS races there in September. We only had six karts entered in our class, but that ended up being the biggest class of the day. For some reason, there weren't that many racers that came out yesterday. Throughout practice, we made some minor adjustments which all helped the kart feel better, but none of them really made it faster. Knowing we would start on the back, we made some slight changes before the first heat.
In the first heat, we started 6th. The start was very clean, and everyone was pretty close for the first lap or two. Then Kent McCloskey, having started on the outside pole, started to pull away. I was trying to pick my way through traffic which was very thick. The one kart was trapped down low, and he wanted to get up high. Everyone couldn't get enough of a run on the high-side to get by him. Basically, I just sat there waiting for something to open up, but it never did. Every time there was even the slightest opening the door was shut, and I wasn't going to push the issue at all. So, we ended up coming home 6th. For the second heat, we started on the pole. We had a pretty good start, and jumped out to the early lead. Scott Bross was able to get to the inside of me on the second lap though going into the 1st turn. I continued to run my line though, and was able to get a great run coming off of 2. I thought Scott cleared me, and he thought so too. So, he moved down and I moved up, and the next thing I know his left-ear is in my right-front wheel-well. It just sucked it right in, no hop, no nothing. We both came to a screeching halt. We both had to start on the tail then which Scott was VERY unhappy about. He really disliked the inconsistancy of the calls considering the last time he raced there, two karts causing a caution got there spots back. I see where he was coming from, but this time they did make the right call, and previous time I don't know what they were thinking because it was BLATANTLY that wrong call. Anyway, I restarted 5th with quite a bit of body damage, and Scott started behind me. He was able to get by me quickly which I was pretty glad because he was pretty fast. Again, I had to deal with traffic not to mention the huge sail in the wind the body damage was making. Near the end of the race, Scott had moved up nice and was racing with someone. He was below them and the other kart just came right down on him. Both karts went way out of the groove and we were able to get by and ended up 4th. We still were not happy with our lap times though. So for the feature, we started 5th. At the start of the race, everyone was really close. There was great hard racing going on between everyone. I wanted to follow Scott up through the field, but as he made a pass below the 51 kart, the 51 kart quickly turned left to protect his line. Well, his kart became extremely loose in front of me, and I was closing on him fast. The only thing I could do was steer to avoid which really broke my momentum. When I recovered, we were well behind the rest of the pack, and running average lap times at best, I was not able to gain on them. They weren't pulling away, but I wasn't able to gain either, so we ended up 6th.
So that was pretty much the racing day. We're still scratching our heads because we don't know exactly what happened or what's going on. Looking back at the last time we were there, we ran lap times that were 6 tenths of a second slower yesterday. We don't know if it's tires, air pressure, caster, or what, but hopefully we'll get it figured out before the next time we're there. I just hope this bad luck streaks stops now. Oh, it was also nice to see one of our old racing buddies, Jason Steinhurst, at the track yesterday as well. We raced karts with him a couple years ago. Now he's racing the 4 cylinder class at Toledo Speedway. He's looking to sell his karting equipment, so if anyone out there needs some used stuff, I can get you in touch with him. Our next race will be next Sunday, August 31st at Barberton for another night race. I have to thank Chuck's Custom for helping us out this year, and we're looking forward to seeing him next week since we haven't seen them in awhile. And if you need anything pertaining to race or yard karts or your truck and towing needs, Chuck is man to see! I also have to wish Andy Miller a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today (Aug. 24th)!!!!
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