July 27th, Northern Ohio Burris Speedway Series #5-Barberton
Results
This weekend we headed back to Barberton for the 4th race of the
Northern Ohio Burris Speedway (NOBSS) series. It is the last time
that THIS series will be visiting Barberton for the year, so we were
hoping our changes from last week would really aid this week. Also,
this week, we out-fitted the other kart, usually with the Animal motor
on it, with an additional Flathead and entered a second driver, Sean
Lynd, in the Heavy class. The reason being, we would like him to join
us in running the PKA 300 in mid-August. We wanted him to get
comfortable in our equipment, which we hoped would help him with his
decision to join us for the 300. To give you a quick idea of the
300: Aug. 16th, 300 lap event at Toledo, must have 2 drivers, min.
weight 340 lbs, and a min. of 1 minute pit stops. Alright, now back
to this weekend. Throughout hot laps, the kart handled pretty
well, and I thought we were good to go with no problems. Boy, was I wrong.
For the first heat, we started near the back, 6th out of the 7th. I
wasn't worried though because I knew the kart was working well. I
started right behind Kent McCloskey, and we were just gonna hook-up
and go. On the first start, Kent quickly got to the front, the outside
pole sitter got loose coming out of the 2nd turn and went down the
track. I chose the high-line around and missed everything, but the
pole sitter, Bobby Gindlesperger, got caught up in it and stopped. Seth
Schneider also was involved having started 7th, he didn't have many
places he could go. The red flag was thrown, but both made it through
with no major injuries and were able to continue. Now, since there
wasn't one lap completed, I fully expecting a double file, "complete
restart" with those parties involved to the caution moved to the
tail. But, they ruled a COMPLETE restart meaning Bobby got his pole
back. Now, this is the SECOND week in a row were the rules have been
bent to accommodate him. Remember last week, he spun and got his
spot back. Well, allow me to read you some rules, and I'll let you
be the judge for these situations.
"2003 WKA Technical Manual, 106.15.2 COMPETITOR: Any competitor who
is (or appears to be) injured or involved in any incident causing a
yellow or red flag shall be placed at the back of the restart order
(if they are judged capable of restarting) upon resumption of the
event. Involved parties may be disqualified per race director."
"2003 WKA Technical Manual, 106.15.4 RESTARTS: Restarts after
a yellow or red flag will revert to the most current order of last
completed lap with all involved parties moved to the rear or
disqualified of the lap the were currently running."
And just to make a point, how 'bout we look at some rules from our midget car brethren.
"2003 NAMARS RuleBook 105.9: Any Car(s) not completing the first
lap, stopping, or spinning, will be restarted at the rear of the
field. The remaining Cars will move straight forward in their
respective rows."
"2003 NAMARS Rule Book, 107.7: Drivers involved in the
incident causing the yellow condition are subject to restarting at
the tail of the field."
Alright, I think you get my point. I think BOTH weeks, Bobby should
NOT have gotten his spot back. So anyway, we restarted and came out
of the 2nd turn in 3rd. However, going into the 3rd turn the motor
almost died! It acted like there was just too much fuel or
something. The temperatures were way down, so I started leaning the
mixture out. A couple karts got passed me, and by the time the motor
cleaned out and actually ran smooth, the 4 front runners had a pretty
good lead on me. The kart seemed to handle ok, but I really wasn't
concerned about it considering the motor issue. When we got a chance
to look at it, we found that the mixture screw was still 3 1/2 turns
out, which means a really rich mixture. So, we turned that it hoping
that would fix the problem. For the 2nd heat, we started on the
outside pole. During the warm-up though, the motor reacted the same
way as the first. I turned the mixture screw in as far as it would go
for the start of the race. It almost died through the first turn
though, and I couldn't even get out of my own way as karts went by. We
ended up in 5th again by the end of the first lap. It took a few
laps for the motor to come to life, and again, by that time, the
front 4 had too much of a lead on us. Well, when we pulled off Sean
noticed something we didn't before. The fuel tank was cracked and
leaking like there was no tomorrow. This was probably the problem
the whole time because there was no vacuum on the tank and the carb
couldn't pick-up any fuel. We checked with the officials and were
allowed to change motors. So, we were all set to start the feature
from the 5th position with a new motor bolted on. For the first
couple laps, the front 5 battle hard, back and forth, before settling
in. We wound up in line were we started, 5th. We ran with them for
awhile, but the right rear was gripping just a little too much which
slowed us down just enough that we couldn't keep up. So, we ended
up coming home in 5th.
Our other kart in the heavies, also came home 5th as Sean dodged the
raindrops in the feature. I thought he did a fantastic job since it
was his first time at Barberton. Turns 3 and 4 are tricky, and by the
end of the day he was getting through them much better then when he
started. It took me at least a year and a half to get those turns
figured out!! Sean kept dropping his lap times all day though, so he
was getting it figured out. And he said, he would run the 300 with
us, so it looks like we have a team set. Now, we just need some pit
crew to go along! Well, that's about it for this week. I have to
thank Andy Miller for coming along to help us out, we couldn't have
got everything done with out him. And thank you Chuck's Custom
Karting for all you've done for us this year! We will probably not be
racing next week either, but I will send out an update with a major
announcement. Also, have wish Leslie Kremer a happy birthday!!
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