May 4th, Northern Ohio Burris Speedway Series #1-Barberton
Results
Stock Medium: 11 entries
Heat 1: Started 11th, finished 5th
Heat 2: Started 1st, finished 11th (DNF)
Feature: Started 9th, finished 5th
We opened our season at Barberton Speedway for the first race of NOBSS! After working hard throughout the week, we had our Rage Silencer chassis from last year with our new Dover Power built flat-head ready to compete. We kept all the old bodywork on from last year because you know Murphy's Law always prevails: Put on a new body for the first race of the season, and it won't be new by the end of the day. So anyway, we got the track at 8 o'clock in the morning so we could get everything set-up. We didn't have time to scale the kart at home, so we just got everything ready at the track. We scaled the kart to run the Medium weight class (335 lbs), and found the weight percentages were pretty close to where we wanted them and left them there for the first practice session. The first time on the track, the pavement was still pretty cold and dirty from the stock-car races the night before. Therefore, there wasn't much grip being provided and it was kinda hairy sliding around in the turns. The tire temperatures were interesting though with the left-side tires actually being warmer then the right-sides. Well, we went back to our pit and made a minor caster adjustment and headed out again. The track was much cleaner now, and had a little more grip. We dropped our lap times by about a second-and-a-half from our first session, but the tire temps were still showing lefts hotter than rights, in fact the exact same amount. So, we headed back again to our pit again a minor right-rear adjustment. In our third and final practice, the kart was handling great and the times were dropping. But again, the tire temps. showed the lefts were hotter than the rights the same amount! Well, this started to look a little strange to us. We had been keeping pretty busy since we got there, so we sat down in our little break between practice and heat races to take a look at this phenomenon. Well, come to find out, when the tire pyrometer averages the temperatures, you have to make sure it the is set of temps. you want averaged. I had forgotten to change the temps. for it to average every time, so I was just taking the averages of the first practice session each time. Amazingly, that's why all the difference between rights/lefts were the exact same!! Well, having solved that problem, I took the averages for our other sessions and found out the kart was set-up pretty well.
Anyway, we're now ready to get racing. When I signed in, I had drawn a really high pill number, so I knew I'd probably be starting near the back. Sure enough, I started 11th out of 11. The start of the race was very clean, and the outside line didn't come up to speed very fast. So, I shot the gap, and moved to the high line getting me up to about 8th going into the first turn. I was able to get a great run off the 2nd turn, but decided to fall back into the draft down the back-stretch. I did the same through 3 and 4, and stayed right on the bumper of the 7th place kart down the front stretch. Again, I got a spectacular run off of 2, and was able to pull underneath, passing both the 6th and 7th place karts. It took me a lap or two to run down the 4th and 5th place karts of Isaiah Bross and Seth Schneider. I was biding my time on their back bumpers as the laps wound down in the 10 lap heat. I was getting some great runs off the 2 and 4, but couldn't take advantage of them without running the other guys over. Finally, Seth got a run on Isaiah off of the 4th turn as we came to the line with 2 laps to go. My plan was to just follow Seth through, but Isaiah protected the line after Seth made it past. I stayed right on Isaiah's bumper and realized the best place to pass him was probably out of 4, and it would have to be done on the last lap because we were coming to the white flag. In 1 and 2, I stuck right with him and made a little higher entry into 3, so I could pull off underneath him. That worked great, and we edged him out for 5th at the line.
Well, the good thing about starting last in the first heat is that you get to start on the pole for the second heat. For those of you who don't know, they invert your starting position from the first heat for the second heat. So, since I started last, I got to start first. I had a great start as we came down for the green and jumped out to the lead going into 1. I didn't see anyone beside me, so I just set out to make the fastest laps I could. By the third lap, I guess I had opened up a pretty good lead over Seth in 2nd. The gap was about 10 kart lengths, and was starting to grow a little. The kart was handling great, but the exhaust gas temperature was growing like my lead. Glancing at the tach, all I could see was 13-something which meant at least 1300 degrees. We really like to see that number around 1200, so I started adjusting the carb to dump more fuel into the motor and cool it down. Well, that wasn't working at quickly as I would like, so I turned the mixture screw even more. Well ultimately, I ended up unscrewing the mixture screw completely from the carb. This isn't too good because that causes the motor to stall, and when you're leading the race, all you can do it just coast it into the in-field. :) So, we ended up 11th in the second heat, although I know we would have had them covered. At the very least, I think we would have finished 2nd.
By the virtue of our heat finishes, we started 9th in the feature. The feature was 15 laps long, so we had our work cut out for us, but had some time to do it. My worst fear was loosing touch with the leaders. I didn't want them to get way out in front. Well, the first start was waved off, but the second one was pretty good. The field moved through 1 and 2 pretty cleanly as I chose the higher line to try and pass. I kinda got trapped there, but the two karts ahead of me got together. The one guy got really squirrely and I thought he was going to hit the wall. I quickly dove low and passed them both putting me up to 6th. I guess those two recovered because there was no caution flag thrown. I was able to fall in line as the first 6 karts broke away. Again, Seth and Isaiah were right ahead of me. Seth made a move to pass and was racing hard with Isiah. It was a chore for me to not run them over again. Actually, the 3rd through 6th position karts we all really close and racing hard. You probably could have thrown a 10 x 12 tarp over all of us. The good thing was that the leader was not pulling away. Seth finally got past Isaiah, and I was completing the pass on Isiah when the caution flag came out. Isaiah had the position the previous lap though so he got the position back. I didn't get the best re-start in the world, but coming out of 2, I was right back in the fight. I was able to get past Isaiah out of 4 then, as we came down with 5 to go. Seth had been locked in a battle with the 99 kart, and I quickly joined the fight. Neither seemed to be able to get off of 4 very well though. I just sat there, trying to figure which one would win out, again without hitting either of them. The laps started winding down though, and I had to try my best to pass them off of 4 coming to the checkers. I was able to get beneath both of them, but I had scrubbed way
too much speed, and they beat me to the line. We ended up 5th in the feature then. We also found out afterwards that the brakes were dragging a little which probably hurt us some.
Well, that pretty much wraps up the first race of our season. We were happy with the results. I honestly think we had a kart that could've won. It was definitely a 2nd or 3rd place kart. But, since I made that mistake in the 2nd heat, we had to start in the back. Oh well, we didn't break, and everyone finished the day safely. We'll be sitting 5th in points for the NOBSS which is a good starting place. The next NOBSS race will be at Toledo near the end of May.
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