Cresson opener a fast one

MSR Cresson provided an excellent venue for the combined karting event to start two clubs' 2008 seasons.

Southwest RoadRacing Association along with Midwest America's Road Racing Series brought out their clubs to mix it up. Along with some very intense racers, the size of the fields was akin to a national competition. The more popular classes such as TaG and Formula 125 and Rotax had 25 to 30 and more entries.

The Kt100 Ltd Lights raced Saturday, and although it technically wasn't my first 'Lights' race, it was the first I was competitive in. Random draw saw me start 15th out of 18. Oscar was driving PPK's '08 entry and was near the front and got away well. The start was chaotic and our two first year drivers at the back had to avoid a melee. When too many karts squeeze into a space too small for them all, someone is going to spin. That spin happened right in front of me and I avoided to the outside. Out of my perifery I saw another kart spin but I got away clean, (I found out later that it was Luke spinning to avoid the other spin).

The downhill section after turn 6 is a fun run down, reminds me of skiiing, but close proximity to slower karts made me nervous and I dropped two tires off at an extremely fast speed. Luckily the Birel popped right back onto the track with nary a bad result. At the bottom of cresson's new section, from turn 6 has two high speed kinks that I was able to go flat out, and braking hard and driving deep into turn 8, a steep uphill hairpin, I'd let my forward motion carry me over the hump and drift all the way to the bricks. Cresson is noteable for its several blind, high speed turns. This one isn't as blind, but you cannot see the exit once you enter it. I was catching karts as a consequence of this turn all weekend. During the Sunday race, I was bumping Oscar up the hill after this turn.

I had passed several karts in the first lap, and gotten away clean from the start where 3 or 4 got caught up or slowed down. Mike Jones, driving a Randy "Socks" kart and Dale Posinski both passed me and I settled into a rhythm. I had adjusted my carb to a hotter, leaner position and I watched it and my lap times for a few laps. I was seconds faster than yesterday's practice times. In the 2:49's and :48's, just a few seconds off of last year's times. There were slower classes on track, and I was able to make passes without affecting my racing line, but I had begun reeling in some other karts in my class. Ahead was the 44 kart of David Munden.

David and I had had several great battles on track. We were friendly to each other off track and treated each other with respect on track. While driving up on him, he'd raise his hand and signal he was slowing, having some kind of problem. I passed him safely and come the back straight and he passed me back going into 12. From there we'd stay in each other's draft, I'd catch him in 8 and 9 and he'd pass me back from 10 to 12. When the white flag flew I was trailing him going into the snake section of 2, 3 and 4 and made up some time, when we got to 8 I was ready and passed him going up the hill to 9. Then came 10 and I knew he'd try to repass there. I moved over to the right to change my line and confuse, and when I didn't see him right, I leaped back and entered 10 in the lead, I didn't know if he was there or had had another engine stutter but I pressed hard through the last turns and took the checkered...but at the very last moment, he flew from behind me and passed on the right. It was a photo finish for sure, though there weren't cameras set up for that. I felt like he completed the pass, I was turned towards him as we went across the line and I think his bumper reached the line first, but just barely. Ironically, electronic timing wouldn't help because I had dropped my transponder somewhere during lap 6, the last lap recorded. I think David's pass put him into 5th, I finished 6th out of 18.

Justin had a short race, he went off early at turn 8, and Luke had a mechanical failure causing his motor to die. Both of these guys would come back Sunday with strong improvements.

Reflecting on the race that night, Dale suggested I lengthen my gear ratio, or take a few teeth away. This caused me distress because I had spent time and energy changing the rear sprocket because I wanted those extra teeth. I had to hunt the sprocked down though, I didn't bring an 88. But I couldn't find a two-piece which meant I had to dis-assemble the entire rear end to put the one-piece sprocket on. Now, he was telling me it was better to have straighway speed than corner speed. Let me go on the record now, and if history proves me wrong then so be it, but I would rather have corner speed. If I had to choose between the two- If I had to, it'd be corner speed. Which is the decision I made: even if I made that change, and it helped a little, I still wouldn't catch the leaders. This was a fact I knew before the first laps of practice Friday morning. I was not going to challenge for the lead in lights. This combined event had John and Jamey Brown in the field, and another Marrs Kt driver, who dominated the field, finishing one two three exept Saturday where the third place driver failed post-race weight tech, handing Oscar third place points. I'm glad I didn't change it back, when I thought about it Sunday morning, it didn't make sense; I was unhappy with it when I changed it.

Sunday's race had a field of 14 and again I was near the back. At the start I got a good start and passed a handful of karts before the first turn we came to, turn 6. Down the hill I passed several more and got around another coming out of 8. Ahead I could see Oscar battling with a Marrs driver. When they got in line and drafted, I could not catch them. But when one driver tried to pass, they'd get side by side for a while and I'd start to catch them. Just as I came up behind we came out of 12 and I blew by on the right. I had to brake hard to stay in front but I had passed Oscar and John Thompson. But as I expected, they passed me back on the front straight and I came up behind them fast coming out of 8. This was my best turn. Pretty soon it was just me and Oscar, we say the other guy standing by the side of the track out of the race with a failure.

At Friday's driver meeting, the SWRA let it be known that bumping was going to be penalized. With the strong draft at this track, karts were bumping everywhere. As Oscar and I began lapping together, I was able to stay in his draft and pass. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I should be tucking in behind him and trying to draft. It wasn't until Oscar signaled me to stay behind him that I fell in consistently. Along the way though, SWRA thought I was bumping and dropped the 'rolled' black flag to me. I wasn't sure what this meant because of the direct statements they'd made at the driver's meeting. "There won't be a warning flag for bumping. The won't be any warnings, there better not be any bumping." It wasn't that I was bumping, I was coming up fast behind Oscar and I didn't want to slow down. When I got the rolled black flag, I signaled the started next time by, "do I need to go into the pits?" He signaled "yes" by giving a thumb's up. I dove into the pit lane and when I came around to the hot pit area the race director Mac gave me a frantic "GO GO GO" signal and I nailed the gas and sped back onto the track. I had a little squirrely moment on the pit exit lane, but I had lost Oscar's draft ( I found out later they didn't intend for me to pit, saying 'it was a rolled flag') but I hadn't lost a position and that's how I finished. Oscar in fourth, Me in fifth.

It should be said that the race winners Saturday and Sunday are nothing new to their club, our club and national events. John Dale and Jamey Brown have been winning in the Yamaha KT class for years now racing motors prepared by their dad, Gene Brown. This weekend was another testament to the deathgrip on their region, they led start to finish, though both days Jamey started near me at the back. The winning margin was some :55 seconds.

Both Justin and Luke did well, though Luke had more bad luck, first with a nose cone falling off and a sever front end chatter, then he threw a chain late in the race and DNF'd. Justin drove a steady race and finished, earning good points in the first race of the season.

Although the severe thrashing dampened the celebratory feeling, Frank, Oscar and PPK left leading the KT 100 Ltd Lights points. I scored points in both races and finished both and held my ground with Oscar, who had extra weight bolted on. I was very happy with this finish against the large field that turned out.

-Katykarter