August 31, 2007

New Fast Time for '07


Congratulations Sam!

We've been trying to break the elusive 39 second mark all season long and finally did it last Sunday.

I just received an e-mail from a friend of mine informing us that our fast time on Sunday was posted as 38.93 seconds. I didn't realize this at the time since we were in such a hurry to leave. I threw the kart in the trailer without checking any data on his gauge and off we went.

Understand that this is not a track record. The record in our class still stands at 38.38 seconds and was set back in October of 2006. Our time is the fastest that anyone has gone on the track in 2007. We've made some improvements to the kart and are off to the track to test this afternoon. We've brought on board with us a driving coach that will not only help Sam with his duties, but assist me with my set-up as well.

38.2 here we come!

August 27, 2007

Bridgestone points series race #13

Sunday August 26th. Badger Raceway, Dousman WI.

A very wet past ten days gave way to sunny skies and 80 degree temperatures once again at Badger Raceway in Dousman Wisconsin for round #13 of the Bridgestone Championship Race Series.

An early fuel delivery problem scratched our attempt at our first morning practice, but once we discovered and fixed the problem we took to the track with a little re-learning to do. Sam had been out of the kart for almost three weeks now and had to find his stride once again. Thanks to Travis Kosik who is our closest competitor in our class, Sam had just the motivation to find the speed once again by the time the final arrived.

Although not his quickest time to date, he managed a 39.13 lap around the six-tenth of a mile track to score yet another 2nd place finish in HPV Junior. A big thank you has to go to Bob Clark who helped me point the chassis in the right direction. We've been struggling a bit with the front end geometry on our Pegasus Auto Racing/ OMP Margay since our recent crash and finally got it sorted out. Thanks Bob!

We now have another three weeks off until round #14 on September 23rd. In our quest to break the elusive 39 second mark we are planning on testing several times before this date with a private coaching session planned for Friday August 31st. Until then Happy Labor Day to you all, and kids, good luck in the new school year.

August 23, 2007

Schedule Change!

The September 8-9th MWSS Event in New Castle Indiana has been released from our schedule.

It was a hard decision for us (well, mostly me) to do this but seeing that Sam is leading the Points series at Badger, The fact that school is in session, and a date was needed to put on a party for my daughter's birthday, we really felt it was the right thing to do.

This particular track is one of which I was very excited to visit. From the perspective of other drivers who had competed there it sounded like a fast, fun course and I will miss it. Next year we will put it at the top of our list of events to attend and we hope you'll be there to join us.

August 20, 2007

Aug. 19th Race Rained Out

Thanks to our recent monsoon season arriving early this year, round twelve of the Bridgestone Championship Points Series was rained out at Badger Raceway this past weekend.

Racing will hopefully resume on Sunday August 26th.

August 13, 2007

A win, but at what cost?




The Bridgestone Championship Series round #10 event at Badger Raceway was a hot one on and off the track. Temperatures in the 90's and yet another three class combination made our day tough to say the least. Sam won his race but because of a first lap skirmish with another driver not even in our class (and gridded behind us) he finished with a battered kart.

Someone once told me that when you run up front or when you are surrounded by better, quicker drivers, the chances of contact or a crash are usually diminished because of the caliber of talent around you. This theory didn't hold true as the above mentioned driver proceeded to aggressively push and shove his way to the front of the pack with an obvious disregard for others around him. In doing so he wrecked not only Sam's kart but another driver that Sam was closely competing with.

I totally agree that there is going to be rubbing, touching, and contact in racing. Although I find road racing to be a far cry more civilized than circle track racing, this sort of thing does happen from time to time in our sport. But this was totally avoidable in my opinion and a very dumb move on this driver's behalf and I'll tell you why.

The driver that I'm talking about has far more experience racing karts than probably half the field of drivers on that day. He also was probably the quickest when you look at his lap times compared to others. Saying this one might think that he/she would possess enough maturity to wait until the right moment to safely pass everyone on either a slower turn or a long straight. It was clear after this act of stupidity that this frame of mind obviously doesn't exist inside this driver's head.

And a mature person would apologize to everyone affected by a stunt like this but none was to be heard by him or his father. At least none was made to us as I can't speak for the other driver involved. It was truly disappointing also when they were pitted directly across from us and didn't even make eye contact after this. They returned from tech, packed up their trailer and drove off. Maybe their conscience was getting to them, most likely it didn't, but at least we know now we'll need eyes in the back of our heads the next time we share a track with him.

The silver lining in this dark cloud is the fact that Sam now is in first place in his class in points. Like I've said before if and when more drivers in our class return from other series' that they are involved in we're going to have to work extra hard to preserve this lead. It won't be easy but he's proven time and again that he can step up when the moment comes.

Wish us luck!