2003 MSOKC HPV Champions

16 May - Tracy's Turn For A Win!

Things got a little tight at Turn 3.

In a crazy day that saw Dana racing in Tracy's class for one heat then winning another INFONETICS HPV heat for herself and Tracy surviving some scary moments and some wheel to wheel racing, Tracy was rewarded for her perseverance with a Feature win. It was the Yang to last week's Ying as the win came after the checkered flag, in the tech shed.

The weekend started off badly when I broke my own cardinal rule by not touching the karts until 24 hours before they were to be loaded up for the race. I advise other racers to always unload, clean and inspect their karts in the days following an event. That way if they discover something broken or worn there will be time to respond by ordering parts or making arrangements for repairs. This is a busy time around the house and office and there I was at 7:00 Friday night, finally pulling stuff apart for Sunday's race. And sure enough, there were some surprises waiting for me.

During the disassembly of Tracy's clutch for routine maintenance I found:

1) The third bearing (on the crankshaft, outside the clutch) had destroyed itself. Surprise level, 3 (of 5). Inconvenience level, 2. Budget impact level, 1.
2) A crack in one of the fiction disks. Surprise, 4. Inconvenience, 4. Budget impact, 3.
3) A hairline crack in the clutch drum. Surprise, 5. Inconvenience, 5 if I could buy or borrow one from another racer, 6 (out of 5) if I couldn't. Budget impact, 4.

HPV Heat One was punctuated by Matt Rice winding up on the wrong side of the fence.

I was really beginning to dislike this Steel Nitro clutch. It had various failures in early season testing and now had some significant failures again. And if I couldn't locate replacement parts on Saturday Tracy wouldn't be able to turn a wheel. Hume Performance Clutches to the rescue with a quick call to Keith Saturday morning. He had the bearing and disks we needed but didn't have the drum for our style clutch. But rather than allow us to miss a round in the MSOKC Vega Tire Championship, he loaned us is own personal clutch. That's called Service and we were back in business..

The night before was Senior Prom night for Tracy and Julie so our team plan was for Dana to practice in both karts with Tracy trying to get to the track by her first race. Fitting and aligning the loaner clutch complicated that and while Dana got three very quick sessions done in her HPV, we barely got Tracy's kart ready in time for the third practice session. And when I say barely, I mean other karts in the Super Can group had the engines started as I was making the last few wrench turns. Dana came in complaining of understeer but we'd have to race the change untested.

Super Can Heat 2/Lap 1/Turn 3 Dave Creech gets sideways...

Tracy checks up, spins too...

The rest of the field scatters to avoid hitting Tracy and Dave...

...A couple karts didn't quite do it but Tracy was able to carry on with a redesigned nose section.

Tracy's class was first up and there was no sign of Tracy - or Julie to do her video work. The 99 kart with Dana in it was gridded 5th and at the green Dana got a good start in an unfamiliar class and was up to third going onto the backstraight for the first time. She was in the middle of a group of five that broke away from the rest of the 13 kart field. Soon she had 2003 Champ Brad Carroll on her bumper and about mid-race he found a way through and brought Bob McConnell through with him.

Dana clung to that pack of four other karts and when Brad got tangled up with the second place kart, Bob (in another Biesse Kart) and Dana inherited second and third spots. A couple times she attacked Bob's Viper but couldn't make it happen. Going into Turn Nine on the last lap Dana stuck it inside but McConnell wouldn't give it up easily. The two Vipers went through Nine wheel to wheel, continued fighting on the straight between Nine and Ten and were wheel to wheel again through Turn Ten. Bob's inside line gave him the slightest advantage and he was able to nose Dana out at the line.

Still, a heck of a run for the team. The third place points would help Tracy's starting position for the feature.

Dana hardly had time to cool down before she was on the HPV pace lap, starting 7th in an eight kart field. She fell to last at the green but by the end of lap one she was up to fourth. On lap three she got by Roberto Zayas for third but apparently it wasn't her cleanest of passes and Roberto ended up in the dirt with our apologies. We don't have footage of that because Julie had the camera aimed at Matt Rice who had just crashed through the fence on the main straight! On lap four she was past John Fox completing a last to second place run. She closed a little on Barry Hatcher in the final two laps but was not close enough to challenge by the time the checker flew.

Having looped it in 5 while passing for 2nd, Tracy's kart surprises Brad Carroll and he spins off too.

Tracy was in her kart for Super Can Heat 2 and was starting 7th. A good start kept her there but going into Turn 3, Dave Creech, just in front of her, locked his brakes and got sideways. Not knowing where he'd end up Tracy got on her binders and had the same thing happen. Between the two of them they had the track pretty well block for a few moments. And during those moments Tracy got knocked around fairly good by the rest of the pack trying to get by. One shot to her nose helped get the kart pointed down track again. Tracy carried on and when she didn't duck into the pits it meant the kart felt fine to her. She was right, all the damage turned out to be cosmetic.

She resumed still in seventh but was delayed quite a bit. On lap three she got by Karl Hans for fifth. And a lap later third and fourth got together at Turn Three but this time Tracy steered wide and just got around them as they slid to a stop. On the last lap she made a run at Jason Stukey at Turn Five for second place and spun when things got narrow down there. Unfortunately, Brad was next on the scene and surprised by a kart crossways in the racing line spun off as well. Tracy was able to recover to finish sixth, Brad retired out at Turn Five.

Dana racked up win #20 by winning Heat 2.

HPV Heat 2 had Dana on the pole with Circleville Raceway Park owner Steve Tatman next to her. Barry Hatcher was back in fifth. Steve gave Dana a challenge at Turn One but she was ahead by Turn two. When Keldon Marth and Steve tried to go through Turn Four side by side, Barry set them up and passed both of them on the exit. Despite her jumping out to a large lead when Steve and Keldon bottled up Turn Four Barry was on Dana's bumper by the end of lap two. But Dana, as Barry has mentioned before, never seems to make a mistake and never gave him a chance to take the position. Career win # 20 for Dana.

In the Super Can feature Tracy was gridded third (thanks to the third place her teammate scored for her - but where would she have started if she hadn't spun away another third in Heat 2?). At the green she fell in behind Ray Brown and Brian Bays and it wasn't long before Brad Carroll was right behind her. Brian, Tracy and Brad ran nose to tail lap after lap giving everyone the sense that if Tracy and Brad could get by they'd motor on up to Brown.

Carroll tries Tracy on the outside...

...but Tracy is able to hold him off. This action was typical of the Super Can Feature.

Tracy was definitely faster through the corners and couldn't keep from bumping Brian several times which he was not enjoying much. But at the same time she was getting the signal from me that Brad was right behind her so she couldn't waste any time. Brad tried Tracy a couple times but she was able to hold him off. Bob McConnell even got into the group about half way through the race and really started to mix things up. He and Brad swapped positions several times right behind Tracy and once Bob got inside Tracy at Seven but she held on for the inside line going into Eight. At the line it was Brown, Bays, Conlin, Carroll and McConnell with two wheels in the grass, the result of his kart climbing over Tracy's rear wheel in the last corner.

But at technical inspection it was discovered that Brown was on Bridgestone tires, not the Mid State Ohio Kart Club spec Vega tires. Bays was disqualified for having an illegal piston which then moved Tracy up to 1st place. In Bays' defense it could be the fault of his engine builder or misinterpretation of the rules rather than blatant cheating. But either way it gave Tracy her first win. And it was made a little more special by the teamwork aspect of the effort what with Dana setting up her kart and earning her third place points in the first heat. Nice job ladies.

The #13 kart controlled the HPV Feature for most of the race.

Dana found herself on the outside of row One next to Barry for the HPV Feature and at the flag she move around him and into the lead. It looked like it would be another Conlin SpeedSports win as long as Dana did her usual thing. For five laps Barry stayed within a few feet of Dana's kart unable to find a way by. On lap six Barry's 20 years of karting experience, many of them on the national circuit, paid dividends. After five laps of watching Dana's lines, Barry jumped through to the lead on the short run from Three to Four. Chuck Hughes summed it up when he said Barry "made that look sooo sickeningly easy - even though I know it wasn't". In all her races in HPV, Dana has never had a challenge for the lead there so it was a bit of a shock to us all. Dana stuck to him the rest of the race but had to settle for second and a lesson in racecraft.

20 years of experience allowed Barry to find a way by.

After the race friends who were also disappointed to see Dana lose the lead were ripe with advice. Some of that advice chided her for not wanting to win bad enough to block the entire race. Well, we've always prided ourselves on racing clean and fairly and unless Frank Williams happens to be visiting Circleville Raceway Park someday, I doubt that our team will ever block except for very late in the race. We'll continue to race for fun and honor and take the wins we earn.

But a very good day overall, great teamwork, a little disappointment in losing the HPV win (a year ago we'd never have thought we could be even a little disappointed with a second) and big thanks to Hume Performance Clutches for bailing us out. After two championship races our drivers are 2nd (HPV) and 3rd (Super Can) in the points. It looks like this could be a very interesting year for both our drivers.

More action -

Top, L to R: At the Feature start Tracy edges into 2nd place - Later, challenges Bays for 2nd - Bays
was on two wheels trying to stay ahead.
Bottom, L to R: Last lap of Feature, Tracy defends 3rd - Bays bobbles in the last turn causing a
chain reaction behind. McConnell, under pressure from Carroll
touches wheels and rides up over Tracy's kart.

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