2003 MSOKC HPV Champions

10 July - A Long, Tough Night Ends Well

Twilight racing didn't agree with us.

There were plenty of long faces, concerned looks and maybe a short temper or two around the Conlin SpeedSports pits during the heat race rounds as we struggled to come to grips with the evening-to-nighttime racing conditions and finding ourselves mired in mid field positions. But by the end of the night (Sunday morning actually) things came around with Tracy taking a second in the Hume Performance Products Super Can feature and Dana winning the INFONETICS HPV feature.

Not only were we up against new track surface conditions caused by the setting and then disappearing sun but also the general atmospheric conditions which were sweltering. A brief shower mid afternoon did nothing but steam up the air making manual labor extremely unpleasant. It also starved the engines of oxygen which would factor in to tuning. But our troubles went beyond the heat and air quality. We were expecting the track to be much slicker sooner and had made some adjustments for that even before getting to the track. We're going to reevaluate that strategy since it seemed we were off pace immediately. Tracy fought handling problems and Dana complained of being down on power which was likely the result of the bad air and poor carb tuning by yours truly.

We have no idea how Tracy (yellow number plate) got through this.

Tracy was first up in Super Can starting 11th, behind former champ and experienced karter Mike O'Chocke and series leader Brad Carroll. She held her position through Turn 2 but picked up a position or two when Steve Sharp got sideways right in front of her at Turn 3. From back on the grid we couldn't see how she missed him. When asked about it later, Tracy didn't know how she got by either, it was that close.

Frank Applegate tries to get by Tracy. He didn't and he never got another chance.

Beginning lap two Brien Snider ran wide at Turn 1 when O'Chocke got inside and Tracy wasted no time taking advantage of that to get by into 8th. When Mike O' passed another (unknown) kart at Turn 5, Tracy picked up another position while that guy was in the marbles. Frank Applegate, Bob McConnell's tuner/mechanic, was having a run in Bob's Biesse (Bob was sitting out the race for medical reasons) but fell off the track at Turn 5 while fighting with Brad over 3rd place on the last lap. Although he was able to reenter the track just ahead of her, Tracy was able to pick him off at Turn 7 as he took his frustrations out on Bob's steering wheel.

Because the Ohio Valley Kart Association was racing at Circleville Raceway Park the next day several of their drivers entered our races for the additional track time. Not only were those drivers on non-MSOKC Vega tires but they were also 30lbs lighter and so were DQ'd at the scalehouse. So, although she finished 7th on track Tracy actually placed 4th among her rivals for the championship and earned those points.

John Fox leads Matt Rice and Dana. Right about now we asked ourselves "What did we do wrong?"

Dana pulled starting position 4 for HPV heat #1 lining up behind John Fox and Matt Rice with Circleville Raceway Park owner Steve Tatman next to her. Matt immediately went into the lead coming out of Turn 1 and led onto the backstraight. At the end of it though, John retook and held it for the rest of the race. Matt was having a good night and Dana could get close but couldn't find a way around him. Although the high humidity was robbing us of horsepower, it was the same for everyone and our Biesse Kart would close up on Matt on the straights. Our problem was in the corners, especially Turn 6 where Dana would lose everything she gained on the backstraight. They finished John, Matt, Dana, Roberto Zayas and Steve. We went back to our trailer mystified and scratching our collective heads. Dana said the kart was loose and we could fix that but my gut feeling was that there was more to it.

Tracy attempts to go around Steve Sharp and Brad Carroll. It didn't work.

We had made a another change to help the handling of the 99 kart for Super Can heat 2 and hoped for the best. Tracy started 5th behind Dave Creech and next to Brad. On the run into Turn 2 Tracy had a look inside Brad's kart but then found herself on the outside of it going into 3 when Brad got caught up behind Sharp. She tried a run around the outside but got forced wide and O'Chocke & Casey Neal got by as a result. She stayed right with Mike O' and Brad the rest of the race. Frank tried her at Turn 1 beginning L2 but she fought off his attack and never gave him another chance. About Lap 3 Tracy began signaling me to listen to the motor but going through Turn 1, which is the only place I can really hear it, it sounded fine. She picked up another couple of positions to again finish 7th on track and 4th among the MSOKC-legal drivers.

Afterwards, back in the pits Tracy said she was happy with the handling but we had picked up a engine stumble at a couple places around the track. I suspected I had leaned her carb settings out too much and starved the engine for fuel in a few places. I planned to crank a little more fuel in to compensate.

John out to a good lead, Dana fends off Matt.

Dana was outside front row next to Roberto in HPV heat 2. At the green she got the lead with Matt falling into second but he was looking for a way around by end of lap one. While Matt was nipping at Dana's heals, he had Roberto at his. When Roberto and Matt got together at Turn 9 on lap 2 it looked like Dana caught a break. But the real beneficiary was John who was having trouble getting by the Matt/Roberto battle. When they went out John, who was having a great night, was able to set his sites directly on Dana. It didn't take long: a lap later he got by easily at Turn 9. From there he pulled out a comfortable lead.

Dana still complained of a lack of power and responsiveness at low rpm but we were still dreadfully slow in the corners even though she said the kart was well balanced. The track still hadn't gotten slippery as we've seen it in past night races. It seemed like the moisture was staying in the air (or in our clothes) instead of settling onto the track as dew. I had no good solutions left and did not feel good about our chances in the feature.

CRP when the lights go out.

To complicate our ability to get ready for the feature, all the lights in the place went out during the dinner break. This was God's way of telling Steve he had a problem with the lighting. I'm convinced of that because had those lights gone out - sudden total darkness - while we had karts at speed on the track, someone would have gotten hurt for sure. Think about it. I think we were shown that the invocations Phillip Unger (Mike's dad, Noah's grandpa) has been doing at the end of our drivers' meetings are appreciated.

Tracy looks for a way past Donnie Gaddis for the feature win. (CRP when the lights are on - not much difference, huh?)

We gridded Tracy up in 6th position for the Super Can feature with Donnie Gaddis, who was having a good night, to her left. Championship rival Brad Carroll was just ahead of Donnie in P3. Things started looking rosy when Brad's kart rolled to a stop on the pace lap. Sorry if that sounds cold but that is part of racing - what is a bust for one is always a boon to another. The pack continued to circle around while Brad was given his 90 seconds to rejoin but after two attempts to restart, he climbed out dejectedly. Meanwhile I was expecting Bob Strawser to instruct the rest of the field to crisscross up to take the next forward starting position which would have moved Tracy up into 5th spot. Instead, the inside row simply moved up, effectively gaining two positions (5th went to 3rd, 7th went to 5th, etc.) for everyone on the inside.

Tracy takes the checkered at the end of a long night.

At the green the four light/wrong-tired karts jumped out to a small gap immediately. Tracy got a good start but not good enough to get around Donnie who had been able to move up on the screwed up start. As the three OVKA karts and O'Chocke pulled away from Donnie and Tracy, Donnie and Tracy pulled away from the rest of the field. Tracy haunted Donnie all six laps (shorted because it was approaching midnight), took a couple of looks but couldn't get by for P1. And just to make it even more interesting the 10 lb ballast weight between her feet came loose and began bouncing around her ankles. She backed off the pace for fear that the weight would lodge against one of the pedals but also to keep the weight on board. Had it left the kart she would have been DQ'd immediately.

Hindsight being 20/20, we should of protested the start and submitted our video to support our view but it was late, we were happy for Donnie (he was all excited - it was his first win), we were happy we finished as well as we did and we were happy we gained on Brad (only 18 points behind). And, frankly I hate everything about protests. But protests are there for a reason - the four points very well could determine the championship and I am hoping we aren't kicking ourselves in November.

Sean Dillon signals Dana (look real hard) a huge lead her last time through Turn 7.

It was after midnight by the time the HPV grid formed up with John on pole, Dana outside front row, Matt inside row two, Steve outside and Roberto bringing up the rear. At the start Dana got a perfect start and was in the lead going into 1. Over the following six laps John would get dangerously close but then fall back and on the final lap had a big moment at Turn 3 that let Dana get away safely. The points accumulated through the night put Dana back in a head to head tie with Barry Hatcher (who was a no show) for the INFONETICS HPV championship.

A wild night that we learned from, gave us much needed points, and best of all put the karts back in the trailer with no damage for a change. Next up is another night race in two weeks (July 24). Julie & Tracy will be in Florida so we'll have to manage without the better half.

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