2003 & 2004 MSOKC HPV Champions
2004 MSOKC Super Can Runner Up

26 September - Tracy Finishes Out Season With Style, Dana Mixes It Up In Spec 100

Dana returned to Spec 100 in her own kart and a Hume Motorsports engine.

Although the last championship race of the season is notorious for low participant turnout, all the heavy hitters were in attendance for Tracy's Super Can class even though the only points race still alive was for third. Tracy finished out her first season of 2-cycle karting in fine style taking a second and a couple of thirds. Dana, her championship wrapped up last weekend, tried out Spec 100 again, this time in her own kart. With the exception of Heat 2 she was on pace with the S100 regulars recording a 4th and a 5th and had a lot of fun along the way.

Hume Motorsports supplied a motor & service for Dana's run in Spec 100.

As soon as we figured out that we had clinched the HPV championship, Hume Motorsports contacted us to see if we wanted to barrow an engine to contest the Spec 100 class in the final race of the season. Dana's last Spec 100 race ended way out in the weeds with her grateful to be in one piece. But the prospect of measuring herself against the tough Spec 100 racers in her own kart was an appealing challenge and we took Hume Motorsport up on the offer.

Roy and Keith Hume spent a good chunk of their Saturday afternoon at the Conlin SpeedSports shop helping us fit the Yamaha to our '02 Biesse Kart. Without their help we wouldn't have gotten the motor mounted and aligned and was typical of their attitude. Since founding their Hume Performance Products business they've never given less than 110% to customer service. Thanks guys.

Friends came out to celebrate Dana's second championship.

For the second race in a row we had quite a cheering section. Dana's co-teacher at the Dublin Goddard Pre-school, Bobbi Dailey organized a track-side celebration of Dana's second championship. In addition to Bobbi's husband Tom and baby Grant, Jim and Toni Reed brought son Niles and daughter Sydney out and they were joined by Amy and Doug Twilley. Tracy's long time pal Nick Leidinger came out to spend the day while home from college. And Phil Newlon and his daughter Sedona came out for a second race in a row, this time bringing his father-in-law, Gerry, along who had raced karts in another era. Phil and Sedona are looking into Kid Kart racing and we'd be happy if they joined the fun. We're using several of Phil's photos on this report again.

Tracy (R) was under pressure early in the first heat.

First on our schedule was the Super Can heat 1. Jimmy Curtis and Jason Stuckey filled out row one with Tracy inside row 2 with Ryan Estepp beside her. Jason went to the lead at Turn 3 with Tracy edging Ryan for third. Ryan had his hands full with Brad Carroll right behind him while he chased Tracy. On lap 4 Tracy got a little breathing room when Ryan and Brad fell back with their own fight. That fight continued the entire race until Brad forced his way past Ryan in the last corner to take fourth behind our driver.

Dana hounds Mike Yoerger in the first Spec 100 heat.

Two races later Dana took up her position on the unfamiliar Spec 100 grid. Randy Ridder had pole with Paul Milleman outside. Mike Yoerger, class leader and former champ for about 7 times was inside row two with Dana outside. Rushing into Turn 2 the first time Dana challenged Mike on the outside then fell into 4th. A lap later, at the same place, Paul blew his clutch coating turn 3 with a fine layer of oil. While it made turn 3 a little tricky, it was early enough in the race for everyone behind him to be optimistic that the clutch would completely fail and drop him out of the race before the end.

Paul Milleman's clutch blows out early. He still won.

Keeping that in mind, Mike hounded Randy and Dana hounded Mike as the laps clicked off. Somehow though, Milleman's clutch stayed together and propelled Paul over the line in first with Randy second, Mike third and Dana fourth. (Later, Paul who wasn't a regular contender in the Spec 100 championship, declined tech which moved everyone's finishes up one position).

Tracy's nose took another beating in Super Can.

In the second Super Can heat Tracy started in the third row behind Ryan, Steve Sharp, Dave Creech and Brad, in that ascending order. With the drop of the green flag Tracy managed to loose a position to Stuckey to be P6 onto backstraight and under attack from Jimmy Curtis. At Turn 9 Stuckey got inside Sharp which ran him wide. Tracy tried to capitalize on that and get by Sharp too but couldn't get get it done. When Sharp got loose at Turn 10 and lost speed, Tracy clobbered him pretty good, pretty much finishing off the nose of her kart which had barely survived a rough season already. On lap 3 Tracy timed a Turn 6 run perfectly and flung herself down the inside of Sharp at Turn 7. At the halfway mark she pulled that same maneuver on Dave going into Turn 9. Then, with one lap to go, Ryan suddenly slowed with clutch trouble handing Tracy an unearned 3rd. Ryan's mechanical woes were really unfortunate as he was trying to secure third place in the Hume Performance Products Super Can championship.

Hectic dicing ahead of her kept Dana (L) conservative in Heat 2.

Spec 100 heat 2 had Dana buried back in 6th position and as the field bore down on the starter, the outside row suddenly slowed a bit causing Dana to have to check up and dart out of line to avoid hitting Dave Creech. This put her out of the motor's torque range just as the green fell. The result was her dropping back to DFL before she could get "back on the pipe". It put her at the tail of a gigantic scrap for 5th through 9th and she no doubt had visions of her September 11 crash two weeks earlier in the same class. Holding back to miss the seemingly inevitable crash ahead of her proved to be over cautious. At the same time, she was also fighting a change I made that had her slower coming out of the corners. The combination kept us from doing any better than 8th.

Super Can feature saw Tracy with a healthy margin over 4th place.

The first feature for us was Tracy's Super Can race and heat race performances earned her the third starting spot. Stukey went into the lead with Brad second. Tracy was 3rd with Ryan (with a new motor & clutch in place) up to 4th and right behind her. But by the end of lap 1 Tracy stretched out a margin over Ryan. On lap 3 Stuckey ran wide at Turn 8 letting Brad through into the lead. The bobble got Tracy closer to second but she wasn't able to make any in-roads. Things looked to be settling down among the top four when Ryan's engine shook loose the exhaust "Can" at mid-race. After dangling precariously by the exhaust gas sensor for about a lap, the Can broke loose and came to rest right on the racing line at Turn 6. Ryan stopped and ran back to warn drivers but Tracy arrived before he got there. She missed it but only just. It is a fairly heavy piece and could break the steering if it was stuck just right by a front wheel. Jimmy Curtis had a good run going late in the race gaining on Tracy but he ran out of time and Tracy finished third.

Dana looks for a way around Doug Hagge. She found it half a lap later but it wasn't pretty.

Disappointed by her lack of aggression in the second heat Dana wanted to make a better showing in the Spec 100 feature. Starting 8th, she was up to 7th by Turn 4. She spent the next several laps attacking Charlie Hughes while being under attack from Kevin Brown. On lap 4 Dana found some room inside Charlie on the exit of Turn 10 and drew up along side of him as they headed into Turn One. Both drivers gave each other room while staying flat through One and Dana squeaked ahead at Two and set her sites on Doug Hagge. We're not sure what happened on the next lap but somehow, while running alone, Dana managed to go wide at the exit of Two and arrived at Turn 3 from the green part. Fortunately, Doug saw or sensed that arrival and gave her room to regain control of the kart. Once she had, it was a drag race between her and Doug to Turn 4, a race she won moving her up to fifth where she finished.

"Honk next time..."

At the scale house everyone seemed to have enjoyed the the run. Doug good naturedly suggested that Dana "Honk next time you're coming through like that" referring to the incident at Turn 3 and Dana thanked him for being on the ball and her giving room. Charlie Hughes was smiling from ear to ear and said he's never gone through Turn One side-by-side flat out with anyone. That is a tremendous compliment coming from Charlie who finished second in the Spec 100 championship last year.

So after a long season of hard work and at times high tensions it was good to finish up with those smiles and mutual respect. It looks like we may enter one kart and driver in a non-championship race MSOKC is hosting on October 24 just for the fun of it (and the chance to win $300). Bundle up and come out to see our last laps of 2004.

© Copyright 2004 Conlin SpeedSports. All rights reserved.
Server space for this website graciously provided by Infonetics, Inc.