WKA Season is Over

Well, we did not do a good job of updating the blog, so I will summarize the last few races.

Putnam Park, Indiana: Bryce was hot all weekend. I was fighting a tight condition. I finished second in Animal 385, Bryce finished 3rd in Animal 335.

Roebling Road, Georgia: Only I raced in this one. I blew up two motors this weekend and was challenged by a tight kart again. I finished 5th in Animal 385. There were alot of really fast local runners.

Road Atlanta, Georgia: With good finishes, we both could podium in the National Points Race. I finished a strong 2nd in Animal 385. Bryce pushed the leaders all the way around the track and finished 3rd in Animal 335. Bryce finished 4th and I in 5th in Animal 360. There was a bad crash in our class during Sunday practice sending Alex Swineford to the Hospital and his kart to the junkyard. He fortunately returned later with a bad concussion.

National Points: I finished 2nd in the National Points at Animal 385. Bryce finished 3rd in Animal 335 (this is after 0 pts from Daytona because of a DQ). In Animal 360, I finished 4th and Bryce finished 5th.

We had a great season. Our first full season in the WKA series and we both made the Podium. We decided to run again for the 2009 season and try to get a series championship. In light of the tight condition of both karts, we felt it appropriate to upgrade our chassis. We purchased two new frames with the help of Raymond at TSRacing and recieved them the day before Thanksgiving. We have until Christmas to get them straightened out.

Thanks for your support.

Road America Results

Well sadly neither of us did very well in races. Bryce only finished one full length race because of various mechanical issues. The race that he did finish he was losing power on his motor and barely kept up with any one in his class. Jack also had more than a few mechanical issues, although during our last race of the weekend he placed 2nd because he was basically one of 2 karts that managed to finish the race. The Team race was probably the most exciting of the weekend. Jack started the race and pulled out in front of the pack, then Bryce took over. Bryce and Mike Stroik were going back and forth for first place every lap until about one lap to go when a kart from another class bumped Bryce going into a turn and he lost his chain. All in all it was a very good learning weekend and expensive, so even though the results are disappointing, we both are satisfied with it overall.

Road America! Friday

Today was our first day here on the track at Road America. The morning started off with rain before practice began and that delayed everything by a few hours. But eventually the track was dry enough for everyone’s satisfaction and we were able to start. On the first practice session, Jack’s kart had a carb problem and pulled off the track 20 feet past the pit exit. Bryce ran fine in that and all practice sessions for the day, just getting the track down. Jack managed to run the rest of them after fixing his carb. The only race of the day was the charity race with both of us ran. Off the start, Bryce started 5 and came off the grid last of 20 but began passing people as soon as his motor gathered speed. Jack was the polar opposite, he pass most of the karts off the start and was running great. However, in the class that was started before us, a kart had spun in turn 5, a hard left hand turn. For whatever reason, his kart was still right in the middle of the track coming out of that turn when we got there. Bryce had just passed another racer going into that turn before the parked kart was visible, and he just barely cleared the stop kart. But the racer that Bryce had passed was unable to avoid it and smashed in to the stopped kart head on. The hit was so hard that Bryce could clearly hear it over his motor. This red flagged the race and we had to restart. Off the restart Jack did great again and Bryce did just slightly better. But again Bryce started passing karts immediately. Jack was in a good position in the front pack when he went off the track and into the grass. He got his kart back on to the track but was never able to get back into his original position. Bryce discovered halfway through that race that he had no rear brakes and was unable to hold his kart in the right line because he couldn’t slow down. Eventually he went into a set of rumble strips and lost his chain. Luckily, all of our issues today have been fixed and should be ready for tomorrow.

MidOhio Grand Nationals Results

For the first time in Reall Racing history we arrived at a track on Thursday before the paddocks opened. After a few stressful hours of getting arm bands, registered, and parked, we got the karts ready for practice on Friday. Friday went well, we both got a lot of practice in before the rain started. It was very clear just from the practices that we were both running faster than we have previously at MidOhio. Unfortunately the weather Friday night was not much better than it was at Kershaw this past year. It rained constantly from the end of our practices on Friday, to about two hours before our scheduled race time on Saturday. This put our race in jeopardy since we were the first race that day. In order to allow as many races as possible to run on a dry track, the administrators decided to shorten all of the races. As a result, our race went from being 30 minutes, to 15 minutes. As we thought the day before, both of us were running much faster than we were during the regional race last month, so it look like a promising race. As with our other road races this year, we were running separate classes on Saturday. But Jacks luck was not with him for that race. While he was running with the leaders in his race, he put his cart on two wheels, causing to chassis to flex enough for the chain to slip off the gear. His day was done less than a lap into the race. Bryce on the other hand finished within sight of the leader in his race, which is a first for him in a national road race. Position wise Bryce finished 4 out of 5, not that impressive, but looking at how close my times were to the other racers times is a little better. Sunday we were determined to make this a memorable weekend for us. Practice that morning once again had us excited for the race, and Jack had fixed his kart to prevent the chain from slipping so easily. The race started out great, especially for Bryce who jumped everyone at the start and led for the first half a lap before falling to second. Jack however had gone the wrong direction with his pressure adjustments in a big way and became so tight that he looked like a motorcycle out there because he was on two wheels so much. Eventually Bryce fell to forth place but stuck with the leaders as they checked out on the rest of the class. Then, right when Bryce's tires were coming in and he was gaining on the three karts ahead of him, he hit a bump in the track in the middle of a turn and spun his kart in to the “soft” barrier made out of used car tires. His body work was totally smashed and the Reall race team officially discontinued the fighter jet body work. It wasn't all bad for Bryce though, he had a great start and then great seats to watch Jack nearly flip his kart every time he came around the nearest turn. Jack, while being disappointed with his setup issues still thought that it was a very good learning weekend. We will be ready for MidOhio next year I think.

MidOhio Animal 360 Practice

WKA Animal Practice 1 MidOhio 2008

Mid Ohio Regional Results

Well, after the run at Kershaw, we were home for Race number 1 of the Dart Kart Series at our home track, Mid Ohio. The regional race runs a shortened weekend with racing on Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 2pm, then a motorcycle group takes over the track.

We were both setup and ready to go Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The Saturday races were considered "wet". Since we had no one else running in our class, we only had to grid to recieve points.

Sunday, we ran well, but Bryce had trouble with his karts performance. We will sort it out later.
I ran 1:55 lap times and handled really well.