Thursday, July 28, 2011

Registered in A-Stock Class for the SCCA Solo Nationals!

Today, Lane and I registered his 2004 Corvette in A-Stock class at this year's Solo Nationals. Unfortunately, due to work conflicts my Dad will likely not be able to make the big show this week so I wrangled my buddy Lane into prepping his Vette for this years Solo Nats.

We have the suspension basically finished, almost done on the brakes, some exhaust work and then his Vette will be A-Stock ready. We both can't wait to get to Lincoln this year and fight for a National Champ Jacket! A-Stock has 14 entries so far and will likely get a few more before the race so should be some good competition on the Lincoln concrete. Entry list below:

Monday, July 25, 2011

ASCS 360 Sprint Car Race in Abilene

View from the pushstart ATV

I traveled to Abilene for an ASCS 360 Spring car race with Gary, Mike, and Steven this Friday night. Abilene Speedway is a 1/4 mile medium-banked short track and seems to be pretty well maintained. They also have a pretty cool water truck with monster truck tires that they use to pack the dirt before each race. The thing could run over a Sprint Car! Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a photo though...

It was hot hot hot in Abilene and the sun didn't set until about 9:00 which made the track very tricky to predict as the night went on. During hot laps, the track was very slick and had a lot of moisture in it and it dried out significantly for the A Main later that night. 17 cars entered the show. Gary worked his way up to 8th place in the A Main after a poor starting spot, but Steven had to pull out with fuel flow problems.

Here are some video clips from hot laps, Gary's heat race, and the A-Main:



Here are some more photos from the race:

#58 Spring car out during hot laps

The view looking though the paddock


Random Dirt Modified car in the pits

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Updated SWRC Points After Round 5&6

After the June 4th and 5th Southwest Regional Cup races in Katy, TX, I've moved up into 5th in the SWRC S2 Stock Moto championship. I have some work to do if I want to improve my championship position with plenty of tough competitors sure to make the trek to the Gulf Coast Kartway and Dallas Karting Complex for the last 4 races. Here is the updated points list below:

Night Race at North Texas Kartway this Past Saturday


The North Texas Karters ran the third race in the Sidewinder Series this past Saturday. Joe, Stuart, and I made the trek up to Denton to race under the lights at NTK. The Sidewinder Series is a 4-race money series over the summer with payouts for class wins ranging from $100 to $300 which is pretty good for some local karting action.

I got to the track around 3 in the afternoon and setup camp for the other guys who showed up a bit later. I did 1 practice session before the 6:30PM driver's meeting and the track was extremely slick. With temps well over 100 degrees, the track conditions were nothing like they would be for the races later that night. At around 8, we took the track for a 5-minute qualifying sessions and I was able to grab pole by 0.1s despite being well behind my pace from the previous NTK SWRC races. The kart was understeering terribly and I could hardly turn the thing on entry.

I switched to a different set of tires, changed the cold pressures, and widened the front track to help the front grip issues and it worked for the 8-lap heat race. I picked up about a 1 second from the my quali pace was able to take the heat race win after an initial charge from Stuart at the start. Joe and Stuart picked up their pace each session and we ran very similar lap times all night. With the conditions now very different and it being pitch-black outside, I started from pole for the 12-lap feature race. Joe got a good jump from the outside pole and almost got by me in Turn 1. I was able to duck under him as we went two-wide through the first corner and settle into the lead by Turn 2. After some contact between Stuart and Joe for 2nd place, I was able to come home comfortably with the win by 8s.

Getting the 1st Place Check!

On the Podium with Joe and Stuart

My next race will be the mid-August Southwest Regional Cup race in Katy, TX. This will be a three-day race just like the ones before and is sure to be brutally hot once again!


Here are some video clips from the Stock Moto class feature race:

Friday, July 8, 2011

Latest eKartingNews.com Stock Moto Driver Ranking

Since the last EKN Driver Rankings were issued, I have run four more qualifying races so I now have six qualifying races under my belt, all from the Southwest Regional Cup. Six races is the maximum number of races that can count for your national points, so I made a huge jump in the ranking accordingly. I now rank 41st after moving up 66 positions from the last ranking. Hopefully I can move up even higher with some better finished in the last 4 rounds of the SWRC.

Link to the EKN article on the latest rankings: http://ekartingnews.com/news_info.php?n=18509

Link to the latest rankings: http://www.ekartingnews.com/news_info.php?n=18508

Here is a snapshot of the rankings: