> Lots more Mod cars, including your Open Challenge winner. What happened
> to Engstrom on Sunday? F125 was bumped in AM? Did Scott hall break his
> Kart?
The Engstrom's AMod car lost part of its wing Saturday. I heard it
sliced right through a cone, but I didn't see it because I was back in
grid then.
> The two Neons that hit, I assume are the two showing no times on
Sunday?
Hmm. Shouldn't be. The crashee jumped into Bob Monday's car on Sunday.
One little comment about the near misses and the contact. I think the
first one happened relatively early Saturday, but most of them (including
the actual contact and the incredibly scary CSP Honda flying toward the
SS RX7) happened Sunday morning, when it was warmer and people were
pushing to see what was out there. At any rate, once it became *obvious*
that that area was a problem, the majority of runs were over. Given the
way the Pro runs (with differentials determining Challenge qualifications
and best of 6 runs from each side being your official time), it's hard to
imagine what would have needed to happen if the course were changed then.
> And in F125 Jr, Mathew Clements. This may be the largest margin I have
> seen. 8-) Mari, how old is Mathew?
Are you talking margin of victory (222 seconds)? (If so, remember that
the other two kart drivers were running a Yamaha 100 and had lots of
karting experience. Matthew--who's 9--has a completely stock 5hp Briggs
and Stratton, and had maybe 20 minutes riding around the cul-de-sac
before the event.) Or are you talking margin of improvement (134
seconds)?
Thanks to all the very nice course workers who came up to Matthew and
told him what a nice driving line he has and how he's great at the start
(and who gently encouraged him to keep his foot flat on the floor through
more of the course). Thanks also to Mark Andy and Jim Roberts for
hanging out with Matthew in impound and after. (L1 and FJ ran at the
same time and CS worked then. Ugh. Ayer National Tour will be worse if
they really do have two separate courses since CSL is scheduled to be
running on one while FJ runs on the other--and all of this is while CS is
working! Anyone want to trade worker assignments with Eric?)
> I also heard that they let in 220 when they say it is a cap of 175,
> and they finished like at 7 or 7:30 pm. It was getting dark.
L1, last group to run, got out of impound at 8:00 on Saturday--and it was
a typical Ladies impound. No questions, no protests, no concerns, leave
in no time at all.
Saturday was freezing but thankfully not actively raining. Sunday was
much warmer, but I was STILL shivering in the radio control chair (while
wearing t-shirt, sweatshirt, jeans...).
It was a huge event, and Howard said that MANY (maybe half?) of the
registrants were 1st time Pro Solo-ers. MANY competitors (new and
experienced) blew off worker and drivers meetings, in some cases
resulting in mistakes. At Pros, the cones aren't numbered and the
workers just call them in. If they don't call it, it can't be counted.
If they do call it, it can't be checked. On Saturday and Sunday both,
some workers weren't sure how to make the radios work (although they
thought they did before they went out on course). New radios were run
out to them, and they got a refresher course in how to use them, but it
was a glitch. Undoubtedly.
It was also a cone intensive course, and Peru is not a great spectator
site. I'm certainly not claiming NO mistakes were made, but I worked
radio control on the right course for AS, BS, CS, and DS Saturday
afternoon and Sunday morning and had the unpleasant task of telling
several disbelieving friends (and my husband!) "Yes, you DID hit that
cone. The workers called it in, AND I saw it. I don't care if you think
you got through the slalom (or the box or the L turns into the finish)
cleanly. You didn't. Sorry." I'm not sure why there were SO many
cones--whether it was cold concrete/cold tires/cold weather, rusty
drivers on an early event, cone intensive course, or a combination of all
the above--but I would have sworn Saturday that some classes were trying
to destroy the course, one driver at a time, with relatively few
exceptions!
There were also number issues. Cars with hard to read numbers or
classes, and cars with one number on one side and a different number on
another. If someone calls in a cone on 35 XS and I ask, "Are you sure it
was 35 not 39? I don't think we have a 35 XS" and the worker is adamant
that it WAS 35 XS or WASN'T 39 XS, there's not much that I can do.
On to Petersburg.
mlc
'91 MR2 NA
P.S. Matthew spun once coming out of the turnaround, but his Kart did NOT
go into the other course or off into the grass. He also got one red
light and a cone (which didn't show up on the results).
P.P.S. Never run 3 year old Kumhos on the front of your car at a Pro.
That's all I'm saying about the DNF-DNF-RL-really slow Saturday morning I
had.
------I take no responsibility for anything below this line------
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