This is not your typical race report but I did submit it for our region
paper. Thought you might get a kick out of it. The Kart track that we
were on is a brand new facility that a Fraternity Brother of mine just
opened here in Phoenix. http://www.f1racefactory.com
----------------
On Saturday Oct. 4th the new indoor kart racing facility in Phoenix, F1
Race Factory (located on 48th Street just south of Washington in Phoenix)
hosted a friendly competition between drivers from SCCA, ASRA and NASA.
The first of the races was supposed to be between the directors of the
three sanctions, Larry Hilton (SCCA), Ralph Evans (ASRA) and Dan Webb
(NASA), however Dan was not able to attend so he sent in a ringer, Jason
Boles, to drive for him.
After two warm up laps to learn the track and warm the tires the three
drivers took the green on the back straight three abreast with Hilton on
the outside, Boles in the middle and Evans on the inside for the run to Turn 1.
With a tight right hander greater than ninety-degree turn one something had
to give and in the spirit of Formula One neither driver was prepared to
give an inch. Larry held the outside line to take the correct late apex
into the corner which squeezed Jason and Ralph with Ralph learning that
walls move less than tie rods. With Ralph forced to limp back to pit in on
three wheels, Jason and Larry motored away with Jason taking the win for
NASA. On a side note Ralph did switch to a different kart once he got back
to the pits and managed to set the fastest lap for that race as he gamely
tried to make up ground despite being at least two laps down by the time he
rejoined.
The results of this race set the grid for the second race with pitted
three drivers from each sanction to an F1 points style race. The first
three spots were taken by NASA drivers followed by SCCA and ASRA.
After the debacle of the T1 start from the first race it was determined
that this race would begin with a single file rolling start after two
warm-up laps. The race started clean and ran for fifteen laps with some
significant changes in the field by the end of the race. NASA drivers Tyler
Thomas and Rich Geisler took advantage of their top three starting spots,
due to the win by Jason Boles in the Directors Race, to stay clear of the
dog fights taking place behind them and took positions 1 and 2 at the
checker. While Robert Kane from ASRA made a charge through the mid pack
melee to take the third spot. David Riddle from SCCA held onto his fourth
place starting spot after a tough fought bumper-fest with Kane and Jason
Boles who found himself dropped back to sixth after starting in
second. The finish was rounded out with Ronald Jones from ASRA taking
fifth, Mario Rigoli of ASRA in seventh and Danny Foldes and Winnie Chang of
SCCA shuffled back to eighth and ninth.
Do I hear the call for a rematch? Maybe one at the end of the current
season with region champions from each of the groups running head-to-head
after a qualifying session to set a real grid.
|