Sunday, October 11, 2009

MRP Race Report

We came. We saw. We did NOT conquer. It was a rough weekend...






Greg and I loaded the trailer Friday night in preparation for an early morning. We pulled out of the 61 Kartway driveway at 0700 Saturday to make the 4 ½ hour trek east to Michiana Raceway Park. It rained on and off for most of the boring drive. I’m not so sure which is more boring, the states to the west or east of us? Maybe its just me. We just wanted to get to the race track as soon as possible. After a pit stop or 2, we were in Indiana with the Garmin leading us down what amounted to a back road cow path. I could hear the banjos playing. The locals must be pissed when WKA or other big series come to town and cause traffic jams. Seriously, the track is in the middle of BFE. Anyway, we made it, got signed in, and set out to get some hot laps on track.

First impression: very fun track and great facility. But, why are those huge tents set up and all these trailers here? It felt more like a regional race than a club race. I had to ask, this is club race #12 right? The last club race here for the season? Track Layout B? Yes to all my answers. I was impressed. After the first practice session on track I came in to make adjustments but that was all she wrote. Mother nature caught up with us and rain set in for the rest of the afternoon and night. I was pretty bummed to get only one practice session in.

I cleaned the kart up and Marshall Martin of LSR Motorsports showed us some new tricks. That literally made the whole trip worth it for me. We BS’d and generally tried to stay dry for the rest of the day. Someone asked where we were staying for the night. Uhh...umm, we planned on rolling into town and getting hotel rooms. No problem. We just overlooked one big problem. Notre Dame was playing at home against Washington. Rooms were $300 on up and we are cheap bastards. We went into town to grab food before going back to the track listening to Chuck and the Irish barely hold on for the win in OT. We slept in the truck. Thank doG it is a crew cab. It gets cold in Indiana this time of the year.









Big surprise, I was up early Sunday morning! I’m thankful that MRP had the wherewithal to put in public showers. The track was still wet from the day before. With 11 classes on the schedule the day looked like this: 9:45 am start, 2 practice sessions, qualifying, 12 lap pre-final, and 22 lap final. The first practice session was useless. We were the first group on the track and it was like driving on ice. The front end pushed like a dump truck in every corner. No grip whatsoever. The second practice session was even worse. Somehow, Rotax International, Rotax Junior, DD2, and Shifters were all put in the same group. Easily 40+ karts on track. It was a mess.

I was about 6th or 7th back in a train when I got punted from behind. Whoever it was got the number one salute as they went by, but they didn’t have a back number plate so I don’t know who caved my back bumper in. Loser didn’t even have the stones to stay anything afterwards. Ha! I almost forgot, I left the freaking choke on when I went out on track! I'm an idiot. Not only was I pissed after getting hit, but the engine was spitting and sputtering. I thought something was seriously wrong with the go power. I didn't realize what I did till 45 min. later back in the pits! Result: no clean laps and in two days only one good practice session, the first time I was on the freaking track!

We all basically threw a hail marry for qualifying. Didn’t work. Dave qualified 7th, I was 9th, and Greg was 1oth. Why did we drive 4 ½ hours to race ourselves? The 12 lap pre-final was uneventful, but I moved up one spot to 8th , with Dave ahead in 7th and Greg behind in 9th. 22 laps is a long way to go in a kart when you’re running 48 and 49 second lap times. We all sniped one spot to move up. Dave and I had a good battle for 6th in the final. I passed him 6 or 7 laps in, he passed me back 6 or 7 laps later, and that’s where we finished for the final; I couldn’t get close enough to make a pass. Greg finished in 8th behind us. It was a workout that I need to prepare better for.

We did good, not great or bad, with so little track time. All said, I was about 1 second off the leaders pace. While the results don’t reflect it, it was a worthwhile trip. Bittersweet anyway. I can think of worse ways to spend the weekend. We packed the trailer, said our thank-you’s and goodbye’s, and got the hell out of Dodge before the day was over. We were back home around 10PM. We’ll be back to MRP next year; rumor is WKA Man Cup will have a Rotax class next year...









I actually had the helmet camera on for the final! It only recorded for three minutes after I turned it on and I was sitting on the grid the whole time! Operator error or something. I’ll have it working for the next race. Link to the photos
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MRP Race