Yesterday I took my twelve-year-old son, Tyler, out to a SWK event on the
1.1 mile west track at Firebird (this race report and pictures at
http://www.microworks.net/dave/swk_at_firebird_10-9-2004.htm). He would be
driving his new (to him, anyway - 1999 CRG chassis) CR-80cc powered
shifter. Prior to this event he had done two test days with about four
sessions each time out.
Because this was to be his first time actually running the kart in
competition we elected to keep him on the used tires that were on the kart
since we did not think he would be up to speed yet since he is still
getting used to shifting.
He had only done tests and practices and had never competed on the Junior 1
kart (with both a Yamaha 100cc and a Comer 80cc) that he previously had but
has been running with the adults at F1 Race Factory (in-door, 4-stroke
karts) and the last time we were out there a few weeks ago his overall
"Pro" ranking placed him as the 10th fastest on their track.
Tyler's driver coach, Carl Scott (http://www.scottracing.net) has been
impressed with how fast he has picked up the busy nature of driving a
shifter in such a short time.
Tyler drove three practice session in the morning and got progressively
faster each session. The first two sessions he was up to speed with the
rest of the fastest of the other Juniors in turning 1:11's but in his third
session he was able to get his time down to some consistent
1:08's. Significantly faster than the competition. When he got back to
the pits however we noticed a problem in that he had corded both of the
front tires leaving us just the one other set of used tires that we had
with us.
After lunch two qualifying sessions were held before the race. Since the
Junior field was fairly small (just five karts) they decided to do a split
start and combine the Adult TAG karts with the Juniors. Because we had been
last to register for the event Tyler started the ten minute qualifying
session at the back but quickly worked his way up to the front of his group
and earned the right to start the second qualifying session on pole (he
even caught and passed two of the TAG karts). Only one of the TAG's managed
to catch Tyler on the White flag lap so he was quite happy.
Going into Turn 4 of the Second qualifying session found Tyler going off
track on the exit as the front end plowed on it's used tires. He was
unable to get it push started himself after stalling it when he hit two hay
bales and had to then wait for a corner worker to reach him get some
assistance running again. However the damage was done and he finished at
the back. Last to first and then first to last.
When he got back to the pits we saw that this last set of used front tires
had no rubber left on them either so we asked around and found a guy
running a TAG 125cc kart that had a set of practice tires that were close
in compound to what we had on the rear and would fit the european style
spindles that we have. That at least got him in the race.
Because he of where he finished on the second qual session had to start
from the back again but quickly worked his way to the front and pulled of
his first win with a margin of victory of over 10 sec. at the end of the
fifteen lap race and none of the TAG karts managed to catch him.
Loaded up, headed for home and the boy was asleep before we hit the
freeway. End of a good day for father and son to spend together.
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