SKUSA Supernationals, November 20-23, 2008
"Redemption in Las Vegas?"
Pulp Racing Tries To Change Their Luck in Sin City
 


This year's Supernats race was held at the parking lot of the Rio Hotel

Las Vegas.  A place where everyone comes to redeem themselves, re-invent themselves, or dig themselves out of a hole with a lucky streak.  Unfortunately for us, we need all three of those things to happen.  After the disastrous PKC season, Jeff and I decided to see if we can end the 2008 season on a positive note. We entered the 12th annual running of the Supernationals at the Rio in Las Vegas.  Tom Kutcher and SKUSA worked out a deal to bring The Supernats back to the Rio Hotel parking lot, instead of having it 20 minutes away at Sam Boyd Stadium.  This is awesome, as now we are back in the heart of Vegas, instead of out in the boonies.   Wayne hems and haws about doing the Supernats event, and decides that he's going to buy the car that he always wanted as a teenager, and picks up a 1966 Chevelle SS396 in great condition.  He also figures that if he blows money on a car, in another year, the car will probably only depreciate 10%, whereas all the money I blew on the Supernats will be essentially gone.


Wayne picks up a great looking Chevelle, and promptly goes into the rathole with it

We decided that we hate our Tony Krypton KRV karts, as it seemed the 32mm chassis were giving us too much grip here in sunny California.  (Or it could be that we just can't drive and tune correctly)  2Wildkarting talked us into purchasing the 30mm Tony EVxx chassis, as they they were having good success with that chassis in the TAG class.  We decided we would buy two slightly used EVxx chassis from Tony Kart Florida.  We took delivery of them, and one of them seemed really good, but the other was just so-so.  I decided that I would sell my old KRV and my old 1999 Swedetech stock motor, buy a new EVxx, and put my Darcy Stock Honda on it.


The National Guard was the title sponsor for the Supernats

That's when the rathole started.  When we got the layout of the track map for the Supernats, the track looked kinda small compared to previous Supernats tracks.  Damn....maybe I shouldn't have sold that Swedetech motor, as the general consensus is that a Swedetech (or any 1999 Stock Honda Motor), might have a slight advantage over a 2001 motor on a tight track.  Well.......then I'll go to Plan B, which is that Jeff and I had a spare 1999 Superdyne motor (formerly owned by Nick Halen), that we were using as a practice motor.  And it pulled pretty damn strong at the Perris track that we designated as our test track to prepare for the Supernats.  So I sent the Halen motor out to get "refreshed", meaning a new top end and bottom end, and figured I would run that motor at the Supernats.   I would run the Darcy motor as my practice motor, and then a couple of weeks before the Supernats, I would put the newly refreshed 1999 motor on my kart.  Sounds, reasonable, right?


Alex Barron and Wayne getting Jeff's kart ready for some night racing in Vegas

So about two weeks before the race, I swap the newly refreshed 1999 motor on the kart.....but for some reason, the motor just didn't seem fast.  Uh oh....panic sets in.  It is too late to try to get my 2001 motor refreshed, as I'm sure Darcy Decoste has a ton of motors he's getting ready for the Superpro/G1 classes.  I then put my 2001 cylinder on the 1999 bottom end, and test that out.  Nope....still didn't feel as peppy as I thought it should.  Crap!  I'm committed now, I spend all this money for the Supernats entry, travel expenses, new frame, but I don't have a high degree of confidence in my motor.  I call Jason, who won a GP kart at the PKC banquet a year ago.  He also bought my old Darcy motor that had been refreshed, but hasn't run it yet because he's working 80 hours a week at his new job.    I put his motor on my kart, and that feels okay, but not great.   This is starting to suck.  So then I put my 2001 cylinder on his bottom end (yeah, I know, sounds homo), and then I feel like I have a combo I can live with. 


Jason Steaman prepping Jeff's kart for battle

Jeff and I decided we would get some driver coaching from Alex Barron.  Alex won the main event at the first Supernationals in 1998, and from there went on to run in the Formula Atlantic and Indy Racing League, and came in 4th at the Indianapolis 500 in 2002.  We ran a few sessions with Alex at the Perris (Apex) track, learning a lot of stuff.  Also humbled because he can hop into our karts and after about 3 laps, and run about a full second faster than us.

Jeff decides to run in the G1 (built motor, over 35 year old class) this year at the Supernats.  There is a $3000 prize for first place in that class.  He borrows a practice ICC motor from 2Wildkarting, and also leases a "suit case" motor from Darcy Decoste Racing to be his main motor for the race weekend.  Apparently the ICC motors are so finicky, that the engine builders don't recommend that you run your race motor during the six practice sessions during the Supernats race weekend.  So you run your backup motor for most of the practice sessions, then swap in your race motor to get ready for qualifying.  I decide to run S4 again (Stock Honda, over 35 year old class).  I thought briefly about running the S3 class also, but I was getting my ass kicked so bad in the local S3 class, that I didn't think I could qualify top 20 in S3 at the Supernats.   

We decide to use the same plan we had for the past five years or so:  We pack up the trailer, hand it over to 2Wildkarting, they fill the 48 footer up with their stuff, and they drive it up, and we fly up.

eKartingnews.com had the following preview of the S4 Stock Honda Class:

S4
The S4 division, the stock moto heavy division at the SuperNationals, is entering its third year offered at the event and like S3, continues to grow. Two-time defending class winner Jeff Littrell will move up to the G1 category this season, allowing a hungry group of returnees the chance to earn SuperNats glory.

Littrell’s teammate Doug Hayashi will be among the favorites that will be returning in S4. A front runner both years, Hayashi (Tony Kart) was third on the podium in ’07 and would like to keep the title ‘in the family’. Paul Russell (Tony Kart) was fourth last year however ran a partial 2008 schedule, so that could become a factor come SuperSunday. Utah is again well represented with Ryan Pool along with Todd and RJ Edgington all returning aboard Arrows. They ran sixth, eighth, and tenth respectively.

Representing SoCal will be PKC champions Phil Conte (Trackmagic) and Ken Schilling (GP). Both are looking to turn in their championship seasons for a SuperNats victory. From the Northern Pacific area are a good number of drivers, led by Craig Sender (Intrepid) and Scott Officer (Tony Kart). S4 will also have some international flavor with New Zealander Bradley Alexander (GP) and Oscar Casillas (Italkart).

The Supernats team that  Jeff and I have this year we is comprised of Alex Barron,  Jason Steaman, Scott Shimane, Wayne Mello, and of course the guys from 2Wildkarting. 


Darcy Decoste and Wayne checking out Jeff's ICC motor

The track is fast and a lot of fun.  From the map, it looks rinky-dink.  But it person, it's pretty cool.  Practice 4 is the first published practice session.  I'm duking it out with the Intrepid guys from great Northwest (Weiss/Sender/Perdue) and Jennings and Jones from Texas. 

Practice 4 of 6

Pos No. Name Best time In lap Best speed Diff Gap Laps
1 13 Brad Weiss 43.558 9 54.548     11
2 175 Chris Jennings 43.644 11 54.440 0.086 0.086 11
3 55c Doug Hayashi 43.708 11 54.361 0.150 0.064 11
4 45z Craig Sender 43.891 5 54.134 0.333 0.183 7
5 4 Mike Jones 44.015 10 53.982 0.457 0.124 10
6 75z Steve Perdue 44.094 4 53.885 0.536 0.079 11
7 89x Paul Russell 44.127 4 53.845 0.569 0.033 10
8 42u Ryan Pool 44.134 9 53.836 0.576 0.007 11
9 23u Todd Edgington 44.344 8 53.581 0.786 0.210 10
10 26 Cole Powelson 44.498 8 53.396 0.940 0.154 8
11 151 Sergio Machado 44.514 7 53.376 0.956 0.016 9
12 21x Ken Schilling 44.562 9 53.319 1.004 0.048 9
13 8c Phil Conte 44.575 5 53.303 1.017 0.013 11
14 44 Oscar Casillas 44.641 6 53.225 1.083 0.066 11
15 164u Scott Clark 44.758 4 53.085 1.200 0.117 10
16 10e Jack Kloeber 44.879 6 52.942 1.321 0.121 11
17 61z David Barkley 45.056 10 52.734 1.498 0.177 10
18 84 Mike McDonough 45.228 5 52.534 1.670 0.172 10
19 28e Rick Freund 45.397 4 52.338 1.839 0.169 10
20 72 Bradley Alexander 45.406 5 52.328 1.848 0.009 10
21 36c Bill Cox 45.539 7 52.175 1.981 0.133 9
22 45u RJ Edgington 45.589 4 52.118 2.031 0.050 4
23 24u Lloyd Putnam 45.637 6 52.063 2.079 0.048 9
24 22k Peter Workum 45.678 8 52.016 2.120 0.041 9
25 22t John Giannette 45.813 5 51.863 2.255 0.135 10
26 53c Dave Van Gordon 45.819 3 51.856 2.261 0.006 10
27 14 Jonathon Allen 45.925 4 51.737 2.367 0.106 10
28 10y Jimmy Barnes 45.987 2 51.667 2.429 0.062 3
29 48x Chip Thor 46.124 10 51.513 2.566 0.137 10
30 101 Dayna Ward 46.271 10 51.350 2.713 0.147 10
31 180 Ken Maxfield 46.370 5 51.240 2.812 0.099 8
32 60x Pete Pittman 46.643 4 50.940 3.085 0.273 9
33 52y Steve Baumhoff 47.240 4 50.296 3.682 0.597 9
34 39 Chris Rapp 47.472 3 50.051 3.914 0.232 10
35 41x Darrell Tunnell 48.056 3 49.442 4.498 0.584 4
36 28t Jim Mueller --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
37 31x Marty Henderson --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
38 31c Joe Johnson --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
39 45t Todd Vandermolen --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
40 50z Tim Davison --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
41 60 Dave Stevens --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
42 88z Scott Officer --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0

 


I feel pretty confident about a podium finish in S4

In practice session 5, everyone gets a little faster.  Ryan Pool drops into the top 5.  Jennings and Jones don't have their transponder on, and are doing a good job of sandbagging for this session.  I'm surrounded by Intrepid drivers.

Practice 5 of 6

Pos No. Name Best time In lap Best speed Diff Gap Laps
1 13 Brad Weiss 43.367 10 54.788     10
2 55c Doug Hayashi 43.468 6 54.661 0.101 0.101 11
3 45z Craig Sender 43.513 9 54.604 0.146 0.045 10
4 75z Steve Perdue 43.597 4 54.499 0.230 0.084 11
5 42u Ryan Pool 43.608 6 54.485 0.241 0.011 11
6 61z David Barkley 43.725 10 54.340 0.358 0.117 11
7 23u Todd Edgington 43.733 10 54.330 0.366 0.008 11
8 8c Phil Conte 43.900 10 54.123 0.533 0.167 11
9 10y Jimmy Barnes 43.964 6 54.044 0.597 0.064 11
10 164u Scott Clark 44.070 8 53.914 0.703 0.106 11
11 89x Paul Russell 44.083 5 53.898 0.716 0.013 10
12 72 Bradley Alexander 44.127 9 53.845 0.760 0.044 11
13 31x Marty Henderson 44.283 8 53.655 0.916 0.156 10
14 36c Bill Cox 44.313 8 53.619 0.946 0.030 9
15 10e Jack Kloeber 44.317 6 53.614 0.950 0.004 11
16 26 Cole Powelson 44.354 8 53.569 0.987 0.037 9
17 21x Ken Schilling 44.458 3 53.444 1.091 0.104 4
18 53c Dave Van Gordon 44.511 9 53.380 1.144 0.053 10
19 151 Sergio Machado 44.536 3 53.350 1.169 0.025 3
20 22k Peter Workum 44.703 8 53.151 1.336 0.167 8
21 24u Lloyd Putnam 44.974 3 52.831 1.607 0.271 5
22 48x Chip Thor 45.043 9 52.750 1.676 0.069 10
23 45u RJ Edgington 45.095 10 52.689 1.728 0.052 11
24 84 Mike McDonough 45.159 2 52.614 1.792 0.064 3
25 22t John Giannette 45.218 5 52.545 1.851 0.059 9
26 31c Joe Johnson 45.270 5 52.485 1.903 0.052 7
27 28e Rick Freund 45.270 8 52.485 1.903 0.000 10
28 14 Jonathon Allen 45.320 3 52.427 1.953 0.050 11
29 180 Ken Maxfield 45.446 10 52.282 2.079 0.126 10
30 101 Dayna Ward 45.615 8 52.088 2.248 0.169 10
31 60x Pete Pittman 45.689 7 52.004 2.322 0.074 10
32 41x Darrell Tunnell 47.640 3 49.874 4.273 1.951 4
33 4 Mike Jones --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
34 28t Jim Mueller --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
35 39 Chris Rapp --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
36 44 Oscar Casillas --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
37 45t Todd Vandermolen --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
38 50z Tim Davison --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
39 52y Steve Baumhoff --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
40 60 Dave Stevens --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
41 88z Scott Officer --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
42 175 Chris Jennings --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0

Final Practice
I'm second fastest, and I think I can go faster.  Things are looking good for a spot in row 1 or 2.  With a little luck, maybe I can snag pole.  I'm thinking if I can win the main, I'll print up some new Pulp T-shirts saying, "Supernats S4 Champs - 2007, 2008, 2009".  Yeah....that would be cool.

Pos No. Name Best time In lap Best speed Diff Gap Laps
1 175 Chris Jennings 42.942 5 55.330     9
2 55c Doug Hayashi 43.256 4 54.929 0.314 0.314 10
3 8c Phil Conte 43.512 5 54.606 0.570 0.256 12
4 75z Steve Perdue 43.583 10 54.517 0.641 0.071 11
5 23u Todd Edgington 43.591 8 54.507 0.649 0.008 10
6 89x Paul Russell 43.643 3 54.442 0.701 0.052 9
7 61z David Barkley 43.647 5 54.437 0.705 0.004 11
8 13 Brad Weiss 43.718 6 54.348 0.776 0.071 12
9 42u Ryan Pool 43.813 8 54.230 0.871 0.095 12
10 31x Marty Henderson 43.844 11 54.192 0.902 0.031 11
11 24u Lloyd Putnam 43.915 7 54.105 0.973 0.071 7
12 45u RJ Edgington 43.915 10 54.105 0.973 0.000 11
13 164u Scott Clark 43.952 10 54.059 1.010 0.037 11
14 151 Sergio Machado 44.044 9 53.946 1.102 0.092 10
15 45z Craig Sender 44.088 3 53.892 1.146 0.044 11
16 72 Bradley Alexander 44.094 10 53.885 1.152 0.006 11
17 45t Todd Vandermolen 44.132 9 53.838 1.190 0.038 11
18 21x Ken Schilling 44.182 10 53.778 1.240 0.050 10
19 44 Oscar Casillas 44.213 3 53.740 1.271 0.031 5
20 22k Peter Workum 44.248 7 53.697 1.306 0.035 8
21 10e Jack Kloeber 44.617 5 53.253 1.675 0.369 9
22 28e Rick Freund 44.648 3 53.216 1.706 0.031 9
23 60x Pete Pittman 45.022 10 52.774 2.080 0.374 11
24 28t Jim Mueller 45.067 7 52.722 2.125 0.045 7
25 180 Ken Maxfield 45.110 3 52.671 2.168 0.043 11
26 53c Dave Van Gordon 45.143 5 52.633 2.201 0.033 10
27 101 Dayna Ward 45.288 8 52.464 2.346 0.145 11
28 14 Jonathon Allen 45.468 5 52.257 2.526 0.180 7
29 22t John Giannette 45.635 3 52.065 2.693 0.167 6
30 26 Cole Powelson 45.749 1 51.936 2.807 0.114 2
31 84 Mike McDonough 45.884 1 51.783 2.942 0.135 6
32 48x Chip Thor 46.046 5 51.601 3.104 0.162 7
33 39 Chris Rapp 46.221 7 51.405 3.279 0.175 10
34 41x Darrell Tunnell 46.246 8 51.377 3.304 0.025 10
35 10y Jimmy Barnes 46.323 1 51.292 3.381 0.077 1
36 36c Bill Cox 46.599 2 50.988 3.657 0.276 2
37 50z Tim Davison 46.833 2 50.733 3.891 0.234 2
38 60 Dave Stevens 48.512 2 48.978 5.570 1.679 9
39 4 Mike Jones --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
40 31c Joe Johnson --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
41 52y Steve Baumhoff --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
42 88z Scott Officer --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0

Qualifying
Disaster.  Lots of traffic on the track, and I only get one clean lap, and I blow the one chance I had. I'm slower in qualifying on new tires than I was in practice on old tires.  Shoot me in the head.  Luckily, I scrounge 8th place, I was worried I was going to 15th or so.  Two months earlier, Paul Russell bought my old kart and motor, and immediately crashed the kart in an LAKC race.  So then he turned around and bought Jeff's old kart.  Using my old motor and Jeff's old kart, he qualifies 3rd.  It's like one of my worse nightmares to be beat by my old motor and Jeff's old chassis.  So now I have to start all three heat races in 8th position, hoping that I can move up so I can be gridded high up for the main race.

In Jeff's G1 class, he has a decent qualifying session considering his tough competition, somewhere around 8th.  But on the scales, he is one pound light of the 405 lb minimum.......so he is disqualified, and has to start all three heat races from 44th position...now that kinda sums up the year we are having.

Qualifying Results

Pos No. Name Best time In lap Best speed Diff Gap Laps
1 4 Mike Jones 43.028 3 55.220     5
2 175 Chris Jennings 43.165 3 55.045 0.137 0.137 12
3 89x Paul Russell 43.216 10 54.980 0.188 0.051 11
4 45z Craig Sender 43.280 8 54.898 0.252 0.064 11
5 44 Oscar Casillas 43.440 3 54.696 0.412 0.160 13
6 8c Phil Conte 43.487 7 54.637 0.459 0.047 9
7 42u Ryan Pool 43.524 11 54.591 0.496 0.037 16
8 55c Doug Hayashi 43.576 2 54.525 0.548 0.052 10
9 31x Marty Henderson 43.656 2 54.426 0.628 0.080 2
10 23u Todd Edgington 43.693 3 54.379 0.665 0.037 13
11 45t Todd Vandermolen 43.696 9 54.376 0.668 0.003 13
12 24u Lloyd Putnam 43.712 9 54.356 0.684 0.016 10
13 26 Cole Powelson 43.739 9 54.322 0.711 0.027 15
14 61z David Barkley 43.741 9 54.320 0.713 0.002 12
15 45u RJ Edgington 43.747 6 54.312 0.719 0.006 12
16 10y Jimmy Barnes 43.789 10 54.260 0.761 0.042 12
17 164u Scott Clark 43.797 11 54.250 0.769 0.008 14
18 21x Ken Schilling 43.994 10 54.007 0.966 0.197 11
19 151 Sergio Machado 44.022 8 53.973 0.994 0.028 10
20 72 Bradley Alexander 44.038 3 53.953 1.010 0.016 11
21 10e Jack Kloeber 44.141 5 53.828 1.113 0.103 10
22 22k Peter Workum 44.165 8 53.798 1.137 0.024 11
23 28e Rick Freund 44.260 8 53.683 1.232 0.095 13
24 31c Joe Johnson 44.390 13 53.526 1.362 0.130 15
25 36c Bill Cox 44.423 4 53.486 1.395 0.033 12
26 180 Ken Maxfield 44.425 11 53.483 1.397 0.002 13
27 53c Dave Van Gordon 44.438 5 53.468 1.410 0.013 7
28 84 Mike McDonough 44.473 5 53.426 1.445 0.035 6
29 101 Dayna Ward 44.566 11 53.314 1.538 0.093 11
30 14 Jonathon Allen 44.731 9 53.118 1.703 0.165 10
31 48x Chip Thor 44.888 6 52.932 1.860 0.157 11
32 60x Pete Pittman 45.075 7 52.712 2.047 0.187 10
33 41x Darrell Tunnell 45.415 2 52.318 2.387 0.340 6
34 52y Steve Baumhoff 45.420 2 52.312 2.392 0.005 8
35 50z Tim Davison 45.447 2 52.281 2.419 0.027 8
36 39 Chris Rapp 45.657 10 52.040 2.629 0.210 11
37 28t Jim Mueller 46.015 2 51.635 2.987 0.358 5
38 22t John Giannette 46.289 3 51.330 3.261 0.274 5
39 60 Dave Stevens 49.622 3 47.882 6.594 3.333 5
40 75z Steve Perdue --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
Not classified
DNS 88z Scott Officer --:--:--.--- 0 -   0.000 0
DQ 13 Brad Weiss 43.051 2 55.190   0.000 14

Heat Race 1
I stay clean, and take 6th.   New strategy for the weekend is to hopefully roll 6-6-6 in the heat races, which will probably put me in row 2.

Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed
1 4 Mike Jones 15 10:09.643   43.085 14 55.147
2 175 Chris Jennings 15 10:10.168 0.525 42.743 10 55.588
3 45z Craig Sender 15 10:11.168 1.525 43.339 8 54.824
4 8c Phil Conte 15 10:15.627 5.984 43.118 13 55.105
5 89x Paul Russell 15 10:18.221 8.578 43.428 11 54.711
6 55c Doug Hayashi 15 10:18.932 9.289 43.444 11 54.691
7 23u Todd Edgington 15 10:19.695 10.052 43.458 14 54.673
8 72 Bradley Alexander 15 10:29.892 20.249 44.161 14 53.803
9 26 Cole Powelson 15 10:30.282 20.639 44.128 14 53.843
10 45u RJ Edgington 15 10:30.623 20.980 43.902 12 54.121
11 61z David Barkley 15 10:31.236 21.593 43.939 12 54.075
12 24u Lloyd Putnam 15 10:32.640 22.997 44.127 9 53.845
13 164u Scott Clark 15 10:33.048 23.405 44.009 6 53.989
14 10y Jimmy Barnes 15 10:33.940 24.297 43.861 10 54.171
15 42u Ryan Pool 15 10:38.559 28.916 43.651 14 54.432
16 28e Rick Freund 15 10:39.836 30.193 44.419 9 53.491
17 10e Jack Kloeber 15 10:40.109 30.466 44.857 11 52.968
18 75z Steve Perdue 15 10:40.800 31.157 43.786 10 54.264
19 53c Dave Van Gordon 15 10:41.345 31.702 44.592 13 53.283
20 36c Bill Cox 15 10:41.626 31.983 44.504 7 53.388
21 31c Joe Johnson 15 10:41.907 32.264 44.527 4 53.361
22 44 Oscar Casillas 15 10:45.052 35.409 44.083 9 53.898
23 14 Jonathon Allen 15 10:48.243 38.600 44.955 10 52.853
24 22k Peter Workum 15 10:48.887 39.244 44.691 12 53.165
25 84 Mike McDonough 15 10:49.523 39.880 44.198 12 53.758
26 101 Dayna Ward 15 10:53.389 43.746 44.598 12 53.276
27 60x Pete Pittman 15 10:56.457 46.814 45.256 7 52.501
28 180 Ken Maxfield 12 8:39.775 3 Laps 45.524 6 52.192
29 21x Ken Schilling 12 8:40.406 0.631 44.256 14 53.688
30 41x Darrell Tunnell 11 7:55.019 4 Laps 45.482 6 52.240
31 22t John Giannette 9 6:28.976 6 Laps 46.231 7 51.394
32 39 Chris Rapp 8 5:45.767 7 Laps 46.550 7 51.042
33 48x Chip Thor 5 3:34.296 10 Laps 45.997 5 51.656
34 31x Marty Henderson 3 1:33.860 12 Laps 44.947 3 52.862
35 151 Sergio Machado 2 49.695 13 Laps 44.837 2 52.992
Not classified
DNS 45t Todd Vandermolen 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNS 52y Steve Baumhoff 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNS 50z Tim Davison 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNS 28t Jim Mueller 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNS 60 Dave Stevens 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNS 88z Scott Officer 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0

Heat Race 2
I roll another 6th. 

Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed
1 175 Chris Jennings 15 10:41.722   42.836 13 55.467
2 45z Craig Sender 15 10:45.903 4.181 43.124 8 55.097
3 4 Mike Jones 15 10:46.297 4.575 43.197 8 55.004
4 8c Phil Conte 15 10:47.555 5.833 42.987 15 55.273
5 42u Ryan Pool 15 10:54.663 12.941 43.599 13 54.497
6 55c Doug Hayashi 15 10:54.836 13.114 43.478 13 54.648
7 23u Todd Edgington 15 10:56.988 15.266 43.305 12 54.867
8 10y Jimmy Barnes 15 10:58.240 16.518 43.449 14 54.685
9 89x Paul Russell 15 10:58.564 16.842 43.356 15 54.802
10 72 Bradley Alexander 15 10:59.143 17.421 43.538 15 54.573
11 45u RJ Edgington 15 10:59.291 17.569 43.373 14 54.781
12 151 Sergio Machado 15 11:04.494 22.772 43.917 11 54.102
13 31x Marty Henderson 15 11:05.097 23.375 43.858 5 54.175
14 61z David Barkley 15 11:05.134 23.412 44.043 6 53.947
15 22k Peter Workum 15 11:05.326 23.604 44.134 8 53.836
16 84 Mike McDonough 15 11:05.747 24.025 43.505 9 54.614
17 21x Ken Schilling 15 11:06.099 24.377 43.816 11 54.227
18 10e Jack Kloeber 15 11:06.812 25.090 44.177 3 53.784
19 75z Steve Perdue 15 11:07.349 25.627 43.088 14 55.143
20 101 Dayna Ward 15 11:09.450 27.728 44.306 5 53.627
21 180 Ken Maxfield 15 11:14.877 33.155 44.143 8 53.825
22 36c Bill Cox 15 11:15.037 33.315 44.174 13 53.787
23 24u Lloyd Putnam 15 11:17.684 35.962 43.769 12 54.285
24 26 Cole Powelson 15 11:19.796 38.074 43.961 9 54.048
25 53c Dave Van Gordon 15 11:21.885 40.163 44.584 14 53.293
26 48x Chip Thor 15 11:22.973 41.251 44.734 7 53.114
27 28t Jim Mueller 15 11:23.290 41.568 44.520 10 53.369
28 22t John Giannette 15 11:24.013 42.291 44.566 10 53.314
29 14 Jonathon Allen 15 11:30.706 48.984 44.345 14 53.580
30 28e Rick Freund 14 10:23.137 1 Lap 44.104 9 53.873
31 164u Scott Clark 11 8:29.105 4 Laps 43.829 6 54.211
32 41x Darrell Tunnell 11 8:29.438 0.333 45.098 10 52.685
33 60x Pete Pittman 10 7:47.515 5 Laps 45.500 10 52.220
34 39 Chris Rapp 10 7:48.733 1.218 46.382 10 51.227
35 44 Oscar Casillas 6 4:20.095 9 Laps 43.770 6 54.284
36 60 Dave Stevens 3 2:37.887 12 Laps 49.660 3 47.845
DNF 45t Todd Vandermolen 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNF 31c Joe Johnson 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
Not classified
DNS 52y Steve Baumhoff 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNS 50z Tim Davison 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNS 88z Scott Officer 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.---

Heat Race 3. 
I almost run up the back of Phil Conte on the start and have to hit the brakes, then slot back in after a couple of people jumped by me.  I finish 8th, choosing to not be aggressive, as it won't really change where I am gridded for the main.

 

Pos

No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed
1 175 Chris Jennings 10 6:54.636   43.058 8 55.181
2 45z Craig Sender 10 6:56.097 1.461 43.336 8 54.827
3 89x Paul Russell 10 6:58.138 3.502 43.253 5 54.933
4 44 Oscar Casillas 10 6:58.936 4.300 43.628 8 54.460
5 42u Ryan Pool 10 6:59.164 4.528 43.569 8 54.534
6 8c Phil Conte 10 6:59.341 4.705 43.472 10 54.656
7 23u Todd Edgington 10 6:59.724 5.088 43.494 8 54.628
8 55c Doug Hayashi 10 7:00.087 5.451 43.520 5 54.596
9 31x Marty Henderson 10 7:05.452 10.816 43.912 9 54.108
10 45u RJ Edgington 10 7:05.885 11.249 44.239 8 53.708
11 24u Lloyd Putnam 10 7:07.446 12.810 43.977 9 54.028
12 26 Cole Powelson 10 7:07.742 13.106 43.914 9 54.106
13 4 Mike Jones 10 7:08.026 13.390 43.086 8 55.146
14 10y Jimmy Barnes 10 7:10.660 16.024 43.744 6 54.316
15 61z David Barkley 10 7:10.968 16.332 44.020 7 53.975
16 72 Bradley Alexander 10 7:11.353 16.717 44.233 9 53.716
17 75z Steve Perdue 10 7:12.000 17.364 --:--:--.--- 0 -
18 10e Jack Kloeber 10 7:13.736 19.100 44.393 9 53.522
19 31c Joe Johnson 10 7:15.301 20.665 44.119 7 53.854
20 21x Ken Schilling 10 7:15.542 20.906 44.179 7 53.781
21 28e Rick Freund 10 7:16.254 21.618 44.202 7 53.753
22 84 Mike McDonough 10 7:16.916 22.280 44.223 9 53.728
23 101 Dayna Ward 10 7:18.514 23.878 44.532 9 53.355
24 22t John Giannette 10 7:21.865 27.229 44.821 10 53.011
25 39 Chris Rapp 10 7:39.611 44.975 46.875 7 50.688
26 60x Pete Pittman 10 7:39.981 45.345 45.709 7 51.981
27 41x Darrell Tunnell 10 7:40.248 45.612 46.515 7 51.080
28 151 Sergio Machado 7 6:20.575 3 Laps 45.393 2 52.343
29 36c Bill Cox 4 2:48.705 6 Laps 45.756 4 51.928
30 53c Dave Van Gordon 4 2:49.156 0.451 45.801 2 51.877
31 60 Dave Stevens 4 3:06.964 18.259 49.028 2 48.462
32 48x Chip Thor 4 3:12.776 24.071 45.018 4 52.779
33 164u Scott Clark 2 1:11.094 8 Laps 44.502 2 53.391
34 180 Ken Maxfield 2 1:14.632 3.538 45.570 2 52.140
35 22k Peter Workum 2 1:14.858 3.764 45.580 2 52.128
36 14 Jonathon Allen 2 1:17.246 6.152 45.674 2 52.021
37 45t Todd Vandermolen 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
38 52y Steve Baumhoff 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
39 50z Tim Davison 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
40 28t Jim Mueller 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
Not classified
DNS 88z Scott Officer 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -

Main Race
I'm gridded 6th for the main, not too bad.  I would prefer to be in row 1 or 2, but row 3 should work.  I should be away from any carnage that happens at the start of a race with 36 karts gunning for turns 1 and 2.  We are ready for the main.  We do two warmup laps, and then they start to grid us.  I don't recognize the person lining up the karts on the grid, it looks like somone different.  Anyways, Mike Jones is in front of me, and it appears that he wasn't lined up on the red mark for his left tire.  He's about 18 inches too far to the right.  Crap.  That means if he has a bad start, or if I get a real good start, it will be hard to juke to the right.  I could turn to the left, but then there is a wall on that side. 


Mike is gridded too far to the right from the designated marker

 


I have been getting good starts.  Can I pass on left?

 


Not much room the right.  Left is looking more attractive than right

All lights go out!  I get a great launch!  We fly into turns 1 and 2, and the demolition derby begins.  Karts are bumping into each other, trying to jockey for position out of turn 2.


I get on run on Mike Jones, but not enough to pass cleanly. I have to brake.
Calamity then ensues....


My wheels get tangled up with Ryan Pool, I'm jerking the wheel to get loose


Then Bradley Alexander and I get tangled up.  Todd Edgington flies into wall 


My kart is on top of Bradley's kart.  We get out and push start karts.  Entire field passed us.

After my  kart gets pulled off of Bradley Alexander's kart, I get restarted, but now I'm way behind the field.  I have some minor damage, but the kart is drivable.  My apologies to Bradley (who flew down from New Zealand) for the incident, as I can't tell if I crashed into him, or if he crashed into me, or if someone crashed into us from behind causing us to collide.  I make it halfway through the race but then get blackflagged as the leaders are coming up behind me.  At the Supernats, backmarkers are pulled off the track so the frontrunners have a chance to duke it out cleanly for the win.  Jennings and Jones from Texas go 1-2 in the main, Conte takes 3rd, Intrepid guys Sender and Perdue fill out the podium.  Jennings did what Jeff and I did last year, and ran both S3 and S4.    Here's the video of the start of the S3 main:  http://www.nsxfiles.com/snats12_main_short_r1_med.wmv
 

Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed
1 175 Chris Jennings 30 21:32.304   42.700 23 55.644
2 4 Mike Jones 30 21:35.872 3.568 42.833 26 55.471
3 8c Phil Conte 30 21:37.596 5.292 42.908 23 55.374
4 45z Craig Sender 30 21:38.974 6.670 42.993 26 55.265
5 75z Steve Perdue 30 21:54.654 22.350 42.893 21 55.394
6 26 Cole Powelson 30 21:55.910 23.606 43.229 16 54.963
7 61z David Barkley 30 22:01.674 29.370 43.661 19 54.419
8 44 Oscar Casillas 30 22:09.996 37.692 43.579 30 54.522
9 31x Marty Henderson 30 22:10.366 38.062 43.412 21 54.731
10 164u Scott Clark 30 22:13.023 40.719 43.660 24 54.421
11 10e Jack Kloeber 30 22:13.288 40.984 43.771 18 54.283
12 21x Ken Schilling 30 22:13.499 41.195 43.649 18 54.434
13 24u Lloyd Putnam 30 22:14.466 42.162 44.020 5 53.975
14 84 Mike McDonough 26 19:16.707 4 Laps 43.607 25 54.487
15 28e Rick Freund 21 15:43.011 9 Laps 43.998 5 54.002
16 45t Todd Vandermolen 21 15:43.514 0.503 43.719 17 54.347
17 22k Peter Workum 21 15:44.762 1.751 43.992 17 54.010
18 31c Joe Johnson 21 15:44.943 1.932 43.951 19 54.060
19 151 Sergio Machado 19 14:20.937 11 Laps 43.819 17 54.223
20 48x Chip Thor 18 13:35.644 12 Laps 44.525 14 53.363
21 55c Doug Hayashi 18 13:36.272 0.628 43.583 15 54.517
22 53c Dave Van Gordon 17 12:51.433 13 Laps 44.372 17 53.547
23 28t Jim Mueller 16 12:07.415 14 Laps 44.316 9 53.615
24 14 Jonathon Allen 15 11:25.209 15 Laps 44.208 14 53.746
25 180 Ken Maxfield 14 10:42.209 16 Laps 44.087 12 53.893
26 36c Bill Cox 13 9:48.711 17 Laps 44.356 7 53.567
27 23u Todd Edgington 12 9:15.827 18 Laps 43.737 10 54.325
28 72 Bradley Alexander 12 9:16.095 0.268 44.160 10 53.804
29 101 Dayna Ward 12 9:22.023 6.196 44.406 8 53.506
30 41x Darrell Tunnell 10 7:48.998 20 Laps 44.869 10 52.954
31 39 Chris Rapp 9 7:08.844 21 Laps 46.314 3 51.302
32 42u Ryan Pool 7 5:08.132 23 Laps 43.417 5 54.725
33 60 Dave Stevens 6 6:43.258 24 Laps 48.319 5 49.173
34 45u RJ Edgington 5 3:40.177 25 Laps 43.961 3 54.048
35 22t John Giannette 5 4:01.141 20.964 45.958 4 51.699
36 60x Pete Pittman 2 2:05.804 28 Laps 1:13.687 2 32.244
37 10y Jimmy Barnes 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
38 89x Paul Russell 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
Not classified
DNS 50z Tim Davison 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNS 52y Steve Baumhoff 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.--- 0 -
DNS 88z Scott Officer 0 --:--:--.---   --:--:--.---

Jeff has better luck in his main, and finishes around 12th or so.  My helmet camera failed a bunch of times, and the rearward facing Loser Cam failed everytime, so my footage is minimal from this event.

In the S3 Stock Honda class, 14 year old Brendan Phinny takes 1st place, beating a stellar S3 field that included all the fast PKC guys, NASCAR and Champcar drivers, a couple of ex-super pros. 

Full Ekartingnews.com coverage at: http://www.ekartingnews.com/news_info.php?n=11263.

So the year ended as it started, with another disappointing kart racing result.   We'll be better prepared next year, and not botch our qualifying session!  Paul Russell said it best before the main, "The Road to Supernats Glory is a trail of tears."  At least I won a few hundred bucks playing blackjack.  We gambled mainly at Planet Hollywood (they have go-go dancers on poles at their blackjack tables) and the Rio.  There were complaints from last year's Supernats that the event was too long (5 days), so they cut it down to 4 days this year.  Unfortunately, this meant we were at the track from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every night, so I think enough people bitched that we return it back to a five day event.  If five days is too long to be away from the family, or you don't want you kids to be ditching that much school, don't come to the Supernats, as these long days are cutting into my gambling and drinking time at night.   You're screwing up my annual Vegas vacation!

Back on the home front, Wayne goes into the rathole with the Chevelle. 

1.  He decides that the car doesn't stop, so he puts a four wheel disc brake kit on it to replace the drum brakes.  We bled the brake system about 30 times trying to get pedal pressure.   Turns out you have to remove master cylinder and brake booster out of car, put it on a bench, bleed it manually, then put it into the car, then bleed the rest of the system.  Bleeder screws on rear calipers are not on top of the caliper, so you have to remove calipers to bleed the rears.  We still can't get good brake pressure.  Wayne gives up and pays a guy to bleed it.  Still doesn't work good.  Then puts on bigger brake booster.  After 50 hours of working on the brakes, he can stop now!

2. New seat cushions and springs

3. New shocks and coils

4. Then he dynos car at Autowave, car only puts out 260 hp.  Wayne is disgusted.  So he buys a $5000 crate motor with a claimed 500+ HP.

5.  We finally wedge motor in the car, big ass valve covers make it hard to fit in car.  On New Year's Eve, we are successful in firing up the car!  We know how to party.

6.  Dynos car again.  Better, more like 368 hp, but is told that he has wrong carb and header and exhaust setup. 

7.  Buys new carb setup, now at 405 hp.   I'm guessing this rathole will continue until he gets to 500 hp.
 

Summary:
So Jeff and I end the year with another failure, completing our 2008 Death Spiral.  Hopefully Wayne won't get caught up in the same scenario  with his Chevelle.  He said that it seems that the tranny or clutch makes an intermittent noise, and you know he wants to get to 500 HP so he could ah....drive it back and forth to his Saturday morning get-together with the rest of the old guys who have hot rods at the local doughnut shop.

I plan to get my act together and start publishing regularly, let's see if I can follow through on that! 


Jeff talking to Darcy Decoste, the brains behind DDR powered karts

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