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| July 12, 2012 |
| Editorial: Sprint Racers Experience Road Racing with Northern California Karters |
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For photos, click the following LINK
If you want a thrill of a life time get out of your comfort zone and check out the Road Racing. IKF Northern California Karters; Rolled out the Red Carpet to the Sprint Kart drivers on Friday, July 06 2012. The call was to come to Thunder hill Raceway Park. What is this place called "Thunder hill ", also known as, "The Hill", After a trip near their famous "Turn 5, signature “Cyclone" I will just nick name this place" Magic Hill".
The Magic soon hit the Sprint Race new comers square in the face as they snuck up on the famous turn 5 and took a peek over the edge. I came off the track after first practice and noticed this glued on Magical grin that never left the sprint guys faces all day. In Fact I really think their grins got bigger as their speeds picked up and their lap times came down. At one point Sprint Veteran #83 Jon "Banjo", flashed his famous "hang loose" sign at me down the straight at 100 mph Then not to be out done by Banjo, RJ, Paul & other long time Sprinter's flashed me a wave on the way to the Cyclone....in fact; I captured more waves, thumbs up, hang loose, signs at high speeds and gut wrenching drop the seat out from under you cyclone vested Track than I have ever seen other than by kid kart drivers that are new to the track. This Road Racing is just flat out fun stuff. We went years ago with friends who raced and thought it was boring. I think that came from our driver not being in that seat and coming off the track grinning ear to ear.
It took Kerry Matthews and many other Road Race guys tugging at Jon Ban's Driver suit before he felt it was time to venture out. He made some texts and calls to the other sprint drivers to load up and head up the hill to see what this stuff was all about....I don’t know the count (20).
If you put yourself in a seat inches off the ground, make it around the track through the famous Cyclone and run at those speeds for the 20-35 minute session and come off the track and tell me you hate it.........well.........well, Heck I will give you a free 8x10 photo. One catch though...
You have to look me in the eye and tell me it was boring with a straight face!!
So how big is this track you might ask; The 3 mile, 36 feet wide recently re-paved track is FIA Standard and features excellent elevation changes, including the signature “Cyclone.” The City Of Willows According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.5 km2), of which, 2.8 square miles (7.3 km2) of it is land and 0.03 square miles (0.078 km2) of it (0.92%) is water. I bring this up for two reasons, 1. So you know where to look for it on Google maps. 2. So you can compare the size of the track surface to the town of Willows, 7 miles from the track. Last but not least, to point out my 9-5pm trek by foot around the race track was well founded as to why my tongue was hanging out at times and you could see buzzards follow & circle me...some might say a 50 year old Photographer has no business out in the middle of a race track doing this, but all I can say to that is .......Pah leaseee!!
As long as I can hear the roar of the motors, smell the fuel and tires and see the drivers grins on and off the track then I will continue to shop at Costco for the gallon size muscle Rubs and Motrin.
The Karts and drivers; I found some really interesting looking Karts out on the Road races.
Who knew you could lay down and drive at high speeds at the same time. I had to take a double take when I saw this sleek looking rocket ship pushing down the grid. Steve Bishop's 125-150cc open / FKE111 Kart # 31 had my curious side peaked.
Driver Bishop showed me what his driver view was when he laid back in the kart prior to launch time. I can just say that was about the coolest looking speed demon on the track. Coming over turn 5 was breathe taking and graceful of most of these karts.
Some drivers were blinded by my big Grin & bright neon Vest and Camera forgetting they were about to hurl themselves over the Cyclone zone flashing me a wave on the way by. One of the Stock Moto's ended up with a much too close look at the infield gravel. When Kart # 111 pole vaulted off the track I could see why the Cyclone name was formed. The kart and driver twisted and turned mid air, dust was a flying, his kart bucked and fought until it finally came to rest about 7 photos later. That is how we photographers judge the amount of force involved by how fast we start clicking off frames to capture it all.
I watched the driver holding his wrist and arm, I am sure he had some wheel torque burn there...If Driver Stan Dutrow, had thought one second about pulling a Danica Patrick and letting go of the wheel, it would have been the same thing as being aboard a bucking bull and letting go of the rope prior to the 8 second mark......and dodging the horns as you go airborne.
Normally in Sprint tracks I often am one of the first people by a drivers side after a wreck and you always know they are okay when the first thing they ask is
"Did you get the shot" In Road Racing the corner worker are professional hired by the Track to field the basic needs of the driver. When they are done wrecking, the corner worker checks on them, with a hand signal. You are to give a “I am okay sign" then he reminds you to pull your kart as far as you can from the track and move infield to a safety zone. Also to keep your safety gear in place until the truck can retrieve you.
I camped in Turn 5 Magic zone for a few of the races and enjoyed talking to the corner worker, (Roy) ,who filled me in on much of the road racing in's and outs. I really think more than anything it was his way of talking me down off the barriers and keeping me in a safe area of shooting photos. He could feel and see my excitement.
How could you not get excited when you see and feel the power of the multi classes and motors coming at you and hurling themselves off of turn 5 in front of you? Those sleek mini Indy looking cars called the Inter- Continental-E with their sleek noses and wings almost made you forget to click because all you want to do is look and admire them as they go by. I finally had to force myself off of the hill and back into reality shooting from the straight and flag man's view to put my mind back into the game.
I also learned that even at high speeds there is plenty of time to play games with each other and the flag man Merle, I saw a game of cat and mouse going on between racer Larry Dobbs & Merle. On the first lap while the green was held to show the race was on Dobb's slipped over with his mean machine “Unlimited" and tipped the flag with his gloved raised hand on his way by. On the Checker's he again aimed his flying machine in merle's direction to make a grab at the checker flag. On track I saw tons of drafting going on and the famous sling shot moves. Then there was the super sportsman Yamaha limited Steve Bishop and Larry Harper spent the whole race glued to each other and fighting for a turn at the lead position. Yes even going into turn 5 and through the cyclone they were full speed ahead and side by side often times for a battle. I know even though I couldn't see it those two had perm ant grins on their faces. I know I did This Friday.
Since the action was at such high speeds and often away from my perch I will go into a question and answer forum with Mr. Rodger Miller; Questions a Sprint track driver might ask prior to road racing for the first time;
*Bev: “ can you give me a little insight on some of the difference in road racing vs. sprint so I can under stand it a bit better and also the reader who might come up to test and hang out.?
* Miller : Answer :Well, for the most part, we don't qualify, and we don't run a multi-heat format - although we do have our 2 heat format (more below) Road Racing started off years ago as "Endurance racing" or Enduros, and at the start, most karts were laydowns. Races were 1 hour long. As time has gone, and the sport evolved - karters used to be tinkers, fabricators, mechanics, and folks were generally much more hands on. These are the folks that built and designed the karts of old. Today, most folks aren't that way. They go to the store, buy a kart and go racing. So, road racing has evolved to accommodate the newer breed of participants. Shorter sessions to accommodate smaller fuel tanks, classes that cover the current engine packages, classes and rules that match sprint racing to allow crossing over, Reality is that today, road racing is fairly closely aligned with sprint racing as to equipment. Any sprint kart has a place to run with us, and then we have a few exotic classes for the Super kart, laydown, and the innovators. We still use a more enduro format, of a single long race, or as I explain below, the 2 heat system
Bev: I haven't seen before; because of multi karts/ size/ distance you use Trucks with tow ropes so the drivers will either tow in via (Kart skiing) love it........or if not able to roll put into the back of the trucks?
Miller: Yes, this is due to the size of the circuit. Being 3 miles, can't expect people to run out with kart stands and such, also for safety, as we know who is on the track, & when, also we have radio contact with the tow drivers.
Bev: score-----you use Golf score…? Please explain that to me if you don't mind since the only golf club I have ever held was mini golf and let's face it I stunk at that big time.......LOL
Miller: In our 2 heat format, yes, it is called a Golf Score - basically goes like this - each heat as follows - winner gets zero points, 2nd gets 2, 3rd gets 3 and so on..... Including all the way to Did Not Score (DNS). Second heat the same. Each driver has their points totaled up, least points win. Ties are broken by the better finish in the second heat. Example - and this comes from the Grand Nationals in 2010. My son was racing in the ICE Super kart class, against GP Champion Eddie Lawson and a field of other drivers. In the first heat, Ryen finished 2nd and Eddie won. In the second heat Ryen finished 1st, and for the sake of the example, Eddie finished 2nd - so Ryen has 2 + 0 and Eddie had 0 + 2 - both have 2 points. Ryen had the better finish in the second heat., so that breaks the tie.
Bev: I see that all classes go out at once....( to a point) so how are they broken into classes ? Do you break them up by speed, I noticed many diff. motors out there at once
Miller: Yes, we run blended race groups. Each class is scored separately. In the IKF rulebook, section 300 is our National Class list. About 22 classes. Then we run a set of "option classes so that we have someplace for anyone that shows up with a go-kart can race with us, and usually has at least 2 classes they can run during our day. We foster the "All You Can Race" entry fee with this format. So, in out Race Group #1, we have a lot of classes that cross over to classes in Race Groups 3/6 and 4/7 (3/6 is a 2 heat format and 4/7 is a 2 heat format) Example - in Race Group 1, one of our most popular classes has been class 20 (National Class) West Coast Super Stock CR125 (Stock Moto - aligned with SKUSA rules) and that is a complete 25 minute race. Then in groups 4/7 (20minute heats) we run class 19, Super Stock CR125 (exact same rules) in a 2 heat format. So a stock moto shows up and has two complete races, one in each format, 3 racing sessions, which adds up to over an hour of racing time on the track, plus all the morning practice, so easily 2 hours or more of track time in a day.
Bev: Starts: I noticed that classes were grouped together, I gauged it a bit by the motor and types of karts am I close to how it is done in Road Racing?
Miller: Yes, on the standing starts, we just make logical breaks for the flights on the start. So for Race 1, we send off the Super karts first, then we send of the West Coast Super Stock CR125 (and any other 125 shifter classes) second, then all others 3rd and this works out to about a 1/3 in each flight. So the balance is good. Also, the Super karts are sometimes a little slow off a standing start and the Stock Motos would be running over them, but if we line up the Stock Motos ahead of the Super karts, then the Super karts are running over the Stock Motos about turn 2. So the 15 second breaks work out real well.
Bev: Anyway, I think that is about all of my questions .........Oh is there a season points standing right now and how many races are left, do you have future race dates for me so I can put that in there to get more people up to the next event?
Miller: We have one more points race - Button willow Raceway - August 25th. Then we have a non-points race at Sears Point Raceway - November 24th which is our end of year awards ceremonies. We call it the “Western States Road Race Classic”, as that event draws our highest attendance generally, and has people from the North West and SoCal, and who knows where else - all show up and race.
Bev. One last question if you don’t mind, how do I wipe the grin off Sprint racer’s Jon, RJ, Paul and the rest of the nearly 20 sprint racers faces as well as mine cause my jaw is starting to get sore from smiling?
Miller: smiles and says; “Sorry, No Clue” |
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