WKA does away with Senior Pipe? Reactions/Alternatives

[Eric Vukich]

Hello All,

i was just wondering if anyone who runs the Yahama Senior Pipe Class with WKA, and subsequent clubs with that rule set have noticed the pipe has been done away with to go back to the ssx can?

I’m not a national racer, but I do run club level and I know all the guys at our club, Pittrace, run the Sr-y pipe and love it. It’s our biggest class at the track and we were a solid 14+ guys deep every race this year.

No one wants to go back to the can, for a multitude of reasons: sound, power, durability. It’s just better. I was wondering if any other guys have a reaction to it.

[David Cole]

I would hope that WKA puts in something for their rulebook to allow clubs to run the Pipe, since there was no warning time with the change to their Man. Cup program.

David Cole - EKN Managing Editor

[Daniel White]

I’m imagine no reason was provided, but does anyone know why the change? The guys at my club like the pipe. All the clubs near me (Barnesville, AMP, Go Pro) use the SR-Y, primarily because the racers wanted the pipe.

For someone to revert their current engine to be optimum for can, they’d have to have their carburetor rebuilt.

[Walt Gifford]

$$$$ Everyone embraced the sry pipe $$$$$$ now everyone that sold or discarded their can muffler now has to buy a new one $$$$$ public out cry then back to the sry pipe $$$$$$$$ new square box muffler is developed and approved $$$$$$.

Gif

FAA certified jet engine and aircraft technician,
Nicholson Speedway class champion 2001,
Yamaha KT100 Service Center,
41 years karting experience

[Gary Lawson]

Walt,
You are right. It is about $$$. 3 entries at national events loses $$$ for the track time they are given. It’s not a conspiracy to get racers to spend money. Some clubs did have increased entries from the pipe and they can continue to run that.

[TJ Koyen]

From a driving perspective, very disappointed. I drove the pipe for one race with WKA at it made the Yamaha much more satisfying to drive. I was really hoping all senior Yamaha classes across the country could be on the pipe. One step forward, two steps back as far as I’m concerned.

Driver/Coach/Wrench : Innovative Performance/Exprit
Owner : Oktane Visual - www.oktanevisual.com
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[Greg Wright]

I just don’t get the overall distaste for the pipe. Just doesn’t make sense to me.

Greg Wright
Rapid Racing Inc.
Vintage B-Stock Pilot
"When in doubt Gas it, It won't help but it ends the suspense."

[Dan Schlosser]

There wasn’t any general distaste for the Pipe. People didn’t stay away from WKA because they ran the Pipe, they stayed away because the kart counts were low. If people come back, it won’t be because they went back to the Can (that pretty much no senior runs outside of New Castle) it will because the events are better run and they are attracting more teams and drivers.

I support most of the WKA changes but this one is silly IMHO. If they cancelled every class that was down on entries, there would have been no series. Nearly everyone that runs the Pipe vastly prefers it to the Can. The only reason USPKS stayed with the Can was to be different than WKA – I pretty clearly remember the racers coming together and even going as far as to get some signatures to request that USPKS change to Pipe. Mark shot that down, not the racers.

 

[Jay Sinon]

David Cole,

Aren’t you now on the WKA board? Do you have any insight to why they went back to the can? I find it hard to believe it was kart count. The kart was down before the switch over to the pipe. I’m more incline to agree with Walt and Gary and say it was about money IMHO which would be a shame! Do you know if they poled the racers or just made a switch on there own?

We also enjoyed using the Sr.Y pipe last year and that seems to be a general consensus with everybody that switched from the can to the pipe.

TaG Sr.

[Jay Sinon]

IMHO, If it was really about the kart count and making the sport bigger and better you would let them run the can or the pipe and adjust the weight accordingly then everyone could play. Just like they do in TaG  X30 weighs something, Leopard Weighs something else and Rotax weighs somethings else they all play happily together!

TaG Sr.

[David Cole]

Jay, I was just voted in so I know very little about why, other than they were trying to make it quieter than the Can, and give Yamaha Senior quicker speeds than the Junior Can category. Kids going from Junior to Senior would go slower.

David Cole - EKN Managing Editor

[Jay Sinon]

David, what you said is exactly right so it doesn’t make sense that WKA went back to the can after being on the pipe. Hopefully now that you’re on the board and once you get settled in you can try to find answers to some of the things the racers find so odd.

TaG Sr.

[Mark Dismore Jr.]

They had 3 pipe karts at the last race last year and the trend the entire season was DOWN. The last can WKA race was at NCMP 2 years ago and they had around 20. The very next season they switched to pipe and the class slowly faded. USPKS has had can every season and the class continues to have strong participation.

I could look up the entry numbers but I also go to all these races so I see it first hand. The pipe just doesn’t bring the entries and the can does.

[Brock Weiss]

I say bring back the KPV Komet engine. I liked it better anyway than Yamha. Faster And more reliable.

But it is all but dead unfortunately.

To bad they couldn’t figure out how to run both with pipe and can together and figure out the weight thing then everyone would be happy. Everyone except me because i still like the KPV engine better.

I have a hard time letting go I guess. Lol. Oh well such is life

[Jay Sinon]

Mark,

From what I hear NCMP is the place to go if you want  to run in a full field of Yamaha’s. How many Yamaha karts do you have running in a typical regional race? How do you seem to pull a crowd and no one else can?

TaG Sr.

[Mark Dismore Jr.]

That class (classes really, Yamaha Senior and Yamaha Masters) has grown on it’s own the last few seasons. I think the expense of TaG sent a lot of racers looking for a affordable alternative.

There is no magic formula to the success of the KRA club, there is a lot of stability in the classes we offer and we don’t try to fix things that aren’t broke. I see a lot of series jump from new class to new class and when you do that it makes it hard for the racer to justify buying all new equipment every couple years.

Most of the new classes just take the place of a class that is already offered as well, so you cannibalize one class just to add another. When you go from 20 karts in a class to 8 each in the new and old class you see both classes fail a lot of the time.

[Author]

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