WKA Briggs & Stratton / Dyno Cams Nationals Oak Grove Motorsports Park, Baker, FL April 12 - 13, 2003     Photos load one after the other. Depending on your modem speed, there maybe a short delay between images.

Race Report

Oak Grove Motorsports Park is usually a great track but not this year. You would not believe what we were racing on. I know it's the same track for everybody so I can't blame the track for my woes but I think that you should be able to expect a really good track at a national event. Well so much for complaining about the track...

We got to the track with plenty of time to get set up and were ready to start practice at 1:00 PM. Then we waited. The track didn't look any different than it did when we were here 2 weeks ago. I just can't believe that they really tried to get this track ready for an event of this size. Well, anyway, they worked and worked and graded and rolled but they never got the track to a point where we could practice. The turns were still so wet that they got a tractor stuck in turns one and two and dug up a couple of ruts about 20 feet long and 2 feet deep. Call it a night. We loaded everything back in the trailer and went to the hotel. To make matters worse, it was to cold to jump in the pool and all my crew chief would let me watch on TV was the news! Time for bed.

Saturday morning was great! It was clear and cool and I was ready to get out there and race. I guess they worked on the track through the night but it still didn't look much different to me. My class was the 12th to go out so the track was starting to come in a little by the time I made my first practice session. The track was ruff and the kart was tight so I had to jerk it through the turns between bumps. I came in and told my crew chief that the kart was tight. He said he though I looked loose. I said no I was tight, the kart wouldn't turn and I didn't think it was the track. He was skeptical but checked his notes and sure enough, he had the rear track too wide again! Seems he didn't check it after we went out and tested a few weeks ago. Man! Doesn't anybody prepare for these things any more! (I'm just kidding, dad!)

Well, he got the kart right and I was just flying along in second practice as well as the third. We didn't think much about changing the gear until we went to qualify and then we realized that it seemed that the kart was faster when we let the motor turn a few 100 more rpm's than we usually do. So, we didn't change the gear then either. I went out to qualify and we made it into the first round with an 18th fastest lap. Boy that felt good to not have to requalify. Now I could relax knowing I was in the race.

When it came time to start the races they had a drivers meeting because they wanted some of the racer to come out and help run in some patches that they did to the track. Seems no one wanted to go out and get their kart all muddy. After 10 minutes of pleading some of the driver agreed to go out for a few laps so they sent us back to get ready to race. Then I heard them calling the competition committee and then they announced that they were going to move my class from 12th to 4th in the line up. My crew chief though he had the tires and gear right for the race but we weren't sure when the sun would set. Moving the race up made him think that we might still be racing in the sun so we put a taller gear on and some tires with a little less rubber than we would want after sunset. Then the races started and the track was so bad that they keep having to stop and start the races for wrecks and spins. Time just kept ticking away and, before we knew it, the sun had set. They called us to the grid but then we just sat and waited because the races before us couldn't keep going with out stopping for more crashes. There we were, stuck on the grid with the wrong tires and gear and there wasn't anything we could do about it. I started the race and like all the others before, there where spins and wrecks and we had to restart single file. It wasn't much of a race really. I don't think anybody really had a chance to change their position much. I moved up a few and lost a few but I moved up enough to finish in the 15th place.

On Sunday it started out more like a national race. They got started right away with practice and things went along at a brisk pace. We got our 2 practice sessions in before 10:30 and then went off to church. The funny thing was that they didn't do anything to the track during the night. The ruts from the day before were still there and there was a hump in the front stretch that you had to go over if you want to land any where near the entrance to turn one but going over it meant that you would come off the ground about 3 inches and sail about 10 or 15 feet before your tires would grab again. Seems to me all they had to do is lightly grade that out but they didn't do a thing. All day Saturday people were saying that they were going to call the races after qualifying and they probably should have.

I felt really fast in practice and I think I was one of the fastest karts in both Sportsman II Heavy and Sportsman Champ. We made all the usual changes to qualify. We changed the oil, checked the nuts and bolts, cleaned the tires and rescaled to make sure that nothing had changed. I went out to qualify for Sportsman II and when I came in I was 4th fastest. Then 2 more groups went out and I dropped to 18th but that was still good because I made the race in the first round again. In the champ I felt good too and qualified 11th.

The races went pretty much as they did the night before. They tried to fix the ruts and then get a few karter to come out and run the track in again. Of course, no one wanted to go but finally a few did and then the races got started. Again, it was just one crash after another. The ambulance was out on the track 2 or 3 times and they took one driver to the hospital. When my first race got started I did the best I could. We were prepared this time and the tires and gear was perfect. I would pass a few karts and move ahead only to hit a rut and lose control while a few other went by me. Still, I raced as best I could until there was a really bad crash and they red flagged the race. I finished in 9th.

In the champ I waited for what seemed like hours. More crashes and red flags but eventually we got out on the track to start our race. When the green flag came out I was on a terror. I just put the hammer down and drove that kart where ever I could see daylight. I passed my way up to 6th by lap 8 and was moving under the 5th place kart with the 4th and 3rd place karts outside of him coming out of turn 4. The 4th place kart tried to close the door and slammed into the kart on my right who slammed into me and spun me. Another kart him me and got me going back in the right direction but by then I was passed by just about the entire field of 30 karts. I got back up to speed and drove back through the field passing as many as 4 karts in a lap. By lap 18 I was back in 6th again, just behind the 5th place kart, and we were coming up on the 3rd and 4th place karts so we went to the outside. I had made several passes on the high groove so I was confident we could make it but there was a slow lap kart up there that we didn't see until it was too late. The kart in front of me swerved to miss him and hit a cone and spun. The cone landed in front of me and I swerved to miss it and spun too. We both got back going again but when the checkers came out I was in 13th place.

Well, the weather was perfect but the track was terrible. The races were what they were and, like I said, we all had the same track. I guess the good thing is that while from here out the weather is going to get hot and miserable, the tracks are going to get hot and fast! And, the next national is at my favorite track, Southern Pitt! I can't wait!