TaGUSA World Finals New Castle, Indiana October 5th-8th

By: White Motorsports Racing

(October 12th, 2006) -- Thursday 10/5 - Pre-Event Practice

We arrive at the track around 9 am. It’s cold, drizzling, and did I mention cold? Regardless I get to work on out kart making final preparations. Just before I suit up to hit the track a man walks up to me and asks "Are you looking for some tires and magazines?" as it turns out to be none other than the famous Rick Crist from Ekartingnews.com fourms. What he is referring to is a set of slightly used Bridgestone YHC practice tires he has brought along for us to use for practice. The magazines are some older FLOUT OUT magazines I had asked him to bring along.

For the first session I took time to learn the track and take it very slow, as I am still breaking in the engine from it's fresh rebuild and inspection from Jim Stroud of MiSi. The second session I take it a little faster but still I do not allow myself to go flat out. I am still trying to get the ring to seal on the new piston. Third session I had got the engine up to temperature of about 120*F and was cruising along around 15,000 rpms when the engine stuck! Man was I ever mad. I was mad at the engine, my dad, and most of all myself for sticking it. It is my job as the driver to tune the carb right and as anyone could see I didn’t do a very good job of it. As soon as we got back to the pits, we went to tearing down the engine. Sure enough, I stuck the crap out of it.

My mom was in town with the car getting the groceries for the weekend, and we needed to get to Comet Kart Sales to hone the cylinder and get a new piston. But without the car we weren’t getting anywhere anytime soon. So, since Rick was about to leave for the day, it looked like the tuning help we was giving us was over without a engine, he offered my dad a ride in to Greenfield. As they were in Greenfield I mounted up the tires Rick had brought us to use. After they got back, Jim Stroud installed the piston and did a quick on-the-stand break in. As quick as I could, I got dressed to get back on track as the sun was setting rather quickly. With the sun blinding me as I went up the long 1000 foot straight at NCMP, I finally got the motor broke in. All thanks to Rick Crist, Jim Stroud, CKS, and my dad. Thanks guys.

Friday 10/6 - Practice Day

We woke up to find it cold once again. This time it wasn’t overcast, which you could call a little better. The first practice was wasted because we wanted to get yet another good break in session in on the piston before we pushed it to any kind of RPM. After the session I was informed that it was time to kick it up a notch, so that I did, dropping from 1:10s to 1:08s. Not exactly fast but we were working on it. After practicing my butt off all day we got our new race tires from Grand Products who also sponsor my friend Tyler Thomas on his Top Kart/Comer 60. (www.TylerThomasMotorsports.com)

Saturday 10/7 - Qualifying/Heats

For the first of two practice sessions we put on the new tires. The lap times weren’t better than the day before but the kart had more balance to it. So, now that we knew what the kart would do with the new tires we were ready for one more practice, qualifying, and the heat race at the end of the day.

For the 10 minute qualifying session we were ready to rock and roll. But unfortunately we missed the set-up and we were only able to time in with a 1:07.5 which was good enough for 12th place. Not exactly what we were hoping for, but at least we had the heat to make up some positions. Josef Newgarden had the pole time with a blistering 1:04.9. It was oblivious to everyone from the get-go that Newgarden would be the guy to beat as he was defending his 2005 championship.

In the heat the only word I could think of was TIGHT! The chassis was so bound up that he motor would bog upwards of 1000 rpms less than what we had been in the two hairpins. It was absolutely the worst kart I had ever driven. Regardless some karts dropped out and we passed a few to only be re-passed later in the race. We wound up 9th, some 24 seconds behind Newgarden.

Not the best of days, but sure we learned some stuff about the kart. Yet we were still scratching out heads when we finally made it to sleep.

SUNDAY - Pre-Final/Final

When we awoke Sunday to sunny skies boy was I ever ready to rock and roll. For the pre-final I was starting in the 9th spot, with time to make up on the karts ahead. I was really, really looking forward to this race.

In the opening lap I made it up to 6. I was just starting to settle down going into T13, the second hairpin, when Bill McLaughlin Jr. came hauling past me. I let him go on the inside as he was about to totally blow the corner. And sure enough when he blew it, I drove right back inside of him. The only problem was he didn’t like that so he made contact with my RR tire, thus shifting the axle. When the axle moves there is a good chance that the chain is going to come off and that is exactly what happened. So, for the final I am starting 18th out of 18. SHOTGUN BABY!

What happened next surprised us all. It is something that we have never sceen before and hope to never see again. Someone had placed a pipe bomb on the Flying J property right next door to the track. The local police and a bomb squad were on the scene while the entire NCMP facility was being evacuated. There was probably a 150 car convoy headed down the road away from the track. Luckily the crowd stayed calm and quiet all under the guidance off Terry Riggins the race director.

After the track had residents again and the bomb was gone, the last of the pre-finals were finished and the finals began.

Our pit neighbor Austin Self won cadet 1 in an awesome last lap pass, using a lap kart as a pick. Expert only had 4 karts start the final. Kyle Wiegand took first place in the first of his three classes. Michael Brookes took home the TAG Sr. Heavy world championship. Billy Lewis won Sr. with our friends Shane Walters finishing 11th after being spun off the track and Miles Bland 17th with a broken frame. In the Cadet 2 division my little buddy, Tyler Thomas was making a last lap move to regain the lead when \the leader and him made contact which resulted in a very scary flip, which was he second time on his head in three weeks! Jeremy Remick came from third to first to capture the victory after the crash. A.J. Noud walked away with the 4 stroke victory. Bill Wolters was the fastest "old" guy on the track and walked away with the master's title. Sr. Pro was won by my fellow Briel driver, Conor Daly. Conor is the son of F1 driver Derrick Daly.

Now to the junior final! I would start shot gun on the field after my pre-final incident with  Bill McLaughlin, Jr. The pace laps saw a red flag due to a motor mount clamp being found on the track. After the problem was fixed, my motor was running a little warm, but after running rich all weekend I decided not to play with the carb. Once we got the green there was a pile up in T2 in which I went from 18th to 10th. By lap 8 I was up to 7th position. This is where the race gets interesting. While braking for the T13 hairpin on lap #10 I was slammed from behind by the 6 kart of Zane Heathcott. After spinning about 5 times off in the grass I was able to re-fire my kart. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it back to the racing surface. I was faced with a DNF.

WEEKEND CONCLUSION

So, after a weekend of ups and downs I was exhausted, cold, hungary, sleepy, sore, and my kart was covered in grass, but I still had a smile on my face. I haven’t had such a fun weekend racing karts as I did during that cold one in central Indiana. We broke so many parts that I didn’t list partly because I don’t know where to begin and partly because I have already forgotten half of them. Our website designer Shane Walters surprised me by showing up Saturday morning after a last minute decision not to race his stock car. Then I was pitted by my good friends Myles Bland and Travis Hammond. Tyler Thomas, was directly across the pit lane from me. It was like our own little world in that corner of the pits. I had a blast eating the free sandwich that was sent my way during the drivers meeting. Man! The girls from CKS can cook! Then I also got to meet a bunch of the ekartingnews.com fourm regulars such as Gary Wright of Rapid Racing. Rick Crist. Thanks so much again Rick. Your help and advice was priceless. John Skowron who races up at Badger Kart Club in Badger, Wisconsin. I finally got to meet Shane's little brother Evan who I think is a good driver in Great equipment. (Just kidding Evan) and Christian Vogel who raced me hard and clean all weekend. Then James Harker and Nick Johnson from up in Minnesota. The entire 4-stroke Minnesota gang seems to be a fun group. Wow guys thanks for all the memories and good times. It was AWESOME!

 

White Motorsports Racing would like to thank all their sponsors for their continued support to their team as well as to racing. Those include MiSi Racing Engines, RPMotorsports, Walters Web Design, and Photos ext. We look forward to being able to advertise and give all the recognition we can to our current sponsors in the 2006 racing season.

For more information on the WMR Team please visit www.WhiteMotorsportsRacing.com.