CalSpeed Karting held Round 2 of their new Super Series this past weekend on the 21st. As with the first round, it turned out to be an all day affair, with the Sprint GP (with 36 drivers) in the morning, and the Ironman Enduro (with 20 drivers) in the afternoon. With four bad karts out of the six karts I had all day, getting spun out in one of the heat races, and getting underpowered karts, I had a field day trying to get a decent finish.

CalSpeed decided to run the Grande course (which is about 3/4 of a mile in length) that day and like everywhere else that day, it was HOTTER than hell…great for traction, but not so much for a 55-minute enduro in the afternoon. The common weight for the day was 190lbs so I had to carry extra ballast every time I went out.

The first session was qualifying in which I ended up with kart #8. The track and the karts themselves were still cold in the morning, so the fastest I could do with cold tires was 1:08.454s. That’s about 2 seconds off the fastest time for the first qualifying session. My kart kept sliding and I couldn’t get a good rhythm while learning the new layout.

My next session was the first heat race for my group. I had kart #7 this time around, and I had no issues at all. The kart handled well, and had great power to balance it off. I started 13th/16th, and finished 8th of 16th. The best lap I could manage was a 1:06:748s.

The next session was the second heat race for my group, where they ran an inverted grid. Some of you may be wondering what an inverted grid is. In that case, an inverted grid is basically where the fastest guys go to the rear of the group, and the slowest go to the front (and the middle guys stay in about the same place). This makes it a challenge for the fast guys to get around everyone to get a decent finish. I had kart #5 this time around, and it was notorious for being one of the problematic karts in the past. I was hoping it would be fixed by this race, but I guess I was wrong. The kart had no power, so people would fly right by me like I was a sitting duck!

I started the second heat race 4th/16th, and I knew I was in trouble when I immediately got passed on the start. Now I would blame it on my launch if I could, but when you have 2-3 people pass you before the first corner, you know you’re in a dud. I somehow manage to move up to 3rd in the first lap but I could see and feel everyone behind me catching up quickly. By about the 4th lap, I started falling behind and ended up in 6th. However, at the Scandi corner on the 5th lap, I got hit from behind and ended up doing a 180 off the line resulting with me facing traffic. I couldn’t rejoin the race line simply because I would have caused a major wreck, with the huge train chasing me. I couldn’t tell who hit me, but I was fuming! I threw my arms up in the air and cursed in my helmet while everyone else just passed on by.

I fell back to last place (16th) and by the time I rejoined the race line, the leaders were beginning to create a huge gap. I put my head down and drove as hard as I could to catch up, but with only 10 laps for the heat races, I knew that my chances of getting a top 10 finish in this heat were slim. The best I could do was 15th/16th with a best lap time of 1:07.327s. A very disappointing finish indeed.

By noon time, all the heat races had wrapped up and it was time for the main races to start. B-Main (my group) was first to start, with the winner of the B-Main race starting in last place in the A-Main to follow immediately.

I had kart #6 for the main and I was SOL (Sh*t Outta Luck) again. Kart #6 was another notorious kart that was unpredictable. I had no power, and got passed several times before another disappointing finish. I started the race 10th/16th and even managed to move up to 9th early in the race, but with the lack of power in kart #6, I just couldn’t hold the faster guys at bay. I fell to 13th by the 14th lap (main races are 15 laps), and just couldn’t do anything else. Best lap of the session was a 1:07.716s.

Poor performing karts and getting spun out in a heat race, did not help my chances of scoring some needed points for the Sprint GP and the Super Series Championship. I hope they fix some of the underpowered karts before the next race so that some can actually put up a fight.

Despite all of this, the Ironman Enduro helped me rack in some points I badly needed. CalSpeed decided to run a 5-Minute qualifying session and a 55-minute enduro this time around. I’m not sure if that was very wise, since some of the guys that raced the Sprint GP earlier in the day, were already exhausted (Ok, maybe it was just me being a baby).

But let me tell you, racing close to an hour long, under triple digit heat is just BRUTAL! Especially when your suit has no vents whatsoever. Luckily, with my past enduro experience, I hoped I could manage (somehow). I poured all cold water from the melted ice in my cooler, into my helmet and inside my suit, and jumped into kart #2 for qualifying (thankfully I had Walmart “Under Armor” to also help keep me cool).

Kart #2. Wow. Maybe it was the heat, but WOW! What a dud this one was! I found out later that everyone knew this kart had nothing to fight with. I had no power so the fastest I ran was a 1:08.204s during the 5 minute qualifying, “fast enough” to qualify 18th out of 20th. Horrendous, considering the fastest qualifying lap was a 1:05.800, set by Sam Brumley! Unfortunately for Sam, he ended up with kart #2 in the actual race, and managed a respectable 11th with a poor performing kart.

I, however, was lucky enough to get kart #12. I thought this was a great kart, before finding out it had a sticky throttle issue, coming out of a few corners. I had to “double-tap” the accelerator pedal a few times to get the right drive out of the apex. This was very annoying. I was also playing with a new seat position with the kart, since it was a 55-minute enduro under triple-digit heat after-all. I found that moving the seat further back and dropping the pedals towards me helped in the overall comfort for the lengthy enduro.

With one mandatory pit stop during the race, I had to plan accordingly. There were talks of guys pitting in when the leaders pulled in. Why? I had no idea. I decided to wait a few laps after the leaders (and the rest of the guys) had pulled in to pit, to make sure there was no traffic when I came in.

In the end, it paid off. I managed to move up several spots and had some  interesting company behind me during the second half of the enduro. I finished 12th out of 20th in kart #12 which was enough to land me in the current top 10 standings for the Ironman for now.

All in all, I had a great time and the CalSpeed crew really know how to run a great race. Congratulations to all the podium finishers, especially to Sam Brumley who finished 3rd in the Sprint GP and Patrick Britain who won both the Sprint GP and the Ironman Enduro races.

Our next league race is on Sat. Sept 04, 2010, come out and support RLB!