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MWSS News
MWSS Event #1 Wrap Up
Event #1
MyChron Grand Prix of South Bend
"To rain or not to rain", set the tone of the recently held Midwest Sprint Series event at Michiana Raceway Park. This event posed many challenges to both the drivers and their mechanics due to the ever changing weather conditions throughout both days of racing. Just when the driver thought they had they track figured out for the weather conditions, the weather would once again suddenly change. The rapidly changing weather conditions kept drivers, mechanics, and officials alike on their toes all weekend. For some drivers, these conditions pushed them well beyond their comfort zone. For other drivers, these conditions were another opportunity to showcase their driving talents.
This weekend's MWSS event was combined with the previously scheduled MRP Club event. Many thanks go out to the MRP staff, especially Garry Lobaugh and Chuck Yoder, who were integral in making this event a resounding success.
MRP provided us with a top notch racing facility as always and they were able to deal with the issues the rain caused to the track conditions. The addition of a large screen scoring monitor in the lower portion of the scoring tower where they displayed live timing and scoring was a nice touch. As well, they added cut off lanes to the grid to allow late karts the ability to still line up in their appropriate spots.
MWSS has initiated several improvements for 2010 as well. The Kid Kart class format now mirrors the other classes, which includes practice, qualifying, a pre-final race, and a feature race all in pursuit of a class championship. MWSS also added a Kid Kart, Junior, and Sportsman award ceremony at the conclusion of each race day. Many thanks to Frank Haese for constructing a podium and donating it the series.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Though it wasn't raining, the morning practice was run on wet setup. With the exception of the Rotax classes that follow a different series rules that allow the driver's the choice of either rain or wet tires. When it came time to qualify, the track was still wet and the initial qualifying sessions were also run on wet setup. The Jr. & Sr. Rotax classes were run during the wet setup period. Both rain and slick tires were used for qualifying, but the rain tires were the pole winners in both classes.
Even with having to deal with the additional classes and weather conditions, the racing concluded for the day around 4:30pm. I would imagine there were a lot of tired drivers and mechanics who had their hands full all day. The talk around the pits that evening was once again centered around Sunday's weather conditions. The consensus around the pits was the strong likelihood that we would be dealing with more rainy weather conditions on Sunday. With the odd driver calling it quits for the weekend, the bulk of the racers were getting ready to battle it out in another day of rainy track conditions. Some drivers were hoping for rain, while others would have loved to see the sun.
Komet Jr Heavy sponsored by Adkins Speed Center
FT Shawn Sharkey - 50.661
Pre-Final: Shawn Sharkey took ownership of the Pre-Final race right from the start to the finish. The only real battles took place mid pack as Jake Cole took 2nd followed by Jeffrey Bartz. Garrett Johnston held best lap with a time of 45.074 on dry track conditions.
Feature: At the conclusion of the Feature, Shawn Sharkey showed his talents in both the wet and dry conditions as the Feature was once again in wet conditions. He lead every lap in both races, took fast time in the feature (51.909) and finished 5.372 seconds ahead of 2nd place, Jake Cole who finished 14.399 seconds in front of 3rd place, Joel Jens. Corner 11 bit a few drivers causing both Olivia Beam (lap 3) and Sawyer Haese (lap 6) to retire from the race. Dominique Van Wieringen retired on lap 2 after spinning in turn 1 and Cody Powers raced ended on lap 7 with mechanical issues.
Rotax Jr & Rotax Senior
FT (Sr) Shinya Michimi - 52.492 (Jr) Armin Cavkusic – 50.068
Pre-Final: The Rotax Heat Race was run under dry conditions resulting in Josh Menting having fast time (43.606) and finishing in 1st place in the Senior class. Pole sitter Armin Cavkusic was unable to pull off the win and finished in 3rd place behind 1st place, Keith Harris and Scott Kopp finishing in the 2nd spot.
Feature: The Feature was blessed again with rain which didn’t change the outcome of the Senior results from the Heat race resulting in the win for Josh Menting and pole sitter Shinya Michimi finishing 18.933 seconds behind the leader in 2nd place.
The rain appeared to have had an effect on the results of the Junior’s Feature allowing William Woodard to grab the win, followed by the heat race winner, Keith Harris finishing second and pole sitter Armin Cavkusic coming in 3rd place.
Komet Sportsman Light sponsored by Nucore Technologies
FT Tristan Van Wieringen - 52.485
Pre-Final: Very little action took place in the dry heat race. One of the 3 Canadian drivers racing this weekend, Tristan Van Wieringen both came in 1st and took fast time. Following in 2nd place was Mike McAndrews.
Feature: When it came time for the Feature they were back to rain set up as the rain began to fall. Anthony Granata who started 3rd took over the lead on lap 3. He never looked back taking the feature win followed by Mike McAndrews and pole sitter, Tristan Van Wieringen finishing in 3rd place.
Komet Lite sponsored by David Hobbs Honda & Yamaha Pipe sponsored by Streeter Superstands
FT Komet Light: Nick Stagl 46.306 Yamaha Pipe: Matthew Laukaitis: 47.448
Pre-Final: Nick Stagl lead the heat race from start to finish as well as holding the fast time of 44.625 under dry track conditions. Adam Crepin finished in the top position in the Pipe class. Shinya Michimi and Scott Kopp made contact with Shinya Michimi retiring on the 7th lap with a broken pipe.
Feature: The feature wasn’t so kind to Nick Stagl as he appeared to run into problems from the get go. Finally on the 6th lap he pulled in and retired from the event. Andrew Hobbs cruised to a rain soaked victory in Komet Lite followed by Patrick Olsen and Shinya Michimi. Matt Laukaitis led Crepin to the Pipe victory while Mike Nesbitt had his engine grenade on the front straight.
Yamaha Jr Heavy sponsored by CKT Racing Engines
FT Dominique Van Wieringen – 46.797
Pre-Final: Another Canadian pole sitter, Dominique Van Wieringen managed to hold the lead in the heat race until the 4th lap when Shawn Sharkey and Jake Cole both managed to get by her. Then on lap 5, Jake Cole spins and looses a chain allowing Dominique to move into 2nd place. On the last lap, Olivia Beam sneaks by Dominique putting her into the 2nd position and Dominique down to 3rd with Shawn Sharkey winning his 2nd heat race of the day.
Feature: When the feature came around the rain was steady making the track more challenging for our drivers. Off the start Dominique Van Wieringen managed to push Shawn Sharkey out into the lead. Shawn then went wide in the next corner allowing Dominique to assume the lead. For the next couple of laps Shawn had his sights set on the leader, but was quickly stopped on lap 3 when his chain decided break. This moved Kyle Kalish into the 2nd position until lap 6 when Jake Cole, starting at the rear of the field, took over the 2nd place position. At first it appeared as though Jake was going to work away at the gap he had between himself and Dominique. After a couple of laps it became apparent that she decided to pick up the pace increasing her lead with every lap. At the end of the 12 laps Dominique showed the boys who the boss was that race by dominating the race with an entire straight away gap between her and 2nd place Jake Cole (7.829 seconds) and a 17.309 gap between 3rd place Kyle Kalish.
Yamaha Sportsman Heavy sponsored by Best Western Stanton Inn
FT Grant Quinlan – 48.784
Pre-Final: Our 3rd Canadian of the day, Grant Quinlan had no trouble keeping his kart out front for the entire heat race. David Malukas went flying off the track on the 2nd lap in turn 1 ending his heat race in the bags. The officials must have clearly thought that Alex Keyes contributed to David’s spin as the following lap Alex was shown the waving black flag and was pulled off the track for unsafe driving. Grant Quinlan was the 1st to see the checker flag followed by Grant Sandberg and Anthony Granata.
Feature: The rain in the feature race helped contribute to 4 racers not finishing the race. Once again, Grant Quinlan led every lap, had fast time, and won the feature. Grant Sandberg came in 2nd place and Anthony Granata followed in 3rd place.
Yamaha Rookie sponsored by DuroByte
FT Justin Wisnatski – 52.525
Pre-Final: The Rookie class started out their heat race on a dry track, but on lap 2 the red flag was thrown for light rain. The rain was short and light and they were restarted back on dry setup. Tommy Burke led the field to the checker followed by Grant Griesbach.
Feature: The feature event once again showed a change in the finishing order as the rain continued in the feature races. The leaders Grant Griesbach and Tommy Burke get together on lap 6 putting them to the rear of the field. This allowed Riley Yates to finish in 1st with Justin Wisnatski in 2nd, and Grant Griesbach finishing in 3rd.
Tag sponsored by Mac Paving
FT Adam Crepin – 44.235
Pre-Final: It became obvious as soon as the green flag was waved that rain had returned as a few karts spun off turn 1. By the 2nd lap more karts started to spin off and you could see the rain starting to come down. The red flag was thrown and wet setup and a complete restart was announced. At the end of the feature only half of the 8 drivers were classified as there was 1 DNS, 2 DNF, and 1 DQ (lite on scales) as Matt Stagl finished in 1st with Adam Crepin in 2nd. From that point on in the weekend that was the end of any dry track racing.
Feature: Once the feature race started our heat race winner, Matt Stagl started to appear to have issues that continued on throughout the race leaving him the last kart on the track to finish the race. Tommy Andersen, who didn’t even race the heat race pulled off the win with a 9.673 lead over 2nd place Andrew Hobbs.
Komet Sportsman Heavy sponsored by EVS Sportswear
FT Tristan Van Wieringen – 49.004
Pre-Final: Tristan Van Wieringen lead the field from start to finish of the heat race, while also getting fast lap of the race. Following in 2nd place was Robert Murray with Brandon Lemke finishing in 3rd place.
Feature: When it came time for the feature event Tristan Van Wieringen seemed to be having troubles. On lap 8 Brandon Lemke pulled out and passed Tristan and checked out as he won the feature with a 13.351 margin. That left Tristan in 2nd place and Robert Murray finishing in the 3rd position.
Kid Karts sponsored by Franklinkart.com
FT Luke Fineis – 57.573
Pre-Final: These little tykes were treated like real racers as they were able to go out in the rain and learn the racing techniques of racing in the rain. The field went out in the heat race and maintained all their positions throughout the race. This resulted in Luke Fineis coming across the line in 1st place, Zach Preiser finishing in 2nd place, and Mark Fineis taking the 3rd place finish.
Feature: Once again these little racers put on a great show and did a great job keeping their karts on the track in the wet track conditions. Starting from the rear of the field, Mark Fineis moved all the way up to the 2nd spot by the completion of the 1st lap. Then on the 7th lap, Zach Preiser moved his way into 2nd and then on the last lap, Jayden Larson got by Mark as he pulled off the track with Mechanical issues. Luke Fineis was able to check out winning the feature with a 7.180 second lead over 2nd place, Zach Preiser and 3rd place, Jayden Larson.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
After heavy down pours of rain on Saturday night, Sunday started out with a beautiful blue sky with the sun shining brightly. All just a little game that Mother Nature was playing that day as soon enough the rain would start again. Similar to Saturday, practice began with wet setup only because of the wet track and cooler conditions
We almost made it through practice, but while the Kid Karts were completing their morning practice it started to pour. From that point on in the program until it's conclusion, all qualifying and racing was run on wet setup.
The area between turns 2 & 3 was referred to that day as the “Water Crossing” as this area, as well as turn 6, had the most problems with standing water. During the Rotax Senior & Masters class heat race the rain had been coming down hard and was starting to make driving more difficult. By the time the Rotax Mini-Max class was up and running the corner of turn 6 was flooded on the inside, often making the karts come to a stop when they hit the water. This area of water was avoidable, but the area between turns 2 & 3 was unavoidable and had become a serious problem. The tiling in that section had become blocked and when the karts went through it the water would shoot up 6-8 feet, making it very difficult for drivers to see or get their karts through. At the completion of that heat race they took a break and fixed the drainage problem so we could resume racing.
One of the biggest challenges for both drivers and mechanics was the ever changing weather conditions. The weather would fluctuate between no rain, list mist, mist, light rain, steady rain, and heavy rain. Due to the weather conditions the feature races were reduced from 12 laps to 10 laps. At the end of the day many drivers and mechanics had gained more knowledge and experience in dealing with rainy conditions.
Yamaha Sportsman Lite sponsored by Laukaitis Racing & MRP Yamaha Sportsman
FT (MWSS) Grant Quinlan - 57.144 (MRP) Alex Keyes - 57.535
Pre-Final: The heat race started with a bang with karts spinning in the 1st turn. Throughout the race may karts were having problems keeping the kart on the track causing driver's to retire early or drop back in the running order. The pole sitter for the MRP class Alex Keyes retired on lap 6 after having contact with another kart. The pole sitter for the MWSS, Grant Quinlan had no problems holding his 1st place position for the entire race taking the pre-final win. With Alex off the track, Grant Sandberg was able to finish in 2nd and Tristan Van Wieringen came from starting 11th to finish 3rd.
Feature: Both Grant Quinlan and Grant Sandberg were able to maintain their positions throughout the feature resulting in a 1st for Quinlan and a 2nd for Sandberg. Tristan Van Wieringen looked like he was having a tough time which allowed Mike McAndrews to quickly get by and finish in the 3rd position.
Komet Heavy sponsored by Viking Kart Parts & Yamaha Supercan sponsored by Comet Kart Sales
Qualifying: (Komet Heavy) Patrick Olsen 52.576
Qualifying: (Yamaha Supercan) Matt Laukaitis 54.886
Pre-Final: Nick Stagl led the Komet class from the start, with Patrick Olsen getting dropped back on the start. Kyle Gluth and Andrew Hobbs rounded out the top 3. Matt Laukaitis continued on and picked up the win in Supercan.
Feature: Nick Stagl led wire to wire in Komet, Gluth remained 2nd and Olsen crept back into 3rd by the final lap. Matt Laukaitis continued his domination of the Supercan class by winning over Shinya Michimi and Adam Crepin.
Yamaha Rookie sponsored by Durobyte
(Rookie) Grant Griesbach - 58.862
Pre-Final: With only 1 Rotax Mico-Max in the field, David Malukas finished in the 1st position in his class as well as the race. Grant Griesbach held the lead in the Rookie class for the 1st 3 laps, but spins on lap 5 allowing Nicholas Granata to assume the 1st position for the balance of the race. Then on lap 7 Grant spins again letting Riley Yates to take over the 3rd position and maintained this position for the balance of the race as Grant finishes in 2nd place.
Feature: Wet and slick track conditions caused many changes in position throughout this race. Nicholas Granata held his lead position in the Rookie class until lap 9 when he spins and hands the lead over to Riley Yates. Riley is able to hold his position until the last lap when he spins in turn 1 and hands back the lead to Nicholas who goes on to win his 1st feature event since moving up this year from the Kid Kart class. This also allowed Grant Griesbach to finish the race in 2nd place with Riley coming in 3rd place.
Yamaha Junior Lite sponsored by Switch Racing Engines
FT Jake Cole - 53.028
Pre-Final: After ripping off a great fast lap in qualifying, Jake Cole held off Shawn Sharkey for the 1st four laps until Shawn passed Jake on lap 5 which resulted in Shawn taking the win and Jake finishing 2nd. The balance of the field had positions flip flopping around with the exception of Joel Jens who maintained his 3rd place position from the green flag to the checker flag.
Feature: It didn’t take long for this Junior class to create some excitement. Once the green flag was waved, karts started spining in the 1st turn. With Joel Jens starting in the 3rd position on the inside behind Shawn Sharkey, he decided to make the 1st turn a 3 wide battle when he snuck under Shawn pushing him up the course and into Jake Cole. This resulted in both Shawn and Jake spinning off the track and Joel assuming the lead.
Both Shawn and Jake managed to finally get going, dropping Shawn back to the 9th position and Jake into the last position. Then on the 2nd lap Jake's race ended with mechanical issues from the 1st turn spin. Olivia Beam moved into the 2nd position and Jordan Laukitis moved into 3rd after the 1st turn incident. They both held those positions until the 4th lap when Dominique Van Wieringen was also able to pass Jordan for 3rd.
The following lap Dominique passed Olivia taking over the 2nd position. She then set her sights on Joel who at that point had a comfortable lead on Dominique. As each lap ticked off, she continued to make up ground on Joel and by the 2nd last lap she finally had him on her radar. On lap 9 she was close, but just couldn’t make the pass happen.
As the last lap began the heat was on Joel as Dominique was now on his bumper, but she was running out of time. As they approached turn 7 it looked as though she was going to make the pass, but as they exited turn 7 Joel came upon a lapped kart who didn't appear to have noticed the leaders and wasn't getting out of the way quick enough. Joel wasted no time in tapping this kart out of the way as he knew Dominique was right on his rear bumper. With the lapped kart and only a few turns left Dominique was running out of options. As they both crossed the finish line side by side, Joel was able to hold off Dominique by a mere 0.065 seconds to give Joel the win and Dominique 2nd. A few seconds later, Olivia crossed the finish line in 3rd place.
Komet Junior Lite sponsored by Benefits, Inc.
FT Jeffrey Bartz - 52.509
Pre-Final: Jeffrey Bartz leads the field to the green flag for the 1st time in a regional event. Dominique Van Wieringen takes advantage of his rookie start and jumps ahead into the lead after the 1st turn. On the 2nd lap Joel Jens also passes Jeffrey. As the laps tick by, Shawn Sharkey is quickly picking his way up the field after having to start at the back of the field after not having his transponder for qualifying. Joel makes his move into the lead and passes Dominique for the lead on lap 5. Then on lap 6, Shawn moves into 2nd after passing Dominique. With 2 laps to go, Jeffrey makes the final pass on Dominique putting him into the 3rd position for the finish. Shawn runs out of time and has to settle for 2nd place as Joel holds on to the lead for the win.
Feature: Shawn Sharkey wastes no time getting by Joel Jens and takes over the lead on the 1st lap as does Dominique Van Wieringen as she also gets by Jeffrey Bartz on the 1st lap. The battle with Dominique and Jeffrey continues on the next lap, but this time Jeffrey gets around Dominique. On the 4th lap they swap positions again as Dominique gets the 3rd position back and is able to hold off Jeffrey until the checker. Shawn was clearly in a class of his own on Sunday as he made the feature win look easy with a 6.065 second lead over 2nd place Joel as Dominique follows him in with 3rd.
Kid Karts sponsored by Franklinkart.com
FT Zach Preiser 1:04.878
Heat Race: Once again, the 8 Kid Karts did an exceptional job of dealing with all the different weather conditions and track conditions that day. Zach Preiser lead the field off the start, but Luke Fineis was having no part of that and got by Zach in the 1st lap taking over the lead. Starting 3rd with Luke's brother Mark who held his 3rd spot until the finish, leaving Luke with the win and Zach finishing 2nd.
Feature: Luke Fineis leads the field to the green and never looks back. Meanwhile, Zach Preiser and Mark Fineis battle throughout the race swapping spots in lap 4 as Mark gets by Zach. Zach doesn't enjoy the 3rd spot and gets by Mark and takes over the 2nd spot. When the checker finally waves, Luke takes home the "w" with a huge lead of 14.113 seconds over Zach in 2nd place, followed a few seconds later by Mark.
At the conclusion of the event is apparent that the lower entry levels were due largely to the rainy weather conditions that the MRP track experienced that weekend. As the prior weekend hosted another regional event people opted out of having to deal with the rain. There were numerous drivers that took on the challenge and attended both, while others hit the MRP track for the 1st time this year in rainy wet conditions. Friday's practice was blue sky allowing practice with both conditions.
They say a great driver is one that can make the most out of a bad day. On many occasions these bad days can be contributed to rainy, slick, and challenging track conditions. This regional race was intentionally scheduled the week prior to the Manufacturer's Cup National event in order to provide real race practice in preparation of the following week's race. Unless you have a crystal ball, who knows what the weather will be.
Now that the weekend's racing is complete we can go back to the original question of, "To rain or not to rain?" Throughout the weekend it looked as those some drivers and mechanics just figured it out, while others really struggled. There are many talents drivers can have that will benefit them in most racing situations, while other talents are a speciality that pull out when necessary. Talking with driver's after the races on Sunday you heard more drivers routing for rain next weekend as they felt this could give them a distinct advantage over those who didn't have the rain talents and/or would not ready for rain conditions. While others would almost turn white at the thought of another weekend of racing in the rain. So for all you drivers here this weekend, "To rain or not to rain?"
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