ProAutosports West Track Sep 25-27 2009

SODI 1ST AND 2ND IN 125CC!

25 karters showed up for the first race of the second half of the season. It's a good thing that we skip June, July, and August due to the heat as it was a cool 106F on Sunday. Not what we expected, it was really hot with no wind. Tom brought his SR5BV/TM K9 ICC, Bill Pyles brought his SRBV/Honda CR 125 Moto, and I had my SR4BV/TM K9 ICC. During the first heat race I had a cold stick that saw the rear wheels lock up as I was going into 6th gear just after the pit entrance. This gave Tom the opportunity to practice his engine changing skills while I tended to changing tires for our customers.

The final race was slated for 14 laps due to the hot weather conditions. Tom and I elected to run the race on used tires whereas most of the others drivers had but on new shoes. Tom and Bill were up front at the start. On the second lap Jason Campbell stuck his engine at the end of the back straightaway and proceeded off into the dirt where he watched the remainder of the race. Tom then took the lead and continued to pull out a good lead until  his tires decided they had had enough. Slowly but surely, Bill reeled Tom in and when Tom made a slight driving error, Bill was there to captialize and take the lead. One-Two for SODI!

Tucson Sonoran Desert Kart Association September 19th, 2009

The Sonoran Desert Kart Association held their first race of a four race series on Sept. 19, 2009. The race classes included HPV4, TAG Jr, TAG Senior, TAG Master, Shifter Heavy and Shifter Lite. This race and the follow on race series events was and will be held with karting regulations similar to those used by PKRA. The event was open to all kart racers whether or not they were members of SDKA. The format was an 10 minute qualification session, two 8 lap heat races, and a final 16 lap main race.

Tom entered his Sodi SR5BV/TM K9 in the Shifter Lite category. There were a total of 20 shifter karts that took to the track for the first of two 8 lap heat races races. That is the most number of shifter karts that we seen on an Arizona Sprint track  in a very long time. Nick Firestone, Arie Luyendyk Jr, Nicky Freytag and Curtis Ruth were among the fastest all day. Tom fought carburetion issues early in practice and with worn tires could only hope to post a descent time for qualifying. Qualifying lasted ten min and Tom went out on fresh tires and tuned the motor right, and he was able to post the 4th fastest time of the night which landed him on the second row behind Nick Firestone. There were to be 2 8 lap heat races and a 16 lap main. The start of the first heat saw all 20 shifter karts take to the grid. I think everybody held their breath as the karts bolted from the standing start into the first turn. Everyone made it through safely. Aire Luyendyk was supposed to be on the pole but had to change tires and was sent to the back of the field for the start. Although he started from the very back of the pack, by the first turn he was already in 4th spot. Tom had an ok start with Arie and Curtis passing him. The 6 o'clock sun was blinding and Tom's nerves were out of control, plus cold tires saw him unnaturally slide off the track on the second lap! Not good, now he has to start from the back for the second heat. For the second heat race Tom launched off the start very well and was quickly fighting for 5th position along side another Sodi driver named Tyler Kingston, Tom's Tm K9 had a bit more power than Tylers moto and he was able to get passed him at the end of the straight. Once passed Tyler, he set his eyes on Curtis who at that point had taken off with the other 3 front runners. Fifth was all he could do before the fast 8 laps were over. The kart was working incredibly well and the brakes were very strong, Tom mentioned a lack of power out of the motor that felt unusual. The main 14 lap race was up and Tom started in 5th position and was hoping to finish 4th, the top three were just too fast to catch at this point. Tom had a great start again and was right behind Curtis Ruth fighting for 4th position. What Tom had not anticipated was the physical demands that are required for sprint track racing as opposed to road course racing and by the 8th lap his strength was fading. He was able to remain consistent in his lap times but he was unable to push it enough to catch Curtis and ultimately finished in 5th position. Good enough finish for not having raced that circuit in three years. During post race analysis of the chassis and motor, Tom found why he was low on power, a pencil eraser sized hole was found on the top carbon reed. This caused lots of blow by and starved the motor of fuel, but the engine never expired!.........

 This series will be a points event with trophies presented at the end of the season. The following is the final results for the Shifter Class

Preston Newberry and Andrick Zeen from Gphactory (Sodikart West Distributors) came to visit the track and brought two new Sodikart Chassis for display.

The Sonoran Desert Kart Association should be complemented on how well they organized and ran the event. A highlight of these events is an "all you can eat" BBQ buffet that is simply outstanding. The follow on races are scheduled as follows:

         Oct. 18, 2009 - Sunday
         Nov. 14, 2009 – TBD (NASCAR Weekend)
         Dec. 13, 2009 - Sunday

Sandia ProAutosports  Aug 14-16, 2009

Well, after two months of not racing, we were back at Sandia New Mexico for the 8^th Annual Southwest Motorsports Deutschmarque Classic Races. June wasn’t so bad but July brought in some really hot and humid conditions to the valley. Tom and I drove to Sandia on Thursday morning and arrived at the track around 3:00pm. We set up our RV spot, got organized, and had dinner when in came the rain. One thing for sure, it was nice and cool. The rain continued until noon time Friday. Tom was getting ready to hit the track with a chassis setup for rain conditions when the announcer advised that the track would be open at 2:00pm instead of the scheduled 1:00pm and that it was highly probable that the track would be dry by then. Sure enough it was and we went back to the dry setup.

The drivers turnout was rather low but was expected as I am sure that those who wanted to race at Miller Motorsports and those who have been feeling the financial struggles of a down economy elected to skip this event. However, Dave Fultz came from Las Vegas and Shawn Kozlowicz, Tim Haskin and Murry Terry came from Tucson. Fridays practice saw Jason, William, and Dave turning in very fast laps in their 250’s. Tom and Carlos were next in the 125 shifters and of course Shawn was once again King of the TAG’s. I had a problem with my 125cc TM TAG Shifter engine and Tom and I were up until 11:30pm replacing it with a regular TM K9 engine. 

Saturday was scheduled to have 3 Practice/Qualification sessions and one ProAutosports Points Race although the SWMS Schedule showed one practice session, one qualification session, one Trophy Race and one Sprint Race (ProAutosports Points Race) .  

After the second session, we were advised that the third session would be an actual Trophy race in which the Sandia folks would be giving away Trophies and the fourth session would be our ProAutoSports Points race. Since I had not had my transponder working the first two sessions, I was hoping to use the third session to get a good lap time for the final race. Due to the change in schedule I was to start at the rear of the pack. The grid area for the Trophy Race was quite confusing as we had to wait a little longer than expected for the previous cars to exit the track and when we all left everyone was pretty much strung out trying to catch up with the leaders. No one was close to being together and I was one who thought that we would certainly take another lap to get better organized. However, as we exited the oval on the start finish line we all saw a green flag wave and wondered what do you do? Well, you go! Not exactly a fair start but everyone raced and afterwards everyone took it in stride. William won the 250 class, Tom won the overall and 125 shifter class and Shawn won the TAG class. Since this race was to position everyone for the final points race and the fact that Tom won the race, he was asked if he thought that the starting grid should be based on the finishing order for that race or if it should based on the times of the race and count it as a third Practice Qualification race for the ProAutosports drivers. His response was that it should be based on times as that the race began on a questionable start.

The final race of the day was the first race for ProAutosports points.  William won the 250 class by passing Jason on the last lap, Tom won the 125 shifter class and Shawn won the TAG class.

The evening dinner was sponsored by the Sandia SWMS Group and you had all the beef, chicken, briskets, cold slaw, and dessert that you could eat. It was really a great atmosphere where you were able to meet new folks from the Albuquerque area. As it turned out Tom got a first place Trophy and I ended up with a second place Trophy. 

Sunday saw William and Dave pack up their 250’s and say goodbye to Sandia. Before Benn left it was decided that the format of the day would be two Practice/Qualification runs, a ProAutosports Points race followed by a final race while the SWMS Schedule called for a Qualification session, one Race, one Points race, and an Iron Butt Race to close out the day. It is interesting to note that all of the afternoon final races for all classes of cars and karts would be run on the same track as the karts.  

The points race was better coordinated than Saturdays and everyone was led around the track by Jason Cambell in a very orderly fashion. When the green flag dropped it was a mad rush to turn one. As we crested the hump at the end of the oval, Carlos’s engine seized locking the rear tires and sending him into a position where all of us were looking directly into his eyes. Some very good evasive action on the part of all drivers resulted in everyone missing his kart and getting around him safely. Jason went on to win the 250 class, Tom won the 125 shifter class and Shawn won the Tag class.

It seems that everyone had decided that they preferred to back up and leave early for home instead of racing in the Iron Butt Race. AS it turns out, so did all of the cars!

WKA Zoom Zoom Nationals Road America • Elkhart Lake, Wis. July 10 – 12, 2009
 

This isn't exactly local news but it is about our local club member Bill Byles who took his Sodi SRBV/CR 125 Moto back to Road America for the big WKA Road Racing event on the big track at Elkhart Lake. Bill entered the 125 Shifter 1 race and took first place and finished second in the Shifter two race. He was the fastest kart in both races. CONGRATULATIONS BILL!

  If you are interested in what the track looks like from a drivers perspective you can tak a look at this U Tube video.

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/USSK-250-Super-Kart-race_121373.htm
 

ProAutosports Main Track May 10, 2009

First of all, lets thank all of those Moms who let us go racing on Mothers Day!! It was a clear sunny day with temperatures in the sunburn range. Ken, Bill, and Tom represented the local Sodi Team. Bill, in his second race with the new Sodi chassis, was ready with his SRBV Honda CR125 Moto, Tom had his SR5BV TM125, and Ken had his SR4BV TM ES125.

The entrees were down compared to earlier events this year partly due to it being held on Mothers Day. Seventeen drivers made the first practice session with two Superkarts, twelve shifter karts, and three TAG karts.

The two practice sessions saw Tom and Bill within 0.359 seconds of each other as they clocked 69.234 and 69.593 respectively. On the other hand, Ken took a couple of hairy rides in both sessions as a cold stick resulted in a 180 at the end of the straight during the first session and a hot stick resulted in another 180 in the infield as a result of both water pump pulley belts deciding to leave the rear axle. Some days just are not meant to be. As a result, Ken decided to call it a day and join the Pit Crew for the afternoon race.

Bill was experiencing a lack of HP from his Honda and Tom was not able to reach max rpm with his TM. The qualification session saw improvements in both Bill and Toms lap times as they ran 68.109 and 69.139 respectively. The grid was set with Dave Fultz and William Herr on the front row making up the Superkart entries. Next in line for the 125cc shifters were William Pheifer, and Bryce Hatfield. Tom was 5th on the grid and Bill was in the 8th position. Fifteen karts took to the grid as 5 were in the DNS category.

The Main event saw the pack race down to turn 1 in a close group and all made it through the first lap without any incident. In the 125 shifter class, William Pheifer had gained the lead with Bryce right behind. Bill had taken over 3rd place with Tom right behind in 4th. For several laps Tom and Bill exchanged places as they improved their lap times to 67.195 and 67.438 respectively. Then all of a sudden, Tom lost his water pump belts and had to come into the pits. Fortunately, the belts were still wrapped around the axle so he quickly got them back on, got a push from Brad Peterson and got back on the track. He nursed the kart around the track the rest of the way in order to cross the finish line in ninth position where he immediately stopped and got a ride from big white pickup. As usual, Bryce added the customary excitement to the event as he he was able to overtake William on the last corner to take the 125 Shifter class win. William Herr took the overall win and Shawn Kozlowicz took the TAG win.

The Sodi Team is now in second and third place with Tom leading Bill by one point.

And the Winner of the 125cc Shifter Class is

BRYCE HATFIELD

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