Good Luck! Race Safe

[Mike Jansen]

Chaz,

The corner workers do a great job! I know I reacted a little harshly to a young worker when he asked me to pull my kart into the infield farther (inside of the track not on the outside of the racing line) and I aplogized to him when the wrecker came to collect me. Sometimes we get heated but that is NOT a reason not to go back and say you’re sorry.

As for this weekend, realize one thing (I did from my contact with Rich Vito @ CSC @ IMI last year coming over the hill) contact is just a lottery ticket to have the type accident that Duff was involved in, kartwheels and a junkyard for what’s left of a frame.

However, we can point out drivers with “vapor lock.” Then, get them off the track to make them think of their actions. But if it’s happening in F1 (Rubens overly agressive pass last year that took him out, cant remember which race) and Nascar don’t think it won’t happen here. I am PROUD of the action that Jack Warrington, Rich Vito and Lee Gagna have at times. Does this mean we’re not agressive drivers? Heck no, but it means you get past me or stick a nose up to my sidepod and then i’ll give you the room you need and no more! Am I going to squeeze someone off the track like I’ve seen? No, I’d have to live with myself and couldn’t look in the mirror with that kind of BS.

Again, kids, adults, teens Parents… it’s the first race of the season and things will settle down. Reiterating rules, education and penalties for being stupid will make things settle down (AND IF IF IF YOU ARE GOING TO SAY YOU’RE GOING TO HAND DOWN A PENALTY THEN DAMMIT DO IT. HAVE THE BALLS TO HAND THEM OUT) Want an example? Cold pits is just that. Do it and you’re penalized or DQ’d, period. Fighting in the pits or conduct unbecoming of a driver or crew? Throw their butt out for 6 months or 6 races. :clap:

Concerned about the size of someone? I’ll be more than happy to be the enforcer. I bounced at a bar in college it was fun (and I was bigger) Just enforce what you say, period. Actions speak louder than words. You’ll get the results we all want to see. If someone has to drive home from being 86’d at an event let them think of that on their way home. But always remember rule #1: “you can always tell an idiot, you just cant’ tell them much”. Don’t expect them to understand why you sent them home all they can see is how everyone’s out to get them, it wasn’t their fault, yada yada yada.

Now, GJMS did a great job! Were they perfect? No. But then again who is. Keep up the good work you all involved in SKUSA and CSC. Looking forward to seeing you all at Bandi… With some good hard racing and (hopefully) you’ll seperate the classes with the most entries. They deserve such. Again, if a class has only 2-3 entries this needs to be addressed. Is it a hard decision? Of course! But sticking our head in the sand is not an option. Besides, Ostriches live in Australia not here! 😆

Lastly, weaving and blocking is not a style of driving! Drive your line and you can move once and once only. AJ Noud is a perfect example of this. If any of you missed it, coming down the straight he was mid track to protect and then moved over to the racing line to enter #1 corner. He did it also around the fast left hand sweeper. And AJ won the race in the second best specator class (we all know what class is number one in my unbiased opinion 8) )
That is how a professional driver protects his lead and earns my respect. Weaving is for baskets or drunks, not driving during a race…

Just my 2 sense worth

:soap

[Anonymous]

Thanks Mike for the compliment!

Ya I guess I better start the 20 lap routine.

I do agree that the Masters should have been split out.

I am tired of the Cold Pit rules not being enforced. One 80 cc kart was roaring around and should have been thrown out for it! What is it going to take somebody getting run over in the pits. Maybe we need a flagger in the pits!

Mike is right start enforcing the rules and start throwing more black flags out on the track.

Start enforcing with penalties

side note: in the masters heat I was in mid-pack next to a 1st time racer! Why wasn’t this guy at the tail end or even marked as a rookie? Later in the pits I noticed he had been in an accident-i wondered who the other kart was. Newbies would be wise to start in the back and get some experience.

[Anonymous]

Stacey, I heard there were only 8 minis? are you inflating numbers??? 😀

Regarding the minis being up front, I have no problem with that, since as I have said and we have debated on this site several times that they, the minis, ARE faster than the Animals ( 3 to 4 HP more than the Animals). Although some of these kids are pretty good drivers, they still fall between the ages of 8 to 12 and thus are just children, little folks. My only point is since there is not one motor package and since CSC insists on treating and running them as if they are one group, which has been stated as a questionable decision in the past, am I missing something or is running them via qualify times a more safer choice given the circumstances?? I understand this is the first race of the year and some of this is to be expected, but as I have said the problem with running them together especially in their corresponding groups is the increase chance of an accident. And if that ain?t enough you more than likely will have a situation where someone?s CSC season is ruined via another driver/kart that isn?t even in your class but are basically forced to race against. (A lot of time and money is now being spent on the CSC series by participants, besides the series fee, it cost around $700 for my family to spend a race weekend over there.) Maybe I am overlooking something, but since these are just kids and since they have to run together what is the safest way to do this?? Break them into at least two groups when we see a certain number of them and/or run them by qualify time and finishing position within the heat race???

Brad, over on this side of the hill there are 11 Animals! Why they are not running CSC, you will have to ask each of them. For Conner and me, I was out of town part of this last weekend and to be brutally honest, I have been less than impressed with SKUSA?s Todd responses to the 4 cycle Junior 1 community here and am in the wait and see mode.

If I were a betting man, I would bet that there will be at least 6 animals on this side of the mountain at the next CSC race even though that did not occur in Grand Junction. I can not see why the same trend as last year’s CSC will not happen again this year: the largest showing of Junior 1s was at IMI, followed by Bandi, GJMS and then Steamboat.

:cheers:

[Anonymous]

Mr. New,

I sorry if you feel I haven’t taken the time necessary for the JR1 Animal. Admittingly, beyond my fundamentals of four stroke operation, I’m not intimately familiar with that motor. And I haven’t recieved any requests for info or clarification.

With the inclusion of the CSC into SKUSA we were asked to “provide” rules for it. I asked what rules they were currently running and I was told WKA. So that is essentialy what that class recieved. Since we don’t sanction that class anywhere or have a desire to proliferate it, it didn’t make sense to develop our own rules. Besides that takes time we didn’t have.
Here is a subtle point that needs to be made. AS an independent series as the CSC was last year, use of the WKA rules was technically a no no. However, with sanctioning from SKUSA that in turn allows the racers under that sanctioning to use SKUSA rules and with our affliation to other major sanctioning bodies we are allowed to share rules.(this is a mutual agreement regarding certain classes among orgs.) So bottom line, use of the Animal rules is now legite.

So, my point is. I haven’t received any requests from CSC Management about Animal technical issues specifically. As far as inclusion of the class to begin with or running orders and gridding. Those are all issues handled by local management of the CSC. I haven’t been asked my opinion on any of those issues, and wouldn’t have expected to.

So with all that said. Anything you need please feel free to mail me or Call me. 317-774-7025.

[Kurt Freiburg]

Don,

You’ve got me thinking. The obvious downside of gridding strictly by qualifying times is the chance of getting a fast MiniMax pilot who has a problem in qualifying and gets a slow (or no) time. Then he’ll be charging through the pack of K80s at point blank range at the drop of the flag.

We could figure out a way of handling that, or we could create (and enforce) a much bigger spacing between classes to allow more time before the intermingling of the species occurs.

I liked the further-down-the-straight green procedure that was used to get the Jr 1’s finally going. That should be standard procedure at GJ, maybe at IMI also.

[stacey cook]

Bill Ray suggested we have a pace kart that seperates the classes and pulls in just like Nascar, Also the pole sitter needs to keep the speed down until the flag is thrown 3/4 down the straight…

[Anonymous]

Mr. Bellew,

First let me give you a little bit of background on where I am coming from:
You need to understand that it is very frustrating for me personally since I was willing to adopt SKUSA and after much research switch to a Gazelle for my son when I first learned about the whole SKUSA-CSC merger. I asked several of the CSC administrative folks if I should sell my Animals now and pick up a Gazelle for this year?s SKUSA-CSC before spending any more money on the Animal. I was told to hold off for now and that the Animal would be around for at least another year if not a couple more years. Even though I said to several CSC officials if we are going SKUSA let?s go SKUSA and get it over with now, I decided to stay with the Animal since I was already invested in it and besides, if nothing else show why it is an excellent choice for this age group when all factors are considered. So, I am sorry if it seems that I am putting more of ?my issues? about the current Junior 1 situation than I should be on your shoulders, but initially I really tried to do my part and make this Junior 1 hodgepodge class work.

Now to address any issues with you individually:
Do you remember those emails I sent to you? I do, I remember just two emails from you, the first email from you in which you expressed a very similar notion regarding 4 cycles of ?or have a desire to proliferate it? and that attitude is somewhat understandable and even acceptable. The second was the Animal engine rules you sent me. I reviewed and modified the Animal engine rules and sent them back to you for approval and never heard from you again. And at that very moment in time when I sent the rules back to you I too was excited, ?stoked? about SKUSA?s involvement this year. But that waned pretty fast as I sent several more emails asking if those changes were acceptable? and still never heard back from you. I also asked if I could be of assistances in helping with the chassis rules since you were very busy according to Angie. And once again, never heard from you, and that is when Angie step in and asked if I would be willing to write or mostly copy them from WKA. I did and sent them on to you for approval and once again never heard back from you. The first time I heard form you after all the above was when you posted on the site on how ?stoked? SKUSA was for the first CSC event. I am sorry but it is hard for me to get enthusiastic and give any of my money to an organization that doesn?t really think much of my son?s local karting class. I don?t think I was asking too much from SKUSA National Technical Director to simply return a couple of emails in regards to SKUSA business. And then again…..

You can contact me if you would like at 303.871.2411

thanks

[Doug Welch]

There is another problem with seperating classes at the starts you guys maybe over looking. It’s just that much sooner before the fast guys catch the back markers of the slower karts. In the two classes I watched where the leader(s) were taken out by lapers was when they caught a solitary kart. If you put a lot of seperation between the classes, it’s just that much quicker laped traffic comes in to play.

In Tag senior/Tag Masters the difference between the fast and slow guys was more than 5 seconds. Given the usual and inevitable spins, this means that tte leaders were in lapped traffic by 8 laps. If we had seperated the starts by only 10 seconds, it would only make the problem come after 6 laps!

The obvious and best solution is for us to do two things. Eliminate classes that are poorly attended. The traditional cut-off is 3 karts. For an event such as the CSC, maybe it should be 4 or 5. Yes some classes maybe well attended at this or that track, but are they well attended for the series? If not, they should be eliminated. If they are strong at a particular track, then that class is clearly a club class, not a regional class.

The second is to eliminate the 2nd practice and get the show rolling before 9:30AM. It can be done. The morning practice should be a 5 minute warm up, a 15 minute drivers meeting and then, lets get it on. We can gain 2 full hours this way which would allow more classes to run on their own and eliminate or greatly reduce the combining of classes.

[Anonymous]

Kurt,
I thought about that aspect too, and as I said before there is no perfect solution given the current governing limits we are in, but I like the odds of that one fast mini than a group of fast karts coming onto slower group of karts as it is now. The space idea, what happens if the first group gets the green flag and the second or third group shouldn’t get a green flag?? Don’t you almost now have to give everyone the green flag by default?

Hey, unless more Animals show up next time some of this may become moot anyway…

[Anonymous]

Notwithstanding the fact that GJMS is Morgan’s favorite track/race, we decided to forego the trip last weekend. With the J1 class being split into 3 classes, it just wasn’t worth the effort and expense to race against … what… 2 other animals? Last year the class was alot more cohesive and you knew that there would be depth to the competition and a more even playing field. Now it is essentially 3 “playing fields” (mini, animal and comer) in the same race. To me, you combine that uneven class proliferation with 8-12 year olds and you have a formula for chaos and some pretty spectacular wrecks.

If we went to a single practice we would gain gobs of time and there would be plenty of time to split the classes.

My nickels worth.

Jeff Jones

[Garett Potter]

first of all; i have to tell you all the drivers and parents for utah had an absolute blast last weekend! thanks for everything including the first and second place trophies we took home! :cheers: I am pretty sure it has not left colby’s or Rick’s side! thanks Stacy, Darren, Angie, Dennis, Jim, Brandon moore ( and dad, ) all corner workers, staff,racers, and any body else I forgot! The Cook’s are class act, and I would drive alot further than four hours to race and hang out with you guys. We are always treted like roylaty! I have raced at alot of tracks and they could learn alot from you! Now for the complaint’s; I am not sure GJMSW had any trained corner workers (which is not their fault)! We had a flagger at the start finish line that is supposed to be the track decision maker, but was on his radio trying to get permission to throw the red flag, which is complete Bull s–t :bs: He should have complete control of any decision on the track, if not get someone up ther that does!! When he throws a yellow flag! that means full corse yellow!!!! noooooo passing! out of all the races I must have seen 50 position changes under a yellow flag!! You need to handle this now! first race points can still be made up for the year, and go to AMB to print out, and disqualify any position change under yellow It’s not hard to find out! check times, see who is missing (karts on their tops)! check position and delete them from the race! excluding karts on their tops! Even if it is my kid; I do not care if he gets a DQ, he will learn not to pass on yellow ever again!! The hard thing for me, my driver is my nephew I brought his parents for this trip, and I think if he would have had to run one more time, that would have been it for him, me and my $20,000.00 investment! I agree 100% on splitting up these classes I expressed this at the fist of the year! Junior1 two classes; mini max & comer 80 the only skusa regional class run on sunday in junior1. I will give the track the $200.00 for lost entry fees on the 2 animals at the next race. We were planning on runing the CSC series, but will be doing alot of a– kissing to get my nephew to Denver, or do I want to even go????

P.S.
not all the crashes and roll overs were in Junior1. I think all the drivers need a refresher course on open wheel racing!!! :idn:

[Anonymous]

I like Bill Ray’s suggestion of a Pace kart. They used this at the Rotax nationals last yr and it kept the pace down.

It seems that pole sitters just run to fast a pace to the green flag, and that just separates the backhalf of the group.

If your not going to use a pace kart than BLACK flag the pole sitter after the first try and send him to the back.

[Anonymous]

Donald,
All our e mails are saved here at the office. I found three e mails from you all with responses from me. Maybe I didn’t recieve one.

But, if I remember the deal was that I gave 4 cycle rules over to CSC, after they reviewed them there were changes that wanted to be made. I informed CSC that since it was a CO only deal. Do whatever they want.

So essentially SKUSA allowed the proper use of WKA rules and then whatever the 4 cycle contingent wanted they got. We have no interest one way or the other what they are so simply, what ever they wanted to do.

At that point I Instructed CSC to just write in what ever modifications were needed.

I guess what I don’t understand is the real issue. The four cycle crowd got the rules they asked for and modified them to whatever they saw fit.

[stacey cook]

Garret, Thank you for bringing all the Utah Gang over! Everyone was so nice and friendly and also very fast. You have been a great supporter of the track and we really appreciate everything…

The flaggers I think were overwelmed, they are the same ones we use for the all our club events but they never have had any serious wrecks to deal with for 2 1/2 years.. We are going to really work on things for the next CSC event and I promise it wil be different..

Overall the racing was awesome!!! (what little I saw 🙁 ) we didn’t get everyone out by 5:30 like we planned but will continue to do everything we can to make it a SAFE, fun event…

Except for one all the kids in the Mini Max class have all raced together for awhile now and have never had any problems at all, I think workng with all the kids on safety with handouts that show what each flag means and what to do if you receive on will help a bunch..

Again thanks for coming over and supporting GJMS, SKUSA and the CSC, it is going to be an adjustment period for all and I think this really opened alot of eyes for both parents and drivers….

[Rodney Ebersole]

The mini and the animal are 2 modern motor packages that are available for kart racing. It is nice that SKUSA has attempted to let the Briggs stuff play in their series. It also doesn’t supprise me that a low turn out at the first race for the animal has received the, “Lets get rid of them” while justifieing it with the low turn out.
Lets look at a nother class of kart racing some wish to promote that also got a low turn out. The S-3 had 3 karts, I don’t see any one wanting to elliminate that class. To say the animal will only be around for the next couple of years is a local opinionated statement that some would like it to be that way here or maybe even every where. If that “some of the people” are in control of the rules for our local racing then most liking it will be the case, as exampled here in SKUSA’s strong hold in Colorado.
The s-3,comer,mini and animal are really the fewture of our sport, the back bone to getting more people racing.
If you want more time on race day I would be looking at combining three of the shifter classes. Why call the Pro class ICC when an ICC can run PRO/S-1/S-2? I haven’t seen any referance to a Pro ICC class in the SKUSA rules it starts out at s-1. But then again as a new shifter racer I shure don’t see what logic is being used to divide 125 shifters into these three different classes. It shure isn’t rules of different equipment allowed and isn’t because one class has slower drivers in it. If anything these three classes should be divided on race day by qualifing times, with racers moved up in class based on main event times.
Oh-well. the opinions of this old Briggs racer doesn’t hold much ground here, which is probably a good thing, because if I was in charge, I would get rid of all this high dollar “Race Gas” and gain some power while running good old cheep meth. But I guess I should get the thought out of my mind, as it seems if if doesn’t cost more it isn’t going to get into the rule book.
A nother thing that puzzles me some what is this air box deal. OK now I have to take off a good $30.00 filtering filter, and put a $150.00 air box that only runs well if it’s none filtered. That looks like a cost savings idea????

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