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Qualifying day was interesting. Rocky Mountain Kartworks drivers AJ and Kyle continue to sharpen their weapons. They kicked the Vampire engineers out of the tent and really picked up the pace. Unfortunately for them and everyone else, the fastest guys continue to do the same. More knowledgeable people than me are running around talking about this field of drivers and how many of the world?s best kart drivers are entered in the contest. I believe them. Some of these guys are amazingly fast. Michael Schumacher didn?t show up but a couple other Formula 1 guys did. AJ finished the first qualifying session in 12th place and the second in 10th place and ended up the highest placed American driver. Kyle ran his bent kart to nearly the same pace finishing 11th in Q1 and 13th in Q2.
It wasn?t a very good day for the other American drivers. Jesse continued having problems with an engine that wouldn?t rev. The Oral engineers changed ignition modules, changed jetting and still, the problem wouldn?t go away. Finally they removed the tach and said, ?no problem now.? Jesse finished Q1 in 22nd place and just got started in Q2 when the engine finally died. After looking the kart over the engineers found the problem ? water in the gas ? lots of it. The float bowl was so full of water it didn?t appear to have any gas. The gas tank was about 20% water. They found another Oral kart being used by Nate (another American) with the same problem. Some of the Oral guys are talking about sabotage but others think they just got a bad can??? Doesn?t matter. The damage is done. Jesse and Nate will be starting the heats at the back of the pack. Nate?s Q1 run was 23rd and Q2 was 24th. The other Colorado driver, Marco, placed 26th and 25th.
Despite some of the issues it was an awesome day. Great weather, awesome driving, lots of water, sunshine, etc. Some other interesting observations. There are four television networks covering this event ? two with live coverage. There are at least two jumbo trons placed around the track that show continuous coverage. The same guy that announced the Rotax Grands is announcing the English side of this event. There are 170, yes 170 course workers around the track in safety gear, helmets and radios. It a kart has a problem they remove it from the track immediately and replace and barriers that get moved. The upper part of the track runs along a busy sidewalk. Some locals walk by as if nothing were going on. Others stop and have lunch or a snack at one of the many sidewalk caf?s and take in the race. On one side of the track are stores and high rise condos. On the other side is a huge harbor with countless million dollar(s) boats (oh, I mean yachts). It is the land of the rich and famous and yet we get to race karts down the street just feet from stores doing business as usual. Way cool. And in the middle of the track is a large outdoor swimming pool with a sign that reads, ?Rick was here.?
As luck would have it, all four of the Colorado drivers are in group B so they will race two heats together tomorrow before transferring to the main. This event is proving to be as much fun as it is awesome.
More tomorrow.
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