? TEARDOWN OF SEALED ROTAX MOTORS BY TECH DIRECTOR?

[Angie MacEwen]

A couple of things here. I just spoke to Dennis. He would come on and respond, and he may later, but for now, let me relay some of what he said.

First, Zach’s motor did not have a seal on it. If it had, Dennis would not have broken it.

Next, it is not Dennis’ normal practice to break the seals. He is in agreement with most of you, that under normal circumstances, the seal would be honored. In this case, he had a suspect motor, and he felt it necessary to open it up. Why was it suspect? Because at prior events he witnessed that driver/kart/motor to be not doing great. At this event, he was way out front. Now I know you will argue that if you go back and look at the times from previous events, and take into consideration the different tracks, etc, etc, that he might have found information to show there was nothing to be concerned about. But Dennis saw what he saw, and felt he needed to tear it down, that is what we hired him for.

Dennis wanted me to be sure to tell all of you Rotaxians that he has no intention of breaking seals just because he can. This was a special case. And on that note, I hope nobody would ask the regulations to be changed to where he can’t break a seal if he feels the need to.

Angie

[stacey cook]

Angie, if the motor did not have a seal then it is open game and Dennis was justified and had every right to tear it down.. the only bad thing is that Zack works so hard with very little that every dime counts and it could mean that he might not make the next event.. But I guess that could be true for everyone.. It is good to see him up front..

[Anonymous]

Dear Angie;

First of all Seths motor was sealed. Seths was sealed by SSC, the importer of Rotax motors. Secondly, you and I know that this was done to Seth mainly because you, Dennis, and the Ray’s view my tearing them down as a pain in your ass’s. What I would like to get straight is this; If you checked out the last 2 races at I.M.I. and the last 1 at Grand Junction, my son Seth was the quickest kart in qualifying. At the first race at I.M.I. Seth out qualified everyone by almost 7/10 of a second. Seth did not win because he had to slow down because his engine was overheating due to the extreme heat. I then learned that it was legal to put a larger capacity radiator on his kart and we haven’t had a problem with overheating. At the last race in Grand Junction my son cooked his brakes and didn’t have enough brakes to make it a race with the Kyle in final race, where he finished 2nd, which wasn’t to bad considering that in the heat race that Kyle drove into Seth from 5 to 6 kart lengths back and bent Seth’s axle and took himself completely out of the race. Seth still finished 3rd with his box stock, “un-blueprinted” motor with a bent axle. I don’t think that Kyle wrecked into Seth on purpose, I simply thought he used fairly poor judgement trying to make up 5 or 6 kart lengths in one corner. Kyle Ray and his father are very good competitors and Seth and I have looked forward to racing against them. I wasn’t picking on Kyle when I protested them at I.M.I. the first race. I was wrong because I was angry that the checkered flag was thrown at the beginning of the 19th lap and let my anger carry over into protesting Kyle’s engine for which I am very sorry for.

---

Sorry Mr. Ray and Family!!

---

That was the reason I went to Mr. Ray the following race and offered to reimburse him for what it cost him over and above the $150.00 protest fee I posted to have his engine teched. Mr. Ray told me then that he didn’t want the money. At the same time I apologized to him, his son and Trent from Mile Hi Karting. I thought everything was OK with them. I’m not picking on them or trying to make an enemy of them. I’m only trying to make sure that the rules are followed to the “T” as it should be.

Angie, I sent to you and Dennis an E-Mail approximately 3 weeks ago letting you know about the ruling that TAG USA made concerning the 2005 Parilla Leopard port height being illegal. You, nor Dennis never even acknowledged the E-Mail, so last Friday I called you to see if you had received my E-Mail. You said I don’t know and eventually said that you thought you got it. I then explained to you about the TAG USA ruling and you said you would talk to Todd Bellew about it, and that was the last I heard from you concerning the TAG USA ruling on the Parilla Leopard. Sunday morning I saw Dennis in the pits and tried to ask him about it and as usual he practically ignored me from his “high horse”. I was only trying to find out if he was aware of the ruling by TAG USA, which SKUSA follows. Again, I wasn’t trying to be a pain in anyones ass, I was only trying to make you all aware of the ruling by TAG USA as it relates to our CSC series, governed by SKUSA/TAG USA rules. I expected to get tore down this weekend after the way that Dennis ignored me trying to talk to him. All I was trying to do was find out and if necessary supply him with the rules from TAG USA in case he didn’t have them so that my son as a competitor is on a level playing field with the rest of the other competitors with different engines than ours. I don’t make the rules, I just want to make sure that they are fair across the board. My son Seth is not a rookie to kart racing and isn’t too bad a little racer. Mr. Ray and his son Kyle are very good racers and definetly the ones to beat, if you can, in the CSC series, and we have and are looking forward to competing against them. I don’t know them very well, but look forward to getting to know them in a better way.
Angie, if you called them after I talked to you on Friday and told them I was gonna tear them down. then you didn’t tell the truth. All I said was that I might if I felt they were running the 2005 Leopard with the unapproved/illegal port height that was posted on TAG USA’s web sight the past month. Once again, I was just trying to make everyone aware of the ruling by TAG USA so the playing field is level for all, not just for Seth and I and all competitors.

Mr. Ray, I don’t own a Kart shop, I simply work here basically for nothing, in hopes of some day owning a small part of the business. Again, I apologize if I have offended you, but I surely never meant to.

Sincerely,
Tim J. George
Gen. Mgr.
S.A.C. Motorsports
720-890-4099
Father of Seth A. Chapa

[Anonymous]

Finally a voice of authority. Angie, Thank You.

Dennis, I apologize. I now know what your justification was with Zach and I agree with your decision. It is unfortunate that Zach has a limited budget, but an unsealed motor is suspect, especially in CO with all the sealed motors.

Zach, I am sorry you got torn down and have to re-assemble. I would suggest you get an inspection done by one of our many fine shops in CO and get it sealed properly.

Seth, you always kick butt out on the track. Keep up the good work.

Wish I could have been there, but the doc said no walking till this week. I’ll see everyone at Steamboat.

Duff

[Mike Jansen]

Oops….

I just found out from Zach that his engine WASN’T sealed.
Then my stance towards him changes, an unsealed engine should always be fair game. Everyone, I was wrong and I’m sorry for the confusion and problems this caused.

I still however believe that we should ask Stacey or Trent to oversee post race tech so we can get the engines resealed at minimal expense. That does’t change.

:idn:

[Anonymous]

@Rick Schmidt wrote:

How much of your OWN money do you spend racing?

I wouldn’t xxxxx but i don’t have my dad stuffing money into a shifter for me. Sorry to complain. Life sucks. Then you die

Not Sure where this is coming from but your comments don’t seem too cool Streets (that is your real name is’nt it?). Did’nt you call out for some help on the forum last August needing help with your new Tag? If I remember correctly, Ben offering you information and offered you help (in person) if needed. This family will help anyone who needs it. They are not a high budget operation but some of the best quality people in the Series. I have a feeling it is an entire family effort for their racing. Just like us, we’ve made sacrafices in our lifes to do this. Not sure if you race in our Series or how this thread affects you so personally Streets. If you were MY son and had the “Sorry to complain” “Life sucks – Then you die” attitude. I would not be very interested in STUFFING my money into your dreams, hobbies, sports, interest’s… whatever!

If you are trying to race and get your parents support (or anyones elses for that matter) try being positive. It breeds just like the negative, just not as fast.
Rick

I was being slightly sarcastic by the “Sorry to Complain…Life sucks, then you die” statement.

Secondly, I have no doubt that Mr. Schermerhorn is a SUPER nice guy, as is Mr. Elliot and Mr. Ray. Their sons should hug their dads everyday and tell them how much they appreciate their fathers’ supporting them in racing.

However, I was simply responding to a statement made by a kid who probably doesn’t realize how lucky he is, giving me some gay STARWARS quote and calling me :lame lame. Not very cool. And that’s why I said it. No biggie, I’m sure he’s a nice kid.

I was simply venting how angry I would be if my seal was cut, since i DON’T have $300 bucks to just re-seal a motor. It makes me debate whether or not I should try and race a few of these upcoming events. If I get teched and Bellew and the SKUSA nazi’s want to pull my seal, I’ll take a DQ.
And sorry to anyone who thinks I have a negative attitude. I’m only negative towards anything that makes this sport more expensive and less fun. Feel me? :loony:

I race because it’s a love that makes me haul a kart 1200 miles to Reno, NV for a STARS race in the back of a tiny ass pickup with my drunken a-hole friend who was supposed to help me out, but left me to do it all by myself. Now THATS fun, lol

But to all, thanks for being cool people. Karters in Colorado are super nice people, and we as a community just need to be cool to each other. We aren’t winning anything of true value, except our friendship.

[Angie MacEwen]

Tim,

I know that Seth’s motor was sealed, and that the seal was removed. That is what this whole topic is about. And I did say in my post that Dennis felt he needed to remove it, due to what he witnessed on track. Whether or not he might have found information to show there was not a significant performance change from previous races is beside the fact. We hired Dennis to do a job, and he felt he needed to remove the seal on Seth’s motor, so he did.

Now you are saying it is because you have been a pain. I never said that. I appreciate you making us aware of the Leopard ruling. It was my fault to set aside the email from several weeks ago, but I do have alot going on, and it happens. When you called on Friday, I spent at least a couple of hours on the phone with several people to get things straight about the recent rulings on the Leopard. I did call Bill Ray. I didn’t necessarily say you were going to protest him, but that you believed his motor to be illegal based on the recent TAGUSA rulings. So the obvious conclusion to that is that if his motor was an illegal 05, you would protest. You did said you would be there with your rules and your money. My reasoning wasn’t to give him a warning, but to see if in fact, there was a need to further investigate. The rulings were not exactly clear. Anyway, on Friday, I was also helping my family get ready to head to the race track. Three kids and four karts, plus everything I need to score, etc., you can imagine it is an ordeal to get us out of here. Maybe I should have given you a call back, but I really never had a definitive answer. The point was to make sure Dennis was aware of the ruling, and after talking to him, I was sure he was aware. He did some further investigation at the track, so like I said, he had it under control.

You did admit to protesting Kyle because you were upset with the system (the track, CSC, officials, etc) You even said that the tech was lacking, not nearly thorough enough. You certainly cannot expect to push, push, push the system without it pushing back.

Dennis is doing a great job. We are lucky that he hasn’t bailed on us, given the troubles that we keep throwing at him. It isn’t like he makes a lot of money at this. He recently was hired to do the Cascade Locks event, and you will see him over in GJ at the Nations Cup.

thank you,
angie

[Anonymous]

As Mike puts it so astutely:

Can’t we all just get along!

So half of this thread is wrong because Zach’s motor wasn’t sealed-so much for the grapevine! :argue

[jedclampet]

zach sorry they tore down your engine. why didnt you contact me i put it together and it was legal wasnt it!! i gave you a break because you were supposedly broke and you dont contact me? next time dont cry me a river. i have helped anyone who has asked for it . see if anyone else would do the same for you at the price!! just where would you be in the csc without my help??

RS Reed

[Anonymous]

@jedclampet wrote:

zach sorry they tore down your engine. why didnt you contact me i put it together and it was legal wasnt it!! i gave you a break because you were supposedly broke and you dont contact me? next time dont cry me a river. i have helped anyone who has asked for it . see if anyone else would do the same for you at the price!! just where would you be in the csc without my help??

RS Reed

The better question is, who cares? :idn:

[hotwheels1517]

STREETS WHATS YOUR REAL NAME??? I would love to meet you!!! I will be at the next two CSC races. It should be easy to find me. Most people know me and where my pit will be. For somone that dosen’t race you sure have an attitude.

Brian Moore,
Father of Brandon #77 comer 80 and novice shifter

P.S. Your post don’t seem to be sarcastic to me. So i will assume no one else sees them as sarcastic either. Just very negative without any true or realistic solutions.

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone for your support. I apologize for the misunderstanding. Mike is a great guy and was under the impression that my engine was sealed this Sunday. My engine was sealed at the start of the season. It blew at Bandimere and so I tried to get it fixed at the cheapest cost to myself because I couldn’t afford to get it resealed. I just wanted to make the next CSC event. I also couldn’t afford to do the RMC along with the CSC and CSC is my only priority right now. I will be able to get it all back together in time for Steamboat. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks again everyone for all your care and support. It’s true, we do have the best and kindest racers in Colorado.

Zach Gillis
TaG Senior
GP Rotax
(970) 224-2848

[Mike Jansen]

Gentlemen:

In the words of Rodney King: Can’t we just all get along…

I saw Zach with the wire, I asked him a question. He’s a newbie (and a fast newbie at that) and answered with the “deer in the headlights look” I was irritated and I POLITELY asked Rusty about it. I am wrong. But again, I did go up to Rusty without an attitude and asked him in a sporting manner.

Now once again let’s put a name to the user names, have a beer or two and talk about how much fun we’re having. Time to move on eh?

:hit :k :drink

I want to talk about how Rick, Preston and myself are going to wax you all on the golf course up in Steamboat for 10 holes and then DNF… :loony:

[Anonymous]

@hotwheels1517 wrote:

STREETS WHATS YOUR REAL NAME??? I would love to meet you!!! I will be at the next two CSC races. It should be easy to find me. Most people know me and where my pit will be. For somone that dosen’t race you sure have an attitude.

Brian Moore,
Father of Brandon #77 comer 80 and novice shifter

P.S. Your post don’t seem to be sarcastic to me. So i will assume no one else sees them as sarcastic either. Just very negative without any true or realistic solutions.

My name is steve sanders……and i’d like to meet you as well.
I have a white and blue CRG with a leopard motor….you will be able to see that if I get the guts to race these next few months.

I don’t race because I suck and i can barely keep the kart on the track.

I’m sorry that it seems I have an attitude. I don’t, trust me. But if it’s any consolation, I’ll let you punch me as hard as possible (just not in the face please) if we ever meet to make you feel better.

Your son can kick me in the balls and call me a loser :sun:

Haha, just joking around. Why can’t everyone lighten up?

This is KART RACING! NO ONE HERE IS RACING IN THE NEXT 24 HRS OF LEMANS. WE LIVE IN A BEAUTIFUL STATE. ALL OF YOU ARE GREAT PEOPLE FOR THE MOST PART. I HAVE NOTHING BUT GOOD THINGS TO SAY. IM SORRY IF EVERYONE HERE HATES ME.

[Anonymous]

Mike:
Rodney King is a lying crack head, so please quote someone with a little more clout.

[Author]

Posts