Post by Brad Wunder on May 18, 2009 1:39:12 GMT -5
The clones invaded the Blue Max track today for their first race, and holy cow, what a day it was. Everyone in the class is new to karting but you’d never know they hadn’t raced before. I was working the race and had responsibility for turns 1-4. What a great place to watch them in action! During the heat you could have thrown a blanket over the 1st three for most of the race. In the main I saw, and I kid you not, 4 passes from the entry of 3 to the exit of 4. I’ve never seen that in any race. It was truly amazing. Even more amazing when you consider there was NO contact between the karts.
Ron mentioned in another post the comments in the stands regarding how well they handled the starts. Everyone on the race control radio was very aware these guys and gals hadn’t raced before and the point was made we should all be on our toes. The beginning of the heat race went off flawlessly. Couple of comments made included: “these guys haven’t raced before? That was excellent”, “we are going to have NO trouble with these guys”, “wow, they are just like those 4 cycle guys that do the traveling thing” (yep, the NFRA regulars). Quite impressive.
When the main rolled around the race director did something unprecedented in my experience. He was so confident that they could mange themselves he came on the radio and advised he was going to let them come out of the hair pin and through the acceleration cone uncontrolled and that it was up to Doc to drop the flag if everything looked good. Another flawless approach to the green and the race was on. PJ Landry, the pole sitter, was the eventual race winner but Duffy’s boys kept good pressure on him throughout the race.
We had 5 clones out there today. Hopefully we can get a couple of the Dixon clones out there for the PC Xover. It should be a blast. While their times are just a bit off from the F200s and WFs, I have to say that after what I saw today I have no problem racing with them. As I mentioned, I didn’t see any contact between the karts even though they were in very close proximity. Special shout out goes to the driver of the 24. There were many times when he allllllmost had position on PJ, but gave him some room rather than risking an accident. Way to go.
Ron mentioned in another post the comments in the stands regarding how well they handled the starts. Everyone on the race control radio was very aware these guys and gals hadn’t raced before and the point was made we should all be on our toes. The beginning of the heat race went off flawlessly. Couple of comments made included: “these guys haven’t raced before? That was excellent”, “we are going to have NO trouble with these guys”, “wow, they are just like those 4 cycle guys that do the traveling thing” (yep, the NFRA regulars). Quite impressive.
When the main rolled around the race director did something unprecedented in my experience. He was so confident that they could mange themselves he came on the radio and advised he was going to let them come out of the hair pin and through the acceleration cone uncontrolled and that it was up to Doc to drop the flag if everything looked good. Another flawless approach to the green and the race was on. PJ Landry, the pole sitter, was the eventual race winner but Duffy’s boys kept good pressure on him throughout the race.
We had 5 clones out there today. Hopefully we can get a couple of the Dixon clones out there for the PC Xover. It should be a blast. While their times are just a bit off from the F200s and WFs, I have to say that after what I saw today I have no problem racing with them. As I mentioned, I didn’t see any contact between the karts even though they were in very close proximity. Special shout out goes to the driver of the 24. There were many times when he allllllmost had position on PJ, but gave him some room rather than risking an accident. Way to go.
