We went kart racing this past weekend at buttonwillow raceway’s big track, layout 13cw. For those not familiar with shifter karts we where topping out at 104 mph and my best personal lap time for the weekend was a 1:55.6 second lap! to put that time in perspective a fast spec miata lap is around 2:06, the gt3 lap record according to SCCA’s web site is a 1:58.2. The racing was pretty close most of the day with the series points leaders starting at the front of the pack. I pitted with some friends and fellow racers from SoCal; Todd Cameron (fr125 race class) and Troy Starheim (skusa class). Todd was fast out of the box and set the pace early in the day. Troy helped me change the alignment and steering ackerman on my kart and it came to me before the first race. I started towards the back, but Todd started even further back and read the traffic smart on the first lap, avoiding a turn one incident where a kart got airborne and i had to check up to avoid what i thought would be nasty. Todd led this race and pulled away from us putting on a road racing clinic! Todd finished first overall and I finished first in class after a close couple laps with Michael LaGrone and Doug Ring.
I started on pole for the second heat and charged 100% on the out lap. Todd got me early on but was not pulling away from me this time. I slowed my hands down to not scrub speed and slowly started pulling Todd in some of the tighter corners. With a couple laps to go i was right on his bumper and traded the lead with him a few times until ultimately retaining the overall lead. It was a successful weekend with Todd winning his class, and i won both heats for the stock shifter class… and the overall win! I walked away 45 dollars richer with some gift certificates and have a shinny trophy waiting at the next event! Joking aside the event was a lot of fun, the track was smooth as glass and the layout was enjoyable in a kart; as always NCK put on a great race.
For all karting info check out Musgrave Racing Co
series info NCK Road Racing
Not offended in any way. My point is the value and importance of drafting at these types of tracks. You and Connor were the ONLY two racers who saw value in that. As a fan its awesome to watch two and three Karts hook up and run people down.
Over the years the NCK racers have lost the understanding of a good draft. They would rather try to race each other instead of trying to run down the leader and win the race. It was awesome to watch you guys hook up and run down the leader. I say keep up the awesome racing!
I believe you left out the fact and importance of drafting. The first race(heat 4) was dominated by Todd Cameron with his 19 second victory. Heat 2 (race 7) Todd checked out early and had a several seconds of a lead. Coming from the 13th position the 22 kart of Connor Solis who ran you down and hooked up with you into the draft and pushed you into the lead and to the victory. Connors 1999 Trackmagic kart set the fastest lap of the day in the 125 class at 1:55.635
Ken you bring up valid points I would like to address. First off the article was a quick brief of the event and in no way meant to be an in-depth full coverage of the race like I did for the Laguna Seca event last year. Yes, drafting is huge in road racing! From ten kart lengths back you can almost lift fully off the throttle and still be sucked into the bumper of the kart in front. And Yes, your son Connor drove one hell of a race with the equipment he had at his disposal. Todd was in the same class as your son and started with him at the back of my stock class field. Todd has a lot of skill and experience and read the traffic better than everyone else that weekend, this allowed Todd to jump into the lead before the end of the first lap. My closing the gap on Todd was a game of inches before I hooked up in a draft with Connor then we closed on him with a more rapid pace… once we passed Todd, he often retook the lead next corner because he too was now in the draft with us. To clarify Todd was in the same F125 class as Connor. Connor had the fastest lap time of 1:55.627 to my lap time of 1:55.647 when we were working together… both times were obviously achieved drafting. At the time I wrote the article the mylaps results had not been posted and I was unsure of others finishing position, best lap times and the time difference to my crossing the line. I did not mean to offend you by not mentioning Connor however I had too little info at the time to accurately include him in my brief. Connor drove a great race, was smart, fast and I will happily race with him anytime in the future.
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