Katy Race Report

[n2racing2]

The NASKARTS resumed their season last weekend, July 18th, at GCKI running the road course Counter-Clockwise. This was the first time for everyone from the NASKART series to run the track this direction so everyone was on even terms of learning a new track.

 

The day started off hot & humid with everyone working to change their setup's in practice. Team ROCKHARD Racing got to the track late in the morning and were reduced to just 1 practice session before the driver's meeting and the start of Qualifying. But this didn't slow down ROCKHARD Racing's #24 of Chris Terry. Battling hard for the bonus point of qualifying with the #16 3M AAG kart of Mike Steinman. Pole position went back and forth in the 10 minute qualifying session with Chris (47.521) coming out on top by a mere .083 of a second over Steinman (47.604) to take the pole position and the bonus point that goes with it.

 

As the day moved on...the clouds rolled in and with it the rain. About 45 minutes before the NASKART 12 lap Heat race the clouds opened up and rain fell for about an hour. During this time it was decided by the track officials to continue with the scheduled races. All the NASKART racers got together and decided to continue as well. So when it was time for the NASKART heat race....the track was still very wet with a light rain and everyone was at the fence to watch the NASKARTS race in the rain...ON SLICKS!!! The qualifying order was inverted for the start of the Heat race which then put Team Rockhard Racing's #88 Kaleb Kreis & #29 Marty Kreis on the pole, Team Rockhard Racing's #48 Kevin Hummell on the inside of row 2 with #14 Andy Taylor on the outside. And row 3 consisted of #16 Mike Steinman on the inside and #24 Chris Terry on the outside. With 1 warmup lap to inspect the track....we all knew we were in for ride!!! When the green flag dropped everyone charged towrd turn 1 tentatively...and as expected everyone was slippin and sliding around searching for grip of some kind. through turn 1 #48 Kevin Hummell spun and this allowed the #14, #24 & #16 of Taylor, Terry and Steinman to get thru. A few turns later team Rockhards #88 Kaleb Kreis and #29 Marty Kreis slid out but kept going allowing #14 Andy Taylor to get thru and lead the first lap with the #29 and #88 second and third. The next lap saw Taylor starting to pull out a lead. Behind Taylor the whole ROCKHARD Racing team was putting on a display of 360's all over the track allowing Steinman to move up to 2nd place. Lap 3 saw Steinman catch up to Taylor and as they got onto the long straitaway, Steinman drafted Taylor moved to the inside of him and then it was a game of chicken to see who would outbrake who into turn 1. As they approached the limit of no returned Steinman backed out of the throttle and let Taylor brake a little later only to see Taylor go sliding past his braking point and spinning...but staying on the track. This allowed Steinman to take the lead and never look back as no one was able to put in a run to chase him down. Steinman went on to win by half a lap. 2nd went to Andy Taylor and 3rd was Kaleb Kreis who drove a smart race and stayed on the lead lap. Everyone else was at least 1 lap down or more from spinning off the track into the thick grass.

 

For the 15 lap Main the Heat race finish was inverted and the rain had slowed to a sprinkle...but the track was still a bit slick. The TAGS and Shifter karts had run their races with rain tires and had created a dry line on the track. But everyone was still set up for a rain track with low tire pressures. With the ROCKHARD Racing guys starting in the first 4 positions this left #14 Taylor and #16 Steinman on the last row wondering how they were going to get past ROCKHARD Racing. When the green flew, Taylor was hving jetting issues and fell behind right away. But for the first 2 laps it was ROCKHARD Racings team all up front with Steinman in tow. at the end of lap 2, Steinman made his way around the #88 of Kaleb Kreis and was pressuring the #48 of Keven Hummell for 3rd. #24 Chris Terry was leading with #29 Marty kreis right on his bumper and they started to pull out a small lead. The order stayed this way until lap 4 when Steinman got around Hummell for 3rd going thru the fast last 2 turns onto the straight. By halfway thru lap 5, Steinman did a over under move thru one of the tighter turns to get around #29 Kreis

and started to run down the #24 of Chris Terry. On lap 6 drafting down the Terry down the straightway, Steinman was able to pull out and get position going into turn 1 and pass Terry. The very next lap saw Marty Kreis do the same maneuver and take 2nd and was hanging onto Steinman not letting him get away. The order stayed this way to the end of the race with Steinman winning by 10 seconds, #29 Marty Kreis was 2nd and Chris terry #24 was 3rd. Kaleb Kreis came in 4th with #14 Andy Taylor 5th and #48 Kevin Hummell 6th. Overall...when the race was over, there were smiles on every's faces, lot's of bench racing and a great time was had by all. The NASKART Series now moves back to Thunderhill on July 31st. Steinman will be looking to try to win 3 in a row....but that will be tough with such tight competition and wearing the 27lb. winners weight!!!

 

 

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