Race Reports for the Double header in Houston

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Race reports coming....will try to be quicker than the red river race report.

[n2racing2]

Races 11 and 12 of the 20 race season for the NASKARTS came at Houston as makeups for Rainouts earlier in the year at HMP and at GCKI in Katy. But there was to be no rain this weekend. Only lots of sunshine and heat!

 

Saturday the NASKART Series arrived at HMP for their 11th race and 3rd visit to this track this year. In practice, all the times were very close...within 1 for the whole field of karts.

 

At HMP, instead of qualifying the NASKARTS had a 8 lap heat race to set the grid for the 27 lap main later in the evening. The grid was set with the points inverted putting the #4 of Jack Kelly on the pole. But he decided to start at the back since he was having clutch issues. So this put the #20 with J.M. Skagg, filling in for Lyndon Kirk) on the pole. But being his first time back to race with the NASKARTS in 2 years, he decided to start at the back as well. So this put the #07 of Megan smith on pole with Team ROCKHARD Racing's Kaleb Kreis on outside pole. 2nd row saw Team ROCKHARD Racing's Team owner #29 Marty Kreis on the inside with the Pearland Car Care # 14 of Andy Taylor on the outside. Row 3 saw Red Rivers raceways winner, Team ROCKHARD Racing's #24 Chris Terry on the inside and Points leader the 3M/Austin Architectural Graphics #16 of Mike Steinman on the outside. Followed in the 4th row by the #20 and the #4.

 

When the green flag flew for the Heat race, #88 Kaleb Kreis went around the outside of #07 Megan Smith to take the lead and lead the first lap. With Megan 2nd followed by #14 Taylor and #16 Steinman. The #29 of Marty Kreis got shuffled back to 6th after starting inside the 2nd row. The order remained this way with everyone drafting until lap 4 when #24 Chris Terry was able to get around #16 Steinman for 4th. Lap 5 saw the #14 of taylor get loose off of turn 4 and Terry and Steinman took advantage of it to move up to 3rd and 4th. #88 Kaleb Kreis was still out front so far leading every lap with the #07 of Megan Smith right on his bumper. The order stayed the same until lap 7 when #24 Chris Terry was able to get under the #07 of Smith to take 2nd and draft up to his Team ROCKHARD teammate #88 Kreis to try and make a pass on the last lap. But it wasn't to be as the #88 held on and lead every lap to take the Heat win with #24 Terry in 2nd, the #07 of Smith in 3rd and Steinman in the #16 finishing 4th.

 

The Main was set for right after intermission so the NASKARTS were starting their race from the front straightaway. With the grid inverted again from the heat results, this put the #20 of J.M. Skagg on pole on his 60th birthday!! Outside pole was Team ROCKHARD's #29 Marty Kreis. 2nd row had #14 Andy Taylor on the inside and #16 Steinman on the outside. 3rd row saw the #07 of Megan Smith on the inside and #24 Chris Terry on the outside. With Heat race winner #88 Kaleb Kreis on row 4 by himself. The #4 of Jack Kelly had a burned up clutch and did not start.

 

When the green flag flew the #20 of J.M. Skaggs lead them across the start finish line....but positions started to change going into turn 1. The #24 and the #16 of Terry and Steinman moved through the field through turn 1 and Chris Terry passed steinman going down the back straight to jump into 2nd behind the #29 of Marty Kreis. And so as they came around for the 1st lap, #29 Marty Kreis lead followed by his teammate #24 Chris Terry, #16 Steinman and the #88 of Kaleb Kreis jumping up to 4th from the back of the grid. The next lap saw Chris Terry get inside of Marty Kreis and Steinman followed through to jump to 1st and 2nd dropping the #29 to 3rd. #88 Kaleb Kreis was still sitting in 4th watching the dicing go on in front of him. The #07 moved back into 5th after getting shuffled to last on the first lap and then getting by the #20 of Skaggs and the #14 of Andy Taylor. On Lap 3 Terry was still leading but Marty Kreis and Steinman switched position putting Team ROCKHARD Racing 1st, 2nd & 4th. The order tsyed that way until Steinman repassed the #29 to take second again but dicing with Kreis allowed the #24 of terry to pull out a 5 - 6 kart lead over the 2 of them. The order stayed this with 2nd thru 4th drafting until #88 Kaleb Kreis passed #29 Marty Kreis on lap 8 to take over 3rd place. On lap 10 the #07 of Megan smith was now charging toward the front and passed the #29 of Kreis to take 4th place. And on the next lap made a move to pass the #88 of Kaleb Kreis to take over 3rd and start running down the #16 of Steinman who was running in 2nd behind #24 Chris Terry. But the competition yellow came out and it was time to restack the grid for the restart. #24 Terry was still up front on the pole with Steinman #16 on the outside of row 1. The #07 of Smith on the inside of row 2 and #88 Kaleb Kreis on the outside. 3rd row was set with #29 Kreis on the inside and #14 Taylor on the outside. As the green flag dropped again, the inside line moved to the lead with #24 Terry followed by #07 Megan Smith. Steinman #16 dropped into 3rd followed by the #88 and the #29. Everyone was settled into position until lap 16 when the #07 of Smith got a little loose and then got a bump draft from Steinman to keep position. But this slowed Steinman's momentum and allowed the #88 of KAleb Kresi to make a move on the outside and pass for 3rd. Once again everyone settled in but #29 Kreis was looking for a way around Steinman and on lap 20 was able to get around and take over 4th. Up front Megan was now all over the #24 of Terry and bump drafting him all the way around the track...trying to find a way past on the inside. But Terry was holding his line low and not leaving any room for anyone to go low on him. As the laps wound down with 3 laps to go, the #88 made a move on the #07 of Smith to make it through to 2nd. Dropping Megan to 3rd. Steinman was working on the other Kreis #29 for a way to get around but decided to draft a few laps to get back to the leaders with him to try and make his move. But with only a couple of laps to go...everyone was racing hard to try and get that next position...but the order styed the same from lap 25 to the checkered flag. Earning Chris Terry his 3rd win of the season followed by his Team ROCKHARD Racing Teammate #88 Kaleb Kreis in 2nd and the #07 of Megan Smith taking 3rd. Fourth was Marty Kreis #29 and 5th went to Mike Steinman #16. The top 5 karts finished with 1 second from 1st to 5th!! Andy Taylor #14 lost the draft when battling with the #20 of J.M. Skaggs. With thsi win Chris Terry tightened up the points chase with Steinman drawing with 4 points of the Points Lead with a race the next day on the road course at Katy.

 

Congrats to Chris Terry on his 2nd win in a row and going for 3 the next day.

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Race 12 of the NASKART Season was the day after Racing at HMP the night before. The race was out in Katy at the Gulf Coast Karting track. A 3/4" mile road course. The turn out for the NASKARTS was light on Sunday as only5 karts and 4 drivers showed up to race. The winner from the night before, Team ROCKHARD Racing's #24 Chris Terry, Pearland Car Care #14 Andy Taylor, the 3M/Austin Architectural Graphics #16 of Mike Steinman and the #07 of Megan Smith. With trophys down to 3rd place...someone was going home without one. But would get good points just for taking the green flag. It was a another day of extreme heat and setup was going to be crucial on the road course.

 

Qualifying was a 10 minute session to see who could get the fastest lap for setting up the grid for the heat race and for the bonus point. Qualifying was close for 2nd and 3rd between the #14 of Taylor and the #16 of Steinman as they qualified only .009 of a second difference between them with Steinman coming out in 2nd and Taylor qualifying 3rd. But on the pole a full 1.3 seconds ahead of the 2 of them was Chris Terry #24 lapping at a time of 47.27 to take pole and the bonus point. Bringing him within 3 points of Steinman for the points lead in the series. Megan Smith sat out for qualifying.

 

For the Heat race the order was inverted allowing Taylor to take the pole and Steinman on outside pole. Terry was lined up behind Taylor on the 2nd row and once again Megan smith sat out the heat race. On the start it was a dead heat down the stright into turn 1 between Taylor and Steinman...but Steinman stayed in the gas a little longer and went around the outside of Taylor to take the lead. Steinman then started to build a lead up over Taylor and Terry as they were dicing it up and Terry was looking for a clean pass to get thru to go and chase Steinman down. Steinman lead the first lap and built up a 4 second lead over the first lap and a half. But once Chris terry #24 got passed Taylor #14 he set sail and started eating away at Steinman's lead. over the last 10 laps of the 12 lap race Chris was able to get close to Steinman but ran out of laps to get the heat win as Steinman was able to hold on to a 1.6 second lead at the line. Taking the bonus point for the heat race. This put Chris terry back to 4 points behind. Taylor taking third place behind Terry.

 

For the Main the order was inverted again...putting Taylor #14 back on the pole with Terry #24 on the outside and Steinman #16 on the inside of row 2...this time with the #07 of Megan Smith on the outside of row 2. When the green flag flew for the 15 lap main, Steinman drafted Taylor down the straight into turn 1. The order stayed this way until they got to turns 4 and 5, a switchback in front of the pits. and Steinman got to Taylor's inside and passed coming off of turn 6. Once again Steinman put his head down and started to pull out a lead over the field. the order at the end of lap 1 was Steinman 316, Taylor # 14, Terry #29 and Megan Smith #07. The next lap saw Terry get around Taylor in the same section as steinman, but this time he put his head down and didn't let Steinman have the same lead he had gotten in the heat race. On lap 3 Taylor ran into a brake problem as a bolt came out of his cailper and going into turn 7 the brakes locked up and he spun out. Staying on the track he got going again only to feel the brakes dragging and once he was going down the straightaway...he touched the brakes and they sent him spinning for the 2nd time on the same lap. His day was done. Elevating Megan Smith to 3rd place. Meanwhile up front Steinman was holding onto his lead but Terry was coming fast. By lap 6 terry had caught Steinman and pased him down the front straight as he got a great drive off of the last turn. Once past Steinman was hanging onto terry but was slowly loosing ground to him. Steinman was faster throught turns 4 through 7...but Terry was faster off of the slower corners and down the straight. The order remained this way to the end as Team Rockhard racing's Chris terry took his 2nd win of the weekend by 4 seconds and his 3rd win in a row to cut the points chase down to 2 points with 8 races remaining. Megan Smith #07 took 3rd and the final place on the podium. Taylor took home 4th place points to settle into 3rd in the points.

 

Congratulations to Team ROCKHARD Racing's #24 Chris Terry on his 3rd win in a row.