Race Report from the TEXAS Monster Shootout

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1 word says it all....WOW!!! With the cooler temperatures and great weather, and with 2nd thru 5th in points only being seperated by 5 points, it made for some HOT Racing!!!

 

With a tight schedule for the day having a pit party for fans, the Monster Trucks and the MOTO-X guys, the NASKARTS went the day with NO practice. Relying on past setup notes and no clue how the track would be for racing on. And after a successful pit party, passing out posters and bumper stickers and candy, the NASKARTs were ready at 6:00 pm to line up and race their Heat race to set the grid for the 2 Main features for the night. The grid for the Heat race was set by points inverted and with 13 Karts entered into the race, it was going to be tough for the points leaders to get through traffic from the back in 8 laps. Starting up front on row 1 was

#27 Robert Carr and #8 Chris Birmingham. Row 2 was #4 Jack Kelly and #12 Frank Mena. Row 3 had Team ROCKHARD Racing's #48 Kevin Hummel and #20 the Orange crush of Lyndon "Captain" Kirk. Row 4 saw fan favorite #07 Megan Smith and Team ROCKHARD Racing's #24 Chris Terry. Row 5 saw the father and son combination of team ROCKHARD Racing's #88 Kaleb Kreis and #29 Marty Kreis. Row 6 had the PEARLAND Car Care #14 of Andy Taylor and the 2010 NASKART Series Champion in his 3M/Austin Architecural Graphics #16 Mike Steinman. Row 13 Saw newcomer #18 Matt McDade, making his NASKART debut.

 

When the green flag flew, everyone was in place and 2 single file rows went through turn 1 side by side. But in the middle of the turn Team ROCKHARD Racing's #29 Marty Kreis lost a bolt out of his clutch and the 1/2 quart of oil that it holds sprayed the track and other drivers....but everyone continued on...even Marty!! With only 8 laps to get the job done for the bonus point everyone was scrambling for position. Team ROCKHARD Racing's #29 Marty Kreis was followed by his son #88 Kaleb Kreis and Teammate #24 Chris Terry and the 3 of them went to the front of the pack. With a slick track from the dust and a little oil on it the racing got furious. #16 Mike Steinman starting in the back was moving foward thru the pack as holes opened up for him until he found himself in 4th sandwiched between the ROCKHARD Racing team. He then got by The #88 of Kaleb Kreis down the back straight, then passed the #24 Chris Terry down the front straight and next time down the back straight with 2 to go...he got passed the the leader #29 Marty Kreis. Steinman once out front thought he had it home free....but the #24 stuck on his bumper and worked the outside line. On the white flag lap, Steinman #16 hel his kart down tight to not allow anyone to get underneath him going down the back straight. While Terry was working the outside and setting up for a front straight pass to the line. As they came off of turn 4 #24 Chris Terry made his move and powered up beside Steinman and as they got to the finish line....it was too close to call! Neither driver knew who had won the heat race until 10 minutes later when the results were posted. It was Steinman by .005 of a second at the line!! 1 more foot and it would have been Chris Terry with the win. With the Heat Race win, Steinman got the bonus point to increase his series point lead.

 

more to come!

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As the NASKARTS got ready for their 1st main of the evening, everyone was dialing in their setups fro the main based on their 8 laps of the heat race. The grid was set by the finishing order of the heat race - inverted. This put the #20 Lyndon "Captain" Kirk on the pole with Frank Mena in the #12 on the outside pole. Row 2 had # 8 Chris Birmingham on the inside with the #14 Pearland Car Care of Andy Taylor outside. Row 3 was filled by the #07 and the #27 of Megan Smith and Robert Carr. Row 4 had Team Rockhard Racing Teammates side by side in the #48 and the #88 with Kevin Hummel and Kayleb Kreis. Row 5 was the other 2 Team ROCKHARD Racing Teammates of #29 Marty Kreis and #24 Chris Terry. Row 6 had the heat race winner #14 Mike Steinman and rookie #18 Matt McDade. Row 7 had the #4 of Jack Kelly who chose to drop to the back of the grid in case of a mechanical problem.

 

As the NASKARTS were taking their warm up laps...it was noticed by all that the track was very dusty from the monster trucks and that the corners seemed a little slick. So everyone was on their toes when the green flag flew. Going into turn 1 leading the pack was #20 Lyndon Kirk and beside him was Frank Mena #12 with everyone behind starting to jocky for positions. Some sliding and bumping thru the turns pushed some of th karts wide and made holes for others. For the first few laps no one was able to pull away and the pack was constantly changing order. Steinman starting in the rear had made his way up to 6th from the last row but then got shuffled back to 10th going thru turns 3 and 4. Chris Terry was biding his time letting everyone shuffle around to sort themselves out. Out front though was a battle going on between the #12 of Mena, #14 Andy Taylor, #27 Robert Carr and ROCKHARD Teammates #48 Kevin Hummel and #88 Kaleb Kreis. About lap 6 Steinman hooked up with the #24 of Chris Terry and the 2 of Them started drafting up through the field. By lap 6 they had moved up to 5th and 6th chasing down the #88 of Kaleb Kreis, the #27 of Robert Carr who was drafting with the #14 of Taylor and they were chasing the #20 of Kirk who was leading. By lap 8 #24 Terry & #16 Steinman

worked their way past the #88 and drafted up alongside the #14 and #27 of Taylor and Carr. Next lap they cleared the 2 of them and set out to run down the leader, Krik #20. The next lap they caught the #20 of Kirk and drafted past for the #24 to take the lead with #16 Steinman right on his bumper. On Lap 11 with the flagman signaling 1 lap to go to the competiton yellow, Steinman pulled out of the draft coming out of 4 and tried to make his moved to take the lead and be leading for the restart...but just as #24 Chris Terry came up just a lil short in the heat race for the win, Steinman came up short and was going to be restarting on the outside pole.

 

On the re-racking and stacking the karts up for the restart, the green dropped again with #24 Terry getting the jump on the field with the #20 of Kirk in tow. Steinman #16 on the outside slid up a little thru turns 1 and 2 and allowed the #27 of Carr to slip by into 3rd. Next lap Steinman got by the #27 Carr on the inside thru turns 1 and 2 and set out after Kirk in the #20. Terry had started pulling away from the field so #16 Steinman Hooked up with Kirk #20 to see if they could draft back up to the #24 of Terry. Lap after lap they got closer to the #24 of Terry but seemed to not be able to get any closer than about 1 1/2 to 2 karts behind him. It was like they hit a wall and could'nt go any further fowards. So with just a few laps to go...Steinman pulled down to the inside of Kirk and passed him on the back straight to see if he could make a run alone to catch Terry. Steinman got closer but as the laps ran out...it Was Team ROCKHARD Racing's #24 Chris Terry finishing first, with the 3M/Austin Architectural graphcis #16 of Steinman 2nd and the Orange Crush of Lyndon Kirk #20 3rd.

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For the second main of the evening....the track was even dustier than it was the first race. Dust and dirt were flying when the NASKARTS took to the track for their warmup laps. But everyone was ready to go racing and see if they could win the 2nd feature. Team RROCKHARD Racing's #24 Chris terry was looking to take the double wins for the night. But everyone else had other intentions!! With the grid set from the finishing order of the first race - inverted, it saw the fast guys from the first race sitting in back again. And since Team ROCKHARD Racing's #29 Marty Kreis had a mechanical issue he had the Lyndon Kirk race in his place as the #29. And rookie Matt McDade not comfortable with the seat in his kart sat out for the 2nd feature. So this put #8 Chris Birmingham up on pole with #12 Frank Mena on the outside pole. Megan Smith #07 and #14 Andy Taylor were on the 2nd row. 3rd row was #4 Jack Kelly and Team ROCKHARD Racing's #48 Kevin Hummel. 4th row was another of Team ROCKHARD Racing's #88 Kaleb Kreis and #27 Robert Carr. 5th Row Saw #20 Lyndon Kirk and #16 Mike Steinman with Team ROCKHARD Racing's #24 Chris Terry on the 6th row alone. The race got off to a clean start and going into 1 and 2 the field started dicing hard with positions already changing down the back straight. jumping out to the front were the #14 of Andy Taylor and the #27 of Robert Carr with #07 Megan Smith in tow. Followed by the #88 Kreis, the #4 of Kelly and the #48 of Kevin Hummel. Slicing thru the field from the back though wer the #29 of Kirk, #16 Steinman and early race winner #24 Terry. On lap 5 Steinman #16 and Terry #24 moved past the #29 of Kirk and moved up to 4th and 5th chasing down the leaders. On the next lap #07 Megan Smith got inside of the #27 of Carr and opened a hole for Steinman to go thru with her. Steinman staying low lost a little grip and slid up into the #27 of Carr pushing him wide and making it a drag race down the back straight for position into turn 3. Going thru 3 and 4 Steinman #16 drafted up to the 307 and made a move to the inside to pass the #07 and go after Taylor in the #14. Terry made the pass on the #07 down the back stretch and was looking to make it a 3 kart break-away. Steinman drafted up to the #14 of Taylor and latched on and started drafting with Taylor to try and break away. With the #24 of Terry and the #07 of Megan Smith and the #27 of Carr starting to try and battle for position, the front 2 karts started to draft away and build up a lead. with about 15 laps to go the flag held up 1 finger with a rolled up yellow flag signalling the field the yellow was coming out next lap...so Steinman made his move down the back stretch to take the lead from Taylor and being able to start from pol on the restart. Taylor was outside pole with Chris Terry #24 right behind Steinman and Robert Carr #27 behind Taylor. When the Green Flag Flew Steinman got a good run to 1 but Taylor with a good push from the #27 of Carr got into turn 1 first and Steinman lost a little grip tight on the inside, allowing Taylor to get back into the lead. Steinman once again latched onto Taylor to try and make a breakway...but this time the #24 of Chris Terry was able to stay right with them. the order stayed this way with #27 Carr in 4th for many laps....but with 5 laps to go...Terry was looking for a way to get around the 2 karts in front of him. With it now obvious Steinman was helping Taylor and blcoking for him, Terry was trying everywhere he could to make a pass. He would try inside but the 2 drafting karts would work together allowing them to not let him get position inside. So he went to the outside. He could get to Stinman's rear tires...but not into position for the pass. With 2 to go.....it looked like taylor was about to get his first NASKART Win at HMP, but it wasn't to be. As his kart seemed to start to slow a bit...and with Terry #24 almost making the pass on Steinman....Steinman pulled out of the draft and passed Taylor on the inside down the back Straight. As Taylor got to turn 3 the back end almost came around on him making him feel like he just got hit by Terry...but it was a tire going down and Terry got past and set out to try and get past Steinman. As they came to the white flag Terrywas looking to get past Steinman....Steinman held a low line and got a good drive off of 2 but went low to make sure terry couldn't get by him.....Terry tried 1 last time off of turn 3 on the outside. But Steinman was able to hold him off for the 2nd Feature win. #24 Terry in 2nd and on the last lap the #27 of Robert Carr got past Taylor #14 for 3rd.

 

It was Great Racing all night with Team ROCKHARD Racing's Chris Terry jumping up to 2nd in points over #14 Taylor then #88 Kaleb Kreis and the #29 of Marty Kreis. With 1 race to go though and only 11 points seperating 2nd thru 5th...this battle will go down to the wire at Red River Speedway on November 6th!!