SKUSA Red River Region Race Report

Rounds 3 & 4 April 17-18

OMC Norman Ok

Track improvements at OMC were put to the test this weekend as 105 entries came together for 2 days of racing.  Mostly cloudy weather in the 70's had air density readings in 93% range both days.  OMC recently had some track grinding done to bring bring it back to it's normal glass-smooth surface leaving Friday's practice times about 2 seconds off the pace.  As the green track became seasoned through the weekend, lap times came down with the track returning to fast by Sunday. 

Race Director Jon Anderson ran a flawless race with Swiss-timing punctuality.  Plenty of morning practice with racing concluded by 4:30 each day.

Sunday brought in a sustained 25MPH wind with gusts to 40MPH.  In the early AM the winds were from the east blowing down the main straight with most of the more savvy racers dropping a notch on gearing.  By afternoon the wind shifted from out of the south putting the test to EZY-Up canopies.

Bill Kistler of Racepix was there taking excellent photos.  Racepix Photo Gallery 

Kartweb will have a short video on-line later in the week.

Kid Karts - Round 3

Kid Karts - Round 4

TJ Michael and Creighton Dekalb put on a great show on both days with several passes made.  With best lap times only a tenth of a second apart, the battle was intense - certainly slower then the 125 Pros, but exciting none-the-less.

Jr 1 - Round 3

Jr 1 - Round 4

80Jr - Round 3

80Jr - Round 4

So far this year Chad Bryant has had a perfect record in the Red River Series, racking up two more poles and two more wins.  On Sunday Xan Rose was glued to the bumper of Cody Jolly all 18 laps with a last lap pass attempt at across the checker - the pass was made just after the start finish line with the final call made by scoring.

MiniMax & 60cc Novice 60/80 - Round 3

MiniMax & 60cc Novice 60/80 - Round 4

The MiniMax and Novice 60/80 classes were small, yet put on a good race both days.  Clay Settles who raced Saturday only worked hard to keep up with Chance turner and appeared to get tired in the final laps leaving Chance to extend the margin of victory. The lone Novice 10 of Zane started from the pits about 30 seconds back.  On Sunday, Zane drove very hard catching and passing both MiniMax's about lap 6, then went on to pull a 5 second lead. Chance Turner set his sites on Zane and stepped up the pace catching Zane in the final laps.  Both drivers were working very hard occasionally dropping a wheel on turn exits.

TAG Jr/Sr/Masters - Round 3

TAG Jr/Sr/Masters - Round 4

In TAG Senior, Sean Owens took his Rotax powered Invader to the win both days by a comfortable margin.  Saturday saw Michael Brookes (Leopard/Intrepid) with a slim lead over Gary Butler (Biland/Intrepid) for TAG Masters.  Sunday Jeff Mills and Michael Brookes put on the battle of the class with Jeff taking the victory by 1 kartlength.

G1 & K1 - Round 3

G1 & K1 - Round 4

Todd Vandermolen put his Honda CR125 power up front on both days.  Working the second lap on Saturday Steve "Flyin Hawaiian" Startz  Was in the catbird seat when his TM seized collecting Rich Phillips in the process.  Dave Kinsey broke a throttle cable on his Honda powered kart adding to the attrition.  Dave decided to work out the bugs on his new Pavesi powered CRG Saturday evening and brought that to the show for Sunday.

125 Pro - Round 3

125 Pro - Round 4

Collin Lynn winner of the first two SuperG races in ProMoto this year, elected to get his regional punches in with the 125 Pro class on Saturday.  SuperPro Driver Chris Jackson bogged on the start of the Main, falling back to last position on the launch.  Collin simply pulled away from second place Reed for the early laps, and with a comfortable margin dropped of the pace towards the end.

Ryan Kinnear took the lead on Sunday with Reed and Chris in close pursuit.  As the Red River series allows only one set of tires for both days, tire conservation plays into the equation a little more then the ProMoto series.  As both Ryan and Reed are masters of tire conservation, the margin was very close at the end.

The entire 125 Pro class is now on ICC power.  While the class runs to S1 rules, like the ProMoto series, Motos are disappearing from the regional entry lists as well.

At the end of Sunday's race, the 125 Pro drivers chose to change the 1 set of tires rules to 2 sets allowing them an atmosphere more like the ProMoto series.