June 16-18 brought us to Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course in Lexington, Ohio for a combined Championship Enduro Series Race 3 and Dart Kart Club Race 2. Dart Kart club hosted this event on Mid-Ohio is a rolling 2.4 mile course. The track is tricky with long fast straights and several challenging corners including a blind downhill off camber and a carousel. Mid-Ohio is also home to a great Indy Car race second only to Road America’s. This being a Dart Kart Club event we needed to follow their rule set which includes using a restrictor on both of his motors slowing him down and annoys him very much.
We arrived Friday morning for a day of practice. Jason need to learn this track, while still getting used to his road kart. The sprint kart still needed to be buttoned up after replacing the nerf bar and have the new body panel put on. In the first practice session Jason went out in his sprint kart and promptly broke down after the first lap. Upon his return on the trailer of shame, I found no oil in the motor, a scored tire from a body panel screw, and the frame was also cracked. That left him to run in his road kart for most of the day, which thankfully was holding together and running nicely. Once again Marty Murray had his welder out and fixed the sprint frame, I put the spare motor, and spare tires on by late afternoon it was on the track for shake down. Both karts were running pretty well and did not require much tuning. Only thing left to do is race and see where we stack up against the locals.
In his first race on Saturday the problems continued. His sprint kart left with a great start and his competition had motor issues and started half a minute after Jason left. The other driver was in a road kart and ran laps about 4 seconds faster. Nearly halfway through the race he was getting close enough to start thinking about passing Jason, when Jason’s kart threw the chain. Due to a bit of luck, the other kart broke down too and stopped 50 yards behind. Jason was in the lead in the last counted lap which gave him a lucky win. They had a nice chat while waiting for race to end pickup. The afternoon race in the road kart was more interesting. He had 3 other drivers to contend with and got a great start but the others missed the green and started many seconds behind. Jason led the race and built on the already large gap, sealing the second win of he day.
Racing on Sunday started in the with bit of practice and a boring solo race for Jason and his sprint kart win number 3. Due to registration issues Jason started afternoon race in the last spot behind 4 karts, the other drivers had lap times near Jason’s but he was a little faster in practice. Did they tune? Did we tune enough, argg!?!, it’s too late now and the flag drops. Within the first 100 feet, Jason passed the first two by the end of the first lap he grabbed the lead and never looked back. Each lap he put another second on the field, he was in a different time zone. After 31 minutes and 14 laps Jason was 20 second ahead of the field completing the sweep of the weekend.
Jason will be at the July 3rd Monday Night Car Show(Old Orchard Mall) and on the 4th he will be in the Glenview 4th of July parade. The next race will the a Championship Enduro Series and Dart Kart Club event at Grattan Raceway Park, Jason’s favorite track. Grattan will include a Friday practice and will be hosting the 4 Cycle Central Animal Nationals as well as some pro racing in other classes on Friday and Saturday night.
Remembering Joe Pribyl, without whom this would have never been possible.
Oct 29, 1940 – July 2, 2017
Thanks Dad and Grandpa
Thanks to the teams at Mid-Ohio, AKRA, Dart Kart Club, and Championship Enduro Series for putting on a great event. As per usual we owe gratitude to the Murray’s and Regan at 4 Cycle Central for keeping our karts fast and on the track.
Thanks to our 2017 Sponsors for their continuing support.
Bell Helmets, GoPro, Slick Products, Shorai, Amsoil, Winning Synthetics, EVS Sports, Stardust Memorials, The Greenwood Restaurant, C&M Auto Service, Atomic Decals, Danrr Autobody, Christian Lantry Photographer, Jennings Chevrolet, Xona Software