Rick
11-17-2006, 08:34 AM
After enjoying sunny skies and 70ﾰ temperatures for Tuesday's opening practice day, the drivers at this year's Rotax Grand Finals were greeted to clouds and even some light morning rain when they left their hotels bound for the Kartodromo Viana. The weather would remain cloudy, cool and extremely windy throughout the day as the schedule featured two practice sessions and the event's official qualifying. In the end, rain would arrive to spoil the party, dampening the circuit for the afternoon time trials with what would eventually grow into a heavy storm.
The Kartodromo Viana facility is centered on a nine-turn 1117 metre long racetrack that features a number of shorter straights and a pair of tight hairpins. The track is extremely fast and only started to take on rubber today as the sessions were completed.
Like the other national squads, the large Team USA is paddocked in a massive tented area with each co! untry identified by huge banners that included the nation's flag and a list of the drivers involved. The overall atmosphere of the event is very exciting and the participation by so many different countries is truly inspiring. Being part of this race is surely a highlight of any driver's career.
Team USA arrived safe and sound here in Portugal; it's too bad that their luggage was not as lucky. A good majority of the team is still missing at least one bag. On-track, the team is settling in nicely and working together well as we have a number of competitors in the top half of the grid. The team is focused and they are confident that they will be in the hunt come Saturday.
http://www.ekartingnews.com/images/content/6718.JPG
Returning for a second apperance, Timmy Megenbier sits 21st in Junior
DD2
In the two-speed DD2 category, Wesleigh Orr benefited from the extra track time to set the early pace with a 44.864-second lap in the first group. Las Vegas, NV's Curtis Cooksey abandoned his Stock Moto pole position at the SKUSA SuperNationals on Sunday to travel to Portugal and he looks good out of the box, sitting 12th in the opening group. Cooksey posted a 45.651 and was just .787 off the fast time. Cooksey then went to work on the front-end for the second session and also made a jetting adjustment. Texas' Justin Melton joined Cooksey in the first group, running in only his third kart race since last year's Grand Finals. Melton spent the year running a 360 sprint car and will move to a USAC midget next season. Sitting 18th in the order, Justin and his father Mike are slowly getting back up to speed and are con! fident that they will continue to improve. Greg Thek battled through gearbox issues on Tuesday and was not able to focus on his chassis, thereby posting the 21st fastest time of the first group. January Grove and her mechanic made some radical chassis changes for today's run and they back-fired as she struggled to 23rd and was not happy with her performance. They went back to their baseline in an effort to pick up some speed through the day. Nathan Mauel told EKN that his car is getting better, as he made a gear adjustment heading into the second session after running to 21st in the second group.
After racing at the SKUSA SuperNationals on the weekend, three-time US Rotax Jordan Musser finally arrived on Wednesday morning after a much delayed trip and he proceeded to rapidly complete the prep on his kart, aided by the Mauels, Brooke Cooksey and EKN's Rob Howden. Musser proceeded to jump in his using a collection of back-up Team USA safety equipment as his gear bag w! as lost in transit. Quick from the get-go, Musser impressed as he was 12th in the second group, just 0.678 seconds off of the UK's Michael Simpson.
The Canadian DD2 contingent is being headed by the ultra-quick Pier-Luc Ouellette, the country's champion, and he showed extremely well in the opening session, timing in second quick in the second group with a 45.251, good enough for sixth overall. Jean-Francois Valour and Scott Campbell were eighth and ninth in the second group, while Dennis Yasar was 16th in the opening pack of karts.
In the second DD2 session, held after the lunch break, Orr again led the way as the wet weather made its arrival with a light sprinkle that did not affect the track's grip. Cooksey continued to improve and advanced to sixth in the first group with a 45.413 to Orr's 44.891. Melton got a little quicker but held station in 19th while Thek and Grove were just on the other side of the 46-second barrier to sit 20th and 21st, respectively in the first group. In returning to her baseline set-up, Grove found ! a half-second and looked much better on this quick racetrack. Musser improved as well, dropping another tenth of a second to advance up to tenth in the second group, getting more comfortable with his ride. Mauel ran the same pace as the opening session and wound up 17th in the group two order.
Ouellette was not able to find any more speed and dropped to sixth while both Valour and Campbell posted similar times to the first run to hold position in eighth and ninth. Yasar did pick up the pace, improving four tenths to jump up to tenth in the second group as the second fastest Canadian. In this session, all four Team Canada DD2 drivers were in the top-20.
Canadians led the way for the North Americans in the wet qualifying sessions as Ouellette and Valour ended up 9th and 10th, respectively, in the final order, as South Africa's Leeroy Poulter posted a 55.275 but was DQ'd for illegally swapping his front and rear hubs to better prep the kart for the rain. The Te! am USA drivers who led earlier in the day all struggled in the teaming rain, as Mauel recorded the squad's fastest time with a 56.748, good enough for 21st. Melton continues to get more comfortable, although he found himself crippled with a flat right rear. Cooksey told EKN that he simply missed the set-up on his RM1 and just couldn't get the power down, taking 31st in the final tally with a 57.299. The chassis also suffered from a dragging front brake disc, which was hampering its straight-line braking. Musser was equally as frustrated, calling his wet qualifying run the worst karting experience of my life'. Hampered by using borrowed equipment and without much of an idea on how to set-up the RM1 chassis for the rain, Musser struggled with a fogged visor and an evil ride, setting the 33rd fastest time. Scott Campbell was 36th in the order, just ahead of January Grove, while Thek had a deflating left front tire that was causing the kart to pull drastically to the left under heavy braking.
The Kartodromo Viana facility is centered on a nine-turn 1117 metre long racetrack that features a number of shorter straights and a pair of tight hairpins. The track is extremely fast and only started to take on rubber today as the sessions were completed.
Like the other national squads, the large Team USA is paddocked in a massive tented area with each co! untry identified by huge banners that included the nation's flag and a list of the drivers involved. The overall atmosphere of the event is very exciting and the participation by so many different countries is truly inspiring. Being part of this race is surely a highlight of any driver's career.
Team USA arrived safe and sound here in Portugal; it's too bad that their luggage was not as lucky. A good majority of the team is still missing at least one bag. On-track, the team is settling in nicely and working together well as we have a number of competitors in the top half of the grid. The team is focused and they are confident that they will be in the hunt come Saturday.
http://www.ekartingnews.com/images/content/6718.JPG
Returning for a second apperance, Timmy Megenbier sits 21st in Junior
DD2
In the two-speed DD2 category, Wesleigh Orr benefited from the extra track time to set the early pace with a 44.864-second lap in the first group. Las Vegas, NV's Curtis Cooksey abandoned his Stock Moto pole position at the SKUSA SuperNationals on Sunday to travel to Portugal and he looks good out of the box, sitting 12th in the opening group. Cooksey posted a 45.651 and was just .787 off the fast time. Cooksey then went to work on the front-end for the second session and also made a jetting adjustment. Texas' Justin Melton joined Cooksey in the first group, running in only his third kart race since last year's Grand Finals. Melton spent the year running a 360 sprint car and will move to a USAC midget next season. Sitting 18th in the order, Justin and his father Mike are slowly getting back up to speed and are con! fident that they will continue to improve. Greg Thek battled through gearbox issues on Tuesday and was not able to focus on his chassis, thereby posting the 21st fastest time of the first group. January Grove and her mechanic made some radical chassis changes for today's run and they back-fired as she struggled to 23rd and was not happy with her performance. They went back to their baseline in an effort to pick up some speed through the day. Nathan Mauel told EKN that his car is getting better, as he made a gear adjustment heading into the second session after running to 21st in the second group.
After racing at the SKUSA SuperNationals on the weekend, three-time US Rotax Jordan Musser finally arrived on Wednesday morning after a much delayed trip and he proceeded to rapidly complete the prep on his kart, aided by the Mauels, Brooke Cooksey and EKN's Rob Howden. Musser proceeded to jump in his using a collection of back-up Team USA safety equipment as his gear bag w! as lost in transit. Quick from the get-go, Musser impressed as he was 12th in the second group, just 0.678 seconds off of the UK's Michael Simpson.
The Canadian DD2 contingent is being headed by the ultra-quick Pier-Luc Ouellette, the country's champion, and he showed extremely well in the opening session, timing in second quick in the second group with a 45.251, good enough for sixth overall. Jean-Francois Valour and Scott Campbell were eighth and ninth in the second group, while Dennis Yasar was 16th in the opening pack of karts.
In the second DD2 session, held after the lunch break, Orr again led the way as the wet weather made its arrival with a light sprinkle that did not affect the track's grip. Cooksey continued to improve and advanced to sixth in the first group with a 45.413 to Orr's 44.891. Melton got a little quicker but held station in 19th while Thek and Grove were just on the other side of the 46-second barrier to sit 20th and 21st, respectively in the first group. In returning to her baseline set-up, Grove found ! a half-second and looked much better on this quick racetrack. Musser improved as well, dropping another tenth of a second to advance up to tenth in the second group, getting more comfortable with his ride. Mauel ran the same pace as the opening session and wound up 17th in the group two order.
Ouellette was not able to find any more speed and dropped to sixth while both Valour and Campbell posted similar times to the first run to hold position in eighth and ninth. Yasar did pick up the pace, improving four tenths to jump up to tenth in the second group as the second fastest Canadian. In this session, all four Team Canada DD2 drivers were in the top-20.
Canadians led the way for the North Americans in the wet qualifying sessions as Ouellette and Valour ended up 9th and 10th, respectively, in the final order, as South Africa's Leeroy Poulter posted a 55.275 but was DQ'd for illegally swapping his front and rear hubs to better prep the kart for the rain. The Te! am USA drivers who led earlier in the day all struggled in the teaming rain, as Mauel recorded the squad's fastest time with a 56.748, good enough for 21st. Melton continues to get more comfortable, although he found himself crippled with a flat right rear. Cooksey told EKN that he simply missed the set-up on his RM1 and just couldn't get the power down, taking 31st in the final tally with a 57.299. The chassis also suffered from a dragging front brake disc, which was hampering its straight-line braking. Musser was equally as frustrated, calling his wet qualifying run the worst karting experience of my life'. Hampered by using borrowed equipment and without much of an idea on how to set-up the RM1 chassis for the rain, Musser struggled with a fogged visor and an evil ride, setting the 33rd fastest time. Scott Campbell was 36th in the order, just ahead of January Grove, while Thek had a deflating left front tire that was causing the kart to pull drastically to the left under heavy braking.