Midwest Sprint Series @ CHMS

[Rick]

The Midwest Sprint Series (http://www.midwestsprint.com/) is holding a race at CHMS this weekend. Its supposed to be more competitive than Route 66 :22_yikes:. Anyone going? A driver from the MWSS raced in HPV Heavy at CHMS last week and won by a large margin.

[D. Harrington]

Midwest Sprint Series is a very competitive series. It is a WKA Regional Series, and many of the competitors race in the WKA Manufacturer's Cup. Usually, MWSS runs a week or so prior to the WKA race at the same track. Many racers use this series as a "tune up" for the WKA race. Although Norway does not have a Man Cup National this year, you should expect a very high level of competition. This will be the most competitive race since Norway hosted a WKA National a few years back.

[Rick]

:bugeye::jawdrop::uhoh: Wow, this sounds like it's going to be an intense race. Probably a good warm up for Rock Island. Thanks for the heads up Dave. Now I'm really nervous.

[Rick]

It looks like TAG is scheduled (http://midwestsprint.com/assets/Schedule%20of%20Events%20Norway.pdf) for Sunday qualifying and racing.

[Rob Bialkowski]

So there will not be a TAG race on Saturday right?

[Rick]

So there will not be a TAG race on Saturday right?

Robert, I'm not sure either. I will call CHMS tomorrow and make sure. It's confusing because the Fuel Truck is only on the schedule on Saturday. So I'm wondering if I have to show up to buy some fuel for Sunday. :confused:

[Rick]

I found out I have to buy the fuel on Saturday and race on Sunday. :frown: I'll have to drive all the way out there just to buy fuel and drive back and then drive out there again to wait around until the last race just to race.


That SUCKS! But I guess I need my fix!

[vpalmieri]

Matt and Stefan will be racing at New Castle with SKUSA. SKUSA has TaG races on Saturday and Sunday. In my opinion WKA and Midwest Sprint continue to ignore the increasing popularity of the TaG class and are the defenders of the "old guard" of karting. Good luck to those of you racing at Norway.

[Rick]

Matt and Stefan will be racing at New Castle with SKUSA. SKUSA has TaG races on Saturday and Sunday. In my opinion WKA and Midwest Sprint continue to ignore the increasing popularity of the TaG class and are the defenders of the "old guard" of karting. Good luck to those of you racing at Norway.

I'm curious why you think that since the Midwest Sprint Series does have a class for TAG. What is the "old guard" of karting? I know they seem to favor HPV. Is that what you are referring too?

[Rick]

http://jbwarehouse.blogspot.com/robin.jpg

HOLY COW Batman! There's a gazillion trailers at Norway!

I just got back from Norway. There are twice as many trailers as there were for the Route 66 race! I think there are 250 entries so far.

[Rick]

:shakehead: Wow, I suck. I finished 7th out of 12th. I did about as well as I expected and and worse than I had originally hoped for. :frown: I just wasn't confident enough to pull off passes. The guy in front of me in the final was blocking and I just couldn't pull the trigger. I just need to grow a set or become a bigger ***hole. :)

Over all the race was very clean and very exciting. There was a lot of side by side action and no contact. The Midwest Sprint Series ran like clockwork. There were almost no delays and we were done by 4pm. The quality of driving was higher than I've ever experienced in outdoor karting.

http://www.mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=618567&highlight=7

http://www.mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=618566&highlight=7

http://www.mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=618568&highlight=7

[vpalmieri]

Don't get me wrong. I admire any organization that takes the time and effort (on a volunteer basis) to organize a kart racing series. But just look at the type and number of classes offered (I think there are four Yamaha classes on Saturday alone). GLSKUSA at NCMP this weekend had three shifter classes and two TaG classes (although no one ran in Junior). West Coast SKUSA regularly runs TaG "Senior", Junior and Masters classes. TaG "Senior" is generally one of the largest classes at the races I have been to this year (20 at NCMP this weekend, 80 at the SuperNats last year).

This is just based on my own observations (and certainly not any scientific study) but the whole WKA structure seems to view both shifters and TaG as a separate culture from the traditional WKA (JICA, Yamaha, HPV) world. Just a thought.

[D. Harrington]

Vince,

I would not be surprised if WKA changes it structure next year so that TAG Senior can race on Saturday and Sunday....and possibly even add a Tag Heavy class. WKA's numbers in the ICA class are extremely low....this class should be eliminated....ICA drivers can run the Stars events.

[vpalmieri]

WKA just added ten pounds of weight to the Leopard engine and removed five pounds from the Sonic. While we can all argue about the wisdom (or lack thereof) behind the adjustment, I do not understand how they can justify doing this mid-season. I have not been impressed with the WKA so far.

[Martin Lenick]

You guys have seen many-fold more than I have, and I can see raising the weight on a Leopard relative to a Rotax but can't see dropping the weight on a Sonic (especially relative to a Rotax).

The mid-season changes...? Who bought what motor simple because it was better than the other "equal" motor? Certainly nobody other than a Sonic buyer. Isn't this mid-season move, if anything, backward?

[CIR-Reed]

I think they should raise the minimum weight on all the engines by 80 pounds :thumb1:

[Rick]

I think they should lower the weights on whatever engine I'm using. :thumbsup: