Upcoming WKA 2013 changes to Juniors and Seniors can class

[Gary Osterholt]

[Mark Erpelding]

Being the Parent of a senior driver, (in college) the one who is paying the karting bills I am in total disagreement with any changes to the Senior class also. Why in this economy would WKA do anything to cost the racer more money? All this will do is drive away existing racers that have already strained budgets!! They should be happy with the good turnout they have. We don't care if we are going a bit slower than juniors. It is still very close hard competitave racing. When did they ever ask the racers what they want? This is Obama Pipe!! Local tracks have already said they were not changng. So now we will need engines for the new Obama Pipe and the old can. Maybe another National series forming? This was total distruction when Indy had thier split. I guess it is comming to karting now. I am for growing the sport not implodeing it!!!
_________________
We spend our money on Racing, Whiskey, and Women ~ The rest we waste!

[Dan Schlosser]

I disagree completely Tim - we have a much bigger stake in this than you do. You have 2-3 years left in Junior classes and then you'll be this vested in Senior rules instead. My son has been out of Juniors for two years but this isn't about my son's interest. This is about our concern with everything from Kid Kart to TAG including all four stops on the Yamaha Ladder for the racers in our program. It isn't about one kid or one family or one persons investment. It is about having an entire program that makes sense and a program with better growth potential. My interest in what happens in all these classes hopefully is still relevant many years from now, continued employment pending obviously.

I don't understand what point you are trying to make about the press release - they talk about a ladder system and they refer to Sportsman, Junior & Senior. I'm not sure how you can read anything other in to that than they want to improve the ladder system between Sportsman, Junior and Senior. I can't imagine they meant the ladder from Komet Sportsman to Yamaha Junior to TAG.

Frankly you and John have done a wonderful job demonstrating why racers and/or parents should not be making the rules (as well as manufacturers and sponsors) and that there should be a benevolent dictatorship. Only then would decisions be made for the sport on the whole and not for personal interests.

---

John - your premise was wrong based on the data presented. Why do you choose to ignore that and still offer up the same argument?

As for if we will require the restrictor for next year at PRK, I'm inclined to do so at this point as well as change to the Yamaha Pipe for Senior. Our Senior Yamaha has been on life support for awhile - status quo has not helped so I'm very interested in finding out if it can be revived by this change. My opinion is that it'll take 2 years at least to see any results. I can say almost without question though that changing to the new Junior rule will have zero impact on our turnout in that class. They'll run what the rules dictate. We take suggestions and contributions seriously but ultimately we make decisions on what is best for long term growth and sustainability.

[John Horn 33]

Dan I'm not sure what you meant about my premise??? And don't really care to try to figure it all out. Had a bad day at the track. Proved my point to myself at the expense of two engines. Who should I send the bill to??????

We were well over a second off regular junior times and then the first motor fell off. Very low compression, I didn't think much about it and changed to another engine. Fell off after 10 laps. Guess what. No compression again.

We had to have the low speed cranked in to 1 turn to get them to stop 4 cycling and my thought now is lack of lubrication? I'm not an engine builder so I'm not sure what exactly to think but I can tell you this for sure. If you just bolt on the cup and lean it out, there will be a lot of scrap for sale at Daytona. I foresee a lot of testing to keep from ruining everything.

[Mark Erpelding]

It amazes me that they can compare an afternoon test session with 20+ years of proven Facts and reliabiliaty.
_________________
We spend our money on Racing, Whiskey, and Women ~ The rest we waste!

[Ron Gordon]

John & Dan,

You both have validity in your statements,

John, I know you and how you like to test and if you say it doesn't work, I am sure it doesn't work and if that is the case the junior class will suffer across the board.

I also believe that you do understand and support the need for a ladder system that ensures that the progression from one class to the next is met with greater speed as it should be. I have a few years before I get to the Junior stage but also would hope that going up in class does not mean going down in speed.

But, since you, Dan and few others have mentioned a class in this ladder system for which I do have knowledge in, Kid Karts I have some info that may hurt the future of the junior and senior classes even more into the future than a simple restrictor or pipe:

The kid kart class is another place that I hear WKA is thinking of possibly messing with in the next few years and could potentially hurt many of the 2-cycle classes in the future. They may be starting the down turn now as I noticed that the Kid Karts were not included in the class list this year at Dayton (no where on entry form to register) and secondly I hear through the grape vine, that they are thinking of getting rid of the 2-cycle aspect of the class and go all 4-cycle (out with the long standing Comer in with the New Briggs L206JR) I understand this is a push mainly due to money at the company level and also to possibly impove entries on the dwindelling Gold Cup Side of WKA.

So, if the 2-cycle is taken out of Kid Karts in Man Cup and they all go and feed the Gold Cup with the 4-cycle Kid Karts, where do you think most of those kids and parents will stay...Yep...Gold Cup...

So in the end the Man Cup is going to suffer from the very start when it comes to many of the Newest Members starting at Gold Cup and then sooner or later, Man Cup will have number similar or below that of Gold Cup because those 8 year olds and their parents are going to stay where they have roots so to speak ...and a new ladder will have to be built to help get it all back again.

And, just as Dan has stated above, the worst part of all this, the Junior/Senior Changes and elimination of a 2-cycle kid kart class, is that not only will the Man Cup entries maybe dwindle some at the start, it will hit the local clubs even harder, as the local clubs are the feeders to WKA and to keep numbers up at the local levels, they will be forced to go to the WKA Class Structures or just pull up stakes and disapear.

I hope WKA can find a way to create this ladder system that ensures everyone doesnt loose and also not kill a long standing 2-cycle class with numbers that sometimes rivals that of the rest of the classes, just to improve a loosing venture, thier bank account and the never ending saga of the ladder of speed.

Ron
_________________
Just another one of the Many OVKA Karter's
and OVKA Kid Kart Director

[patrick slattery]

Ron, not true other than the kid kart class was eliminated from all Man Cup events for 2013. This is due to time constraints, the very well received Yamaha Rookie class and a very small turnout at the WKA events for the kid kart class. The Rookie class is open to 7 to 10 year old kids, which covers most of the kid karters and is with a much more reliable package

[Ron Gordon]

[John Horn 33]

Ron, I am not saying that the package won't work, I am sure with some testing, changes to the engine and carb, we will be able to get it to work. It was sold to us as just lean the carb down a little and it will be fine. That may be the case at a track like New Castle, but at a stop and go track like Camden, it really hurts to the performance of the engine. I also feel like at a national level race, the rubber build up will really hurt the juniors with the lower horsepower and the larger rear tires, this could mean that we have to switch to a different chassis, axle, wheels??? Who knows, only time will tell.

[Greg Wright]

[patrick slattery]

[John Horn 33]

Yes...I was referring to the junior using the 6.0 versus the lower hp sportsman using the 4.5.

[patrick slattery]

[Greg Wright]

[Ron Gordon]

So, if the Sportsman Karts are already slower than the Juniors, but the Juniors are running faster than the seniors...

Why not just make the seniors faster someway (like back to pipe only Senior Classes) and leave the rest alone?????

Ron
_________________
Just another one of the Many OVKA Karter's
and OVKA Kid Kart Director