Official Thread: 2011 Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix

Mike Manning · Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:37 am Post subject:

Nope....same helmet. Thanks yannick for the video.
_________________
Mike Manning
Mike Manning Karting
Since 1980

www.mikemanningkarting.net

Mike Lewis · Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 11:51 am Post subject:

List of thanks:

Tony for the quick updates, it was helpful at the track and in the pits, and the photos.

Rob and Ekartingnews for such professional coverage as always, and the live-timing app on the iPhone was awesome for this event (since it was hard to see all but 1 turn of the track at a time).

Mike Manning at MMK for allowing us to run his CRG/Rotax karts and team manager Michel Manning for setting us up with a ride.

City of Lancaster and SKUSA for their hard work setting up the track and keeping us on schedule all day.

JetSuite for their awesome deals on private jets for our team's travel: http://www.facebook.com/JetSuiteAir
_________________
Mike Lewis, Kartsport SP
(JetSuite, RetailTrader.net, Falcon Operations Group, Brett King Design)

Mike Lewis · Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 11:58 am Post subject:

If anyone has more photos, or know who has them, please let me know.
_________________
Mike Lewis, Kartsport SP
(JetSuite, RetailTrader.net, Falcon Operations Group, Brett King Design)

Tony Leone · Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 12:07 pm Post subject:

Hey Mike, thanks for the purchases! Sean Buur of GoRacing magazine was there shooting on Sunday too.
_________________
www.dromophotos.com

Mike Lewis · Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:00 pm Post subject:

Thanks Tony!
_________________
Mike Lewis, Kartsport SP
(JetSuite, RetailTrader.net, Falcon Operations Group, Brett King Design)

Tony Leone · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:40 pm Post subject:

S4 Video from Jim Kidd
http://youtu.be/mq65-_Qy8K8

TaG Senior Final
http://youtu.be/9kXJV6wbg_I

TaG Senior Heat 1
http://youtu.be/7Ae7gAR033g

Hilarious!
http://youtu.be/Sn5AQBRdIk0

City Video
http://youtu.be/5PyugVCIblc
_________________
www.dromophotos.com

Mike Lewis · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 2:46 pm Post subject:

nice, i was in the TaG final video, thanks Tony!
_________________
Mike Lewis, Kartsport SP
(JetSuite, RetailTrader.net, Falcon Operations Group, Brett King Design)

Tony Leone · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:03 am Post subject:

Cool video created by the City.

Note: Video of the Mayor flipping the "rental" kart.
http://vimeo.com/30398294
_________________
www.dromophotos.com

Dennis Uebersetzig · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 1:45 pm Post subject: Re: Lancaster

Robert Brooks · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:25 pm Post subject:

As KPV-4 Plus driver in the first two SLGP's and a person who was heavily involved in the administration and organizing of the first two events, I don't know about any "boycott" but what I do know is that the weekend of the SLGP was one weekend before our clubs season Finale that draws about 20 KPV-4 Plus drivers and the following weekend is the Finale for the Kart Bee Kleen Pro KPV-4 Plus Money series and that is paying out over $2k.
Seems like a scheduling issue and a lack of lead time to me.
Most drivers in KPV-4 Hvy are club racers and can't run 3 weekends in a row and had long ago committed to to Oct 15 and Oct 22.
If the SLGP had wanted drivers from specific classes they should have made that clear at the outset, not make it look like an after thought to add more revenue.
I thought the Idea of this event now being a SKUSA event was to bring in the "professional" Karter and the "Club Racer" was not wanted Rolling Eyes

or at least that was what one City of Lancaster official said in an email I read.
I drove in the first 2 SLGP's and had a blast, I hope to have a chance to drive SLGP again, even if I dont have a shifter kart.
_________________
Straightaways are for fast karts, corners are for fast drivers....

Jimmy McNeil · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:49 pm Post subject:

Dennis Uebersetzig · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:49 pm Post subject:

I took a look at the numbers from last year to this year and it seems like the numbers were down across the board, not just in specific classes.

By my count their were 70+ more entries last year including more shifters than this year. It seems that even some SKUSA teams that attended last years event didn't attend this years event.

But hey it was a "Professional Event" and not a "Club Event". That explains it! I wonder if the average spectator even noticed a difference? While there are a lot of factors in play here, could one be that the "Club Event" the first two years was put on by a lot of volunteers devoted to a not for profit organization and therefore it was more affordable than the "Professional Event" put on by a for profit organization this year?

Tony Leone · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:25 pm Post subject:

Uh-oh. Here come the agendas.
_________________
www.dromophotos.com

Josh Buttafoco · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:18 pm Post subject:

Professional .... club.... who cares. I am a club racer and I am kicking my self for not running this event. I would have had fun finishing 1st or 15th... I would have had someone to race either way. The street course looked fun with good passing opportunities.

I ll be there next year! in my lazy Rotax fighting for a top 15 finish... with a smile Cool

Ken Schilling · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 1344

The following link shows the formal SKUSA announcement for the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix (SOLGP) local option classes:

http://www.superkartsusa.com/index.php?start=9

I also copied & pasted it below for reference:

SKUSA Bulletin: Local Option Classes Announced for Lancaster Grand Prix

Thursday, September 15 2011 12:53 PM

Superkarts! USA would like to take this opportunity to formally announce the option classes that will be tentatively added to the line-up for this year’s Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix on October 8-9, 2011. Beginning today (Sept. 15), SKUSA’s online registration page is open to welcome drivers in the PRD Light/Heavy and KPV 4 Heavy classes. Based on input from the field, these unique categories have been selected for preliminary registration, and with the expected minimum signups, will secure their position in the final line-up on race weekend.

SKUSA is looking at a minimum of 15 drivers for each group in order to secure their position on the schedule. The PRD race group will consist of both Light and Heavy categories, ran together and scored separately. The KPV 4 Heavy class will have a dedicated run group. The PRD classes will run the MG-SK ‘White’ tires, while the KPV 4 Heavy competitors will be on Bridgestone YKC tires.

************************************************************

As Robert Brooks stated in his post above, I would imagine that most, if not all of the HPV-4 Heavy (Plus) drivers had already committed to the season finale race with their club, as they should. I'm sure that SKUSA took this into account in their decision to offer the class. SKUSA did their best to partner with the local clubs to try and promote not only the SOLGP but also karting as a whole and I’m sure that other classes were considered as well.

A tremendous amount of legwork was done by the SKUSA staff much prior to the above announcement but found that responses were slow in coming which delayed the announcement. That being said, enough driver commitments were given to convince SKUSA that the class would have enough entries to justify it for the SOLGP.

In the prior two years of the SOLGP it was sanctioned by a local club. That local club has a large following of HPV-4 Heavy drivers. So, the local club had the ability to schedule the SOLGP around their regular calendar eliminating any scheduling issues.

There was only 1(?!) HPV-4 Heavy driver who pre-registered!!! Unfortunately that driver was unable to acquire a different engine to join another class and had to cancel. I imagine that even if there were only at least 6 or 7 pre-registered that SKUSA would've allowed the class to run, as they did with PRD.

Please note that the HPV-4 Heavy class was allowed to run their clubs Bridgestone YKC tires to help ease the cost burden to race.

The PRD classes (Senior & Master) were also under the same local option class offering. Even though there was only 1 Master PRD driver (Mike Manning) and 6 Senior PRD drivers pre-registered, SKUSA still allowed the class to run even though it didn't meet the 15 driver minimum stated in the above press release. In fact, Mike Manning switched from Master to Senior PRD to make it even more interesting.

Now that SKUSA has been chosen by the City of Lancaster to be the sanctioning body, SKUSA worked hand in hand with the City of Lancaster for many months to schedule and organize the event for the benefit of both parties. All the while both parties had to keep in mind SKUSA's pre-existing schedule of their two long-standing series in California (ProKart Challenge SoCal & NorCal), the two corresponding banquets for both series, SKUSA Mountain Region and last but not least, the SuperNats.

There wasn't one class at the SOLGP where there was a money prize. So you only race if there's money involved...? C'mon, you gotta be kidding, right!?

So who let who down...?!

SKUSA took their first ever sanctioning of the SOLGP extremely seriously and didn't take adding these local option classes lightly as it would be unfortunate if the classes were small and would make it extremely difficult to give the class another chance. Now, with the great success of SKUSA’s first running of the SOLGP, the increasing stature & excitement of the race, drivers & teams coming from all over the West coast including Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Canada & Mexico, perhaps local option classes won’t be needed next year…

In terms of the overall attendance: while of course SKUSA would have liked to see more drivers, they almost met their 120 driver expectation with 104 drivers total. This included over 10 walk ups, showing the excitement level. So, without the unexpected cancels, it would've met SKUSA’s pre-race expectations even without the HPV-4 Heavy class(!). This overall result should be considered a great success by any measure.

Please also keep in mind that most of the drivers that attended are already signed up for the SuperNats so scheduling & cost were non-issues. I’m also sure that there were many drivers who didn’t enter that wanted to see how this race would go, especially after last year’s crash fest. After this year’s success and safety results, I’m sure that many of those drivers and more will attend next year.

p.s. - Last year’s ~170 entries attendance included 12 classes averaging 14 per class. SKUSA only had seven classes with 104 entries averaging, wait for it, 14 per class.

SKUSA wants to extend a huge thank you to the City of Lancaster, all of the volunteers and all of the racers & teams that attended!!!

SKUSA is already working with the City of Lancaster in planning the 2012 event and is looking forward to making the SOLGP the biggest & best street race on the West Coast!!!
_________________
Ken Schilling
#21x / S4 / ProKart Challenge (PKC)
SKUSA Data Administrator

Good luck is where preparation and opportunity meet!!!

The opinions I express are mine alone and do not reflect those of any organization of which I am a member.