U.S. Superkart Championship for 2005

J.R. Osborne · Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 3:32 pm Post subject:

That would be a great help Marc! I plan on doing some advertising in your magazine, IKF, and WKA. As soon as we get some more details ironed out, I'll be giving you a buzz.

Thanks again for your offer, it is very much appreciated.

J.R. Osborne
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Anderson/Gas Gas/P-1

Marc Miller · Advertiser Joined: 18 Jul 2001 Posts: 1834

No problem JR-

You have my email - just send me an email and I'll give you my contact info.
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Rob Morris · Joined: 24 May 2002 Posts: 190 Location: Herndon, VA

J.R., I would like to put in a vote for consideration of VIR also. Awsome facility!
It would be nice to open the class up to all Unlimiteds to bring up the number of entries. Things went real smooth at Barber under this format, and that included 50-cik125's in the mix!!
What you are proposing J.R. looks very attractive, and I don't think anyone in Unlimited wants to be left out. Most of us who have been there ,done that in karting, want to see full and competative fields,and leaving the entries open might accomplish this. Hopefully this structure would allow you to get your ideas of the ground with reasonable entry fees. We are all willing to spend a little more on entries as long as we get the benefits of such an upper level class.
Thanks for your organization so far! Very Happy

Rob Morris

Randy Domikis · Joined: 22 Jul 2002 Posts: 266

michael,

I am not afraid of anything other than my mother...

JR asked for opinions and I gave mine. I really like what the CIK125 class has done. All of the karts look somewhat similar except for colors and in my opinion the class has grown due to simplifying the format. As I said before, I have nothing against the laydowns or other types of karts. I think it would be pretty cool to have 40+ ICE type karts running a high end race as they do in Europe. I know that we are not in Europe but the format seems ok. If JR opts to accept all unlimiteds, then so be it. No big deal. He was asking for input from all of us and I only gave mine.

I just don't want to see another series become a organization in the near term that creates to many choices for competitors to choose and we end up with 5-6 karts at many different events. I would rather see similar karts race together at premier tracks and have larger fields.

I would say form the posts that most everyone wants to allow any unlimited, so we should go with the consensus.

JR, VIR would be a great place as many have said. The pits have lots of room and the track is great. One thing though...... you must be warned about our annual weekend storm that seems to come every year on Saturday afternoon. As funny as it sounds, 3 out of the past 4 years this storm has shown up from nowhere and has been know to destroy many awnings and other disconnected things.....

Just my opinion.

Randy

Frank Dawley · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:48 am Post subject:

I have raced Laydown karts since 1974. I have to agree with Randy. We need to stick with what has worked for us. In the last 5 years the 250 numbers have grown and I would have to guess that 90% of the have been the ICE style karts. I have not seen a class grow that fast since the Yamaha KT-100 first came out. Lets keep it simple, 1 style of kart and 2 classes (F/E-ICE).

Frank Dawley
MSR/Honda RS250

Scott Loewenstine · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:04 am Post subject:

I agree on keeping the classes seperate...With the exception of Kiker I haven't seen any ICE karts run with the twins unless there has been a huge mis-balance such as weight, horsepower etc etc etc...

michael beamer · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:55 am Post subject:

The idea that the 250 class has shown some incredible growth at least on the east coast is not reflected in the race participation numbers.3-5 average this past year and many of the people that now have ICE karts are the same guys that had and still have laydown 250s.There are only a small percentage of karters ready and able (skill or finances) to run a 250 single or twin .How limiting the class to ICE only entrys would grow the class escapes reason . The participants you are excluding made up half the field at Barber including Robbie the race director.If this series is a stand alone high entry cost idea then maybe it could be exclusionary,but if it is coming to share race practice -race time -race participants from an existing series then it needs to be inclusive.The spec idea of sameness seems kind of boring to me, the spectators at Barber were very interested in the different styles, it seemed to put on a more interesting show.
We were reffering to twin clutch karts running with the single 250s not twin gearbox karts.
thanks again again
michael beamer

CHRIS TAYLOR · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 7:40 am Post subject:

Let all the current unlimited karts run. If the recent formula at Barber worked then go with it. Despite all the different views, the facts are the facts. We need entries! You can talk about weight all you want, but the same people are still going to beat the same people Exclamation

Gary, I do not have my twin on a Anderson anymore and it is still on the heavy side? If I want to spend a bunch of money I could make it lighter. I figured it would be lots cheaper If I just go on a diet and loose some weight, thats why I like the higher weight. I can continue my current diet of meat and potatos. Laughing

Who is going to Atlanta in a few weeks?

Bernie Adamson · Joined: 20 Jun 2003 Posts: 3001

Chris,
current diet of meat and potatos ???? Awesome, you must be 1/2 Irish..only difference is we have Meat & Spuds. Laughing

As is common knowledge I would also like to put in a vote for consideration of VIR. Oh yeah and with me being the incoming Pres of WKC and also the guy who does Pre-Registration i also second the statements that VIR is an awesome facility!

Personally i think that wherever it is held , VIR hint hint Smile

, that the Series should open the class up to all Unlimiteds to bring up the number of entries and to "Showcase" the Upper Level Karts. Things looks very attractive for the series, and I don't think anyone in the Unlimited Class really wants to be left out it.
As Rob so rightly said we all want to see full and competative fields,and leaving the entries open to all might just accomplish this.

Just my 2 cents..
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Bernie Adamson
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Brad Davis · Joined: 14 Oct 2003 Posts: 17

We have a date at Portland International Speedway with the Portland Go Kart Club for May 21st & 22nd. They are very excited to have us come on board.
There may be a better date of August 5th through 7th. This possible date will not be cleard untill Feb. Stay tuned
Brad Davis

Larry Dobbs · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 9:08 am Post subject:

First off, thanks for all your time and effort J.R. Who is spear-heading the west coast effort? I ask because it seems like the west coast karters are different than the east, in the number of entries we get even for our biggest events. Do we expect the participants in our series to also participate in local kart clubs? I am interested in what west coast 250 participants intend to do in 2005. Again thanks for everything!

J.R. Osborne · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 10:50 am Post subject:

Bernie/Chris- Thanks for getting a date at VIR. The only problem that I see with it is that it's 2 weeks before Road America. My thought is to spread out the races at least a 4-6 weeks apart so it's easier for people to make them. Are there any other dates possible?

Brad- Thanks to you as well for making some calls. Hopefully the August date would open up otherwise we have the same schedule problem.

Larry- Thank you for the compliments. I'm not quite sure what the west coast guys want to do. I have been talking to Brad Davis, Anthony Williams, and Pat Yoshikane to get their ideas, but everyone is really busy. I've got time for the eastern race series, but not for the west. I was thinking that if nothing was established on the west, maybe we could have a Portland event to help out. But that would only be realistic if some west coasters would commit to the series. Last year, no one really travelled east (except Sam da Washington man) and it's not fair to drag the easterners west so the westcoast can race 1 race. Hey Brad, maybe you could sniff around and see how many of the Pacific coasters would commit to the series?

Keep your comments coming guys. This series is for you guys and we want to make it the best we can for you. We'll never please everybody but it does'nt hurt to try.

Thanks,

J.R.
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Anderson/Gas Gas/P-1

Rob Howden · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:36 pm Post subject:

JR et al,

I believe that it is ABSOLUTELY imperative that there be twin series in the East and West. We CANNOT splinter this program in the slightest. I love the basic idea of what JR is talking about for the Eastern program but this MUST happen in the West as well.

It is my opinion that THE MOST IMPORTANT THING right now is to form a Driver Association. The development of the series can continue slowly but let's not make any hasty decisions right now...we have a lot of time.

I think this association would allow us to get feedback from all the racers, not just a select few. So here it is...and I will likely regret saying this....

I would like to donate my time to act as the interim director of this association. This needs to happen. I also believe that the first thing we should do is put together a Council of reps from the different areas of the country. Each rep would be responsible for gathering the feedback and votes from each member. I have a few suggestions for these positions. If you would be agreeable to this, please psot your name and e-mail address of this forum and we'll get things going. If you want me to mind my own business, I can accept that as well.

In my mind, there are two things that need to happen:

1. Form the council of reps
2. Assemble a database of all the continent superkart drivers

From there, we'll be able to come up with some basic understanding of what people want. We don't need to make radical cahnges to what we had this year, just evolutionary advances to make the series better for everyone.

I will be looking for you response.

RH - SKI
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J.R. Osborne · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 1:50 pm Post subject:

Rob, thanks for your input and offer to help. Your magazine has done wonders for the 250 class and we want to continue to work with you to develop the class.

We do have time to get this series "nailed" down and I don't have a problem w/ an association to get racer input. If there are willing parties out there to spend time on their region, then let's do it. I just know alot of people get so busy that it gets tough to get things done.

Let me know how you want to get the ball rolling w/ the Drivers Assoc.

Thanks,

J.R.
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Anderson/Gas Gas/P-1

CHRIS TAYLOR · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:00 pm Post subject:

Just food for thought. Another nice racetrack is Kershaw in South Carolina?? It is kind of in the middle of know where, but when I was there in 02 it was smooth, wide, had a nice lay out and safe. It also host a WKA national. comments Question