WKA Daytona KartWeek Blog: Chris Wehrheim

Chris Wehrheim

So it’s freezing cold here in Atlanta (I say that lightly because 30 degrees is freezing to me) and I am so amped to get the 2009 season underway in Daytona. I haven’t been in a kart since the SuperNationals, though I have been busy training on my Radio Flyer Big Wheel. I think this is the next big thing. Anyways, the SuperNats was a bit disappointing. Eighth out of ninety-nine karts in TaG Sr. is amazing, but to go from winning a heat, setting fast times, being fastest in the morning warm up before the final to finish eighth was hard to swallow. That’s kind of the year I had in 2008, up and down, if its not an airbox coming off, it’s a throttle sticking. I am a big believer in momentum and I feel we have a lot going into Daytona. I believe I have the best package out there in TaG Sr. with my Adkins Leopard powered Top Kart. I have not changed anything in my package and will run my 2008 Top Kart Flash until I switch to the 2009 Speedy for the first Stars race.

Daytona is an interesting track. It’s really not all that bad as much as everyone complains about it. I haven’t raced there in probably three years, but I have always had a great time racing there. The track has four solid passing zones and has some technical sections. The track never seems to have grip, but then all of a sudden your kart is tight. There’s no real curbing and of course you have the Florida sand that is a pain to clean off the kart if you go off.

I am also really excited to race with all my boys that I have been racing with for fourteen years now. Caleb Loniewski, Chris Larson, and Brandon Adkins are in my opinion the best in the country. I have more fun racing in WKA right now than anywhere else. Caleb is probably the most under rated driver in the country. The kid is just plain and simple fast, not to mention he is one of the best tuners out there (Tunes for Stars National Champion Victor Cabrera). If I have to pick anyone other than myself to win, it has to be him.

I hope everyone has a great Holiday and I will post again after I get settled in at the track on setup day.

The Next Big Thing!

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Rob Howden · Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 10:04 pm Post subject:

Andy Lally / Doug Smith power.

Care to name the fuel?

I'm looking forward to this blog.

Wink

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Evan Batt · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 1:22 am Post subject:

Best of luck down there, Chris.

Tom Sekey · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 8:55 am Post subject:

I don't see a rear bumper, and your flex is soooo short I can't see it. Your DQ'd Sad

Michelle Wehrheim · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 24

Tom Jensen · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 10:18 am Post subject:

Chris Wehrheim · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:00 am Post subject:

Yes beer was fuel all through the night, but it didn't stop there. We got three running right now and planning to have a big race with at least five. We found this absolutely sick hill that is almost a mile long in a park and we reach close to 40 MPH with jumps and surrounded by trees. I will upload a vid to youtube and post it.

Merry Christmas everyone!
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Chris Wehrheim · Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 11:01 pm Post subject:

Finally back to my hotel and ready to get some sleep. I have been up for about 40 hours with no sleep and drove all through the night last night to get here in the morning to help put everything up. Got that all done and went to where else...the winghouse of course. Anyone who has been to Daytona knows this is the spot. Hooters has nothing on this place. I am a huge UFC fan, so some of us stayed out to watch the fights.

Back to karting related stuff. There are a few interesting things I found walking through the pits today. Chris Larson is on a Maranello with a Yellowfin Sonic. I didnt have really anytime to talk, but I will get more info on the deal tomorrow....well later today I guess is proper. Wes Phillips came out east to race his Birel/Rotax and Jose Zanella is on his Tony/Rok TT. Mcmurry is on a ROK TT and brought DJ and Carlton out to help. Nothing really new in the JR. scene, but I am sure some stuff will come up tomorrow. The track seems good...no changes from last year and the surface is in good condition.

One thing I found interested is the new weights for TaG Sr. A rotax is at 350, Leopard 365, and Rok TT at 380. I may be jumping the gun here, but man those Rotax's are probably going to be hard to beat. There is really only one corner where they are going to struggle and it doesn't lead to a passing zone sooo....yea I will let everyone know how that goes in practice. I know one thing is that this new stupid....STUPID flex rule on the Leopard is probably going to kill us at this track. I don't know who was the brains behind this one or lack there of.

Goodnight!
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Bill Wright · Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 5:03 pm Post subject:

CJ Lintner · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 79

the flex rule really doesnt make much sense, and imo it has hurt the leopards especially those who would never think of running the flex at 16 =/...rotax seems to have the edge at the moment

Chris Wehrheim · Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject:

Today seemed to go very smooth with no red flags I believe. The track hasn't seemed to take much rubber yet, but I am sure the track will get better tomorrow. As for me it was up and down. I had a few problems in the first two sessions, but then in third went out and turned a tenth off the fastest lap. The last session didn't go all so well slowing up two tenths when drivers went even faster than the fastest laps from earlier in the day. Though I think I will be ok for tomorrow.

The Leopard is def. at a big disadvantage. I think the closest leopard is 3-4 tenths off the ROK and Rotax. I was told the reasoning for the change and I just had to laugh at the logic behind this. First WKA wanted to set the min flex at 16.5 inches! So I guess some big wig tech guy, who is probably an enduro guy in typical wka fashion, decided that the Leopard was just too dominant even though a sonik won the championship and i believe had the most wins and poles. So they decided to help the rotax, which I do believe needed some help, but they also penalized the Leopard...yea that makes sense. Maybe the Leopard has more guys up front because it has more drivers capable of winning on the motor, idk i'm just guessing.

Bill...I am not so sure what you are talking about. WKA does not allow the 2009 engine and thats the only changes I know of.

I haven't really paid to much attention to drivers on different karts for 2009, but Chris Larson is on a Maranello, Nick Neri is on a Tony, and Derek Soble is on Top Kart. Bobby Wilson is also here with First Kart.

Oh and the weather is crazy this week. Really humid and hot for this time of year.
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Ric Smith · Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 9:12 pm Post subject:

Chris, interested in knowing what you thought of the UFC fights last night. All 3 of my picks for the three big fights lost, how did your picks pan out?
Laughing

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Steve Frank · Joined: 06 Dec 2002 Posts: 626

Chris,

I didnt even know you were 21 yet! Razz

Good luck with the race.

OH PS, my dog chewed up your Hans Device. Sorry about that!

Chris Wehrheim · Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:09 am Post subject:

Finally back from Daytona. I had a great time at the event even though it was a very tough weekend. It was an uphill battle for anyone that wasn't on a Rotax. Saturday I qualified 16th and moved up to 11th in the prefinal. I felt pretty good with my setup that I could probably get fifth in the final. I got a great start in the final and was working my way up eventually getting up to 7th and continuing to slowly catch 6th. With around 8 to go something locked up in the motor, but it released and I was able to keep going. I lost a lot of power and was thinking that I might have partially seized the motor. After falling back and having a great battle with long time friend Ryan Paul Miller, I ended up finishing 9th. After the race I saw that the starter gear had a huge chunk missing which through the crank out of balance.

Sunday started off with me finding out that WKA had changed where they were measuring the min. flex length and they decided not to tell anyone. This allowed me to shorten my flex to were I probably would have run it if there was no rule. This definitely helped, but is not the answer to the problem...I will get to that. I qualified 11th and was closer to the pole time. In the heat race I moved up once again to about 7th early on and after passing one my best friends he decided to not brake for turn 3 and push me off the track. I ended up falling back to 10th. In the final I moved up once again, but about 3 laps in I noticed something was wrong and figured that I had a cracked flex or header. It got worse everything lap and my lap times showed. With about 4 to go I was forced to pull in.

A disappointing weekend, but we will be ready for Southbend. WKA will ruin the TaG class if it continues on the path that it is now. The biggest problem is they need to stop adjusting with weight breaks. At this point I see the rotax being the engine to have at every track. The leopard is competitive, but in no way do I see it winning. The vortex is fast, but the weight is just too high. 30 pounds difference between two engines is just wrong. WKA needs to looks at SKUSA and Stars 08 and figure out new rules. I feel that SKUSA right now has the best TaG rules. At the Supernats five engines were very competitive and all capable of winning. People set fast times and won races with Sonik, Rok TT, Rotax, and Leopard. The Motori 7 was also very quick. WKA always talks about wanting to save people money...the whole reason not going to 50mm axles for a long time...well at this rate you are going to have to find the best engine package for each track. The difference is just too great right now. If the rules do not change I guarantee a Rotax takes the top 3 Southbend.

I will post again later today once I recover from a long drive home.
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Paul Montopoli · Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:52 pm Post subject:

Just for clarificiation, the WKA rotax weight in 2008 was 350 same as now. Having driven both engines, a Rotax should probably be lighter than a Leopard, not sure how much. In 2007 when WKA allowed it to be 5lbs lighter, it did not seem too competitive but it also did not have the drivers that it had at Daytona. I think the same Leopard flex as last year and 10 lbs lighter would be about right. Even like this, there are certain tracks -- example: tight hairpins and long straights -- where a Rotax just will not be competitive. On the other hand, I would think Charlotte would be a great place for a Rotax.

Come to think of it, I will have to clear my calendar in November for a crack at a Eagle in TaG Masters with my new Rotax.

Fact of the matter is that the Leopard is the de facto TaG motor. If I were the WKA, I would use it as the baseline/benchmark and base all the other off of it so as not to obsolete the Leopard.
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Paul Montopoli
2009 FWT Rotax Masters Champion

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