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David Cole
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Joined: 18 Jul 2001
Posts: 8598
Location: United States, Michigan, Comstock Park
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Mike Martz
Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 232
Location: United States, Indiana, Brownsburg
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 Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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First, thanks to Mark Dismore and his family for another great Robo Pong 200! What an all-consuming, tension filled, wearing, wonderful race.
David mentioned the Weldon / Moore team as early chargers but I would like to give a shout out to our Top Kart #199 team of Kevin Martz and Shinya Michimi. We were near the top of the speed charts all weekend but a little glitch in qualifying forced us to start 28th. After the first round of stops, Shinya had us in 8th. Kevin then managed to get us into 5th place prior to stop two which included a four tire change. Unfortunately, an engine failure ended our day around lap 138 but 28th to 5th wasn’t bad.
I do want to comment on the professionalism shown by the teams and drivers this year. The race was void of most (not all) of the on-track incidents we have seen in the past and the level of preparation seemed better. Our drivers reported that there were a lot of hand signals (positive ones!) and cooperation, particular between the KRA regulars. We only got run off the track once by a lapped kart!
It was great teaming with Shinya and his family. His input was invaluable and he is quick! Congratulations to Shinya on his WKA National Championship this year. Thanks to Greg Wright at Rapid Racing and last but not least, our son Kevin. Great job!
_________________
Mike Martz
Kevin Martz - Driver of the #199 Safety-Kleen, Bell Helmets, Rapid Racing Top Kart / Leopard
www.motorsportsliquidators.com
Rapid Racing - www.rapidracing.com |
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Chris Brunnemer
Joined: 13 May 2009
Posts: 582
Location: United States, Indiana, McCordsville
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| Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Mike Martz wrote: | First, thanks to Mark Dismore and his family for another great Robo Pong 200! What an all-consuming, tension filled, wearing, wonderful race.
David mentioned the Weldon / Moore team as early chargers but I would like to give a shout out to our Top Kart #199 team of Kevin Martz and Shinya Michimi. We were near the top of the speed charts all weekend but a little glitch in qualifying forced us to start 28th. After the first round of stops, Shinya had us in 8th. Kevin then managed to get us into 5th place prior to stop two which included a four tire change. Unfortunately, an engine failure ended our day around lap 138 but 28th to 5th wasn’t bad.
I do want to comment on the professionalism shown by the teams and drivers this year. The race was void of most (not all) of the on-track incidents we have seen in the past and the level of preparation seemed better. Our drivers reported that there were a lot of hand signals (positive ones!) and cooperation, particular between the KRA regulars. We only got run off the track once by a lapped kart!
It was great teaming with Shinya and his family. His input was invaluable and he is quick! Congratulations to Shinya on his WKA National Championship this year. Thanks to Greg Wright at Rapid Racing and last but not least, our son Kevin. Great job! |
How bout that axle of yours from Saturday? that could have ended your weekend right there it seems |
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gregg boyce
Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 1143
Location: United States, Tennessee, nashville
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| Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:16 pm Post subject: |
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Ouch! Going off w/ 3 laps to go from 1st and 4th or 5th...that's got to hurt! 
GB
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Dan Schlosser
Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 684
Location: United States, Pennsylvania, Sewickley
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| Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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This year was our first but will certainly not be our last. The competition was fantastic and the event itself ran like clockwork as you come to expect when racing at New Castle.
We chipped away at speed throughout the weekend and felt we had a shot at qualifying close to the top ten but had an issue that dropped us to 32nd on the grid.
My son Andy in his first TAG race worked up to 20th in the first stint before turning over the reigns to Alex Tagliani. Alex was back in within a few laps though with a brake issue that was the beginning of a day long battle that cost us just over 50 laps in total. Once Alex was back out though he was able to run lock step with Ed Carpenter and some of the other leaders despite being down laps so we had the speed to compete, just lacked a little bit of luck.
A couple of thanks:
The Dismore and NCMP Family - Thanks for an awesome event! We always enjoy our trips to this great facility.
AJ Whisler / Holeshot Drive Systems - We have never worked with a tuner before, Andy and I are usually the extent of our travelling operation. But when AJ was available for this event it seemed like a great chance to work with one of the very best in the business. AJ and Andy hit it off right away and the two of them made a ton of progress from the very first session - a fantastic experience with much learned that we'll be able to apply to our regular program. AJ's kart prep was fantastic as well - everything worked flawlessly outside of the freak mechanical issue with our brakes that could not have been prevented. We ran one of AJ's Holeshot Drive Systems Sprockets in the race and it performed as expected - 150 or so laps plus the one hour morning practice and we could clean it off and run it again this weekend - very impressive!
Alex Tagliani - What can you say about an IndyCar racer that is willing to take a weekend off to team up with a 15 year old driver in his first endurance race? It was an exciting experience for all involved to work with Alex - he is as intense and motivated to race a kart as he is to get behind the wheel of any of his racecars. It is really neat to see how much someone like Alex still loves getting back to karting whenever they can. Alex stayed until the very end helping us clean off the karts, load the trailer, pack up everything and make time for anyone that stopped as well.
Sean Cook / Cook Racing Engines - Thanks to Sean for some last minute Sunday morning attention to our carb that really brought our engine to life. Our Cook built Leopards ran strong all weekend too and had we needed to push the envelope, could have gone close to 55 laps on fuel with his baseline settings.
We'll be back next year for sure! |
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Kyle Prokup
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 302
Location: United States, Illinois, Granville
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| Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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My first TAG race, and by far the most fun kart race I have ever ran, even though the kart didn't have any brakes the entire stint i ran. Team Young and Reckless will be back next year  , and we will have this weight issue fixed (Due to my teammates weight, I was going across the scales at 440). If anyones interested in how we experienced the event it will be on my blog sometime this week.
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Kyle Prokup Racing
Tony Kart EVRR |
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Scott Heavin
Joined: 18 Oct 2006
Posts: 1766
Location: United States, Indiana, New Castle
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| Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 4:59 am Post subject: |
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So what was the 'big announcement' for the 2011 race they were talking about on RFR? I was packing up and missed it.
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Spec TaG Masters @ NCMP / #23 |
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David Cole
Site Admin
Joined: 18 Jul 2001
Posts: 8598
Location: United States, Michigan, Comstock Park
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| Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 6:42 am Post subject: |
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| Mike Martz wrote: | First, thanks to Mark Dismore and his family for another great Robo Pong 200! What an all-consuming, tension filled, wearing, wonderful race.
David mentioned the Weldon / Moore team as early chargers but I would like to give a shout out to our Top Kart #199 team of Kevin Martz and Shinya Michimi. We were near the top of the speed charts all weekend but a little glitch in qualifying forced us to start 28th. After the first round of stops, Shinya had us in 8th. Kevin then managed to get us into 5th place prior to stop two which included a four tire change. Unfortunately, an engine failure ended our day around lap 138 but 28th to 5th wasn’t bad.
I do want to comment on the professionalism shown by the teams and drivers this year. The race was void of most (not all) of the on-track incidents we have seen in the past and the level of preparation seemed better. Our drivers reported that there were a lot of hand signals (positive ones!) and cooperation, particular between the KRA regulars. We only got run off the track once by a lapped kart!
It was great teaming with Shinya and his family. His input was invaluable and he is quick! Congratulations to Shinya on his WKA National Championship this year. Thanks to Greg Wright at Rapid Racing and last but not least, our son Kevin. Great job! |
Hi Mike,
Yes, you guys had a great run going and I just did not have the 199 down in my notes after getting back to the hotel to write, though, noticed it until you retired. Hope you guys have a better luck next year.
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David Cole
News Desk Manager
eKartingNews.com
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Mike Martz
Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 232
Location: United States, Indiana, Brownsburg
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| Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:55 am Post subject: |
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Thanks David and thanks for the great coverage you and eKartingnews gave the event! I know all of us appreciate it.
Scott - Mark hasn't made the announcement yet but stay tuned...
_________________
Mike Martz
Kevin Martz - Driver of the #199 Safety-Kleen, Bell Helmets, Rapid Racing Top Kart / Leopard
www.motorsportsliquidators.com
Rapid Racing - www.rapidracing.com |
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David Cole
Site Admin
Joined: 18 Jul 2001
Posts: 8598
Location: United States, Michigan, Comstock Park
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Dan Schlosser
Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 684
Location: United States, Pennsylvania, Sewickley
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Kelly Michimi
Joined: 01 Oct 2007
Posts: 45
Location: United States, Ohio,
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:04 am Post subject: Robopong Team RaceToADomain.com and Rapid Racing |
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Sorry I'm late, but I also wanted to put in my thanks on here and express how much we enjoyed Robopong. We love, love, love this event and I truly hope it continues and continues to grow as I believe it will. It is so great for these karters to be able to race with all these pros most of whom got their start in karting. It really means a lot to all the karters that these men (and women) come back to their roots and race along side them. Shinya was absolutely thrilled to meet and get a chance to speak with Simon Pagenaud who is on his "all time greatest drivers" list as well as his teammate for the weekend, Will Powers. They were both great guys! Shinya has also spoken with Dan Wheldon at a past Robopong and he is also a great guy - total class act. It means a lot to these young guys coming up through karting that these guys take the time to talk to them and come to race alongside them.
Thanks, Mike and David for making note of how well kart 199 was doing. When you're doing that well and a mechanical snafu ends your day, no doubt it's frustrating. No one knows that better than Billy Lewis. But unfortunately it's just par for the course in endurance events.
We would like to thank RaceToADomain.com and Rapid Racing, Greg Wright and the Martz family and all the crew for giving us the opportunity to be part of such a great team. The pit crew was great - that first stop was phenomenal! The boys did a great job driving as well getting that Rapid Racing powered Top Kart near the front of the pack and keeping it there. I really believe they definitely had a top ten kart and probably a top five kart if our luck had held out.
Anyway, it was a pleasure being part of the team. Shinya really enjoyed it and was certain if luck had held out, they would have had a great finish. We all had a great time and as always, the Dismores put on a fantastic event! Thanks again!
The Michimi Family - Toshiya, Kelly and Shinya |
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Mike Arnold
Joined: 08 Nov 2005
Posts: 1089
Location: United States, Kentucky,
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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Kelly,
Your family is a class act too!
I have never met a nicer family.
Mike |
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David Cole
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Location: United States, Michigan, Comstock Park
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Michael Maurini
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
Posts: 286
Location: United States, Indiana, Indianapolis
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