[Ray Mcik]

Clark is correct, I did not want to name them and throw them under the bus.  They have a good chassis and program going with the arrive and drive etc . My point is this , to eliminate all other chassis does not sit right with me, it hurts the karters who wanted to run WKA  but cannot just because they do not own the spec chassis .

Just think about the small kart shops that do not sell that brand, they have just been kicked to the sidelines in the WKA 206 program . This cannot be good for the sport in the long run.

 

[Ray Mcik]

Just wanted to add a couple of things, recently WKA has mandated you have to buy your tires through them at the track, while I get they are now a for profit organization now, this hurts the smaller kart shops that support the local clubs  and the racers the attend the Nationals. Take that small kart shop who may only sell 20 – 40 sets of tires to those that go to a national event  , that bit of small profit helps him offset costs  being the supporting shop at the track.  These are the grass roots guys that help local karters take the next step . Even the bigger shops will be hurt by this move, profit is profit these days. IMO Bad move that will hurt in the long run.

Then lets talk about allowing only one brand of chassis in a certain class for the Daytona race.  Well with this new change, it just eliminated someone like myself from going to Daytona because I am not going buy a new chassis to race  it.  My budget will not allow for that to happen. BTW I pay cash for my hobby which helps me stay racing so I do not go into debt via a huge credit card bill.

 

[Ray Mcik]

Hi David, just question for you, could you possibly post the class size when posting results ? Also not sure how hard it would be to also list all the entries in each class as well.   Many of us sometimes busy when the races are going on , it would be nice to come here review the days results other then just the top ten.

[Ray Mcik]

With the cost of a shop etc etc and taxes they have to charge   to keep the lights on . since when did profit become a dirty word ?

do you know what a auto shops hourly rate is nowadays ?

[Ray Mcik]

http://worldkarting.com/01-19-2016-david-cole-joins-wka-as-district-6-trustee/

CONCORD, NC – The World Karting Association is proud to announce the addition of David Cole as the newest member to the Board of Trustees, following the most recent election. Cole, a resident of Grand Rapids, Michigan his entire life, will be serving as Trustee in District 6, covering the states of Michigan and Ohio.

Coles background in karting has been very extensive. From being a fan at a very early age, to getting behind the wheel at the age of 10, Cole’s experience that he brings to the board spans many avenues of the karting industry, helping to not only provide knowledge from a competitors standpoint, but also from the aspect of clubs and regional touring series, as the Michigan native also volunteered his time in the nineties and early 2000’s, working with the Michigan Kart Club and Mid State Super Series.

Since 2005, Cole has managed the largest karting website in the country, ekartingnews, thus adding yet another angle from which to help and promote the sport. Attending numerous events in the US and Europe, Coles vast travel schedule allows him to also bring the many different perspectives from a track promoter and owners standpoint to the table as well, further making him a well rounded choice for a Board seat.

Like many in the industry, Cole is hoping to find a way to help the sport where it is lagging the most, the grass roots level, local racing specifically, as well as club and regional levels of the sport, hoping to re-stabilize the true foundation of the karting industry, assuring the top levels of the sport, the national events, remain healthy as well.

Joining Cole on his team are his 4 Cycle Representative David Kalb from Cleveland, Ohio, as well as Bob Cole, his 2 Cycle rep. Kalb also brings a ton of experience with him, with a son, David Jr, who is currently successfully competing in both the WKA Mfg Cup and Gold Cup programs, as well as many other programs in karting, and who also recently came away with one of the LO206 Junior wins at Daytona in Round 1 of the all new WKA Winter Cup program. A graduate of Ohio State University, David also is no stranger to operating a facility, having been the president of Thompson Kartway in 2011, wearing all the hats that go with the title, including that of Race Director.

Bob Cole also brings a wealth of years and experience to the table, serving as the 2 Cycle Rep. With roughly 42 years under his belt in the racing industry, Bob’s focus will include the Road Race program, as the recently retired motorsports veteran has plenty of time to chat with the people in the industry, as well as continue to attend many races in the midwest.

WKA welcomes the 3 newest members to its Board of Trustees Table, and looks forward to working with each of them, as the momentum in the karting industry continues to get stronger as of late.

Additionally, WKA would like to also extend its sincerest thanks and appreciation to Jerry Cole, the most recent Trustee in District 6 the past several years. Through his business, Michigan Kart Supply, Cole has served as sponsor, racer, Director of the Great Lakes Sprint Series, and has spent countless hours working with both the Gold Cup and Road Race programs, helping to enhance them year after year.

 

 

[Ray Mcik]

Thank you Rob, it is working now.

 

[Ray Mcik]

Hi Rob,

If you could let them know that the Live timing is not showing drivers names , only lap times. It does updates as the laps count down.

Live

[Ray Mcik]

 Hi Willy ,

Just seen your post, We have a Guy that races at OVKA that owns Full Throttle Karting in Cincinnati, Ohio Aaron Banfield  . He has set up a rental kart with hand controls for those with physical limitations .  Feel free to give them a call, They have done the homework on providing a kart that is safe, maybe your local track will be interested in setting one up for your kids and others ,  Here is a quote from their web page https://www.gofullthrottle.com/go-racing/karts/

Hand Control Kart
Our latest addition to the fleet of go-karts is far and away the coolest one we’ve delivered yet. Introducing the #99 hand control kart! Developed hand-in-hand with help from the Racing 4 Vets program and Mobility Works, we’re proud to offer a karting opportunity to people with disabilities. And yes, this kart is every bit as fast as our standard adult karts, tearing through corners at speeds up to 40mph! Looking for more information? Give us a call at 513-34-5278!

 

 

 

[Ray Mcik]

Hi Omar,

I race at OVKA for quite a few years, we have members that travel from Frankfort, Florance and further from Kentucky , also from Mansfield Ohio and as far away as Illinois . Why ? Because of the races we put on, we average over 100 single entries every raceday.  So we must be doing something that makes it worth while for them to be willing to travel to race with us.

You can  practice all day for $10 and meet for great people to will help you.
$35 for driver’s first kart class entry.
$30 for each additional kart class entry, entered by the same driver

You can race all 14 races in a our series or  as many as you want.

You will get a lot of help to be competitive with a very family friendly atmosphere .

Please feel free to shoot me a pm to my number and I will glad to help you out.

http://www.ovka.com/contacts.php

[Ray Mcik]

Yea Tim I could see where the use of your logo could be shown in a bad light, especially on a reality show.

Please read with humor in mind . Disclaimer :the use of any names or branding is strictly coincidental

opening scene,

Derek Fitzgerald is standing in the scale lanes with his KartLift next to  Henry Malukas  while awaiting his daughter Savannah to come off the track,

camera pans to Savannah and David both getting out of there karts, all of sudden the race is on to get the karts in the air, camera zooms in a both kart lifts going up in the air,  sadly Savannahs kart is rising slow for some reason , and Herny is shown pushing Davids kart down the exitway while high five’in his son while telling him I told you  we could one up him and beat them. Mean while Derek is not going to stand for getting beat, He tells Savannah to go get the box of used head socks from the trailer  and take them over to Greg Welage’s and give them him, but he also instructs her to be sure to ask him if he could help with tuning the Kartlift to gain a couple of tenths in lift so that they may have a shot at being number one.  Mean while while Phil Tavella thinks that Malukas lift has a illegal power slide and quietly lets the officials that they may need to tech it .

Cameras do slow fade, then goes to a next upcoming show preview with the title being “Lift-Gate ”

 

 

 

[Ray Mcik]

Hi Bob,

Congrats on your new to you kart,  You really do not need to wait till spring to try out your kart, just wait for one of the weekends that will hit in the upper 50’s  LOL it will be a bit chilly but the faster you go the warmer you will be .LOL

Just a couple of things , be sure you use a proper mix when you run the engine, 4 ounces of burris blend and 4 ounces of burris caster…per gallon of gas, next use racing gas, it does not contain the stuff that pump gas has that goes bad…

 

Be sure to check out http://www.OVKA.com’ web site for the 2015 season schedule which will be posted soon..

also look over the rule book to get familer with how we run…

Btw you can practice all day for $10 and camp out if you like .

Feel free to contact me if you need any help.

 

[Ray Mcik]

I agree with you Tim, and it put us in a position to make a decision, at the time, many of our local  racers who go to WKA wanted us to follow suit with the y-pipe, we gave it a year before making the change.  I had thought that other local tracks would follow suit . Turns out that is not the case.  So now we have to deal another fragmentation of engines…

Now I will say this about the y-pipe, it woke up the KT-100 just where it needed it, the lower end especially on our tight track. It also leveled the playing field in Senior SuperCan/Y-pipe  and Mastercan/Y-pipe .  The karts were much closer together in lap times a couple tenths instead of of 7 or 8 tenths  , even if someone was a bit over weight..     made it more competitive which is what karting is suppose to be about…

As to the orginal question , we are basically running the same class structure as last year, keep in mind we do have a rule that if the bring 4 or more karts , we will find a place for you , it just needs to meet WKA rules IE safety etc etc….

We do have a heavy weight class that allows the big boy to run, I am talking 500 lbs kart class running 420 clones ….15 hp will move you quit quickly down the track…

[Ray Mcik]

Hi Bob,

At http://www.OVKA.com (Ohio Valley Karting Association) We have quite a few karters that race at our club,  even as far as Frankfort KY ,please feel free to check us out…

[Ray Mcik]

Tables are selling at a brisk pace at the new Hara Area  location in Dayton……. weather will be fairly good with temps possibly hitting the low 40’s  Come one come all.

Buy Sell trade or just come to see friends, OVKA welcomes everyone to shake off the winter blues , getting ready to smell racing fumes in the air again come spring…

 

Google Maps link

https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=new+paris+ohio&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x884007f2f57a7707:0x53c68c82d5fd48bf,New+Paris,+OH&gl=us&ei=8wnrUtqEGMTgyQGytoGwAg&ved=0CJMBELYD

[Ray Mcik]

Hi Tim,

Walk in’s are perfectly fine, and with it being only a few days before the Swap Meet, it is preferred..

Give Doug Benson a call if you want to give him a verbal reservation..

[Ray Mcik]

Your welcome,

One of our board members Doug Benson took on this task of finding a location that would better serve everyone that attends and has put a lot of hours into this…We hope that it will help all the vendors and customers meet up with one another more easily.

For directions Google

Hara Arena Conference & Exhibition Center
Address: 1001 Shiloh Springs Rd, Dayton, OH 45415

Please let any of the OVKA Board Members if you have any suggestions for improvement .

 

 

[Ray Mcik]

Hi Allen

,valid point and we understand that and try to keep it low cost..

$10 per person  6 years old and over , under 6 is free. No charge for vehicles .

We did list the pricing on the registration form but we will consider posting that info on the front of next years  flyer , thank you for pointing that out.

[Ray Mcik]

this is the compressor i have mounted in my trailer, works well and you can hand carry or leave it mounted with 20 ft coiled  hose .

I bought it at Walmart for $50 bucks about 8 years ago and has served me well, has just enough air to seat new tires on the rims..

Campbell Hausfeld  2 Gallon Wall-Mountable Air Compressor

[Ray Mcik]

I have this one and love it, although it is hooked to my air compressor ,

I can air up the tire then bleed off the air to get the exact pressure I want .

glows in the dark with a big number  dial indicator for old eyes…

http://www.intercomp-racing.com/category/Air_Pressure_Gauges.cfm?PageNum_GetItems=3

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Intercomp-Fill-Bleed-Read-Tire-Pressure-Gauge-/261377087422

 

 

[Ray Mcik]

[quote quote=17730]Joe Janowski & I went yesterday, representing National Karting Alliance. It was good to catch up with a few people in the karting industry; however, in general, karting is not very well represented… One of the most interesting conversations we had was an impromptu one with Keith Freber from Margay regarding the “beginner classes” he’s overseeing at Gateway’s new kart track. A turnkey $3995 Margay kart with Briggs LO206 engine, all spec ~and kept simple for new karters. [/quote]

$3995 ? That engine sells for around $550 then figure in another 400ish for clutch and mount etc , which chassis are they getting ?

[Ray Mcik]

[quote quote=16234] The only problem I’ve ever had is bad gas…..today’s crap gas with ethanol goes bad way too quick. Get in the habit of running your gen every few weeks, and use Sta-bil. If storage is necessary, run the thing outta gas & squirt a little oil in the cylinder. Ethanol is for drinkin! [/quote]

 

Simple solution for any gas powered equipment that sits for long periods between uses is to use Marine gas or buy ethanol free gas… cost a little more but you will not have carb issues ,

So if you have Marina that sells gas to boats or a ethanol free gas station get a few gallon and use that.

List of Ethanol free gas stations..

http://pure-gas.org/?stateprov=FL

http://www.fuel-testers.com/find_ethanol_free_gasoline.html

http://www.gasbuddy.com/  <— has a Andriod /Iphone app available

http://pure-gas.org/?stateprov=FL

[Ray Mcik]

[quote quote=15246]Whatever happened to that 4 hole can that had the muffler extension on it?[/quote]

 

We called it Can on a Stick, we ran that class at  club level for a short period for the heavier karters, it got a bit expensive with clutches and lack of interest.

[Ray Mcik]

I would like to know how many ran both classes ?

As to the can, it is tried and true and works, but it will say that the pipe does add some nice low end but adds another $270 to the cost of a already expensive hobby.

I wonder just how long they will keep this current pipe with out changing it..

[Ray Mcik]

Well it depends on the size of the trailer,

for a  enclosed trailer   strap the stand to the wall or doors, , if the trailer is tall enough stand the kart on end strap it to the wall.  or use a stand like this Streeter Two Level Kart Stand, and put the kart stand on top or the stacker .
http://www.cometkartsales.com/store/chassis/cpa/images/sks-doublestacker.jpg
You can either buy a stacker or make one yourself.
I would not travel with the kart on a regular kart stand , they can collapse.

I installed eye bolts and use good ratchet straps, not the cheap ones either, i want my kart to stay in place if I have to stop quickly..

Check out these bike straps
http://www.tie-downs-ratchet-straps.com/page3.html

What ever you buy make sure the strap itself is of good quality not the cheap four for $20 specials…

[Ray Mcik]

Depending on what all needs to be done by a reputable  engine builder ….avg is $3-400 for a refresh upper end & carb  , complete rebuild $6-800 plus..

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