AX'ers GoKarting ....

[Mako Koiwai]

Kati became another convert ... here chasing Karen, and Bob Baltazar and Bob Rose are joining us next month. Kati needs to wear her Hans device with that loooong neck of hers!

[Mako Koiwai]

Karen in Pre-Grid before one of the five sessions/races. Nice mixture of folks, from 15 year olds with 10 years of racing experience, to a commercial director/producer to veteran ex-sports car racers.

[Mako Koiwai]

Another Photo Finish:

[KJ Christopher]

The corner begins when the brakes are applied....

Sounds like fun. I'd do it if I wasn't hopelessly overweight.

[Mako Koiwai]

Openings ... you can just show up Saturday morning at the CA Speedway karting track: http://calspeed2013.eyenovation.net/rac ... eries.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

$125 for a day of wheel to wheel cart racing on that big track opposite where we AX. Newbies arrive by 7:30 to register, Novice Orientation class, get your gear, weigh in ... you'll be in the first practice group at 9 am.

If you can, bring a pop-up and chairs and your own cooler ... and lunch. Things go quickly and you won't really have time to leave for lunch.

Last time it was warm but there was a breeze all day long. Leave your jacket open a bit for cooling when driving. A wet next wrap is nice.

They have jackets, suits, and weights ... everyone weights in at 200 lbs ... or 225 for the heavy class. Five sessions ... different kart each time.

[Mako Koiwai]

This is getting more and more fun as we improve. Randy Gonzales, red C6 GS, Stig N., black C5 convertible, and Bob R. black SSP Z06, all brought their kids out to race.

I had a race long duel that had me up to 3rd place in D Main until I spun a couple of laps from the end. Out dragged raced the fellow in front of me out of the last corner to snatch 5th place by 0.0.5 seconds. Darn helmet camera wasn't running!

Sarah Bantay doing the two wheel hustle. After a year in this series she's up the the B Group ... about a half second out of the top A Group:

[Randy Gonzalez]

I just wanted to chime in with a quick endorsement. If you enjoy autocrossing, you'll enjoy this head-to-head competition. I'm always looking for some father/son bonding opportunities, and this event fit the bill nicely. At 52, I was one of the oldest guys driving (and by far the biggest!), and at 13 and 14, my sons were among the youngest. None of that mattered though, the general camaraderie and spirit of the whole group was very friendly (just like the autocross crowd, a great group just out to have a good time). And just like autocross, you start the day knowing nobody, and you leave with a couple of new friends.

The competition was friendly, but fierce. These guys (and gals) are all good. The 200 lb weighting evened out the carts, and every race everyone is in a different kart, so no excuses about "oh, I just got a bad cart!" I'm a big guy, so I was nowhere near any of the class weights (I blew way by the heavy weight class many years ago), but I could always find somebody to race in the back of the pack (which is where I spent my whole day!).

There were several familiar faces from autocrossing, and once I introduced ourselves to Mako and his group (we're kinda new to the CSCC events too, so he wouldn't have necessarily known us), we had friends to hang out with for the rest of the day. Stig N. was there with his son John and he and my boys hung out a bunch (although we did tease John a bit that the three of us would team up against him). The last few races, I found myself next to Katianna in the starting grid. We "duke'd it out" for several corners through the races, but she always managed to leave me in the dust well before the checkered flag. I also got a good 5 or 6 laps of a shoot out with one of my sons....which was an absolute blast!

The events are well organized, and timing and scoring is posted after every run. Plenty of help for us "newbies"...everybody was more than happy to help us figure out weights, and where to be when. All in all we had a great time, and I'm sure we'll be back for more!

[Fred Sullivan]

Is anybody doing the event on September 7th? This will be my first time, hope to find some familiar faces. Looks like fun!

[Mako Koiwai]

Pete Loney, Karen, Sarah Bantay, Myself ... sometimes Casey Quinn, Jason Swindel, Kati, Stig, Bob Rose. Bring a folding chair, we should have plenty of room under our pop-ups

[Bobby Beyer]

Don't forget about me Mako

Also don't forget to bring lots of water.

[Mako Koiwai]

Entry list so far: https://www.facebook.com/events/4191153 ... tif_t=like" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Pete Loney]

Don't forget about me Mako

Also don't forget to bring lots of water.

With Practice, Qualy, Heats 1,2 and a Main there's going to be a lot of HOT racing, literally.

I plan on bringing 5 T shirts to keep changing into after each stint.

Going to be 99 on Sat.

[Mako Koiwai]

For the last two "hot" races we've always had a nice breeze and the temp. hasn't felt that bad. Of course it's nice to have a special hot weather mesh karting jacket.

http://www.kartingwarehouse.com/Karting ... _info.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While you're driving the faster you go the more of a breeze you create ... just keep your jacket a bit open. Jeans allow air to enter from below.

You DO have to keep your visor down ... full cover helmets required and available ... because a lot of crap gets thrown up. If you leave your visor open a bit, you will get dirty face.

If you feel the need, just bring one extra shirt and hang the moist one on a hanger from our pop-up ... dries very fast.

Bring plenty of drinks ... frozen water ... free ice cold beer participation awards awards available as soon as the Final is over.

BRING a LUNCH/SNACKS ... not really enough time to run out and buy one!!!

[Bobby Beyer]

For the last two "hot" races we've always had a nice breeze and the temp. hasn't felt that bad. Of course it's nice to have a special hot weather mesh karting jacket.

http://www.kartingwarehouse.com/Karting ... _info.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While you're driving the faster you go the more of a breeze you create ... just keep your jacket a bit open. Jeans allow air to enter from below.

You DO have to keep your visor down ... full cover helmets required and available ... because a lot of crap gets thrown up. If you leave your visor open a bit, you will get dirty face.

If you feel the need, just bring one extra shirt and hang the moist one on a hanger from our pop-up ... dries very fast.

Bring plenty of drinks ... frozen water ... free ice cold beer participation awards awards available as soon as the Final is over.

BRING a LUNCH/SNACKS ... not really enough time to run out and buy one!!!

The last event I went to last year was during a hot day, and the weather wasn't that bad under the awning.

Water, food, and a chair are all you pretty much need, but a yoga mat to sleep on isn't a bad idea either.

[Fred Sullivan]

Thanks for all the tips! This looks like it will be a lot of fun.

[Mako Koiwai]

Building & Safety made them remove the porus awning that has lasted 10
years of strong Fontana wind, to be replaced with our flimsy pop-ups!

[Mako Koiwai]

Had a great day with Karen, Pete L, Freddy Sullivan, Bobby B, Stig & son and Sarah B.

For the D Final Pete had Pole Position, Fred, Stig and I were all within a tenth of a second. Bobby was pulling up the rear with an injured thumb. Pete had to deal with grabby brakes ... really need to squuuueze these kart brakes ... and gave up the lead pretty quickly. We all ended up losing to a little girl ... she must have been 12 ... but remember we're all ballasted to 200 lbs. My new theory is that these kids have less frontal area!

See the slim "kid" behind me ... in the middle:

http://images9.fotki.com/v749/photos/3/ ... ids-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mako Koiwai]

Karen and Sarah moved up to the "C" Final ... actually Sarah moved down. She's always in the "B" Final.

Karen did me proud ... getting a Stop and Go penalty for defending too aggressively ... after first getting a waved warning Black Stick. :gpower:

http://images45.fotki.com/v153/photos/3 ... ont-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://images62.fotki.com/v1453/photos/ ... /K2-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mako Koiwai]

The cover's back ... in a temporary deployed state ... we still used our blue pop-up for more sun protection:

http://images107.fotki.com/v70/photos/3 ... ver-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mako Koiwai]

Ex motorcycle racer Freddy is a charger ... here leading this group ... black leather jacket:

http://images115.fotki.com/v607/photos/ ... ddy-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://images115.fotki.com/v607/photos/ ... dy2-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://images115.fotki.com/v607/photos/ ... dy3-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mako Koiwai]

Pete in the middle ... red helmet:

http://images114.fotki.com/v288/photos/ ... ete-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://images115.fotki.com/v607/photos/ ... te2-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://images18.fotki.com/v437/photos/3 ... te3-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://images107.fotki.com/v1143/photos ... te4-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mako Koiwai]

Me in front of Freddy, ? and Stig:

PetePhoto

http://images18.fotki.com/v61/photos/3/ ... ako-vi.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bobby Beyer]

I didn't realize that was Pete with the red helmet, I was doing a good job catching up to him right before I took a big spill into the wall. That basically ended up run for the day and got me the DSQ.

[Mako Koiwai]

LOT'S of photos by our Pro Shooter and father of Cameron ... who came in 3rd in the "B" Main:

http://garyrosephotography.com/superseries8/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mako Koiwai]

Herta qualifies 2nd and then gets forced off course ... fights his way back through the A Main field. Lots of hand gesturing! Over a second faster then us AX'ers ... trying to figure out where they're getting their time when they're all over the place, bumping and shoving ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK-dAqGX ... e=youtu.be" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;