Race Report: Stars of Karting - Miller Motorsports Park

Written By: Brett Bowen

(April 28th, 2008) -- Team Carpenter (Big Artie, Little Artie and myself) traveled to Miller Motorsports Park 20 miles outside of Salt Lake City to race in the Snap On Stars of Karting Western Division Round #1. Arriving at the facility Thursday afternoon was almost overwhelming. (Aside from the fact it was snowing when we got there) Miller Motorsports Park is absolutely amazing! There is a large 3+ mile track, which was occupied by the Formula BMW teams doing some testing. There were also some AMA superbike teams testing for an upcoming race, and some Porsche GT teams testing as well. On the back side of the facility is the .900 mile kart track.

We pulled into the pits to see HUGE semi haulers from all the top karting teams around the world. Some teams included Top Kart, Ital Kart, Tony Kart, CRG, Intrepid, Sodi, etc. We spotted the Kartel (Team Top Kart USA) hauler, and headed over to retrieve Artie’s kart, and begin wrenching. After helping the team set up the pit area in the garage, we got the kart together, and through tech. All ready for Practice Friday Morning!

Friday-

We arrived at the track early Friday morning, and it was only 30 degrees! Friday was a test and tune day with 6 practice sessions, the last 2 sessions being timed. We used this time to test JICA motor and gear combinations, and fine-tune the chassis setup. Artie was quick right out of the box! There were 28 of the top drivers from all over the world in Artie’s class. I can’t emphasize enough the level of competition at this race, it is NOTHING like I have ever seen before. There were absolutely NO back markers in this field, it was definitely the best of the best drivers. All weekend, the whole field was separated by less than 1.5 seconds… 28 drivers running basically exactly the same speed. One session you would see certain drivers at the top of the speed charts, then next session you would see them in the middle or back of the field. Being off by .5 seconds per lap could send you from 5th to 25th…literally…

In the first timed session towards the end of the day, Artie turned a 59.684 second lap… putting him 10th quick on the speed charts! Behind him, and even 20th and further back were drivers that had already won races in the Stars of Karting series, and had incredibly impressive racing resume’s.

We experimented with a few things, and in the last session of the day, Artie posted an impressive 16th fastest on the speed chart. We got everything cleaned up, and ready for Saturday morning, and it was off to the hotel.

Saturday-

Saturday morning held more freezing cold weather for the racers. We used the last practice session of the weekend to try and perfect our setup for qualifying. Tuning these JICA motors was pretty tricky. We thought we had it figured out for qualifying, but made a slight gearing error. Artie drove the wheels off his Top Kart chassis, and managed to qualify 24th, a mere 1.3 seconds off the pole.

We used this information to get the kart better for Artie in the first heat race. Artie started 24th, and quickly made his way through the pack to 17th… by this time, the leaders had separated from the pack Artie had made his way up to the front of the second pack. On this size of high-speed track, being in a draft is extremely crucial. With no drafting help, Artie caught the lead pack, but ran out of laps to make any moves on them… but boy was he coming in a hurry! He definitely turned some heads on his mission through the pack… He proved that he is definitely a force to be reckoned with, and he is a little man with some huge talent!

With a 17th under his belt, he needed to have a good finish in the second heat to acquire points so he could have a better starting spot in the finals, which would give him a shot to run with the lead pack from the drop of the green flag.

The start of the 2nd heat was a little edgy for Artie and a couple other drivers. Artie had a great start, tucked up to the kart in front of him, when drivers behind him decided they were going to try and win it on the first lap. Artie got drop-kicked by the driver behind him, and sent him out into the dirt, ending his heat…. As a result, he finished 28th.

Sunday-

Heat 3 was also pretty hectic! Artie did a great job staying out of trouble, and came home with a 21st place finish. So the points acquired from a 17th, 28th, and 21st place finish gave him points to start 24th for both of the finals…

Starting on the outside of this track was definitely a BIG disadvantage, the inside line always got a much better start and run through the first few corners. The start of Final #1 was a little shaky, likely because everyone was on brand new tires. As usual, the inside line got the jump, and the guys inside Artie slid up a little more than usual. Artie did a great job keeping his inside tires on the track, and managed to save it coming out of turn 1. He started picking drivers off, and managed a very hard-fought 21st place finish.

After the race, we took the tires and fuel tank off and put them in impound, and prepped for final #2.

The start of Final #2 was definitely the most exciting start of the weekend, for any class! As usual, about half the field tried to win it in the first corner of the first lap, which resulted in 3 wide racing down the front stretch as soon as the green flag dropped. The driver on the inside of row 9 got punted, shooting him across the track at about 90mph, right in front of Artie! Artie’s quick thinking, and lightning fast reflexes allowed him to check up, and slip into a tiny slot inside of him…..SIDEWAYS! The driver slid through the dirt, wiping out a corner worker (they were both fine) and Artie kept on truckin! Little Artie flat put on a driving clinic throughout the last final, leaving it all on the track. He tucked and weaved, using the draft perfectly, and headed up through the field. He made his way up to 18th, which was the front of the 2nd pack. Once the lead pack separated after the hectic start, they pretty much checked out.

Artie finished 18th after 21 laps of fighting tooth and nail for every position… and actually turned his fastest lap of the weekend on lap 19! A 59.377 second blazer!

Typically coming home 18th wouldn’t be something to write home about…but in this case it is. I cant emphasize enough the level of competition at this race. NO racer on the track was limited in any way when it comes to equipment or talent. Everyone has the best of the best at this level of racing. Its nothing short of any level of top racing, no matter what type of motorsports.

This was Little Artie’s first JICA race in the Stars of Karting series. He finished ahead of drivers that have already won races in this series, and have podiums in every other series of kart racing. I could tell you about this series until I am blue in the race, but you just cant understand it until you see one in person, its unbelievable.

It comes down to who can put EVERY element together at exactly the right times. I have no doubt that Artie can run with any of these kids… most of which are about twice as big as him, and have years of experience in this series. If we would have made the right calls in qualifying, and didn’t get taken out in the second heat, Artie would have definitely been right there in the lead pack. THE KID CAN FLAT OUT DRIVE!!! Not only can he drive, but he presents himself at the track as a class-act professional. He will definitely be a force to be reckoned with in future Stars of Karting races, and wherever he ends up in the future.

I want to say thanks to the Carpenters, Kart Sport Northwest, Kartel and Top Kart USA for having me at this race. It was definitely something that you have to see in person…. And I’m looking forward to watching Artie progress, and get his first podium in the Stars Series, I know it will be soon.