We arrived
safely on Friday afternoon after having some trailer tire issues on the road to
the Rock. DJ Ortiz owner-driver and mechanic Bob Schabel began the first
practice on Saturday morning with the Tony Kart Yamaha engine package prepared by
TCRE. Practice went well with the Yamaha. Second practice was
the TAG Masters, (Tony Kart Rotax Engine package by TCRE) a class in which DJ
Ortiz has been very successful in previous years setting the pole and track
record in 2005 as a rookie driver at the Rock, and outside pole in 2007. Running
consistently fast and improving on each lap within tenths of the track record on
the first time out DJ kept on pushing for a faster lap. Approaching slower karts
he was able to pass a handful of karts, but coming out of turn 5 DJ was
passing a kart on the outside, when the driver moved right taking the racing
line, and closing the door for the pass, ending on a crash damaging some
front end parts. DJ missed the rest of the practice for both classes on Saturday
using the time to repair the kart for afternoon qualifying.
When a storm moved into the area on Saturday the
weather got really bad, flooded sections of the track and floating barriers forced the racing officials
to suspend all qualifying for the rest of the day.
We made changes to the
Yamaha package but were not able to gain much ground on the top runners during qualifying
and came home with an 11th place. Good results considering running the Yamaha
kart package for the first time at the Rock.
In the TAG Masters class we had a
better chance for the win. Not having time to practice, that forced DJ and
mechanic to make a smart guess on the set up for Sunday with only 3 practice
laps total during the whole weekend before qualifying. Not knowing the kart or
engine performance after the repair, keep us very wary of making any big
changes. We decided to go with our original set up and make one or
two minor changes for the race.
The kart was fast but lack some top end
speed, handling and engine performance were perfect, allowing us to qualify 12th, a grid spot
we are not familiar with at Rock Island. Changes were made for the final event
and we improved by 7/10 tenths in traffic during the race coming out
with a 5th place finish!
I would like to say thank you to all the fans,
Specially Little Dylan and his family for their great fan
support at the Rock. Also Bob Schabel (North Texas Karters), George Shear and
Jere Shear (gokartracingengines.com ), Sheridan Odom and
Ocala Grand Prix for their friendship and support. Could not have done it
without you folks. Thank you!
