Past Events: HotTrack Indoor Karting - NorthWest Z vs. Z Car Club of Washington - May 11, 2002
by Ryan Otis
A short while ago, NorthWest Z (NWZ) challenged the Z Car Club of Washington (ZCCW) to gokart races at HotTracks in Vancouver. ZCCW accepted the challenge and the date was set, so on May 11th we met at the indoor gokart track for a fun afternoon of friendly competition.
The event was basically conducted as follows:
First, it was broken up into a pair of qualifying heats. The first heat (also the only practice session) was run only with members of the same club. So all the NWZ drivers had a practice session/pre-qualifier, then all the ZCCW drivers did the same thing. Whoever had the fastest single lap from the first session would start in front for the second session, and members of both clubs were alternated in position behind the leader. The overall average lap time from the second session would determine the starting order for the main event. The main event was raced for position, whoever crossed the finish line first would be crowned as the winning driver. Points were also awarded to drivers for their rankings in each of the heats as well as the main event, the points were used to determine the overall winning "Team". Finally, the karts were swapped around between heats to make sure nobody got stuck with a 'lame' Kart. Simple enough? :)
The races were scheduled to start at 1:00pm... some people showed up early and had some extra time for a tasty beverage...
After everyone got signed up and we got all the teams squared away, it was time for the first practice/pre-qualifier to start. We all attended a short drivers meeting before heading out to the track. We were given brief instruction on how to drive a kart, followed by descriptions of all the flags that may be used by the workers on the track.
Northwest Z was the first club on the track, we grabbed our helmets and headed out to select our karts.
The first practice for NWZ went pretty well, we all agreed beforehand that we would let faster drivers pass since we were all driving against the clock, so we didn't run into any problems with lap traffic holding up the fast guys. Ryan Wamsley set fastest lap with a 29.34, Ryan Otis was close on his heels turning a 29.54 with Jeffrey and Jerry not far behind.
Now it was the ZCCW's turn to take to the track and try to best our times.
The ZCCW crew ran well but it wasn't quite enough to beat Ryan Wamsley's fast time. Ryan Wamsley would start in front for the main qualifier with Shiro from ZCCW behind him.
The qualifier for the main event was a bit of a different story. Many people turned in some very fast lap times, including some 28.XX second laps by Ryan Otis and Shiro. Ryan Otis finished with the best overall average lap time of 29.78, so he would be starting from 1st place for the main event. Shiro was very close behind with an impressive 29.92 average lap time.
After the first two heats, the scores for the drivers were as follows, this was also the starting order for the main event:
Both Shiro and Ryan Otis were tied for 1st place in points going into the main event.
Ryan Otis waiting for the start of the main:
Shiro waiting for the start of the main: (Look at that intensity!)
Everyone getting ready on the grid:
Ryan Otis managed to lead the race from start to finish, but it wasn't won without a fight. Shiro and Ryan Wamsley were barely a step behind fighting for 2nd place and looking for a way into the lead. Shiro and Ryan Wamsley also turned blazing fast laps while fighting for position, which makes it that much more impressive. Shiro's best was an amazing 28.66, fastest of the day.
Everyone had a blast!
For placing first in the main event, Ryan Otis was awarded a trophy (right) and Gregory accepted the trophy on behalf of NWZ for leading the points race. (left)
Because Shiro turned the fastest laptime of the day, and was truly a fierce and gracious competitor, Gregory from NWZ presented him with the team trophy.
