Hi Race Fans,
 
We're well into the karting season with eight races complete ... four at Carolina Motorsports Park and four at Mooresville Motorplex.
 
Races #2 and #3 of the MMX Karting Challenge comprised a double-header weekend in late April.  With the Rotax Summer Shootout and U.S. Grand Nationals at Mooresville in July, national and international level teams are attending the regional races.  From the first practice session of Race #2, the OGP (TonyKart) team from Ocala, Florida, led the way in all classes.  Several of their drivers compete internationally representing Team USA in Rotax competition.  Their blistering performance was a big reality check for us, but wenow understand how much improvement we need and are working toward that goal.  Joey finished a disappointing 10th in both races after contact in one race and a penalty for retaliating in the other race.  However, he was consistently fastest of the regional racers and faster than some of the national racers.

The Powerade Karting Challenge Races #3 and #4 at Carolina Motorsports park were problematic too but due to the crew chief and team owner instead of the driver.  Yours truly left the rear hubs loose for qualifying at Race #3 resulting in a wheel flying off in the first turn and a 10th place starting position.  Joey drove up to 3rd in the heat race and finished 3rd in the main.  At Race #4, the team owner (yours truly again) tried to get away with running old tires with two races and a test day on them.  Practice sessions were reasonable, but when everyone else put new tires on for qualifying Joey only qualified 5th.  The rules require racing on the same tires as qualifying, so the grip only got worse resulting in a 5th place finish.

Race #4 at MMX was a much better day.  Again, there were several national karters present, but it appears that hard work and testing is paying off.  Rather than a gap of 0.5-0.7sec/lap to the leaders, Joey has reduced the deficit to 0.2-0.3sec/lap.  He was the highest qualifying (5th) and finishing (3rd) regional drive, and drove intelligently and consistently all day.

The good news is that Joey is again leading the points championship at MMX and second in points at CMP (despite his crew chief!).  The other good news is that Joey will take over writing race reviews when school lets out next week!
 

See ya'll at the track,
Skip & Joey Essma
Rotax Junior #31

Leatt Motokart neck brace size S/M. $180

Questions? Email Skip_Essma@toyota.com

New pictures will be up in the pictures section of the website. They are also posted below:


Here are some pictures from race 1 at MMX

Well, our 2013 karting season is off to a great start! After having the first CMP race cancelled because of snow (in South Carolina!! Really?!), the first race of the season was at the recently opened Mooresville Motorplex. 

We started off the weekend with a full day of testing on Saturday. There were a bunch of people out all day, so the track was always full. We worked with different gearing, tire pressures, and front suspension geometry to get Bella as dialed in as we could in preparation for Sunday's race.
On Sunday, practice went well. I was running great, fighting against Austin Cindric for the fastest lap. He prevailed in qualifying, starting me second. On the start I squeezed past Austin to take first. I lead for 6 laps or so before Austin caught up and punted me sideways to pass me back. I couldn't catch Austin, however, he ended up getting docked three positions for punting me. So, I finished first in the heat.
In the Final, I got another great start, started pulling a lead. After the first few laps, I realized that I needed to concentrate and just drive like I had been. When I did this, I pulled a gap on the rest of the field, and even posted the fastest lap of the race, a 50.1. Austin caught up, but ended up getting punted off track, and pushed back into the field. I finished first, with a nice gap behind me. 

Thanks so much to my family for supporting my love of racing. I couldn't be doing as well as I am without my mom having patience with all the time dad and I spend on this sport, and dad does a great job of setting the kart up for each race. Also, thanks to Joey Mooneyham, Anthony Mooneyham, and the rest of the JAM team. You guys are THE most helpful people one could ask for, and you all make up the great group we call family at our home away from home in Kershaw, South Carolina. I look forward to a great season of racing and working with you all!

Joey#31

Go check out my new website, http://sketchupbuilds.weebly.com/ where i blog about builds i do on sketchup. Go to the website to find out more!

Two weeks ago, we took a Tony Kart with a rotax dd2 engine, owned by the guys at my dad's work, to Mooresville Motorplex. After a few hours of fixing unexpected problems, we finally got some good run time. A.J. Almendinger, Denny Hamlin, and Kasey Kane were a few of the more famous drivers out there. Near the end of the day, I was out on track on caught up to Denny Hamlin. I raced with him for a while, then passed him. I got a nice bump from behind for that one! Unfortunately I don't have any video, but I do have a picture of me catching up to him. Next time we'll have the GoPro, so watch out Denny! 

The CRG Kali 30 kart is sold. The Sparco suit, shoes, and gloves are all still for sale.
Also, I am selling my Leatt Brace. I am asking around $170 for it. I got it for $200. I will be posting pictures of it on this website and on Ekartingnews soon.

I have put up  new videos of a champ kart race at Coleridge Speedway, a night race at CMP, and a from VIR. Check out our YouTube channel here, or go to the videos section of our website.

We have a bunch of karting gear up for sale, such as gloves, a suit, shoes, a racing jacket. ALL OF THE ITEMS FOR SALE ARE USED, but are in very good condition.

CRG Kali 30 Roller Chassis. Well maintained. Straight chassis, never bent. Finished 2nd in the 2011 Powerade CMP Rotax Junior Championship. Tillet Seat. Pedal Mount Kit for young drivers. Includes MANY spares, such as steering shafts, spindles, and hubs.

Sparco Jarno Karting Suit. Black, red and grey. adult small (5'4" to 5'8" height, 35" to 39" chest) excellent condition.

Sparco K-F1 gloves. black and red. size 9 (adult small) excellent condition

Sparco K-Run shoes. Black. size 9 1/2. excellent condition.

Carrera kart suit. black. youth size 38. worn but useable.

G-Force shoes. black. size 6 1/2. worn but useable.

G-Force gloves. black. extra small. worn but useable.

TMC Karting Jacket. black. size 16 (youth XL). worn but useable.

I've put two new videos up: one of Brian Smith, the driver coach at Carolina Motorsports Park, driving a Radical sports car around CMP's track. The other video is of the race at the dirt track when Cole Flowers asked me to substitute for him, and I got to race his kart.

Here are the video links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qVwa6lEWcc&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciLqBg5nkMc&feature=youtu.be