Florida All-Star Karting

FAS Race #6 Review

September 19th, 2009 Dirt Devils Speedway, Land O’Lakes, Florida

Qualifying

1-Mike Nicosia..10.893

2-Tim Taft…10.895

3-Ed Schreifels..10.914

4-Wayne Alderman..11.038

5-Mark Deese…11.260

6-Gary Hutchinson..11.317

7-Wayne Howe…11.472

8-Mike Eller…11.617

9-Scott McGowan…11.807

10-Dusty Chisholm…12.026

Final Results

1- Mike Nicosia

2-Ed Schreifels

3-Tim Taft

4-Gary Hutchinson

5-Mike Eller

6-Wayne Alderman

7-Wayne Howe

8-Dusty Chisholm

9-Mark Deese

10-Scott McGowan

“The Rest of The Story”

I’m not going to bore anyone with weather reports etc but to say it was HOT…Besides that.. it was a perfect day for a race. Sam Rodriquez, the owner had the Dirt Devils track prepped to perfection as he always does. Of all the tracks we race I have to say that Dirt Devils is the best race prepared and most consistent track we run. It is always smooth and fast.

I really want to take time to thank not only all the FAS competitors for a great year of racing but most importantly the FKA, Jimmy and Judy Sims and the whole FKA crew. Without a doubt the best officiating crew in Kart Racing. These guys know how to put on an event and they treat us like family. All of them are special to not only me but all the FAS racers. We thank you for having us and allowing us to be a part of the FKA..

This being the last FAS points race of the season and with Mike Nicosia having to only qualify to lock up 1st place in the Championship I only expected about 8-10 drivers. We had 10 signup..The points battle really tightens up after that with Taft 120pts behind Nicosia but Deese only 10 pts behind Taft and Alderman 30pts behind Deese for 3rd place. This was going to be a battle between 2-5 place. Qualifying proved it out. The top 5 in points were also the top 5 qualifiers for the last race..With Nicosia and Taft only .002 apart in times. It doesn’t get any better than that…Amazing how that works out isn’t it..?..
The Race

With Nicosia on Pole and Taft right beside him, it was going to be a fight to turn 1. As they lined up 2×2 for the start, coming off turn 3 Taft lagged a little behind but fired right at the moment the green flag fell and got the jump on Nicosia. He cleared him into turn one and was the leader with Schreifels falling in behind Nicosia..As everyone fell into line, Mike Eller spun coming off turn 2, calling for a yellow we also had 4 others involved in spins in turn 4……So, by FAS rules we go to a single file restart. The guys only get one chance at the double…Scotty McGowan suffered from that as his kart stalled in the spin on turn 4. Being it’s a shifter he had no chance to grab the clutch to keep it from stalling. He was the first casualty of the race. The next was Mark Deese who was also involved in the turn 4 wreck. He got one lap in and blew the clutch on the back strait into a hundred pieces..he also suffered a flat left rear tire be it from the first lap incident or not..it was flat..There goes the 2nd casualty and the 2nd yellow in as many laps. After a couple of yellow flag laps the crew had the parts cleaned off the track and we went single file for anther start…Nicosia leading the group around turn 4 and into turn 1, Taft in 2nd , Schreifels fell into 3rd but not without a challenge from Alderman. Schreifels and Alderman went side by side thru turns 1 and 2 for one of the highlights of the race, Neither driver twitched or gave an inch. With Alderman on the inside, Schreifels on the outside..it was going to be a drag race to see who got 3rd place. Schreifels was able to get in the throttle a tad little sooner than Alderman and that ole Stroker Sudam did what it was meant to do, Pulled off the corner. Schreifels got the position and started hunting for Taft who was in 2nd. Tim was holding pretty close to Nicosia. Funny part about all this is that Taft was on Fast Eddies spare kart..the one he won the ’07 Championship in. Not only did Taft out qualify the Bulldog but he was ahead of him in the feature on Bulldogs equipment..

After 5 laps..Nicosia continued to lead but not by much with Taft in 2nd place only .5 behind, Schreifels was on Tafts bumper by this time only .2 sec separation. Alderman was about .75 back with Howe bringing up 4th place, Gary Hutchinson was all over Wayne Howe and Dusty Chisholm had a birds eye view only 2 kart lengths back. Mike Eller brought up 8th place about 1.5sec behind Chisholm. Mike was on the only 4 stroke in the race on a modified Animal. Everybody else was on a 2stroke Sudam with the exception of McGowan on a 125 shifter and Dusty Chisholm on Todd Spaude’s 150cc Sonic..

Lap 7 saw Hutchinson get by Howe coming out of turn 4 to take over 5th place. Dusty Chishom pulled off track and into the pits due to an extreme vibration in the frontend…A lap later Howe pulled off track also with a problem. By the ½ way mark Nicosia had increased his lead over Taft by about 1 sec. The race to watch we between Taft and Schreifels. Ed had closed down on Taft and was beating his bumper a little in every corner trying to rattle his cage. He’s peak inside, outside, tap tap tap…but to no avail. Taft was giving him the line. ..Tim was getting a little tired and Nicosia was continuing to pull away. Nicosia had also developed a push and you could tell he was fighting a tight kart…Now if Schreifels could get around Taft he might be able to run him down..but…

About this time there was a noticeable slow down by Alderman who was running in 4th and holding his own. Then Hutchinson got by him as he had closed the gap after getting by Howe. Lap 13 say Alderman drop out and pull off with a broken crank half..still had the motoplat rotor/flywheel attached to it… Lap 14 saw Schreifels drop a few feet off Tafts bumper going into turn one, he closed on him in the center, then cut to the inside down low and pulled Taft off of turn 2 down the back strait..it was a Classic move..never touched him, just got a run on him and the stroker did its work again..At this time Taft had actually closed the distance down to .3 tenths on Nicosia and reeled Mike in to where it looked like it was going to be a fight to the finish between the 3 front runners. When Schreifels got by Taft he closed the gap and got up on Nicosias bumper..for the following 5 laps..One slip up by Mike he would of lost the lead. ..As they crossed the finish line it was Nicosia ahead of Schreifels by .2 tenths of a second…with Taft dropping back almost 2 seconds off. Gary Hutchinson had closed the gap and run down Taft at the Checkers .2 tenths back of Taft…Great run for Gary also, he was moving and consistent the whole race.. Our friend Mike Eller got a top 5 as he hung in there and finished the race on his Animal, great job Mike…

Congrats to all you guys. It was fun race to watch with some very close and I mean close racing. Thank you one and all for being a part of the FAS and letting me do what I do..Its been another great year and pleasure working with all of you…Looking forward to the Christmas at Crossroads..Until we meet again…Be Safe Out There.. I don’t have the official end of points totals yet but I’m sure Judy will have them up soon. Big Thanks.goes out to Mike Grady who has offered up $100 gift certificates all year to the FAS Racers. This week he had 2 $100 gift certificates from TS Racing for me to give away. The 1st one was given away from a drawing at the Drivers meeting and won by Wayne Howe. The 2nd Certificate goes to Scotty McGowan for the “Hard Luck Award”…Although he had a bad day at our last race, I heard Scotty finished up the night on a good note as he went to Fruitland Park Speedway and won the “Motorcycle” Class on his 125 after he finished up at Dirt Devils. Good job Scotty…

Tim Taft Helmet Cam

Fast Eddie’s Helmet Cam

KT from the tower

Tim Wonderdog Tafts helmet cam

Fast Eddie’s Helmet cam

From the Fence

Fast Eddie Da Bulldogs Helmet cam..

Last Points race of the season for this weekend August 29th was rained out and called yesterday afternoon. We have rescheduled for Sept. 19 at Dirt Devils Speedway in Land O’Lakes, FL…Hope to see everyone there and I apologize to to those I was not able to contact.