Grand Prix of San Marino and Sunday Night Heats
25 Apr '05 - 12:45 by benrGoing into this race weekend I was really bummed out when I found out that CBS, not SpeedTV, would be showing the race. ABC in the past has really shown that anything good can be ruined by American broadcasters. We've taken for granted perhaps the SpeedTV trio of Varsha/Hobbs/Matchette, and watching CBS try to copy-cat Speed was at least a nice nod to the guys who work so hard. Watching everything this weekend on a tape delay really sucked, namely because the San Marino Grand Prix marks the return of Formula1 to Europe, a major event in the season, so I actually planned on staying up for the 5am race, but oh well.
As for the race itself, CBS wanted something exciting to show US race fans, and they got it. This was probly the most exciting F1 race I've seen in quite some time. Schumi was on his pace and running down the front runners at a pace that was hard to believe, toward the end of the race making up 2 seconds a lap on Button in P2. Absolutely amazing racing and as close to a photo finish as we've seen in years. It was sad to see Kimi retire so early and I'm really bummed that Ruben's didn't get his day in the sun, but thats how things go. In a spectator sense Ruben's retirement added to the tension of the race because you just didn't know if Michael was going to even make it to the end or not. Jenson did well too, but thats in questions at the moment due to being underweight at the finish, and I don't recall that having ever happened to another driver, at least it didn't make big waves. The last major post-race penalty I recall was at the Grand Prix of Canada last year when William's got called out for having break ducts larger than allowed in the rules.
Turning to my race evening, I've still been running Sunday Night Heats at LeMans Karting. I'd been away from the heats for 2 weeks due to the OSBC and then sickness but returned last week. A new owner has taken control of LeMans and is doing good things, he's hired a new general manager and is getting all the karts fixed, so last week we had very consistant karts and a great track that was grippy and fast. This week however the karts all had a problem of some sort, some more managable than others, and the track had very very little grip. I ran mid-pack all night, generally fighting to maintain position rather than charge forward. During my third heat I started P1 on the grid but dropped immediately to P3 when I hit the gas and nothing happened for about 3 seconds, what I figured to be a clutch issue, which also ment that the engine would stay engaged too long going into corners and you just had to manage the kart all the way. In the end I ended 12th in the points, outside of the final, but simililarly most of the regulars and top drivers there also finished poorly or didn't even make it to the final, so it wasn't just me. Last week I did quite well with good track conditions and good gear, but with a fast pack I only finished 8th last week which I was actually happy with due to the extreme pace we were running. At this point I'm hoping to get some practice in this week for next weekend but with the karts being mangled and the track being questionable on grip I might wait untill late in the week when they have karts more sorted out and extra rubber has been laid down.
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