Imagine if.
My Two Cents worth.
Pull up a chair and get a drink. I love scenarios and here is one for this week.
Picture a hockey game between two towns, yes one that had penalties, tripping and roughing and charging, one that had a long time rivalry between teams.
Sadly one team lost after a questionable goal and emotions were high. You might even say hot. Now picture all the fans and spectators and coaches forming a gauntlet which all the players and coaches from both teams must work their way through and then go to only one dressing room. Yes lets put everyone together. One where they also let the spectators and parents and coaches go into as well. Even better, lets make the referee’s accessible to the parents and coaches as well after the game.
See any potential for conflict?
?
Ya, me too, Hockey parents couldn't handle it.
Instead they keep the parents behind glass. They keep the referee’s away from everyone(that was me). They keep the opponents as far from one another as possible. And they for sure don’t let the opposing fans/coaches/parents in each others dressing rooms. Occasionally they even call the police to bring the peace.
So substitute the hockey game with an Outlaw Kart race. The competition is just as fierce. There may or may not be penalties resulting after a race. And then everyone heads to the parking lot, mingles and hangs out afterwards. Think about it for minute.
I feel it is a testament to our great club that this mingling is possible. There is no cool down time after a race. Just emotion and excitement. It comes at you so fast it controls you. Possibly making you act in a way that would embarrass you if anyone viewed it on video afterwards. Certainly lots of opportunity to have things heat up.
My compliments to all the level headed participants who either take it in stride or are smart enough to take a breath and let it subside.
The rest of this message is for the 2% of our participants that feel they have a divine right to spew verbal diarrea (yes profanity) all over the place for everyone to slip in. This is first and foremost a club existing mainly of kids and families. Kids that do not need to hear the ranting and raving (usually 90 % profanity) of someone who wants to share their views to anyone who will likely does not want to listen. Here is the simple guideline I would like you to go by. If you would not say it in church---- do not say it here. Always always always wait , the longer the better before you approach anyone. Hopefully after some time it won’t even seem that important or at least both of you will not be so hot and maybe, just maybe you can talk with out resorting to profanity. Kids are like sponges and soak up everything around them. Lets not fill them with words they are not supposed to be using.
I honestly feel we have way less of this then you see in a typical hockey arena but because everyone is close by, when it does happen you are more likely to witness it first hand. Lets clean it up here and now and lets have some fun.
In regards to our restart procedure we found (had it pointed out to us) that when not a whole lap is recorded our double restarts often got messed up orders. We now have a handle on this and should be able to run through it quicker and more accurately in the future. Turns out I need to keep a copy of the nights starting order in my pocket. As for the results, I honestly don’t know how the lap scorers keep the scoring as accurate as they do with 11 or 12 karts and 9 second laps. Good job scorer’s. For anyone that thinks they can do better—the pay is zero and the thanks are few and far in between. If you see one of them maybe point out how much you appreciate them giving up their time so that your team can have fun racing.
On a totally unrelated note, the following members have lapsed memberships and they need to be renewed. Please remind us the next time you sign in.
Hannah Ferrell, Alix Christie, Cassidy March, and Kevin Norris
AUG 25 2009 Race highlights and recap
In the Beginner division we have another 1st time winner as #77 Alex Hill/Ohsweken made full use of a good starting postion and went 1-1-2 for the night for the overall this week. Current points leader #5 DJ Christie/ Beachville finished strong despite starting at the back and ran 3-4-1 giving him 2nd overall on the night. Not for lack of trying #95 Jayven March/London drove 100% better this week and finished out 3rd with a 6-2-3. For anyone watching Jayven closely. Yes he jumped a restart in the last main, yes he was docked two positions and yes we are watching.
The Juniors also had a new winner this week. #9Dustin Churcher/Courtland also taking advantage of up front starts this week by getting the job done with a 2-1-3. Nice to see that kart works after you tested our wall a few weeks ago. #30 Josh Beecroft/Ridgetown took a mid field start and turned it into a 2nd overall after missing a week. #10Blake Westman/Aylmer had himself positioned to break out a win this week but a tangle with the wall took him out of the final main which dropped him to 3rd on the night with a 1-2-8.
Lots of good racing action this week in the Senior division as mostly everyone on the track has an honest shot at the win. This balancing of power that has occured has made this the most interesting class to watch for some. For the second week in a row #40 Cody Coburn/Mt Bridges has taken his smooth and efficient driving style and turned it into an overall win. This time doing it in the same dominating style as the class elite have done going 1-1-1. We will see if he can keep it up since his points count is now second for the season meaning back row starts next week. Taking 2nd this week was the quiet #88 Devin Jarvis/London who doesn’t seem to get much lime light but is always standing on the podium somewhere. Going 4-2-2 did the job. #75 Dylan Chesterman/Tillsonburg managed to squeak out a 3rd even after getting sent to the rear of the field late in the final main, narrowly over #5 Conor Mahoney/Hamilton by only one point. Currently Conor is in the mix being only 4 points out of 2nd for the summer series. #4 Cody Day and #44 Ron Parker had an end put to their fun in the second main for playing rough. #81 Cassidy March was penalized his nights points for intentionally ramming a kart after the completion of the last main.
The Expert division is setting up a party to celebrate the #63 Lawrence Chesterman kart actually finishing a race without being pushed off the track. #34 Scott Chesterman reclaimed the season lead this week and Holy smokes #1 Holly Porter has almost closed the points gap after missing the first week of the Summer series. I guess I better quite playing around .LOL
Team Spot-Light.
Several weeks ago there was a young racer and his team that were having a terrible time trying to get the hang of this racing and kart setup thing. It was getting bad enough that they were considering packing it in. Not doubt there were some signs of frustration in the pits which the #20 McRae team noticed. Rather than sitting back, the McRae’s stepped in and assisted the struggling team with the needed knowledge and assistance to sort out their handling issues. I only caught wind of this from the team that got the help after the fact. My hat goes off to the McRae team and all the others that have lent a hand to anyone that has needed the help. This truly is what our club is made of. Not the nonsense that happens once in a while that everyone wants to dwell on but rather teams helping teams and hopefully building some life skills in the process that our kids can use in the years ahead.
#20 DJ McRae hanging out in the pits
Keep having fun.
See you next week.
Dave Chesterman
Chesterman Power Products
Tillsonburg Indoor MX
www.chesterman.ca519-842-5977
Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10425.msg72413#msg72413
