IKWC World Championship Race Report - by Driver Mike Smith (Team Formula Americas)

Pole Day - August 4, 2008

Here is a showcase for the 6 pole sitters from Monday, and the full starting grids for Tuesday's first round.

Light Class Group A Pole: Kristoff Van De Parre
Training hard to get down into the 70kg light class, Van De Parre has the benefit of being in the same team as some of the best drivers from Belgium, teammates Bart Van de Vel, and Matthias Grooten. Pole position is a great start to carve his name into the history books.

Light Class Group B Pole: Filipe Vieira
The only Portuguese driver in the field, Vieira has already represented his country well by scoring a pole, but I am sure he won't stop there, and will be right at the sharp end of the standings.

Light Class Group C Pole: Ruben Boutens
Certainly one of the fastest of the Dutch squad, Boutens will be one of the front runners this year, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him at the top step of the podiums.

Heavy Class Group A Pole: Mathias Grooten
Moving over to the Heavy Class after being on the cusp of the 50/50 split, Grooten is certainly one of the favorites for the Heavy Championship, and has been touted by some to be the driver to beat.

Heavy Class Group B Pole: Marc Viskens
Playing second fiddle to teammate Borremans in the local BELKart championship, Viskens is looking good to score strong points tomorrow, and take the fight to the Heavy Class.

Heavy Class Group C Pole: Robin Borremans
Coined as the best Heavy driver in Belgium by many of the locals, Borremans will also likely be a front runner for the Championship this year. With a very precise and smooth style, look for him to make very few mistakes this week.

Team Formula Americas Update:
- Driver Jeroen Van As of the Netherlands joins the Formula A,ericas team to help out in the Team Championship (We would have automatic zeros without 3rd driver) Thanks Jeroen!
- Jeroen will compete in the Light Class, while both Diego and Myself will take on the Heavy category.
- I take to the track 1st for the team, running in the very tough Group A for the Heavy Class (Matthias Grooten, Alex Gumpenberger, Nico Vanpuyvelde, Truman Godfrey, just to name a few). Qualified 5th overall, but made a crucial mistake. Looking too many times for space to cut a lap towith no traffic, my tires never came up to a good enough temp, and I struggled for grip. Won't repeat that mistake.
- Jeroen goes out in the 3rd Light Championship group and clocks the 9th fastest time, running with guys like Bart Van De Vel and Steven To.
- Diego heads out in the final Heavy Championship group, earning the 8th quick time, with guys like Robin Borremans, Pedro Washington and Dan Burke running with him.

Day #1 - August 5, 2008

Tuesdays racing was split in half, with a 30 minute round in the morning, and then another 30 minute race later in the day. While several of the usual suspects were towards the front, there were many more new drivers emerging as drivers to beat at the 2008 Indoor Kart World Championship, including Geoffrey Mertens in the Heavy Class and Kenny Geldhof in the Light Class just to name a couple.
On the other side, bad luck always rears it’s ugly head in the World Championship, and this year some of the early recipients were a few of the favorites, including Robin Borremans in the Heavy class. While running a strong race in the second of the two races, his engine would expire, dropping him back to 13th with the minimum 12 points. A few others usually towards the top had an up and down day, like 2007 World Champ Rodrigo Faulhaber bouncing back from a pit stop mistake in the first race (he finished 13th as well) to winning the second race, and 2007 3rd place Mathias Grooten winning round #1, and finishing 9th in the 2nd round with a malfunctioning engine.

The day was owned by two drivers though, Bart Van de Vel in the Light Class, and Mark Viskens in the Heavy Class. Both drivers won their races, and both took fast lap in round #1, but Bart did it again in the second. Each would enjoy their respective point leads at the end of the first day. They were both members of the Talent Promotion Team from Belgium, who won the Team World Championship Title in 2007 in Phoenix, and looking tobe a sure favorite to repeat the feat this year at their home track.

Team Formula Americas' Race Day 1 highlights:
- Mike Smith earning a pair of 4th place finishes, enjoying a race-long battle with 2006 World Champ Alex Gumpenberger.
- Diego Morales finishes 10th in first race, but then rebounds with a 5th and fastest lap on Race 2.
- Jeroen Van As finishes 4th in round #1, then has a tougher way to go in round #2, finishing in 9th place.
- Formula Americas drivers finish Day 1 in 8th (Smith) and 23rd (Morales) in the Heavy Championship, and 18th in the Light Championship (Van As)

Day #2 August 6, 2008

Wednesday saw the beginning of the longer (1hr) endurance races, and with the higher heat and humidity, it proved to be tougher than expected. In fact, we had a few drivers fall out of the race, citing fatigue as the culprit. In the most serious incident during the IKWC, Belgian driver Timothy Vogels from team JPR-Virux Belgium took a precautionary trip to the hospital, due to a heavy crash during the race, which resulted in minor whiplash, and a bruised ankle. The medics deemed his injuries serious enough not to clear him for anymore racing, and the World Championship competition was over for him.

Luck kept swinging for the second day: the "good kind" for guys like Marc Viskens and Bart Van de Vel, and the "bad kind" for guys like me... Drawing an ill kart for qualifying, I ran a few laps and pitted to change karts, meaning I would start in the back. Upon starting the pace lap I pointed to my number plate and motioned to the terrace (primary viewing area) ‘thumbs up or down’ to see what the kart was like. When 10 or so people give you a thumbs down while shaking their heads, you come in to change again. Unfortunately this second kart switch cost me a lot of time, and effectively took me out of the running for a solid finish. Still, I was able to claw back to 10th, which equals 15 badly needed points.

Bart Van de Vel is leading the way in the Light Championship with a pair of wins, a third, and two fastest laps, and has a 3.5 pt lead on second place. Losing the tiebreaker for 3rd overall in the World Championship last year to teammate Mathias Grooten, Bart Van de Vel is proving he indeed belongs at the sharp end of the standings. In second, is team leader from this years Nation’s Cup champ’s, BlueStar Racing’s Steven To. Steven picked up a pair of 3rd’s before claiming victory with fast lap in the 3rd round, and is looking good to challenge Bart for the title. Rounding out the top three is another driver from the local BlueStar group, 15 year old Kenny Geldhof.

In the Heavy Class, Marc Viskens is having the championship of his life, scoring the hat trick, with a couple of fast laps to boot. Currently enjoying a 6 point lead on 2nd, Viskens is not leaving much room for second place Pedro Washington from Brazil to do much for now. However, with a 2nd, 1st, and a 3rd on his tally, Washington has been in this position before and still is in a good spot to strike at the leader. In third, and with no wins yet, is the 2006 World Champ, Alexander Gumpenberger, finishing with two 2nd’s, a 3rd, and a fastest lap. Only 7.5 points out of the top spot, Alex definitely has the best shot at being the first two-time Indoor Karting World Champion.

Team Formula Americas Race Day 2 Highlights:
- Mike Smith comes back from last place to salvage a 10th place finish after consecutive unlucky kart draws.
- Diego Morales finishes 7th, and moves up to 2nd in the Masters Championship standings, and sits on the bubble (20th) in the Heavy Championship.
- Jeroen Van As puts together a strong run and finishes in the 6th position.
- Mike falls from 8th to 17th in the Heavy Championship standings
- Jeroen Van As moves up from 18th to 14th in the Light Championship Standings

Day #3 August 7 & 8, 2008

A very quick recap for Day 3 and today's Final, a fuller report hopefully to come later.

The talent pool did not disappoint, and we have definetively had some spectacular racing in this year's Indoor KartWorld Championship.

Yesterday Marc Viskens continued his excellent pace, finishing second, and carrying a 6 point lead over Pedro Washington into the Final.

Also, Belgian Bart Van de Vel took home another podium to hold onto the lead, but countryman Gregory Laporte was able to close the gap to only 1.5 points with a victory.

For me, Thursday (August 7) would hold the biggest moment in my indoor karting career, and a memorable race I will never forget. After having a rough round #3 on Wednesday, and falling from 8th to 17th in the standings, I knew I had to have a strong run to keep my Final GP hopes alive. Getting what I thought was a 'top 5' kart during the kart draw, I knew I would be in a better position to score points. But when I finished qualifying and saw I had the Pole-Position, it was a victory in itself. It was an hour race, and it felt like a long 1 hour, but it was one of those races where everything just goes your way. I had more pace than the competition, and pulled away to a healthy lead, holding it all the way to the closing stages of the race. But with just 5 minutes to go, my engine started to sputter as if it was having a fuel pick-up problem. I continued to push, trying to be as smooth as possible, avoiding all the 'curbs', but seeing my lead dwindle very quickly with every sputter. On the last lap, 2nd and 3rd reached me, and I employed massively defensive lines, getting pushed and hit from behind by then 2nd place Pedro Washington who needed this win badlyfor his Championship points battle with Viskens. I was able to hold on for the win, but only barely, with Pedro and I side-by-side at the Finish Line, and Robin Borremans directly behind me, all split by less than 2 tenths. Hands down the most stressful, but also most memorable race win of my indoor kart racing career.

Today (August 8) hosted massive drama, with both Heavy and Light Championships changing hands, with the closest finishing margins in history. Both class point leaders would find themselves in the Final 1.5 hour Grand Prix race at the helm of karts that were a bit off of their closest competitors, but in the Light Class the fight spread over three different drivers. Bart Van de Vel found himself fighting back from deep in the field after an early pit stop, while his main challenger Gregory Laporte charged on, electing a late stop. Both needed to close the gap to Romano Franssen, who was having a great Final Grand Prix race in prime position to steal the World Title away, staying in the top three, only feet from the top race spot. Franssen continue having a great race and would finish in 2nd, Laporte would climb up to 4th, and Van de Vel would have his worst result, a 6th. These mixed results would end up giving the World Championship Title to Belgian GregoryLaporte by a half point, and would require a victories count tie-breaker decision for 2nd and 3rd in the Championship who both ended up tied at 113 points. Bart Van de Vel took the 2nd place with his 2 victories over Romano Franssen who had only 1.

In the Heavy Championship Class, Marc Viskens piloted what proved to be an ill machine, losing ground to the leaders, and his 2008 Indoor kart World Championship title hopes. Leading the race was his team mate Mathias Grooten, who started the Grand Prix Final Race in 3rd, followed by teammates Robin Borremans, and Daan VanHamme. I started 4th in the Final, and held station with the top 3, electing to ride things out as they showed a very good pace. About 2/3 of the way through, I stole 3rd away from VanHamme, who was hit while lapping a slower driver. Although I had a bit more pace than the top two, I was never able to close the gap all of the way, with lapped traffic again paying a big role in the outcome. In the end, Mathias Grooten would take the checkers in first place, tieing his teammate Viskens for Title, but would be declared the 2008 Indoor Kart World Champion (Heavy) with the "most wins" tie breaker criteria (Grooten 4 X 3 Viskens).

So the Light Class Indoor Karting World Champion Gregory Laporte won by .5 points, and the Heavy Class Champion Mathias Grooten won by 0 points, margins that will surely go down in history.

More extensive reports to come later, but for know, a bit of celebrating!

Lastly, I want to thank a few people who helped make this trip possible for me, and that support me in what I love to do:
- First and foremost my lovely wife Beckie, whose tolerance of me and support are boundless. I love you.
- To Scott Santiani of Winslow Industry, who is by far my biggest supporter (next to Beckie), and to whom I owe a lot.
- To the Laporte's for letting me stay with them, dradtically reducing the cost of the trip, allwing me to make it happen. Without thier hospitality, for sure I would not have been able to come.
- All the support of the drivers of the SIRS championship back home, thanks guys!
- My employer Sykart Indoor Racing Center for giving me the much needed time off, and for the support in the training leading up to the event.
- Indoor Karting News for the opportunity to do reports for them, and of course all the support.
- And of course my sponsors Monster Energy Drink and Go Pro Camera
_________________
Mike Smith
Team Formula Americas (IKWC)
Smith Racing Development
www.smithracingdevelopment.com