IKWC Day 2 - Great Racing, after a delayed start
August 07, 2009
Day 2 of the 2009 IKWC was marked by an extreme delay caused by a problem with the ambulance sevice, which was M-I-A for most of the day. The 2009 IKWC is sponsored by the city of Macae' and the ambulance sevice is provided by the city. By 12pm, 2 hours after the scheduled start, still no sign or word of when they would be arriving. Organizers resorted for plan B which was to ditch the city service and hire a private ambulance, but were unable at the last minute to locate an available alternative private ambulance that would be available to be stationed at the track for all of that day and night while the races were being run. A private ambulance was then hired for the following day, to assure that one would be present in time for Day 3, regardless if the one provided by the city would show up or not.
The public and drivers had a long waiting period before the action started on track on day 2.
The rumor behind the delay was that the city medical crew was on strike. The exact reason for the delay has not yet been confirmed. Some competitors waited in humor, most were very patient and understanding, but of course a few were not happy. A few drivers even quit the event before the ambulance finally arrived at around 3pm. By then, the schedule that had 13 races planned, had been cut to 7, with the 6 races planned for Round 2 being rescheduled for Saturday morning before the Finals.
With the ambulance now in place, the race still could not be immediately started, as drivers had been given a 1 hour break from waiting and many left the track and go eat somewhere else. The first race of the day (IKWC-50 Race 2) finally began at around 4pm, and as fate would have it, imediately proved why it was necessary for organizers to wait for the ambulance to be on site for racing to begin.
On the last lap of IKWC-50 qualifying, there was a huge multi car heavy crash at the end of the front straight, the fastest sector of the track. It left injured driver Renatinho Junior. The driver had to be removed on a stretcher to the hospital for X-rays and for observation. He was complaining of hip and rib pain, and suspected whiplash. Unfortunately this meant the ambulance was gone again...
It was good move by organizers to wait for the missing doctor and ambulance to begin the raceday, as less than 5 minutes after the karts were on track, a huge crash resulted in a ride to the hospital for driver Renatinho Junior. He is expected to be sore, but OK.
By the time they had returned, the race could not be immediately restarted. It was sunset time and on sunny days the sun enters the building at a very low angle, shining straight into the drivers eyes, and making it impossible for drivers to see many corners of the track. As luck would have it, this was one of the few cloudless days this week, and the problem was severe in the building. A break had been on the schedule just for this purpose, so there was another 30 minute delay waiting for the sun to go down to a safe level. The 1st race of the day finally began as the sunset passed the lateral opening in the roof of the building.
A further 30 minute delay was caused by an usual setting sun situation at an indoor track.
Again, Brazilian driver Otavio Porto (Team Top Kart Indoor Center) put his kart on the pole and led from start to finish, except for a brief period during the pitstop sequence. Otavio Porto is showing he is the driver to beat in the IKWC-50 class, and opened a lead in that championship. Second place went to Fernando Netto, and 3rd to Jordan Beuler (Team CORTEX BlueStar) from Belgium.
As to the IKWC-Top class, it was all between Belgium and Brazil today, with Brazilians taking 4 victories against 2 by the Belgian drivers. Belgians Robin Borremans (Team Belgium Novavie), Kenny Geldoff (CORTEX BlueStar A), and Humberto Rubin (Team Point Kart Indoor A) were the only drivers to go on and win from Pole Position. None of the other Pole position drivers would go on to win.
In Race 2, Brazilian Indoor Kart Champion Lucas Motta had a pit infraction, and then a second one while coming in to serve his penalty, suffering an additional 40 seconds post race time penalty, ending in 14 place. In Race 4, American driver Dan Burke attemped a late inside pass on lap 5 after dropping two spots from 1st, and spun his adversary, and had to serve a penalty, finishing in 16th place. In Race 5 Pole sitter Gregory Laporte, current Indoor Kart World Champion (Light), had to battle an ill handling kart, but managed to finish a respectable 6th out of 17.
Podium results for Round 1 of IKWC-Top class were:
Race 1 - 30 minutes (18 drivers)
1 - Robin Borremans BEL
2 - Pedro Washington BRA
3 - Mathias Grooten BEL
Full results: http://www.kartgp.com.br/resultado.asp?id=10
Race 2 - 30 minutes (17 drivers)
1 - Flavio Costa BRA
2 - Maxwell Jansley BRA
3 - Giovanni Craeynest BRA
Full result: http://www.kartgp.com.br/resultado.asp?id=11
Race 3 - 30 minutes (18 drivers)
1 - Kenny Geldoff BEL
2 - Thales Mattos BRA
3 - Dogo Motta BRA
Full result: http://www.kartgp.com.br/resultado.asp?id=12
Race 4 - 30 minutes (16 drivers)
1 - Matheus Porto BRA
2 - Luis Sanches BRA
3 - Ed Cordeiro BRA
Full result: http://www.kartgp.com.br/resultado.asp?id=13
Race 5 - 30 minutes (17 drivers)
1 - Gustavo Loureiro BRA
2 - Luir Miranda BRA
3 - Fabio Orsolon BRA
Full result: http://www.kartgp.com.br/resultado.asp?id=14
Race 6 - 30 minutes (17 drivers)
1 - Humberto Rubin BRA
2 - Fabio Konrad BRA
3 - Jordan Pembleton USA
Full result: Link not yet available.
Racing on Aug 5 should begin at 11am Rio time, if the are no problems with the ambulance service...
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