Summer weather wasted no time in making itself felt for the Bus Stop special event on Round 9 of the 2012 Tulsa Kart Club Championship.  The forecasted high temperatures kept going up as the week progressed, ultimately landing at over 102 degrees.  At the track, the blacktop made it feel even worse and many thermometers read more than 104.  The heat made it tough for engines to generate lap-record quality horsepower, and put a premium on kart setup.

The Bus Stop layout at TKC is the closest thing to a tight street circuit in a formula car that kart racers will encounter.  The straightaways are shortened significantly, and bypassing the banked Daytona turn makes carrying enough speed into a passing zone almost impossible.  Getting around someone in this track layout would require speed, skill and bravery.

In the Formula 4 Medium final, things got off to a rocky start entering the bus stop.  The #00 of Bryan Barrett and the #77x of Paul Churchwell checked up and spun weaving through side-by-side in the pack of nine karts, causing heavy contact behind them.  Both Gene and Kyle Pearce would retire, the younger (Kyle) having suffered the worst of it as the elder (Gene) saw his nosepiece getting airborne and contacting Kyle's shoulder.  Despite a lot of tenderness, a bruise and some superficial scrapes would be all Kyle had to show for the contact.  However, both would retire with mechanical issues.  Clay Endsley, also caught up in the melee, would similarly retire before it even began.  What was left of the field was called back to start/finish for a restart, at which point the #5 of Kurt Harris would no longer keep the fire.  That left five karts to re-take the green flag after the aborted start.  Four laps in, the #00 of Bryan Barrett had to abandon his pursuit of Benny Cantellay in the #182 due to mechanical issues as well, cementing the Bus Stop event's reputation as a race of attrition.  Clear of his chief pursuer, Cantellay needed only continue his quick pace to stay ahead of a charging Chris Pearce in the #2 and the lone remaining Pearce family entry.  At the checkers, Cantellay had a comfortable 2.5 second lead over Pearce to claim the victory.  Ken Foster managed to avoid all the pitfalls around him and drove to another solid podium finish in 3rd.  Paul Churchwell in the #77x also survived the early contact and the attrition around him to finish 4th.  Barrett's DNF saw him classified 5th, followed by Gene Pearce, Kurt Harris, Kyle Pearce, and Clay Endsley respectively based on their starting order for the final.  Fastest lap of the day also went to Cantellay at 30.920 seconds.

The Kid Kart final, by contrast, was far less eventful.  Despite a blistering start by Bryce Barrett, the #48 of Rachel Callahan took advantage of bobbles by the #00 to take the lead on the infield - and did not look back.  While the young Barrett rookie was close in terms of pace, he ultimately finished down 1 lap to Callahan owing to a spin on lap 3.  Callahan set fast lap as well on the way to her win, with a best time of 38.321 seconds.

In the Junior 1 2-cycle final, the #3 of Kennon Anderson had his hands full fending off the #48 of Joshua Callahan.  Behind them by less than 2 seconds were the #18 of Max Stephens and the #4 of Jayden Parker, the latter making his TKC debut with a large group visiting from the Kansas City Karting Association in Liberty, KS (whom TKC greatly enjoyed hosting!)  On lap 4, the gap between 1st and 2nd was almost immeasurable - 0.002 seconds according to timing & scoring.  By lap 5 though, Callahan made it by Anderson and began to extend a lead.  Behind them on lap 9, the #4 of Parker found a way by Max Stephens' #18, but on the next lap, he spun by himself entering the infield section and was left only to watch Stephens storm by for the position.  It would be all he needed to claim the final podium position.  At the checkered flag, the win went to Callahan (who would also claim fast lap honors with a best time of 29.479 seconds in qualifying).  Kennon Anderson would finish 2nd, less than two seconds ahead of Max Stephens, as Jayden Parker came home in 4th on the lead lap.

The Junior 1 4-cycle final looked not unlike the 2-cycle final because two of the drivers were running in their second class on the day.  This time, Joshua Callahan would be fielding the #14 kart belonging to Cole Quaile Racing as their team was watching big boys racing in New York state.  Grandpa Q will be pleased with the result, as Callahan drove it to a dominating first place finish in brutal conditions.  The #00 of Morgan Bain had an uneventful but solid drive in 2nd place, wire-to-wire.  The #1 of Jayden Parker lost a chain just past halfway, through the infield section, and despite getting help restarting would lose it again on the white flag lap....the troubles would see him classified in 3rd, four laps off the lead.  Justin Kessler in the #23 was having issues early on, and by taking the banked Daytona without exiting the track, was black flagged.  Kessler would be classified 4th place.  Fast lap of the day then belonged to Joshua Callahan at 30.012 seconds, filling a vacancy on the TKC all-time track record registry!

In the Sportsman final, the worst kind of mechanical trouble would ruin the afternoon of points leader Paige Evans in her #08 kart.  Having handily won the heat race, her engine gave up the ghost on lap 4 from the lead - she would ultimately earn 4th place points with her (rare) DNF.  With Evans retired, the road ahead was clear for Derek Proctor's #2 MISI-powered Arrow chassis, and he would march off to an 8.8 second victory over the #26 of Sydni Murdoch who was ecstatic to see the checkered flag fly.  The #21 of Ryan Harris began developing a misfire, and he would ultimately retire with two laps to go but still claim the final podium position.  Proctor set fast lap of the day with a best time of 28.282 seconds in qualifying, which is now etched into the TKC track record book filling its last vacancy.  Racing in this class during the heat was absolutely electric, and we look forward to seeing these battles continue as the year progresses.

For the TAG final, it was a wire-to-wire battle between the #19 of Rey Ferreyro Jr. and the #30 of Christian Duarte at the front.  Both drivers were the only ones able to complete the bus stop circuit in just under 26 seconds, which while impressive, was still fully 0.8 seconds slower than the overall lap record (a testament to the brutal heat).  Starting from pole in the final, Duarte held the lead for only two laps before Ferreyro seized the chance to make it past.  Once by, Ferreyro drove a cool and mistake-free race and brought it home first to the checkered flag.  Duarte was a mere 1.4 seconds adrift at the end.  The #3 of Isaiah Parker, who was similarly making his TKC debut with the KCKA group, spun through the bus stop on lap 10 and took a rough ride on the infield grass.  His knee was sore from knocking against the steering column, but he was able to walk gingerly back to the pits. Parker would be classified 3rd on the day.  Fast lap honors on the day would go to Duarte, who set his best time of 25.856 seconds in the final.

Wrapping up the show, and as it should be, was the extremely fast and extremely frenetic TAG Heavy class.  The #22m of Scott Matejec and the #6 of heat polesitter Kristi Thompson was lining up to be quite a battle.  At the start, Thompson got the drop and lead the first lap.  Matejec battled back to claim the lead on lap 2, and from there it simply wasn't meant to be for Thompson who retired on lap 7.  Gene Kinnison in the #11, representing KCKA, was waiting in the wings to sieze 2nd position after Thompson's retirement.  Jason Shackelford, who started in 6th position, tiptoed his way forward lap-by-lap, making smart passes and eventually overtaking fellow Amigos Racing driver Don Grace on lap 10 to claim 3rd place hardware.  Grace in the #14 would hold on for a solid 4th place finish.  The #69 of August Eichelberger (also with KCKA) was able to scrap his way forward from a 7th place starting position up to 5th.  Jerry Isaacs had his hands full with the Bus Stop layout, and dropped back to 6th at the checkered flag.  Kyle Fincher in the #3 (KCKA) finished in 7th, just ahead of the #3 of Kip Anderson, both of whom were one lap down.  Fast lap of the day honors went again to Matejec, whose heat lap of 26.363 seconds was best on the day by 0.05 seconds over Thompson.

TKC's Board of Directors made the decision to start this race on the early summer schedule when the forecast of 100 degree temps solidified.  The next races between now and September will also be on the early schedule to avoid the worst of the heat.  We remind all drivers and fans to check our Facebook page for definitive details on forecasts and start times....and to stay hydrated on race day!  We'll return to the track in two weeks for Round 10, and our regular track layout.  See you there!