The weather in Green Country has been, put politely, bad.  Biblically bad, as one Jeremy Clarkson might say.  It's been so hot in fact, that in reading over the recap of Round 9, there are probably no drivers who aren't yearning to race in temperatures of only 102 - a figure made to sound positively balmy by weeks on end of all-time record highs in the 115 degree range, or more.  Armadillos and scorpions have taken refuge from the heat by traveling to Death Valley for a cozy vacation, where at least in the evenings there's a respite.

But enough about the torturous, oppressive heat we've had to endure between dodging wildfires and having our hearts broken by the occasional appearance of thick storm clouds which seem unable or unwilling to produce rain.  A passing cold front arrived as promised on Saturday evening, generating at least some precipitation in parts of the Tulsa area and - more importantly - bringing some relief to the thermometer.  On race day morning, competitors were met with a still drying track and temps in the mid 70's...absolutely arctic by comparison to the day prior.  Better yet, the forecast high of 98 degrees wasn't to be met until later in the afternoon.  Seizing the opportunity, TKC officials decided to scuttle the motocross scoring event scheduled for Round 12, as well as chop practice time down, all in an effort to get racing started as early as possible and done with before nature changed it's mind.  And it worked.  The event was in the books and teams were hauling trophies home before 2:00pm, in plenty of time to watch racing on TV at home.

Owing to somewhat short notice & uncertainty about racing, forecasts, and folks getting their last bits of summer vacation in before the bell, TKC's fields for Round 12 were shorter than usual.  In some cases, like Kid Karts, only two drivers took to the tarmac.  Rachel Callahan (pictued above) claimed the victory over Alex Richardson, and extended her championship lead to a seemingly indomitable 399 points.  She was however denied fast lap honors, which went to Richardson's best heat time of 39.785 seconds.

Among the other short fields were the Sportsman, or more accurately, Sportswomen, where Sydni Murdoch fended off Paige Evans in a close heat race before ultimately watching her ride off into the sunset during the final.  Their best lap times were very close on the day, but Evans' laid down a 28.928 second lap in the final when it mattered en route to her victory.

The Formula 4 Medium and Junior 1 4-cycle classes competed on track at the same time while being scored separately, to keep the program moving along quickly.  In the final, the 14 kart of Cole Quaile was victorious over Morgan Bain in the 00(0) who gave it her all.  Rookie driver Keaton McKay made his TKC debut in the #2 kart, finishing 3rd on the day.  In and among them, Bryan Barrett in the #00 kart overtook then barely held off Paul Churchwell in the 77x for his victory.  The two had been bumper-to-bumper virtually all day, at one point a bit too much so for the tastes of flagman Steve Miller, but raced hard yet clean and put on a tremendous show.  Ken Foster took the checkers in his #43 kart ahead of the #96 of Tyler Kosman, also making his TKC debut, for the final podium position.  Barrett set fast lap in the F4 Medium class - barely - with a time of 32.182 seconds in the final.  Morgan Bain also set fast lap in Junior 1 4-cycle despite finishing 2nd, with a time of 30.679 seconds in her heat race.

In the Junior 1 class, the Oklahoma City-based team of Austin Jeffries put it all together for his first victory of the season at TKC.  His heat race had a share of drama, as a late-race pass attempt on the inside of Cole Quaile through turn 1 was initially ruled to have been dangerous when Quaile's kart was bumped off-road and through the grass and invoking the black flag.  With laps winding down, Jeffries finished the heat in 2nd, and a subsequent discussion between the officials allowed the results to stand.  During the final, Jeffries managed to hold off Quaile for a flag-to-flag victory by just over half a second.  Not far behind them was the #48 of Joshua Callahan, who took the checkered flag in 3rd position.  Jake Richardson in the #19 finished in 4th place, while Kennon Anderson's rough day ended with him in 5th.  Callahan set the fast lap of the day in the final, with a best time of 30.016 seconds.

Finally, the flyweight TAG driver duo of Christian Duarte and Gavin Moore led the rest of the TAG Heavy field to the green flag for a combined class final.  Scored separately as always, both Duarte and Moore were looking to turn laps and preserve equipment for another day.  Duarte set fast lap of the day en route to his 3 second victory over Moore with a best time of 26.714 seconds.  Behind and around them in TAG Heavy, tempers were flaring and feathers were ruffled over differences in opinion regarding what sorts of on-track practices were or were not couth.  Brave men stepped in, cooler heads prevailed, and everyone survived to race another day. 

The same could not be said for some of the equipment, however.  Jerry Isaacs in the #97  had just made a strong move to gain the lead when he crushingly lost the spark in his motor on lap 7 retiring to the infield.  He would be joined there not 90 seconds later by one Jason Shackelford who seemed surprised to find one of his side pods had mutinied (it was recovered at the exit of the Daytona banked turn, and summarily flogged).  Earlier in the final, a contretemps (look it up) in the hairpin between Kip Anderson and Scott Matejec disrupted not only their own pace, but the race of one #14 piloted by Don Grace who took none too kindly to their chicanery after the race.  He would finish two laps down, classified in 5th position ahead of Shack (6th) and Isaacs (7th).  With the chaos behind him and his chief opposition retired, the road was clear for Kirk Murdoch in the #26 to sail ahead to victory.  Anderson and Matejec clearly suffered less for their coming together, ultimately finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.  Another of the Matejec clan made a formal debut on track in TAG Heavy for Round 12, sporting a new all-white bodied Birel with a steering wheel whose uniqueness was surpassed only by the overalls of it's operator.  Chad Matejec  remained clear of controversy and finally got the appropriate performance out of his engine, finishing 3rd on the podium in his debut race.  Sufficiently red-misted, the #7 of Kip Anderson set fast lap of the day in the final with a time of 27.446 seconds.

The question of when, if ever, the weather will allow TKC racers to compete without risk of heat stroke or spontaneous combustion, remains unanswered.  All we know for certain is that when the opportunity arises, we will seize it.  Nature willing, round 13 will take place in two weeks.  Fingers crossed.