PRKosmic raced the biggest event of its inaugural season a week ago as the team spent five days at Goodwood Kartways and the Canadian National Karting Championships. On hand from Wednesday onward, Michael Adams, Matt France and Rich Hibbs each experienced the highs and lows motorsport tends to deal, yet left feeling optimistic and with a satisfied team principal.
“As a small team of just three drivers for ‘09, I thought we represented ourselves and our product very well,” said Petri Ranta, team owner. “Like any race, you need to hit the right set-up at the right time, and you also require a bit of lady luck to help you along your way. We had it at times, but it just didn’t come together in the end for us this year.
“Michael showed excellent pace in junior and was consistent throughout the heat races and prefinal. He did everything he needed to do to give himself a shot come Sunday, but in the end we were just a bit off on set-up and racing in a field as deep as that at Nationals, a top ten was still an excellent result. In DD2, Matt was consistent throughout the week and he was posed for a top-ten finish when he retired with an air leak in the final. He drove hard and battled all weekend and there was really nothing else he could have done. Rich also had a shot come Sunday and in this one I believe we had a set-up that would have been perfect for a 30 lap final! Yet with a nasty start, his race was over in turn one. I think it’s fair to say that all three were a little disappointed come Sunday evening, but I was proud of their efforts, their professionalism, and the fact that they came to compete! They certainly gave it everything they had, and left it all on the track!”
Regarding all three, the team boss was right on the mark. Adams, for one, was inside the top ten from qualifying onward, further cementing himself as being among the top juniors in Canada. “Qualifying went quite well,” said Adams afterward. “I pushed the kart to maximize new tires and came out with seventh. Then the heats went well and I ran to solid finishes of 6-5-7, exactly according to plan. The prefinal was under difficult track conditions, but I managed not to spin and held my position of fifth.”
Adams then held at the start of the national final, but was one of many karters on the day to be caught out by the treacherous conditions at turn four. “Going into four there was a wet patch on the curbing and I hit it,” Adams said of his off that dropped him from fifth to twelfth. “I didn’t spin off the track, but after that my work was cut out for me. I made it back to the top ten, and I was happy about that. The event went well overall and was a good learning experience. In the end I’m pleased with my result.
While the junior was happy, seniors France and Hibbs certainly were not. France dialled in a mixed bag through qualifying and the heats, but when pandemonium reigned at the start of the national DD2 final, he capitalized to jump into the top ten. Shortly after he was racing as high as sixth when the race continued to take unexpected turns. “I had a really good start and avoided the chaos by taking to the grass going down the front straight,” France recalled of the DD2 mess. “On lap two I was one of few to see the water going into four, and when I kept it on the track I picked up a few more spots. Then with a few more passes and retirements I was up to seventh, and the race was just three or four laps old!”
Midnight then came to the Cinderella story as France became one among a string of retirements. “The kart was running well and I was working to catch the pack that ran from second on back,” he said. “Then the motor started to lean out and I started having stuttering down the straights. Karts began passing me, and once I had been passed by the whole front group I retired to investigate rather than blow the engine needlessly. It seemed to sum up the event overall for us. It was disappointing in the end, as we never really showed the speed we were capable of. The DNF in the final really hurt as a top ten was right there to be taken.”
Hibbs was feeling much the same, but suffered an even worse fate. After a roller-coaster ride through the heats that saw him both inside the top ten and outside the top twenty, Hibbs appeared to have righted the ship Sunday morning. “The prefinal was on a drying track and we ran a set-up we thought would work well,” he said. “I got a clean start and managed to use a trick I learned from running the arrive-and-drive karts around Goodwood on slicks believe it or not! I made numerous passes on the inside, and raced up to seventh position at one point. Unfortunately I went too deep into four, ran wide, and fell to tenth with two to go.”
Still, the veteran was excited about the main, and believed he could resume the charge in the dry - and then the green waved.“The final start was horrible!” he said bluntly. “The outside line stacked up and I found myself under Curtis Fox who was on top of Zack Meyer. I managed to wiggle free, only to be hit again! The contact snapped my front left tie rod and I was forced to park the kart on the outside of turn one. Watching the race was something I hated, especially seeing how it unfolded afterward. I knew I had pace to run with the top five, and with many of them running into problems of their own I would have had a shot at a podium and possibly even a trip to Eygpt. Overall the nationals went well though, and we showed the Kosmic package has great pace on used tires and with some luck we could have stuck it on the national podium in our first season.”
PRKosmic now has one regional event remaining on the season, the finale of the Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship to be held at Kawartha Speedway from September 5-7. |
Adams led the charge for PRKosmic at Canadian Nationals