The looping bridge/over-under is part of the competition track (the left one). It looks like there will be a cutoff that avoids that section of the track if necessary. The rental track on the right is designed to operate separately and simultaneously with the competition track. When I talked to Kris McCrone at the OVKA swap meet back in February he mentioned they can be run together - about 7000’ of karting fun!
Dan,
Would you say the purchase of BKC, move to OSS and specific rules/classes has been a positive? I have always wanted to ask someone connected to Pitt what they thought. From the west, the optics have been bad. Just wondered what your view from the east looked like.
That’s what I’m saying @fatboy1dh
What is the new BKS competing with? A series that ran one low attendance race and cancelled everything else?
Cup Karts North? 20 char…
That’s not an Ohio series and the cross over is minimal at best.
I think thats the beauty here. They are the step between club and Cup Karts. Its a huge market for us schmucks that are not good enough for Cup Karts but want to travel just a bit
^^^THIS!^^^ +all the additional characters
We kind of are in a vacuum over here - the various Ohio series and tracks like when racers from Pitt Race run their races but their rules have always been so hit and miss from track to track compared to Pitt’s that a few crossover but not a ton. Pitt always attracts a handul of the Ohio folks every year too but most of the racers are home grown.
I think that when/if Lorain takes off, the classes/tires/etc will be pretty similar to Pitt. Thompson has gone a similar direction already as well. I was really hoping BKC would be successful and a pretty standardized set of classes/weights/tires/rules would start to take hold in the Great Lakes region.
In that regard I thought those decisions were handled well and I think you would have seen a lot more crossover this year and next. Unfortunately the season has gone the way it has for them and now it looks bad and will only fuel the fire to continue running open tires and other things to isolate everyone from each other. That part is disappointing.
The issue unfortunately was a case of maybe being too progressive too quickly without the anchor in place that Lorain should be. In general I support Kris’s vision and want the project to move forward. Just maybe a little more underselling and overdelivering to win support back.
I just want to say this is exactly correct.
I would classify Kris as a smooth talker and under deliverer. I would put the BKS leadership as the opposite.
If this new Kart track is going to operate anything like his store, Ohio Kart Parts, I’m not holding my breath for anything. Trying to get anyone there to do anything is like pulling teeth. No one ever answers the phone or returns messages, orders take forever to get processed, minimal email responses, etc. I had to cancel my order for tires since the order never shipped, and then it took almost a week for them to process my refund.
I’m really looking forward to the BKS thing though. It seems like the perfect series for new guys like me who want to try and “graduate” from the club level, without jumping into the big stuff like Grand Nationals.
But why won’t New Castle be the ‘anchor’? Why not align rules with them on the 4 stroke side and someplace like G&J on the 4 stroke side? (except maybe tires since tracks can get there own tire deals, and I’m not a believer that tires are a sole issue of running or not running, just a thin excuse to not show up).
Also any track can use the Cup Kart rule book, or WKA for that matter.
Getting tracks away from their own set of rules would certainly help with travelling.
I came up from Jacksonville to G&J, throw on a set of what seemed like 10 race old Hoosiers and then went to NCMP to next day with year old MG’s. I had a blast and didn’t spend a dime on tires.
Anchor was in reference to Ohio karting. NCMP, like Pitt, sits outside of that window and for whatever reason the Ohio folks are set on a state series over a regional series. No one has been able to pull everyone together hence the hope that Lorain could have been the major track anchor that brought the other tracks together.
All the rest, including the bigger facilities, pretty much do their own thing. Nothing wrong with that of course on an individual basis - hard to argue with their success.
I feel like the Cup Karts Regional series fill that void in 206 myself.
The level of competition seemed similar to me as I was 3rd in both series at the largest regional event both CKNA and BKC have ever held.
Just my .02