 |
|
Cole Mann Round 1 – Daytona Kart Week – WKA Manufacturers Cup – Dec 27 – 30, 2007 Written By: Cole Mann Racing 1/9/08 (Hewitt, NJ) -- It was a big turn out for Round 1 of the Manufacturer’s Cup at Daytona. Weather was on everyone’s side with temps in the mid 80’s the entire 4 days we were there. Check-in day went slow, but that is what happens when teams can’t start moving in till Noon.
For Cole Mann this would be his first race in the Senior Division as he only turned 15 in May. The classes Cole would be participating in were HPV Lite, HPV Heavy and TaG. Practice day seemed to go pretty smoothly. Unfortunate that there was only enough time to get 3 practices in each class. The team walked away from the day feeling pretty good about going into race day 1. After timing a lot of the drivers that we know are fast we felt Cole was right up there along with them. Race Day 1 – HPV Lite and TaG 1 were the classes for the day. Due to a few red flags and other matters there was no Pre-Final Racing done. There was the normal qualifying session followed by an 18 Lap Final. HPV Lite was first up for the day. There were 15 Karts out for qualifying. A lot of seasoned veterans and also two other very fast Juniors that have just moved up to the senior ranks. Cole managed to qualify in 5 th spot. In the 18 Lap final there was a lot of aggressive driving and swapping of positions. There was a great battle going on between the top 5. All of a sudden TJ Koyen made a pass for the lead and while positions 2 through 5 were in the heat of battle, TJ skated away from the bunch. Cole was right in the mix of that battle. At the end of the race Cole would end up with 4 th place, only to find out a bit later that he was awarded 3 rd place because fellow driver Julia Landauer was DQ’d in Tech for her flex not being the required length. TaG 1, had a showing of 78 Karts battling for 30 qualifying positions. There was a bit of a mix up during qualifying. The qualifying groups were just too big and during Cole’s qualifier the entire group did not make it on the track causing the officials to decide to red flag the qualifying session. Cole was already on the track and was about to put his second lap in when they came to a stop. This held things up for quite awhile. The decision that was made was that this group would go back to their pit spots and re-qualify later giving them also the opportunity to change tires if they so desire. We did opt to put fresh tires on and we went out in the new qualifying session. The competition in this class was intense. Many seasoned veterans along with NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray and Formula BMW driver Michele Bumgarner. The cut off for qualifying was 25 and the rest would go to the Consi. We just wanted Cole to make it in the top 25! Cole managed to qualify 18 th. We were very happy with that. In the final Cole worked very hard. Avoided a lot of on track accidents, did a lot of passing and worked his way up to finish 13 th. We were very proud of him for his first ever TaG race and probably the youngest one on the grid!
Race Day 2 – HPV Heavy and Tag 2 were the classes for the day. The track was wet in the morning due to some rain coming in during the night. Even tho the wet track conditions held things up a bit for this day all went smoothly and there was the qualifying session, 6 lap Pre-Final and 18 Lap Final. They held things up for a bit and then threw the first group out on the track under yellow flag conditions to help dry up the track. HPV Heavy was that group. Cole went out and did a lot of laps, but that group never managed to dry up the track and came off. They did offer us another practice at the end of the session, but we were not able to go out for that because HPV Heavy was the first class up for qualifying and there was no time to change tires if we practiced. That did kind of hurt Cole a bit for qualifying because of the 40 lb weight difference between HPV Lite and Heavy. He didn’t fully adjust for that during qualifying. HPV Heavy had 15 Karts out for qualifying. Cole qualified 7 th. He said when he came off the track he knows he could of went faster, but in the short time did not adjust his driving to the weight increase. In the Pre-Final he had a great start and got running with the pack. Cole was the only Junior to move up and race this class. He again was racing with all seasoned veterans who let you know they are there! Again a lot of aggressive driving was going on, on the track. Cole managed to finish 3 rd in the Pre-Final. In the Final Cole was starting behind Ryan Stewart. On the start Cole and Ryan got going and Ryan came out in the lead with Cole right behind him. Cole was running an awesome race in 2 nd, but not far behind him were the likes of Corey Reeves and David Kraeer. Again, great racing was going on among the top 5. Cole managed to hold on to the 5 th spot at the end of the race. Another podium finish! TaG 2, Once again in the TaG class there was a huge crowd of Karts competing for the 30 spots to race. Qualifying went much smoother this time. They only let 15 Karts out on the track at a time so it worked out quite well. There were 4 groups to hit the track. Cole was in group one and was in qualifying position 5 in his group. As the other groups hit the track he got bumped. After group 3 hit the track he was bumped to 11 th postion. All per the announcer. There was one group left so we were feeling pretty good that he would make it in the top 25 and not have to go to the Consi. Well after all was said and done he qualified 23rd! Just made it. The track was so much faster then the day before. Cole’s qualifying time was over 3 tenth’s faster then his qualifying time on Saturday and the Pole sitter for Sunday Chris Keller was over 4 tenth’s faster then the Pole sitter was on Saturday! At least we didn’t have to send Cole to the fighting for postion that was going to go on in the Consi’s! In the Pre-Final Cole did not get that great of a start and ended up dropping back a few positions. By the end of the race he ended up getting up to 18 th position. In the final a bit of bad luck went Cole’s way. On the first lap a crash happened just before he got there. One of the drivers involved in the crash came barreling back on the track and hammered Cole bending his axle. Cole drove the entire 18 Lap race with a VERY bent axle. (Don’t know how the chain didn’t pop off!). He drove hard, made passes and ended up finishing in 17 th position. OH well at least he didn’t go backwards and we know he would have went further forwards had he not had the bent axle. Over all it was a great way to start off the 2008 WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Racing Season in the Senior Division. 2 Podiums on the weekend was awesome and great racing in the TaG class. Cole would like to thank his Mechanic/Dad for all his hard work, SSC East even tho they could not be there they were checking up on Cole and seeing if they could help via the phone and Ryan and Nick Johnston for there help and advice at the track. See you all in Charlotte. To learn more about Cole Mann Racing and the very successful future on the way, please visit our resume page and/or the contact us page. We would be happy to go in to detail with you about how motorsports marketing can help your company or business grow! |
 |
