Jr High Academy 2020 Final

Wed. Aug. 26th 2020 was the final race of the summer for the Jr High Academy.

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LABOR DAY HOURS

We will be observing Labor day as a holiday this year.  Since RIGP will not be running, we will be open for practice/rentals on Sat/Sun with normal hours.  Keep in mind that Friday League will NOT run that week but will run this week w/Elites.

SUNDAY HOURS RETURN

We changed our Sunday hours when COVID restrictions were tighter and we wanted to have two practice sessions per day.  Now we still have COVID issues, but they are not quite as restrictive, so we will be returning to our previous noon opening and closing at 6PM.  Thanks for understanding out staff likes an early evening once a week.  As before, reservations are still encouraged to speed up the sign-in and also to make sure we have a spot for you.

Friday Night Leagues July 11th 2020

Friday Night League Drivers are flying high tonight.

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LEAGUE and EVENT CHANGES

Jr and Sr Leagues

We have run 4 and have 8 more on the original calendar.  It was suggested that we continue on and count 10 of the 12 for one big session rather than split.  This seems like a wonderful idea and we plan to follow it.  Thanks for the input.

Friday

We have run 4 and have 5 left in original session 2.  Let’s make session two 9 nights and leave session 3 as it was.  We ran oval last Fri and plan to run it again this week.  If we run it every week, we will have 14 total — maybe count 12?  Elites are a question.  Should we add them on top of the ovals or alternate or what?  Interested parties please let us know.

Points Events

We are adjusting our timeline as the past weeks have shown us positive results.  Drivers meeting will continue at 10:30 (days) and practice will be by class with 3 rounds for each class in race order

Both July events were voted to use a qualifying format.  Heat 1 will be replaced by a qualifying session and given points.  Heat 2 will remain at 6 laps but will use the qualifying order as grid lineup.  Feature will remain 12 laps but will use the Heat 2 finish as the grid lineup.  Heat 1, our qualifying session, will be started when the first kart enters the track and stopped 5 minutes later with a checkered flag.  All laps completed BEFORE the checkered flag will be used to determine best times.  Laps that a driver completes getting the checkered flag will NOT be used to choose best times.

LEAGUES OUTLOOK

We will be having our leagues this week.  Jr, Sr, and Fri will be run this week and we are working on publishing a “new” schedule for the rest of our season.  We have not altered our published schedules since we were not certain exactly what COVID was going to let us do.  If you have ideas, please share them this week as we have been thinking of our rest of season for some time now.

Friday League WILL have oval this week as we determine our final plans.

We intend to be able to “shuffle” karts now that you have helped us not touch ANY karts w/o face coverings (masks or helmets) and gloves.  Thanks for making this work last week.

Watch for future posts this week about our July fun events.

COVID PHASE 4

Well it looks like Illinois will move to phase 4 of the Gov’s plan on Fri June 26.  Primarily, for us, this means groups of 50, rather than 10, are allowed.  Social distancing is still included and ALL the media is showing masks are promoted more than ever across the entire nation.  Illinois cases are declining while some states are borderline “out of control” so maybe the price we paid earlier in the year is paying dividends now.

HOW DOES PHASE 4 CHANGE OUR PLANS?

1. We will no longer have 2 practice sessions per day  —  with larger numbers allowed and LOTS of room for separation, we can accommodate everyone we hope
2. Reservations are STILL encouraged — we will ask you for your estimated arrival time so we can meet you at the gate, as before, to give you a wristband
3. Reservations will CERTAINLY speed up your checkin time
4. Normal hours of 10-sunset will resume
5. ONLY THOSE W/WRISTBANDS IN PADDOCK  —  We will sell driver ($40) AND crew ($15) passes now as we feel we can accommodate all that want to drive
6. Those on grid WILL be expected to wear face coverings

Refer to our COVID tab on the website for up to date info

WEEKLY COVID UPDATE

Well, on Monday, it sure looks like I missed a call on Sat.  My heart definitely wanted to run the event but I have been criticized numerous times for holding on to that premise too long so, after looking at the forecast for heavy rain in early afternoon, I cancelled.  Making that decision and publishing before 8AM limits decision time and rain held off till evening.  This week a COVID update from the Gov is possible since his metrics for moving to the next phase are looking positive.  Our state has been on the conservative side but we are NOT experiencing a large “second wave”, as some states have, which may, in the long run, be a good thing.  If we move to the next phase, I will have to evaluate exactly how that effects us.

We plan to offer Leagues this week as well as our fun event on Sat.  Pre-registration monies will be credited to a future event.  Test and tune times are available w/reservations.

We plan to be CLOSED on Sat July 4 but open other days.  Watch for updates on how a Gov EO will alter our future.

Next FUN EVENT

My weekly post would be remiss if I didn’t mention how good it felt to have our event last Sat.  Comments directed my way would seem we all missed it to a degree.  The COVID experience has altered our life in 2020 and we may have learned some things.

We plan on another similar event this Sat June 20.  Some things were new this past week and we want to continue with those. First was pre-registration and see Matt’s post on how we have reduced the workload for both you and us.  Next was drivers meeting to start the day and we will do that again this week.  Practice was by class with grid lineup in single file which worked well and will be used this week as well.  Those w/o wristbands may occupy the area on the “71” side of the orange gate.  I am told we had a track record (all-time) last week and can not honor it w/o tech.  We will have track records this week in ALL classes to start our 2020 season records.

Now, as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story.  We passed out written instructions upon entrance and discussed items in length at drivers meeting and still some things are frustrating.  There were those who chose to drive AROUND the barrier gate in the grass, leave it open after using it, and TOTALLY ignore that wristbands ARE required in the pits.  Masks or helmets were not always worn on the grid, as specified.  Some forgot, some were careless, and others were defiant.  By the way, we have cameras and I spent some time reviewing this week before making the above statements.  Encouragement and light enforcement did NOT get the job done.

We will have the same wristband and face mask requirements this week.  Most are following the rules but for those few who choose not to we are implementing enforcement.  DQ’s will be applied to points events for infractions.  Racers complain heavily when they feel they were wronged by some other competitor and our staff needs to focus on fair competition first rather than spending our time policing simple rules that some want to dodge.  DQ’s will be classed as sportsmanship which means they are not eligible for drops in calculating season points.

Come and be the fastest in your class in the feature and hold the 2020 track record.  One more week and WRS points start.  Bring your mask and have a good time.

 

LEAGUES Continue this week

We feel we had a successful league program last week, see last week post for details, and will run the same program this week.

1. JR on Wed 6PM drivers meeting
2. SR on Thur 6PM drivers meeting
3. Friday with 7PM drivers meeting

As before, drivers only wristbands and pre-registration available w/cash or credit payment.  Come join us for some fun.