May 5, 2014 Portland, Oregon

POLE POSITION AND A CLASS WIN FOR WORD RACING

April 13, McMinnville, Oregon - WORD Racing placed the new iKart Shifter on pole position for round two of the Oregon State Karting Championship Series. It was a nice way to start the season for Randy's first race with the new iKart Shifter.

During the main event, Randy also set the fastest lap time of the day. However, after the great start to the day, it ended in disappointment. Halfway through the main event a spark plug broke. It's very unusual for a spark plug to break, but break it did and it caused extensive damage to a new engine (broken piston and cylinder head).

Hans Reidy represented WORD Racing well in the TaG Sr. class, taking his first class win. Having just recently moved up from the World Formula class, Hans continues to improve & impress. During the pre-final race, he followed, but was gaining on another kart. In the final event he drew even closer and then with only a few laps remaining, made a brilliant pass and went on to win his class and take 3rd overall.

2ND IN QUALIFYING FOR THE CAN-AM PROKART CHALLENGE IN TRI-CITIES

April 25-27, Horn Rapids, Washington - In only his 2nd race with the new iKart Shifter Kart, Randy continued to improve with a 2nd place result in qualifying at a National caliber pro event. Photo by Sean Buur.

After making the trip to Richland/Horn Rapids, WA (Tri-Cities) for the Can-Am ProKart Challenge, WORD Racing experienced a weekend of ups & downs. Friday practice saw sunny weather and Randy set 2nd fastest time in the S4 Stock Moto Shifter class. The good results on Friday had us looking forward to a great result on Saturday, but ended up being a day to forget. In morning qualifying, after only 2 warm-up laps the kart experienced a mechanical issue and would not shift gears.

A complete overhaul of the paddle shifter system was called for. We were not done with the overhaul when they called us to the grid for our main event, so we literally worked on the kart as we wheeled it (in it's stand) to the start and finished putting it together as karts were rolling out onto the track! Unfortunately the larger cable mechanism we installed for extra strength did not work properly with the system and the kart was stuck in one gear (we normally have six gears to choose from). We pulled out of the race with a disappointing 15th place overall.

Sunday was a much better day! With a new shifting cable system in place the kart shifted nicely in the morning warm-up...for 2 or 3 laps. Then we had another cable failure (caused by one of the modifications we made the previous day). We still had an hour before qualifying, and with the help of Mike Rolison (owner of Rolison Performance Group) we manufactured a special cable stop (basically a small custom washer). The fix worked flawlessly, and we won 2nd place in qualifying!

In the first race Randy didn't have the best start and lost a few positions going into the first corner. In the second corner a couple of karts tangled and one hit Randy and sent him flying off the track. Randy then managed to drive through the grass up a hill and get back on track, but was then nearly a half-lap behind the leaders. Chasing desperately and setting the 2nd or 3rd fastest lap time (for the S4 class), Randy managed to catch the tail end of the group and started the main event in 11th place.

Starting in 11th for the main was less than ideal, and to make matters worse Randy lost a couple more positions going into turn 1. In turn 2 there was another crash, and this time karts were literally flying through the air. Fortunately Randy was able weave his way through the wreckage safely. However, after hitting the brakes and sliding through the mess, Randy found himself a ways behind the leaders again. Chasing as fast as possible, and setting a personal best lap time (and 3rd fastest lap time in class), Randy salvaged a 4th place finish to end the weekend on a high note.

Special thanks to Ethan's friend, Daniel Lester, for traveling with us and working as our team mechanic during the three day weekend. We kept him busy with the shifter issues, and it was nice having a 2nd set of hands there to help out. Also, thanks to Steve Thiel for providing a place to stay.

To view a 10 second YouTube video of the race start, be sure to check out our media page at www.wordracing.com/word-racing-media.htm (scroll down the page about half-way)

Sincerely,
Randy Word, and Ethan Word
WORD Racing
Northwest Distributor for iKart, and Zamp Helmets Dealer
Web Site: WordRacing.com
Facebook: /WordRacing
Phone: (503) 757-1776

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