AK Racing 2010

XDC Round 2 Recap – Alex Kors

XDC Round 2 Vegas was quite a weekend for AK Racing. Arriving first thing to the track on Wednesday around noon the team was anxious to wrench on the car. After some major problems from Round 1 at Irwindale, the diff was replaced along with the rear wheel bearings. Green Oil supplied 20w50 was also changed which dramatically helped with keeping the oil temp’s down. HPS Silicone 4 ply couplers, silicone hose and T-Bolt clamps also replaced all of the 3+ year old product. J’s graphic’s also outfitted the car with all new vinyl.

Going into practice on Friday morning Kevin and Brian were on hand from Motorsports Consulting. Right away they made some major and much needed changes. Friday was 6 hours of practice on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Alex welcomed the challenge of the new course. He was consistently entering around the 78mph mark. Practice was a bit of a struggle fighting with the car and the way Alex wanted to drive, but with the support of Motorsports Consulting the car was getting leaps and bounds better. The team ended up only making about 3 clean passes all of the practice day.

Saturday was qualifying day, with about 1 hour of practice in the morning it was vital to get as much seat time as Alex could. After some minor adjustments by Kevin and Brian the car was worlds better. Making about 5-6 really solid clean passes the team was ready for qualifying. Qualifying run 1, straighten on entry. Scratch that run. Qualifying run 2, 78mph on entry, car shuts down into turn one, Alex manages to kick the car back on without straightening, up shifts to 3^rd mid transition, car shuts off into turn two, again Alex manages to kick the car back to life after 3 kicks with minor correction, slam’s the car back down into 2^nd, dip’s 1 wheel off track, transitions the car back to lock, a little far off of the outer clip zone and finishes the course.

Watching everyone run it was definitely going to be close. Especially since the qualifying format was changed a bit from XDC Round 1, it was decided that top 32 qualifying was to be skipped and go right into top 16.  The team qualified 14^th, it was enough to make the main show. The new challenge to face was tandem with Formula D driver, Alex Phieffer.

Unfortunately due to driver error and car malfunctions Alex went off both leading and following against Phieffer. The team went home very content with the weekends results and with a lot of knowledge going into round 4. Round 3 unfortunately had to be skipped due to the declining health of Alex’s wife but Round 4 is ramping up to be the best round yet! Back east the team goes to do some drifting, catch up with old friends and ride some BMX in NYC!