Dec. 29-30, 2009 – WKA Manufacturer’s Cup – Daytona, FL
Dec. 29th and 30th saw Shinya back in action with the first WKA Man. Cup race of the 2010 season at Daytona Intl. Speedway. Coming off his injury at the last race of last season at Lowe’s in Charlotte as well as making his debut in the senior class, Shinya knew he had his work cut out for him. Barely a week out of a hard cast on his right hand; Shinya was cleared to race with a hard splint. So he donned an extra large racing glove on his right hand to fit over the splint and got to work. Still recovering from the injury, it was decided that it was best to run fewer classes than usual. Also, his weight being on the light side for the senior classes, it would have been hard to add enough weights to the kart for the heavy classes. So Shinya ran only the Lite classes this time out.
Day 1 saw Shinya put in a solid effort in the Yamaha Supercan Lite class. Shinya qualified 10th and managed to move up 2 spots in the Prefinal to finish 8th. Shinya had an outstanding run in the Final and worked his way up to finish 3rd to earn a spot on the podium. He also ran great lap times only .15 sec. off the fastest lap of the race set by Merlin teammate T.J. Koyen. Shinya commented that it was an absolute thrill to be competing with the legendary drivers of karting whom he has looked up to and admired greatly over the years such as Mark Dismore, Jr., T.J. Koyen, Ryan Stewart, Tony Jump, Corey Reeves – just to name a few.
Day 2 saw Shinya competing in the Komet Piston Port Lite class. He was off to a good start for the day, qualifying 4th. In the Prefinal, Shinya had a great run and managed to finish in 2nd place and found himself only .08 seconds off the fastest lap set by T.J. Koyen. In the Final, Shinya was sitting in 2nd position for the start, but an off in turn one on the start of the race saw him get back on in last place long after the entire field had gone by. Determined not to finish there, Shinya set a fast pace and clicked off fast lap after fast lap, catching up to the field. He began picking off as many as possible and continued to set a blistering pace lap after lap. By the end of the race, Shinya found himself in 7th place and had set the fastest lap of the race. Had he had another lap or two, he felt that grabbing the last spot on the podium was within reach. He proved he was fast and if he could have stayed up with the leaders on the start of the race, Shinya felt that he may have had a winning kart. Despite the disappointment, he managed to salvage a disastrous start by moving back up to finish 7th and gain some valuable points for the season.
Shinya really enjoyed racing with this talented group of senior drivers. He found the senior drivers to be very respectful of each other as well as being patient and smart in their driving styles. As a result, there seemed to be fewer wrecks and incidents than in the junior classes. Shinya is hopeful that he can have a much better season now that “constantly getting caught up in incidents” may be a thing of the past. Shinya had a very successful debut in the senior classes and was thrilled to be able to run with these amazing drivers. He’s looking forward to the next race at MRP in South Bend, IN.
2009 Season WKA Manufacturer’s Cup - Yearend Results
Despite a disappointing season marred by incidents, Shinya did prove that he was consistently fast throughout the season. As a result, despite all the incidents that kept him from getting the results he should have, he still managed to finish in the top 10 in all four of the Junior classes in the yearend points standings. Shinya finished 5th in HPV Jr. Lite, 6th in Yamaha Jr. Lite, 7th in Yamaha Jr. Heavy and 10th in HPV Jr. Heavy in the overall points standings.
2009 Season Great Lakes Sprint Series WKA Divisional - Yearend Results
Shinya finished 2nd in Yamaha Jr. Lite, 2nd in Yamaha Jr. Heavy, 2nd in HPV Jr. Heavy, and 3rd in HPV Jr. Lite in the overall points standings. Shinya was also very honored and proud to have been presented with the Sportsmanship Award for the 2009 GLSS series.
Nov. 7-8, 2009 – WKA Manufacturer’s Cup – Charlotte, NC
The 2009 WKA Man. Cup season came to a close with the final race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte. Luckily it was the last race, as this race, like much of the 2009 season, saw Shinya getting caught up in many incidents, including the one in the very final Junior race of the weekend that sent Shinya to the ER with what would have been a season-ending injury. Shinya was stuck there until late into the night, which delayed the drive home to Cincinnati until the next day. Despite what everyone feared on first examination, luckily there were no broken bones in Shinya’s hand. Unluckily and worse than a broken bone, Shinya did tear the ligament between the thumb and forefinger on his right hand. Upon a follow-up with an orthopedic surgeon in Cincinnati, Shinya learned that he barely escaped surgery and instead would be in a hard cast until late Dec. After that, the cast would be removed, he would start physical therapy, and it would be determined whether he would be cleared to race in Daytona in December.
Many thanks to fellow racer Kyle Smith and his dad for stopping by to make sure Shinya was ok before heading back on their long drive to Pennsylvania. Kyle had unfortunately also visited the Carolinas Medical Center-Northeast ER the day before with a slight concussion and was unable to race on Sunday as a result.
Day 1 saw action in the HPV Jr. Heavy and the Yamaha Jr. Lite classes. In HPV Jr. Heavy, Shinya qualified 5th and had managed to run well in the prefinal and was sitting in 4th place when in the final lap, his chain came off, forcing him to take a DNF. As a result, he would be starting the final in 26th out of 30. In the Final, Shinya got a great start and had already made his way back up to 16th by lap 2. Then on lap 3, he was caught up in another incident which put him all the way back to 27th. All his hard work and progress derailed, Shinya started over and once again began making his way through the field. By the end of the race, he managed to move back up to finish 17th. It was a disappointing finish, but his laptimes showed that he was fast. He was running laptimes within the top 6 fastest in the class.
The Yamaha Jr. Lite class saw Shinya qualify 11th. and after a great run in the Prefinal, he managed to work his way up and take 4th place for the Prefinal. The Final saw Shinya unfortunately get shuffled way back to 24th on the start. However, he had an incredible run and managed to work his way back up from 24th to finish in 8th place and set the 4th best laptime of the race.
On Day 2, Shinya was back to compete in HPV Jr. Lite and Yamaha Jr. Heavy. In HPV Jr. Lite, Shinya qualified 9th and managed to move up 3 spots in the Prefinal to finish in 6th place. He managed to retain that spot in the Final and finish just one spot off the podium in 6th place.
In the Yamaha Jr. Heavy class, the final Junior race of the weekend and of the season, Shinya qualified 7th. However, his luck did not hold out in the prefinal as he was caught up in an incident on the start of the race resulting in a DNF. This put Shinya starting the Final in dead last 30th out of 30. Unfortunately, the start of the final would again see a pile-up in turn 1 which resulted in another kart literally driving over Shinya’s kart. This was the incident that ended up sending Shinya to the hospital. He actually kept the kart running and was attempting to get back on and drive, when he quickly realized that there was severe pain in his hand when he attempted to grip the steering wheel. He immediately pulled back off and after getting himself and the kart out of harm’s way in turn one, pulled his glove off to see that his thumb was severely swollen. There was a tire mark going up the leg on his driver’s suit and the steering wheel was actually slashed, so he was lucky that the racing glove and safety equipment kept him from sustaining worse injuries than he did. It was clear that his thumb and hand would need to be x-rayed and examined, so the onsite EMT put a temporary splint on and Shinya then went to the ER for further examination.
It was an unfortunate end to a season that was largely defined by being caught up in incidents. Shinya demonstrated that he was fast consistently all season long, but unfortunately could not get the good results that he should have as a result of getting caught up in so many incidents. Shinya would like to thank his Uncle Donnie for being his excellent Crew Chief for the weekend. Shinya would also like to thank his Aunt Renae (the Martha Stewart of the racetrack) for providing excellent hospitality as well as a place to stay and thanks to Papaw and Mamaw Hartsell for being there to support him as well. It was great having all the family support there. Thanks to the Koyen family and Andersens for helping dad pack up since Shinya and mom were at the hospital and couldn’t help with that.
Here’s to hoping that the 2010 season will go better. Shinya was quoted as saying, “I am very much looking forward to the challenge of moving up to race with the Seniors next season.”
Oct.11, 2009 – Kart Racers of America – New Castle, IN
TAG SuperLite Qfy: 4th Race: 4th
Sept. 25-27, 2009 - Robopong 200 – New Castle, IN
unfortunately, Shinya was not able to compete in the Robopong this year because it conflicted with the GLSS race at Beaverun. Since GLSS is the WKA Divisional series Shinya runs for transfer points to the national points standings, it was mandatory for him to compete at the GLSS race. As Robopong is one of Shinya’s favorite events, he was very disappointed not to be able to participate this year.
Sept. 25-27, 2009 – Great Lakes Sprint Series WKA Divisional – Beaverun, PA
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 7th Prefinal: 4th Final: 2nd
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 9th Prefinal: 9th Final: 6th
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 10th Prefinal: 6th Final: 3rd
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 2nd Prefinal: 16th/DNF Final: 5th
Aug.28-29, 2009 – WKA Manufacturer’s Cup – New Castle ,IN
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 9th Prefinal: 13th Final: 11th
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 7th Prefinal: 23rd Final: 13th
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 9th Prefinal: 13th Final: 8th
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 3rd Prefinal: 5th Final: 32nd DNF
Aug.16, 2009 – Kart Racers of America – New Castle, IN
Yamaha Jr. 1 Qfy: 3rd Race: 5th (did not scale-to not interfere w/KRA points series competitors)
Yamaha Jr. 2 Qfy: 7th Race: 5th (did not scale-to not interfere w/KRA points series competitors)
Aug. 7-9, 2009 – Great Lakes Sprint Series WKA Divisional – New Castle, IN
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 1st Prefinal: 3rd Final: 4th
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 9th Prefinal: 4th Final: 3rd
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 1st Prefinal: 1st Final: 4th
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 8th Prefinal: 12th Final: 7th
July 10-12, 2009 – WKA Manufacturer’s Cup – Road America, WI
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 12th Prefinal: 7th Final: 7th
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 10th Prefinal: 10th Final: 8th
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 12th Prefinal: 9th Final: 10th
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 19th Prefinal: 12th Final: 13th
June 26-28, 2009 – Midwest Sprint Series WKA Divisional – Road America, WI
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 3rd Prefinal: 3rd Final: 4th
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 8th Prefinal: 19th/DNF Final: 9th
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 16th Prefinal: 9th Final: 20th/DNF
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 3rd Prefinal: 1st Final: 1st
June 12-14, 2009 – Great Lakes Sprint Series WKA Divisional – Camden, OH
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 2nd Prefinal: 1st Final: 1st
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 4th Prefinal: 5th Final: 2nd
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 1st Prefinal: 1st Final: 6th
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 3rd Prefinal: 3rd Final: 2nd
May 22-24, 2009 – Great Lakes Sprint Series WKA Divisional – Circleville, OH
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 2nd Prefinal: 2nd Final: 2nd
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 6th Prefinal: 5th Final: 6th
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 4th Prefinal: 2nd Final: 4th
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 7th Prefinal: 6th Final: 5th
May 1-3, 2009 – WKA Manufacturer’s Cup – South Bend ,IN
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 11th Prefinal: 15th Final: 32nd/DNF
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 9th Prefinal: 8th Final: 19th
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 12th Prefinal: 27th Final: 12th
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 13th Prefinal: 10th Final: 5th
April 17-19, 2009 – Great Lakes Sprint Series WKA Divisional – South Bend, IN
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 1st Prefinal: 1st Final: 3rd
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 2nd Prefinal: 4th Final: 4th
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 1st Prefinal: 1st Final: 1st
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 3rd Prefinal: 2nd Final: 1st
Mar..6-8, 2009 – Stars of Karting Ocala Grand Prix – Ocala, FL
Qfy: 6th Heat 1: 6th Heat 2: 9th Heat 3: 14th Prefinal: 14th Final: 15th
Started out fast but got caught up in incidents on the start of Heat 3 and well as Prefinal and Final. Shinya was lucky enough to get to work with chassis guru Tim Andersen and learned much form him. Special thanks to Mr. Andersen for taking the time to fly in and help Shinya out for this weekend.
Dec. 28-30, 2008 – WKA Manufacturer’s Cup – Daytona, FL
HPV Jr. Heavy Qfy: 10th Prefinal: 7th Final: 30th/DNF
Yamaha Jr. Lite Qfy: 11th Prefinal: 5th Final: 4th
HPV Jr. Lite Qfy: 8th Prefinal: 7th Final: 3rd
Yamaha Jr. Heavy Qfy: 10th Prefinal: 9th Final: 9th |
