Okay onto the report.....
Friday 20 Jan 2012
Matt and I arrived in Barstow to relatively pleasant weather the winds were light and the temperature was pleasant. We set up the Main pit and headed out for a leisurely cruise in the bronco around the course. The first big surprise we encountered in the new course was Ant Hill being bypassed! The new course turned the opposite direction which then led around the mountain. The new route was primarily single track and hard pack with lots of rock. Overall a nice section and a nice change for some variety. Then the course was pretty much the standard with a new section around Hodge road that Matt had already experienced in the December race. Overall the course looked to be fast but rough. The Bronco is a much more comfortable ride than the 990. Tech was held at the Slash X so we headed over there to talk smack as we pushed the car through. The weather into the evening was very pleasant with the temperature staying in the mid to high 40s with only a light wind. Once my mom and Dad arrived we all called it a night pretty quickly.
Saturday 22 December
I awoke at 530 to the sound of 30mph winds with gusts approaching 50. I was trying to be positive but the forecast for the wind included much worse and rain! About 540 I took my dad up to start finish to get his wrist band and was becoming worried as Matt had yet to arrive and the drivers meeting was in 30 min! After a couple of phone calls Matt was up and on his way from the Hotel 2 miles up the road. The hotel did not give his wake up call and his alarm didnt go off oops....
Matt arrives at 710 and he and Gary head to the drivers meeting as I finish setting up Main and get our chase crew organized. The chase teams begin arriving about 720 as the rain begins to fall. The weather was not going to be pleasant but everyone stayed positive and before I knew it Fixxor, Hobby Turned Obsession, BajaBronco, and Chase Truck were all banded up and headed out to Hodge road. Race start was at 0815 and in an uncharacteristic fashion the first car left at 0815!
The 990 was first off the line for the class and quickly began opening the pack of angry swingers. By MM12 he had opened a minute plus on the second place car and by MM18 added a bit more to that. Things were starting off well for the Mighty 990. Then my heart sank as I got the call on the radio that they had flat on the right rear tire about MM20. Chase set out to try and meet up with them since they were able to still move and Jay and I loaded the spare and jack from Main and head out, I had to turn around since I forgot the lug wrench
As we are working To get to the 990 the gap that Matt had been able to open form the pack was quickly fading. I called off the chase team for the tire change as Matt and Gary had still been moving rather quickly and were approaching start finish. As I was weaving my way out of main the radioed in that they had just hit the speed zone and the oil light had come on 
. Luckily we found a gap in the pits and were able to pull in just as the pack of 9s came through and 990 was right behind them. We jumped out of the bronco and thanks to another pit got the tire changed and enough oil to to get them the mile or so back to main. Back at Main Mark led the team to finding the cause for the loss of oil a leaky valve cover on the left side. We arrived back at main and grabbed the jack and we got the gasket changed and oil back in the car. With all said and done we got 990 back on course with a 13 minute gap between the leader. With 5 laps to go I was confident Matt could get the car back into the top 5. Lap 2 was uneventful Matt laid down a great pace that by our primitive timekeeping showed he was running on pace with the leaders. The wind had begun to get even worse by this point and the gusts were in excess of 45 MPH. This was resulting in the car being pushed around on course and for the rest of the team being forced to stay in their vehicles attempting to stay sheltered from the wind and dust. As we began Lap3 we brought the 990 in for a visual on the valve cover and oil check 30 seconds later they were on the move and Matt had begun closing the distance to the slower cars. By the end of the lap Matt had closed to about 10 min on the lead car and 3 min from the 4th place car Awesome. We pulled the car in and checked it over and took fuel. The valve cover looked good so off they went. At this point Matt was frustrated but finding out that the gap was getting smaller kept pushing hard. By the end of Lap 4 the 990 had found its way into 4th place physically with only 2 min between him and 3rd. As lap 5 started the field of 9 cars began to shrink and the 990 was now back in a solid third place 2 min behind second and 8 out of first. By MM 12 he had taken another 30 seconds back. Things were looking up. Through out this time the winds had now increased to a steady 35-45mph with gusts to 70 Then to add to the mayhem a dust storm had engulfed stoddard valley that decreased visibility in main to less than 100ft at times. Out on course it was causing difficulties as well. As Lap 5 came to a close Matt was about a 1:30 out of second and 7 out of first. When the split came in form MM12 he had closed the gap to 1 min from second and in 6 more miles that gap was now less than a minute. We were fighting for second place. As they passed MM 18 the crew was getting set to meet the car at the finish when disaster struck! Gary calls in on the radio and tells us that our race is done and they need to be towed in.....The motor was blown. The valve cover gasket that was leaking earlier in the race and was replaced had begun leaking at some point in the last lap causing the motor to lose oil and a rod let go 7 miles form the finish. Definitely a heart breaker for sure Matt and Gary as well as the rest of the team were very disappointed to say the least. On a very positive note Matt had the fast lap of the class on Lap 5 with it being 2 min faster than anyone else. We are looking forward to the posting of the times as we had a 51 min lap when we took gas as well. That is a great pit team there! Thanks guys/gals.
Unfortunately this will have a big impact on the season for the Kaveman team. We are looking at the options and hope we can get a motor put together but financially it is going to be tough.
On a side note if Anyone knows of someone that wants to sponsor a championship level driver please let them know about Kaveman. Myself or Matt would be happy to provide a full package for their consideration.
THANK YOU to everyone that comes out and helps as well as those that support from home. I know without a doubt that our racing success would not be where it is today without all of you. We as a team cannot express our sincere gratitude enough.
