A KGB Agent's First Year in S1 My Battle at the Rock By Jesse Lemel KGB Agent 017 When I was filling out the application for Rock Island I realized that I could register for the Super Pro Class. Upon that realization I started to think about if I would be better off running Semi-pro or Super Pro at the Rock Island Grand Prix. After some consideration I decided it would be more beneficial for me to compete in the Super Pro class. My reasoning was simple, it is a confidence booster just to know you are in the Super Pro class, and it is also a great opportunity to get to learn from the best up close and personal and to hopefully prove to myself that I can run with them. In signing up for the top class I did not expect to be able to go out and win, instead I kept my goals rather modest hoping for a top ten. However, anyone who has seen a SKUSA Super Pro race knows that a top ten is a great accomplishment, these guys and girls are truly the best of the best that North America has to offer. Well time to get to my weekend competing against the Super Pros. The weekend got off to a rough start on Saturday when we did not realize that we had the wrong gearing on my KGB kart. With such limited available practice (8 laps) it makes it very important to be able to read what the kart is doing and make changes in the right direction in gearing and setup. So we spent the short day on Saturday working on figuring out the Rock. When it came time to qualify, I was driving really hard, but I needed to brake deeper into the high-speed 90-degree corners of the grueling street circuit. Consequently, I made a mistake and ended up in hay. As a result I qualified back in eighteenth. After qualifying was over we decided to try changing the gearing around. This is when my mechanic, Curtis Ruth, "the best wrench ever", took off the gears and made the proper changes after analyzing track performance and my comments. He looked at what we had on there and stated some words, which cannot be repeated and then preceded. It seems as though my preparation was lacking and I didn't make the adequate changes before our trek down from Milwaukee. So then we put on a closer gear and set out for our morning practice session on Sunday. When Sunday morning rolled around I was a little sore after my run in with the hay bails, but thanks to my Deep Seat, I had virtually no rib pain, which is always a worry when hitting the hay bails hard. Especially when you are still recovering from previous rib injuries. But I was ready to race!! In the morning practice the gearing still wasn't right on, but we got it closer. For the feature we changed the gearing again, this time the gearing was close but just off enough to make it so I was shifting at some awkward points which caused me to be slightly off pace. However, I managed to move up a couple spots to around thirteenth and was hanging with the pack when the officials made a mistake. The field was lapping kart number 17J and I am kart number 17H. What ended up happening is he did not pull in right away when presented with the blue flag and the next lap he was given the blue again. This time he pulls in and then when I go passed the start finish line I'm given the black flag as the race officials assumed that I was the guy who was being lapped and refusing to go into the pits. So I pull in the pits and immediately start trying to figure out why I was black-flagged and the official tells me it's cause I was being lapped. I told him that I was not even close to being lapped and started to try to figure out what happened. Then out of the corner of my eye, I spied the 17J machine rolling away on its kart stand. DOHH!!!!! Within a matter of seconds, I figured out what had happened and started going about filing protests and doing whatever I could to save face and possibly get back into the money. I had many discussions with Mr. Argy who was very understanding and apologetic. But it was just a bummer to come all the way from the University of Arizona, my new school, to end up getting taken out of the race less than half way through due to mistake by the officials. But I can't hold it against the Rock Island Grand Prix cause that is one of the best street races around. The spectators are awesome and town treats you like Kings! Between now and my next major event I plan on focusing on fitness and being in the seat of a kart, traveling up to Phoenix to make sure I am in top shape, so I will be the most competitive that I can be. It's all about practice and preparation in this sport, and to take it to the next level I am going to need to be physically and mentally prepared to take on anything that may come while on the race track and in the pits. This year has been a learning experience and I hope to be able to take what I've learned into my next few races to come out with a favorable positive result. I would like to thank my tuner Curtis for working hard all weekend long to make sure I would be competitive, my Dad for making it possible for me to experience these races. Not to mention Dan and Joyce Ruth for helping out and all my "Cheesehead" teammates and friends who were at the Rock making it such a fun event. Look for my KGB kart to be in the front pack at the SuperKarts USA World Finals, and the 2002 Super Nationals in Vegas.