Anytime a new venture is started...there are bumps to be expected in the road. Especially if said new venture is taking place in a foreign country. The ASA Racing organization has been making preparations for quite some time to hold their first ever intercontinental race at the Phakisa Freeway Raceway in Welkom, South Africa.

West Salem's Steve Carlson is one of the drivers set to take to the track for this event. However, this morning the group hit a few of those "bumps" and the first practice session on the Vegas-style track has been delayed. The Hoosier tires that were shipped over for the event were held up in customs and were about 2 hours late getting to the track. One can only imagine it must've had something to do with the drug sniffing dogs being overwhelmed by the strong scent of rubber. (Kind of like a visit to Farm & Fleet) Custom officials likely had to do a hand search of the massive amount of tires before they could be cleared to go to the Phakisa Freeway Raceway.

At any rate, the tires did eventually make it to the track, but now they are experiencing some difficulties with the inner liners on the tires fitting appropriately into the wheels for the teams. They are needing to alter the valve stem size and location to fit the inner liner. Despite this setback, they expect to have cars on the track within the next half hour.

We've been electronically communicating with Tim Jacobs, team owner for Steve Carlson's ride at La Crosse Speedway & the ASA Midwest Tour. Tim is also Steve's long-time spotter. He tells us that there are already about 2500 people at the track, with an expected attendance of 25,000 for the big race on Sunday. He also says security is VERY high for the event.

Update 1/29/10 @ 8:23am: First Practice Session is done. Steve Carlson was 2nd fastest and his teammate for this event, Russ Blakely was fastest, by .01 seconds.

Update 1/29/10 @ 9:24am: Second Practice Session is done. Gary Lewis from the west coast was fastest this time around. Steve Carlson was 6th overall.

Update 1/29/10 @ 10:05am: Final Practice Session done. Gary Lewis fastest. Then Geoff Bodine, Russ Blakeley, Jaco Correla, Greg Barnhart & Steve Carlson (6th).

They are done at the track for the day, as it's after 6pm over there (they're 8 hours ahead of us). There's a big welcome party planned for all of the participants over there tonight. Steve Carlson will attend with his team (Mike Carlson, Tim Jacobs & Toby Nuttleman) They will have another practice session tomorrow starting at 10am (that's 2am here!) so we'll get updates out there as soon as we can. For sure to post on Twitter (see below). The big race will be held on Sunday at 1pm (that's 5am here).