WKA
FDDS Race #4
Crossroads Motorplex
Jasper, FL
May 31st, 2003
Race Report
Sorry there's no pictures this week. Seems the
Data Acquisition Specialist sort of forgot about that!
Well, we're making progress on the kart thought!
Finally, we have freed the kart up and now we can start to figure out
the tires. Everything we had learned about tires this year went out the
window when the chassis started to work like it was supposed to. When
the kart was tight we put on tires with no rubber on them and pumped up
the air but now those tires won't provide enough grip. It's a little scary
putting on tires that used to tighten us up but that is what we need now.
The question is, how much?
We got to the track early on Friday and wanted
to practice because my crew chief changed just about everything on both
of my karts. We were hoping that moving the seat to the left and laying
it down more would increase the left side weight and free the kart up
in the turns. When I went out to practice the karts felt good but the
track was not anything like we knew it would be on Saturday afternoon.
Still, we gained some confidence in the new set up and thought maybe our
handling problems were finally behind us.
Saturday looked to be a great day for racing. The
track was in great shape and the sun was supposed to shine all day. We
went out for the first practice in the sprint kart and one of the kids
I race with, who has a tendency to be a little "aggressive",
pooped me from behind and pushed me into a slower kart in front of me
punching a hole in the front of my kart body. My crew chief had been telling
me that I had to race these guys the way they race me or they will never
have any respect for me. So, during the next practice I gave the kid a
little push back. Well, of course the race director didn't see the first
incident but he did see the second.
Now in practice I try to stay away from other karters
so I can see what my kart will or won't do and usually so does most everybody
else but I guess this same kid needed a little practice blocking other
drivers in the turns. Well, that was alright with me because I needed
a little practice dealing with drivers who try to run me down into the
cones so I thought it was all good when he pulled down on me as I tried
to pass him. I just turned up the track and held my line in the groove
and now I'm a lot better at it!
When I came off the track the race director came
over to me and suggested that I be a little more careful. Then my crew
chief and he had a few words but I don't think that helped me out very
much. After that the race director told me that he would keep an eye on
me and if he had any more driving tips he would let me know.
In qualifying we did better than we had ever done
before. I ran about a tenth of a second faster in the sprint kart than
I did in the last race here and the pole sitter ran about 2 tenths of
a second slower so I think we picked it up quite a bit. We also did better
in the champ kart. We qualified 7th in light and 5th in heavy and 3rd
in the champ.
In the first race I got a good start because I
was down on the bottom but like always they couldn't keep from spinning
so we wound up restarting single file. I came out in 4th and ran a good
bit of the race in forth but the tires just didn't have the grip and I
slipped up and got freight trained by about 5 karts and finished in 9th.
In the champ I had the same problem, no traction.
I got a good start as usual but got passed by some karts who were really
hooked up and went back to about 5th. Then, the leaders spun off the track
and for no reason they brought out the caution flag. When they restarted
the race I was behind a slower kart and the kart behind me was faster
so I got pushed from behind and wheelly hopped the kart in front of me
which caused him to spin. The race director thought that was a little
rough on my part so he black flagged me and I had to leave the track.
In the last race I started in 5th and quickly went
to 4th while the first 3 karts checked out. I was about 40 feet back running
all by myself when the leaders got bunched up in turn 4 and one of them
spun off the track. I was now in 3rd but as I came around to turn 4 again
on the next lap the kart that spun was just getting back on the track
and wasn't quite up to speed yet. He was coming across the track as we
went into turn 1 and I slowed up a little but then a kart behind me pulled
underneath me and we all went into turn one 3 wide. There was some rubbing
and, because I lifted, I lost momentum and came out behind the other 2
karts. I race the lapped kart down the back stretch going into turn 3
on his outside. I thought I gave him plenty of room but he he pushed me
up and out of the groove so I went sliding off the track. By the time
I got back on 5 karts had passed me and I finished in 8th place.
Seems I've been here before. I remember a few years
ago when we first got my kart hooked up it was a while before I was able
to get my timing right. I've been so busy trying to just keep my kart
on the track I haven't had to think about racing much. Now maybe I can
focus on that and start running up front again.
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