WKA FDDS Race #6 Crossroads Motorplex Jasper, FL September 27th, 2003     Photos load one after the other. Depending on your modem speed, there maybe a short delay between images.

Race Report

This was the last race for the FDDS season and boy did we see some pretty interesting things! Let me tell you about it...

It rained real hard on Friday afternoon so they didn't even bother to turn on the lights on the track Friday night. We got set up and cooked some hamburgers and got caught up with a few friends. On Saturday morning the track came in pretty fast and we were ready. Practice went well and the karts felt good considering that my crew chief has this new thing where he puts basically the set up on it that we will be running for qualifying and just adjusts on the tires as the track tells us to. Less work for him but a lot more work for me! We put a brand new M & M body on this week and I ran off the track and hit the tire barrier putting a nice skid mark across the nose. Oh well, so much for that!

When we went out to qualify in light the kart felt pretty good, just a tick tight off in turn 2 but we managed to qualify 4th. Then, in the champ we just seemed slow but still qualified 6th. We were a little disappointed but we were only 4 tenths off the pole and early this year we were running 8 tenths off so we tried to reason with outselves that we were getting better. Then, we went out to qualify for heavy and qualified 8th out of 12 karts. Something was wrong but we couldn't put our finger on it.

In the first race the plan was to just stay in the groove giving room to any faster karts that got under me and then run closely behind them after they passed me to take advantage of any gains they could make. It worked real well. I started 4th and passed one kart for 3rd and then I got passed by a few karts but I slipped in behind them and moved back by yet a few others with this drafting technique and would up finishing in 4th.

In the champ I was trying to preserve a 3rd place finish in the points and I had to finish ahead of 2 other karts to do that. I got by one of them and it looked like I might not get by the other one when a big wreck happened involving the other kart I had to pass. When they restarted the race both of the karts were now behind me and all I had to do was hold my position for 10 more laps and I would finish 3rd in the points. Then, all of sudden, 2 karts directly in front of me got tangled up and and had to slam on the brake to avoid hitting them. That caused me to spin and both the kart went right past. I was able to pass one of them back but the other finished 2 spots ahead of me in 4th and bumped me back to 4th in the points for the year.

The heavy race played out something like a sequel to the movie Jack Ass. Now I know that we all check the points and look to see who we have to finish ahead of but what happen in this race was just stupid. I really wasn't concerned about the points because we were way out of the running. I just wanted to concentrate on this stay in the groove and draft deal so when the race started I did my usual start and next thing I knew I was all by myself in 3rd. However, this one kid who was just ahead of me in the points was way off and had spun at least once so it wasn't long before I found myself coming up to pass him. I caught him in turn 3 and he appeared to be moving up to let me go by so I went to go under him and all of a sudden he turned down on me and tried to take me out! The 4th and 5th place karts got by me before I could shake lose and then I was in 5th. It wasn't too long before I was coming up along side of him again and he tried to take me out again! This time I was prepared and as he tried to drive me down I drove him up. I had more momentum and pushed him away but I lost another couple of positions and fell back to 7th. Sure enough before the race was over I caught up with him one more time and, like before, he tried to take me out again! All the while the flag man was waving the move over flag at this kid but he wouldn't move over. I know that I would have been black flagged in a heart beat if I ever tried anything like that but the officials didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it in his case. To top it off my crew chief told the kid as he was coming off the track that it was the stupidest thing he had ever seen in his life and that made his Dad really mad. I though there was going to be a big fight before it was all over but my crew chief just let it go and pushed the kart back to the pits.

Back at the trailer we were putting our stuff away and noticed that the champ kart was just covered with oil. At first we thought maybe something blew up in the motor and forced the oil out of the overflow tube so we pulled the oil plug out to see if there was any oil left in the motor. Turns out there was plenty! Over 24 ounces! Then we figured out what was wrong. After our last race a few weeks ago we had to take both our motors through tech. My crew chief had a friend take the motors through for us and thought that they had drained the oil so, when he put the motors back on the karts, he just added the regular amount of oil to the crankcase as though they were empty. Turns out they only pulled the head and the carburetor so they never drained the oil and we were running twice the oil we should have been! All that oil just killed the horsepower and that's why we were so slow.