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WKA Comp Cams Grand Nationals

Amelia Motor Raceway, Amelia, VA
May 12th & 13th, 2004

Race Report

All the way to Virginia! What a trip! The Mom had to stay home and work so that explains why there's no picture for this race. My crew chief and I were both sick all weekend too so it was about all we could do to get the karts ready and race.

Everybody told us that this track would like a set up and gear similar to Jasper. We've raced there almost every race the last couple of years so we were hoping that they were right. We set the kart up just as they said but Amelia had a few tricks up it's sleeve that we weren't ready for.

Amelia is a big track with moderate banking and a wide racing surface. What makes it really different is that it is shaped like a "D" so you are in the turn from turn 1 until you exit turn 4. All year we have been trying to turn more and more RPM and it has helped us a little bit so we tried to do the same thing here as well. That was a big mistake. The more gear we put on the back, the slower we would go but we wouldn't turn any more RPM. We only dropped 275 RPM in the turns or should I say we only increased 275 RPM's in the short front straight before heading back into the sweeping turns. Everything else was good thought. The kart felt fine and the tires were good too, We were just slow... Then the rain came and the storm and we just about lost everything in the wind. That was the end of Friday night practice.

On Saturday Morning is was overcast and everything was still really wet. We figured that we wouldn't start practice until 10 AM or so but they got started right away. The track came in pretty good too but it never really looked like it was coming in at all. We even went out on the track between practice and qualifying and checked the racing surface. It was still pretty wet and soft so we figured that we would be on prep tires for most, if not all of the day. Boy did we get fooled! The track had a lot of grip even though it was wet so soft tires just slowed you down. We found out what the track was doing in time to change the tires but we missed the gear badly. I qualified 19th, just well enough to make the race in the first round, for Sportsman II and did a little better in the Champ qualifying in 11th,

We changed gears again and went out to race and I did pretty good. I was able to improve my position in Sportsman II to 10th but we were still off a little in the Champ finished pretty much where I started in 10th.

On Sunday the track seemed to pick up about a half second over the day before. In Sportsman II we only picked around 2 tenths but still qualified 16th. The Champ was weird because everybody actually slowed down about a half second and we qualified pretty much the same as the day before in 10th.

In the Sportsman II race I got shuffled out on the start and would up almost dead last but I drove the best I could and had a pretty fast kart so I would up finishing where I started in 16th.

The Champ race ended the event pretty much as it always does, a mess! On the first lap there was a spin in front of me and I tried to just hold down the gas and fit the kart through the biggest hole I could find. About that time I got hit from behind and turned around backwards and then a kart hit me head on and went up over the roll cage turning on it's side and then falling back down on it's wheels. I got the kart turned around quickly and headed back to line up while I looked around to see if I had any broken or bent parts. Everything looked pretty good to me and one of the race officials looked the kart over too and said I could go on but neither of us knew that the nose of the kart was bent down and dragging on the race track. When the race began again things got even more interesting because it felt like my brakes were sticking and when I would push the pedal it would go straight to the floor. I was slow as a turtle but I just held my line and ran as fast as I could. Remarkably, I actually passed a few karts and found myself in 7th but as the race went on there was an ever growing line of karts behind me that was doing everything they could to get around me. One or two of them tried to pass me on the outside but they would get shuffled back instead. Then, a few tried to knock me out of the groove but I was ready for that and it didn't work. Then, a few would get to racing behind me and that would give me a little breathing room for about a lap but they would eventually catch back up and the whole thing would start over again. I was sure that someone would spin me out but it never happened and I finished the race in 7th!

On the way home I began to realize that my chances of winning a championship this year have slowly slipped away. We still have a lot of races to go but I've also been thinking a lot about moving up to Jr. Restricted next year. I think I'll talk to my crew chief and see if maybe it would be a good idea to just make the move now and work the bugs out a little bit for next year. I'll let you know what he says.

 

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