|
|||
|
|
FDDS Race #3 Cross Roads Motorplex, Jasper, FL
|
||
Race Report
Back at Jasper again! As much as we race here you would think it would be easy to win! Ha! So does everybody else and they just keep getting faster and faster!
Friday night practice was pretty much what it has been all year. The track was muddy and never got any grip. We only took a couple laps and then put the kart away. It was pretty much a waste of time.
On Saturday morning we put on prep tires and went out during the first round thinking that we would get an additional round of practice for going out in the mud. The track started to come in during the second practice but we still had prepped tires on. We got ready for the 3rd round and put our qualifying tires and gear on only to find out that we wouldn't get any 3rd round at all. It's a good thing that we have raced here a lot because we were pretty confident that what we had would work and really didn't miss the extra practice.
The first to qualify was the sprint kart in lite and I thought I was pretty fast but we were about 5 tenths of a second slower than the pole and qualified 11th. In the champ we were a little off on the gear and qualified 8th. In heavy we only duplicated our times with the sprint kart and qualified 11th again but we got a little better in the champ and managed a 5th fastest time.
I wish I had a great story to tell you about the races but they went off pretty much without a hitch. In Sportsman II lite I got a good start as I usually do and I came out in about 8th place. The kart was fast with lots of forward bite and I was able to pass a few karts for a 6th place finish. The heavy race was pretty much a repeat except that I couldn't move up as much and finished 8th.
The Champ lite race was the most interesting. I got a good start and held my position moving up to 3rd place during the first few laps. Then, we got to racing a little and I lost a few spots dropping back to 5th place where it looked like I would finish. On the last lap, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place karts went 3 wide right in front of me as we went in to turn 3. I just sat back and watched as they carried each other up the banking and then I dove down and tried to pass them all for 2nd place. One of the karts got free and stayed ahead of me but another one saw me going by and tried to turn down into me to spin me out. This kid has done this to me many times before so I was ready for him to do just what he did. When I saw him coming down right at me I thought, " Oh no, you're not going to spin me so you can have my spot!" I turned up as hard as I could to break his momentum and hold my line while he sailed off into the tire barrier and I finished 3rd. When the race was over I had just one lug nut holding my right rear tire on and it was loose enough that my crew chief was able to take it off with his fingers! Wonder how that happened?
In the Champ heavy race I think we should have dropped the air a little bit because I was just sliding all around. I did my best to hold on but a kart got under me going into turn 1 and forced me up out of the groove. I just didn't have enough grip to run up there and spun the kart around. I got back going pretty quickly but by that time I was a lap down and finished the race in 9th place.
Over the next few weeks I'm going to go to a few Saturday night races to try my hand at running in the Jr. Restricted class. As far as I'm concerned, horsepower is good, the more the better! But, my crew chief seems to need a little confidence booster for when I move up next year so I'm going to try to get some added seat time to help him out. I'll let you know how he does!
Copyright © 2005 - Berbranon Marketing - All Rights Reserved