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WKA Dyno Cams Nationals Cross Roads Motorplex, Jasper, FL
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Race Report
The Nationals! Wow are we really racing the Nationals again? We have been working really hard to get ready for this race. I've been racing every weekend for the last 3 months and we have been trying to get the new karts sorted out and the tires sorted out and I think we were ready. Still, this IS the Nationals! Let me tell you what we did...
We had ordered new chassis' for this race but they didn't get them done in time for us to have them shipped to our house so we could put them together ahead of time. So, we went up to Jasper on Thursday afternoon hoping to get the karts put together by the time Friday's practice started. Well, we only got the champ ready so we decided to race our old sprint chassis one more time before turning it over to it's new owner.
The track was really wet when we got there on Thursday. Wade and his crew had been working to try to get the track perfect for the race. Unfortunately, the weather would not cooperate. No rain. During Friday's practice the track was just not good at all. It was very bumpy and coming apart so we only got one round of practice before they shut it down so they could do some extensive work on the track for Saturday's races. One round was good enough to tell if the new Champ chassis would respond like the old one did and to make sure that the sprint kart was working well and they both were just fine.
On Saturday morning they got a late start on practice trying to get the track to dry out plus they promised us 3 full rounds of practice so everything just got pushed back. We didn't even start qualifying until after 5 pm. The first class for me to qualify was Sportsman II light.. I picked up a little over the last practice but the track just never seemed to come in completely so we didn't gear the kart to get the motor up where it needed to be. I qualified about 3 tenths off the pole in 20th place. In the Champ I had basically the same problem, no RPM, and qualified just under 2 tenths slow in 6th.
By the time they got through with first round they had announced that there would only be one round of qualifying and the features would be cut to 15 laps. I guess we probably should have geared the karts and picked different tires for the shorter run but we didn't think of that. By the time we got to the grid for the Champ race it was already 11:30 and some people were saying that we wouldn't be able to race after midnight. We did get the race in and I didn't do too bad. I gave up a couple positions in the first couple laps and dropped back to 9th but I passed one kart back before the end of the race and finished in 8th.
It was only 2 races later but past midnight when we lined up the Sportsman II class for the race and they announced that, because it had gotten so late, we would start single file and only run 10 laps instead of 15. My crew chief said not to worry because with only 10 laps to get the race in we would probably be double file by the time we got to the first turn anyway. He was right. When the race started they let the green flag fly and we went like there was no tomorrow. Karts were 3 and 4 wide! It was wild, wild wild. I made it through the spins and the wrecks and finished the race in 9th. What a day.
On Sunday they got started late again and like the day before they had promised us 3 round of practice so by the time time we finished that up we were already about 2 hours behind schedule. We changed gears and went up on the air a little to see if we could improve our lap times over what we did on Saturday. In Sportsman II Heavy I actually picked up a little more than a tenth of a second but a few of the fast karts picked up about 2 tens. Still, I was able to improve my starting position 2 spots qualifying in 18th. In the Champ we did about the same thing and I qualified in 4th.
Now for the heart breaker! The Champ race. I finished 4th at the Nationals in Daytona in this class last December and I really wanted to get another podium finish. It looked like I was going to get one too but then I had a little accident. I got a great start and passed the 3rd place kart in the first lap. I was in 3rd and holding my position when the kart behind me gave me a little pop going into turn 2. Suddenly, my kart just went around on me and I was driving down through the infield. Everybody went past me and I was now in 30th place, dead last. Turns out that my gas cap fell off when the kart hit me and my fuel spilled out on my right rear tire causing me to lose traction and spin. I ran the rest of the race like I was in the lead and passed my way back up to 17th before I ran out of laps. At the scales I figured I would get DQ'd for no gas cap but no one said anything so I got credited with a 17th place finish.
The Sportsman II race was pretty wild just like the night before. They started us single file because it was getting so late but they still gave us 15 laps. I had tires that were really good for about 10 laps but after that my kart began to push off turn 2. During the first 5 or 6 laps I ran like a scalded cat. The karts behind me were beating me to death. They drove all over my tires, broke my seat, tore off my rear number panel and destroyed my side panels. I was no kinder to the karts in front of me either. I put 2 holes in the nose of my kart the size of a baseball from the bumpers on the karts in front of me. It was brutal! The officials didn't seem to notice though. Or, if they did, they didn't care. I ran all the way up to about 7th before the tires started to bite a little too much. After that I began to lose positions coming off turn 2 and going into turn 3 until I slipped back to 17th place where I finished the race.
Maybe it's always been this way but it seems that the races are really getting pretty ruff. In the class above me, Jr. Restricted, a good friend of mine got air lifted to the hospital because of a real bad wreck. Fortunately, he is going to be alright but I worry about moving up to that class next year. Driving like this is kind of fun but I'm sure it's not fun getting hurt and it's not really racing. I guess I'll find out soon enough though. My next race is a money race where I'm going to run Jr. Restricted for the first time! Pray for me will you!
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