Last Sunday my race season came to an end. The final count is in, and I finished 6th in the standings with just 11 points over my friend Kathya. Let me tell you it wasn't easy.
We arrived at the track with the same settings that we had used a couple of weeks earlier. My dad said everything was identical to what we had used the weekend that I got my 4th place finish. Aside from the weather being just a bit cooler, we had thought the kart would perform the same way. Not only were we wrong, but bad luck had followed us to the track from last weekend. First we missed our opening practice round, and then my dad forgot to put my transponder* in the kart so we finished last in the first heat race. No matter what we tried we could not get in front of Kathya or Taylor, two drivers that I normally battle with. At the finish of the second heat race, Kathya finished 3 karts ahead of me. My dad told me that if we finished in the same order in the feature, she would take 6th place in the points away from me. Going into this weekend we only held a 30 point lead on her.
We changed gears on the kart and went one tooth lower hoping it would get us off the corners quicker. We stayed with the jet and setting on the carb and just hoped that we could either beat her, or not let more than 2 karts seperate us at the finish. We had one more problem that we couldn't fix. My friend Sam who comes to our track to race every once in a while was here this weekend. He's not running in the points like most of us are, but he is pretty fast himself. In the morning, he was always ahead of me in practice and in the heat races. If I was to ever catch Kathya or stay with her, I needed to get by Sam.
I was gridded 7th for the Feature right behind Sam, with Kathya gridded 4th. When my dad and I talk before every race, he tells me how important the start is. This time it was VERY important. He told me to relax, think, find an opportunity, and then take it. With only 8 laps in the feature, and all of the karts being so close in power, you can't wait too long to make a move. My lucky break came right after the green flag. We were all scrambling for position into turn 1 when Sam got spun out by our friend Kodiak. This put him far behind so I could concentrate on Kathya.
The gear seemed to help as I could stay pretty close to Taylor who was in front of me, and Kathya who was in front of him. We were running 4, 5, and 6, nose-to-tail the entire race but I never had any real chance to pass either one of them. My dad told me no more than 2 karts could be in between Kathya and me so I was happy just where I was. The checkered flag fell and we were still in that order. Although it looked like we had done it, the first 4 karts had to go to tech** to be torn down. If everyone came out legal, we would have 6th. If anyone other than Kathya was found illegal, and she moved up as far as second place, she would have us by 5 points. It ended up with everyone legal, and us taking 6th place in the championship.
I had a lot of fun this season. I made a lot of new friends and I can't wait for next season to start already. We aren't sure what class we will compete in next year. Most of my friends from this class are moving up to Briggs Animal***. My dad is thinking that we should go to a 2-cycle class but we haven't decided for sure yet. We'll probably have to get a new kart since it looks like my frame is bent from the accident that I had this year so we have our work cut out for us.
I want to thank my Mom, Dad, and sister who have helped me this year. Chris and Carla Heitman of Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies for all of my parts. Regan Vehring of 4-Cycle Central who builds my engines. Frank from OMP, and all of my friends and family who have been to the track to see me. We had a lot of fun and I can't wait for next year. See you then.
Sam
* A Transponder is a timing device that is attached to your kart and sends a signal back to timing & scoring. A number is assigned to the unit that is yours. When it goes past the tape at the start/finish line you are then scored.
** Tech is a place that the top finishing karts go to when a race is finished. Not always are they karts torn down. Sometimes they just go there for a few minutes after the race to give someone an opportunity to protest them if they feel they may have something illegal in them. When they tear them down they may check cylinder heads, carbs, or restrictor plates.
*** Briggs Animal is an overhead valve engine. This is one of the newest racing engines that Briggs and Stratton make. This is the engine that is taking the place of the "Flathead" motor that we use. In a few years you will not see this engine at the track anymore, it will be all Animals.
