Another Win!

It sounds alot more exciting than it actually happend. But like we've said before, we'll take them any way we can.

This past Sunday was another good day as we've shown improvement in a few areas of concern as well. We're so close to breaking the 40 second mark we can taste it. And all of the test time that we've spent trying to get through a couple of key areas quicker has really begun to show. I've thrown off the gloves and challenged Sam to try breaking into the 39's and it looks as though he's on his way. I told him he could name his price if he does so I fear what I may have started is going to cost me dearly. Oh well, I figure this is a small price to pay to run with the fast guys. Bribary is a very powerful motivational tool I've found.

And speaking of the fast guys, we had one of the Midwest's best HPV Junior drivers on hand for Sunday's race and quickly found out why this title has been bestowed upon him. He's so fast and smooth it's almost silly how quickly he can pull away from the pack. He, as well as his father, are a great pair as well. Very friendly and equally informative. They don't fit the mold of people that are as successful as they are. You know the ones who are either so focused with their team and the task at hand that they pretty much ignore every other human on earth. Or the type that doesn't have time for candid banter with the "steerage".

Well let me first say that they handily won over us by the tune of about 15 seconds. Like I said, this kid can drive. He also drove in two classes on Sunday, and if that isn't enough work, the classes that he entered were run back-to-back! He had to leave his kart at the scales after his HPV finish, run down pit lane, and jump in his second kart to compete in his other class. Where the problem starts for him, and the lucky chance happened for us, is when there was a large wreck in this event. They had to red flag the race due to so much debris and so many people on the front straight that it made it literally impassible. When they were informed that they would have to restart the event in back because said events were caused by them you could sense some tension between them and the officials. They obviously felt that the punishment was harsh for an incident that wasn't exactly caused in total by themselves. With that, they took both karts and left the track. And in leaving, they failed to weigh their karts and driver in tech, awarding the race win to us.

I want to also add that Sam did this with a seriously injured kart. Contact was made with another kart on the warm up lap and what originally looked minor, caused a bent spindle and tie-rod. We also had one tie-rod end just about ready to seperate from itself. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if that had come to be on a high speed turn. Now I know why the kart seemed almost unwilling to cooperate with him as the laps went by. The kart was progressively getting harder and harder to drive and you could tell. By the end of the race he was physically beat.

So there you have it. Although I'd love to have fabricated some valiant story of our dedication and talent finally prevailing, I had to tell the truth even though it's far less exciting. But to not take all the wind out of our sails I have to say that if it wasn't for Sam being in the position he was we wouldn't have prospered like we did. Even though talent, determination, and the will to win are key ingeredients of a winner, chance plays a very big part in things as well. And for this weekend, it was on our side.

Schedule changed yet again!

Due to a scheduling conflict with a family comittment, the July 28th Route 66 Series race at Norway has been dropped from our agenda.

Midwest Sprint Series Round 2, Shawano WI

Undeniably the best track that we've seen, and probably will ever see in our time. Someone told me that the USA International Raceway in Shawano was nicknamed "Little Laguna Seca" and it couldn't be more true.

The elevation changes here are enormous compared to any other track that we've been to. The racing surface is quite smooth, it's wide, and the course offers a variety of challenges found in many other tracks, all rolled into one. Spectators have plenty of places to find just the right vantage point. And being situated on an amusement facility, there's plenty of food and fun to occupy your time when the last flag falls on the day.



As for us and the real reason to be there, we came to race. The Midwest Sprint Series was explained to us as the right place to compete with all of the bigger names in karting, but with not quite as much pressure as a WKA Man Cup event. This is not to be mistaken as a series that's any simpler to compete in. It just doesn't normally attract the very large team or the teams from out of our region or even our country.

With the exception of just one moment where Sam got a bit wide exiting a corner and took it off road, the weekend went pretty smooth for us. The kart was set up for the track and basically stayed that way through every session. From practice on Friday to the pre-final on Sunday his times consistently dropped and he became increasingly faster and much more comfortable with the kart and the track. But if you know me you know that I just can't leave well enough alone and feel that I have to constantly change things to be quicker. For the final I decided to add a tooth to his final gear ratio and it didn't net the results I had hoped for. He eventually finished in 14th spot verses his 11th place finish in the pre-final.

Now we have our sights set on Round Three which comes to our home track in July. We are planning on testing every possible day that we can leading right up to this event. We might not have the experience that most of these drivers have in general, but what we do have is time on that track. It's our home turf, now all we have to do is bring our A game and make them all aware of this.