RIGP Recap.
3rd place finish in Tag Master!
My best finish yet at the Rock! A hard earned 3rd place finish, while battling for 2nd all the way through the checkered flag. Clean hard racing for the closing 5-6 laps and a fraction of a second separated 2nd and 3rd position. I am pleased with the finish, and glad the weekend of racing went off with only minor complications.
The Friday 'land rush' for pit space went smooth. We endured 100degree temperatures as we waited for the streets of Rock Island to close at 5:00pm, and then we made the trek into the pit area and staked out our ground. All things considered, this went off smoother than in years passed. They RIGP staff has made big improvements to the pit staging process.
Saturday started the practice rounds and qualifying. During my first round of practice, the front two motor mount bolts worked themselves loose which created a HUGE vibration and cause for me to pit early. The repair took longer than expected which resulted in a missed practice round. Second practice session went well and the kart was handling well, and the Rotax power was competitive. As we prepared for qualifying the skies opened and the rains came. The rain came so hard, that the streets began to flood and the qualifying rounds were canceled! This lead to qualifying times to be taken from Sunday mornings warm-up practice round. - 1 day to make this happen!
Sundays morning warm up went well....sort of....I made it about 2/3rds of the way through the morning warm-up/qualifying session before I ran wide through turn one and hit the barriers. I hit hard enough with the front right wheel that the barriers pulled me in, I made two spins and came to a stop. The damage was done and my qualifying session was done. Even with the brief session, I managed to make the 5th spot in qualifying times.
Now it was time to get to work - The kart had moderate damage that would take some time to repair before the race. The front steering was bent, the nose and side pods were in need of replacing, and the final tuning changes needed to be done to prepare for the final. Luckily, we had all of the needed spare parts....we only needed to work calmly and quickly to make the needed repairs, re-align the front geometry, and make the final motor tuning changes. Dad and I made all of the repairs and changes with time to spare :)
Ready for the green flag. My race was the last of the day. Starting on the inside of the 3rd row meant I needed to get a clean start and at the least, hold my position and race clean. I made it through turn one with no incident...the usual pushing and shoving transpired during the braking zone, but I managed to hold my ground and actually gain one position. I raced in 4th position for several laps before the 1st and 2nd place karts came together and ended up in the turn one barriers. It was about the half way point that I became under pressure from behind. We had a 2 kart battle for the balance of the race for the 2nd/3rd position. We raced clean, and battled hard, but at the final turn leading onto the front stretch for the checker flag...I could not make the pass and came across the finish line in 3rd. It was a great race, and I was pleased with a 3rd place finish.
A huge THANKS to the TKZ Racing team that made this podium finish possible.
