July 28th, WKA Ohio Speedway Pavement Divisional Series at Barberton
Results
Well, this week-end we found out just how tough and competitive the pavement
racing in Ohio is. We went down to Barberton on Saturday morning to take
advantage of their practice time. It'd been awhile since we'd raced their on
Dunlops, so we thought we should get some more data. We got two good sessions
in and were ready for Sunday. We went back to the track on Sunday ready to
race in the hot and sticky weather. We got many practice sessions and we even
got to try a qualifying set-up. The day started to get really long during
qualifying though because along with the Divisional race, there was a make-up
race for the local Barberton racers. They would run their show after ours, but
EVERYone posted a qualifying time including the road-racers. So we qualified
at about 2pm. Our set-up worked well, and we were happy with the run. In
fact, 4th to 8th were only seperated by just over a tenth of a second. So, we
went back and put our race set-up on the kart. We actually started the feature
in 7th position because Seth switched to a different kart then what he qualified
for that class. So, he had to start scratch. We had a really good start, and
in the thick of the battle. On the second lap, two karts got together on the
back-stretch, and I was able to move up into about the 5th position. I lost
momentum out of the 4th turn though, and they were able to battle back on the
outside. I dropped in-line for the 7th position, and patiently waited for the
time to move. About half-way through the 20 lap event, I was able to get a run
on the 6th position going into 3. He gave me plenty of racing room, but in the
center of the turn, the front-end of the kart stated to wash-out, and I was
forced to hit the brakes or him. I chose the brakes. This greatly reduced my
momentum, and I was regulated back to 8th. I was able to stay with the pack
for awhile, but with about 5 or 6 to go the kart started to tighten up coming
off the turns. A tight condition starts to make you tired really quick. So, my
tires were tired, I was tired and I started to drop back. We ended up finishing
8th and Seth was 7th. But like I said earlier, these other guys were rockets.
We gave it our best shot, but I think the heat and amount of rubber on the track
threw us off a bit. Everytime on the track is a learning experience though, and
we'll know what to do next time. I was happy with the day again, not breaking
anything and getting tons of knowledge.
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