September 8th, Barberton Points Race
Results
Sunday was another great day for racing as we returned to Barberton for the
second week in-a-row. This time it was for a regular race DAY though instead
of the previous week's night show. When we arrived at the track in the morning,
there was a lot of oil-dry on the surface. That made our first couple practice
sessions a little hairy until the oil-dry got worked in, but everyone made it
through ok. We had 8 karts that signed-in for the sr. oval class which were
basically the Barberton regulars and me. So, for the 1st heat we started 4th
out of the 8. On the start, the pole sitter, Shawn Middaugh, got a little
loose down low in the 1st and 2nd turns. The outside pole sitter, Bobby
Gindlesperger, and I took the high-line around him to lead the pack down the
back-stretch. The kart was handling real well, and as I able to close on Bobby
down the straight. I followed him through 3 and 4, and came off right on his
bumper. Down the front-stretch, I gave Bobby a little tap to let him know I
was there. I backed off just a bit going into the 1st turn, so I could get a
better run off the corner. The strategy worked great because I came off below
him in 2 and was able to take the lead down the back-stretch. I opened up a
pretty good lead, but then the caution came out with about 3 to go. On the
re-start, I got a pretty good bump in 3 from the 2nd place runner, Justin
Kilgore. I took off right then, but Justin layed back a little bit I got a run
going into the 1st turn where he passed me. The excitment wasn't over yet
though because in the 3rd turn Shawn stuck his nose under me really late. I
gave him room, but he wasn't able to keep his momentum up, I believe he got
passed then. So, the heat ended up with Justin winning it, we were 2nd, and
Dave Mumaw was 3rd. For the 2nd heat we lined-up 5th. Mumaw started on the
pole, and he just took off at the start. I came out of the 2nd turn in 4th
right behind Kilgore. We hooked-up and quickly dispatched of the 2nd place
kart and tried to run down Mumaw, but we couldn't. So, we finished 3rd in the
2nd heat. By the heat race finishes, the front two rows for the feature would
be Kilgore and Mumaw, and then Me and Shawn. We had made some gearing adjustments
for the 2nd heat which really helped coming off the corners, so we stuck with
that for the feature. And of course, we tweaked a little here and there as
well. My marching orders were: If I was able to make a pass on the bottom
early, don't hesitate. Alright, so the feature start was great. I was able to
stay up with the front row, and pull a little bit ahead of Shawn coming to the
green. Mumaw took the early lead on the high side in 1. Everyone seemed to
want to follow Dave off of 2 which opend the bottom for me. I came off the
bottom of 2 beside Kilgore, and was able to pull him down the back-stretch. I
held the position through 3 and 4, and I was able to stay with Dave. Mumaw was
flawless around the whole track, and as the race went on, we were a slight bit
loose on entry, but the big problem was in 3 and 4. That's where I lost the
most ground because the kart was binding up a little. We held on in 2nd while
Mumaw just pulled away. With about 5 to go though, Shawn mounted a challenge
to us. He could get through 3 and 4 better, and passed me there with about 4
to go. I was able to stay with him though which became a great advantage. In
1 and 2 we were nose to tail, but he made a mistake entering 3 this time which
caused him to wash up the track. I capitalized on the mistake, and was able to
get in front of him off of 4. He had a pretty good run going though and got on
the inside of me going into 1. I stayed on the high side though and was able
to keep the momentum up. This also put my kart exactly were Shawn wanted his
to be on exit. Being a great and smart driver, he wisely backed off so we
wouldn't hit. I was able to hold him off in 3 and 4 for this lap, but we
repeated our 1st and 2nd turn battle on the next one. Again, I held him off in
3 and 4, but he had a great run down the stretch as we came to the checkers. I
was able to edge him by half a kart length at the line to take 2nd place in the
feature. It was a great day of racing, and we already know how to fix the
problem we had in the feature. I don't know if we'll be back to Barberton this
year, but we learned regardless.
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