June 15th, Northern Ohio Burris Speedway Series #3-Barberton
Results
Medium class: 9 entries
Heat 1: Started 8th, Finished 4th
Heat 2: Started 2nd, Finished 3rd
Feature: Started 4th, Finished 4th
I hope everyone had a great Father's Day! I think my Dad was pretty happy with his day, not to mention he won the 50/50 drawing at the track. It was a great day for racing though as well, as we made the trip to Barberton for the 3rd race of the NOBSS. We took both our flathead and Animal karts hoping more people than Seth would show up with an Animal. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but we did get some extremely valuable information from the two practice sessions we had with the Animal. We tried some things in our practice sessions with the flathead as well, and they seemed to really work. So, we decided to go with them for the heats. In the first heat we started 8th out of 9th. We had our work cut out for us, but I was pretty confident we could make our way to the front. At the drop of the green I was pushing the kart ahead of me, which happened to be Seth. He said he probably would need that, so we helped him out. He was able to get down to the inside going into 1, but I wasn't able to. I made it through the turn great though. Unfortunately, I got trapped on the outside and was forced to the back of the pack. I started to pick-off the other karts quickly though. The 2nd lap I was able to pass three of them, and set sail for Seth. He was being held up a little, so I was able to run them down in a lap or two. When I got up there, I gave Seth a bump letting him know I was there. He finally got a great run on the other guy, and I just followed him through. I followed Seth for about a lap before I was able to get under him coming off of 2. We couldn't get to the next 3 before running out of laps though and wound up 4th in the heat.
The second heat was just pure craziness. We started on the outside pole, and went out to warm-up. When I came around to get lined-up there were karts everywhere in the 4th turn. Apparently, Seth had checked-up but everyone behind him didn't, and they all ran over each other. Well, I had slowed down to get through there safely, but when I got back on the throttle the pedal went to the floor! Some how the pedal got disconnected from the throttle linkage. I drove the kart around using my hand to pull the throttle on the carb. We were gonna change the pin, but it was decided to just move our heat back because there was so much carnage even before the drop of the green flag. Seth had a broken carb, and some other karts were kinda bent up. Well anyway, everyone got their stuff fixed, and we ran the heat 4 classes later. Being on the outside, I thought I would be able to get a great start. We crossed the line side-by-side, but I was able to come off the turn better and took the lead down the back-stretch. I led for the next couple laps before Kent McCloskey got up beside me off of 4. We battled for about a lap, before I decided it was best to fall in-line since other's were probably gaining on us. That was in fact the case because shortly after, Seth poked his nose under me going into 1. We bumped a little, but I gave him room. I didn't see him after that though. The next lap, Bobby Gindlesperger made a move down the back-stretch. I didn't battle him too hard because I didn't know how close other's were. There wasn't much from there except Bobby and I really started to run down Kent with about 3 laps to go. Come to find out after the heat, Seth had carburator probblems and fell back considerably.
So, by virtue of our heat finishes, we started 4th in the feature. Kent was on the pole, and Bobby started 2nd, I believe Seth started 8th. Again, we went out for the warm-up, and as we just got lined-up for the start my throttle pedal went to the floor again!! You could definitely tell it was a full moon. Thankfully, they waved off the start, and dad had put an extra throttle pedal pin assembly in his pocket, and we were able to fix it on the track quick. We got to start in our position, and we had a great start. Going into 1, the 3rd place kart drifted high, and I was able to throw a cross-over and pull of 2 under him and Bobby putting us into 2nd. I fell in behind Kent and tried to keep as smooth a line as possible. A few laps later, Bobby started to challenge though. We were racing hard for a couple laps, and the next time off of 2 he incidentally hit my left rear. It kinda pull my kart down, and I saw he quickly pulled down. We both lost momentum, and Seth was able to get by both of us. I settled in behind Seth though and started trying to figure out how to get around him. I was ready to make the pass when all of a sudden the caution came out. It was about lap 8 and that's what we didn't want to see because the kart was just coming in. We had a couple laps of caution, but that was enough for the tires to cool down. We had a good start, but it took a little while for the kart to get back where it was. Bobby and I had a great battle after the caution. Me on the high-side and him on the bottom for about 5 laps. He finally got by me by taking me a litte high into 1, and I wasn't able to get back under him. However, we lined-up and started to run down Seth and Kent. We were within striking distance with one to go and Bobby went for it going into 1. The three of them started racing and I reeled them in. The 4 of us came across the line within 2 kart lengths of each other. Seth was half way on Kent, Bobby was 3/4 a kart on Seth, and I was right on Bobby's bumper. It was a great race all around though. Nice close, hard racing, and we were right there for the win again. If nothing else, we showed everyone we were for real.
We should have moved up to 4th in the NOBSS points with our great run. Our next race with probalby not be until the first week-end of July. At the earliest, we would race the last week-end in June. We did get our new trailer picked up on Saturday, and that still requires some work before it'll be ready to take to the track. I also have to thank Dover Power for the great engines and Chuck's Custom for everything he was done for us this year.
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