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I was looking forward to Fruitland. I raced here a lot last year so I figured I had a good chance for a win.
We got a new Twister SS chassis and tested it the week before to see what it would do. I ran laps as fast as the old chassis even though I was a little tight. My crew chief worked on it through out the week and we thought that we would be even better.
On Friday night practice we were slow but the track was under water most of the week and never really came in. Then, it began to rain so we only got to run about 30 laps all night. Still, we were pretty sure we would be good for the race on Saturday. Now, if the rain would hold off...
Well, you can see from the pictures above that it didn't. After practice and just before qualifying the sky fell in and boy did it rain! We thought it was over but the sun came back out and the track held up so it wasn't long and we went to qualify.
We had everything set up right on the kart but, just before we went out, my crew chief got nervous because some of the karts coming off the track in the classes that qualified before us were saying that the track was getting tight and fast. So, he changed the gear and the tires. I hate it when he does that! Well, I qualified 10th for heavy out of 13 karts. We put back the tires and the gear to the way they were and then went out and qualified 6th in light. Oh well...
In the first race, heavy, my clutch seemed to slip on the start and I couldn't keep up with the pack so I dropped back a little bit. Then, I raced as hard as I could and ran some pretty fast laps but I just couldn't make up the distance between me and the leaders. A few guys spun and I passed a few others so I finished in 6th place.
In light things didn't go so well. First, my clutch slipped again on the start and I couldn't get going fast enough. The kart behind me hit my left rear tire and rolled up on top of it, eventually winding on top on me, and we both went into the hay bales in front of the flag stand. Then we lined up single file and tried again but somebody else spun so we had to line up again. On the first 2 attempts they make sure that you get at least one clean lap but on the third attempt, as long as nobody's hurt or blocking the track, they stay green no matter what happens. Well, on the 3rd start we almost made it around but, going into turn 3, about 4 of us tangled and I went off the track on the top. I got turned around pretty quick and got back on the track but I lost a lap to the leader. On about the 4th lap I spun again which got me another lap down. I got back on the track, passed a few karts and got a lap back before the end of the race but I still finished in 12th.
The good thing is that my new Twister SS chassis is easier to drive and handles a lot better so I think if I give my crew chief a little more time we'll be back up front again real soon!
