WKA FDDS Race #2 Oak Grove Motorsports Park Baker, FL March 22nd, 2003     Photos load one after the other. Depending on your modem speed, there maybe a short delay between images.

Race Report

Well, what do you say? Seems things have been a little wet in Baker for some time now! You can see from the pictures above that the track was in pretty bad shape, but it was the same track for everybody so I really can't blame the track for my woes.

We got to the track early Friday afternoon and were ready to practice by 5 pm but the track was far from ready for us. They had been working the whole day before trying to drain the water off the track and now they were just starting to grade and run the track in so that we could practice and maybe bring in the track a little bit for Saturday. Time just rolled on and soon the sun had set and we still couldn't practice. Some were saying that we probably wouldn't be able to go out on the track until Saturday morning. Then, they lined up about 5 pickup trucks and tried to run the track in with them. This may have been a bad idea because deep ruts began to form in turn 4. Still, at about 7:30 we were able to go out and ran a little practice session.

At first, I had a little problem. You see I hadn't raced at all since the last state race 6 weeks ago and I guess I was so excited about getting back in the kart that I forgot what the flags and the lights are for. To make a long story short, I got black flagged in the first session for ignoring the yellow flags and was sent off the track. My crew chief said he thought we were probably done for the night unless I could get a little mercy from the flag man so, as humbly as I could, I went to the flag man and pleaded my case and he gave me another chance.

We finished up Friday's practice and headed for the hotel returning back to the track at 7:00 am. All went well as practice started right on time but it wasn't long before we all realized we were in for a tough day. The track was as ruff as an old country dirt road and to make things worse, this track seems to like a lot of air in the tires making the ride even worse. I thought I was going to crack every bone in my body and at one time I actually was considering going home without racing but we stayed and raced and I guess I'm glad we did.

In qualifying I was 6th fastest in light and went out in the champ and qualified 6th too. Then, we went a little nuts on the air pressure and that was what it took to get in the top 3 for heavy. Other than the tire pressure, that was all we had to change all day.

In the first race I had a chance to drop into 4th on the start but I forgot about protecting my line and I got freight trained again falling back to 9th place. I wasn't really all that fast but I keep the kart in the groove and drove the best I could and with a few other karts ahead of me spinning here and there I moved back up and finished in 6th. Then, one of the karts that finished ahead of me was DQ'd in tech so I got a 5th place finish.

Before the champ race the sun set and so we were worried about the track going away. My crew chief is still trying to figure out the champ so he got a little nervous and let the air back out of the tires before the race began. I was supposed to start in 6th but one of the karts ahead of me would not go so I went around him and another kart on the restart and got 4th. When the red flag came out on the 5 or 6th lap, they stopped us all up in turn one. My crew chief came out to restart my kart and said that all the other racer's dads were upset at me for jumping the start. He told me to drop back and restart the race in 6th. I tried but the official told me that they line us up not the dads! Whatever! We restarted the race and the first 3 karts pretty much drove away from me until the 3rd place kart lost a battle for 2nd and spun. That put me in 3rd where I finished the race.

By the time the 3rd race started I was getting pretty tired. I started in 3rd and even lead the race for a lap but I slipped up and got passed back by 4 karts. Then, when I realized that the 6th place kart was on my inside, I tried to protect my line but I was too late. Instead, I pulled down on him (sorry Dusty!) and we went into the the first turn together. There was only one groove, if you could call it that, and I wasn't in it anymore so I got up in the sand and spun. Well, everybody went by before I could get back under way so now I was in last place. I think one kart had already left the track and I was able to pass another before the end of the race but it didn't help my finish much. I ended up in 13th place.

The good thing is that we will race again in just 3 weeks instead of 6 so maybe I won't forget so much next time!