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WKA Precision Cams NationalsPossum Kingdom Super Speedway, Belton, SC
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Race Report
I Won! I Won! I won the Nationals! Can you even believe it! I Won! What an incredible weekend! What a race! Let me tell you about it...
First, let me tell you about this awesome track. I hope you can see from the pictures just how big and banked this track is. Everything you may have heard about Possum Kingdom is true and more. Heck, there is more banking in the straightaways here than in the corners at any other track we have been to! It's over 1800 feet long and it's all about horsepower.
The weekend started out pretty much as any other but there was something different on Friday when we started to practice. Everything was just falling in place and the karts were great. What I had been hearing was that you really needed to know how to draft here and that if you were leading on the last couple laps the other karts were going to pass you. I was concerned about making sure I knew how to draft and that if I was leading I would be able to keep the other karts behind me so I practiced drafting all day on Friday. By the end of the day I had a pretty good idea what to do and had turned laps at over 61 MPH!
Saturday started out pretty good because we had the karts all cleaned and set up on Friday night after practice. All we had to do was wait until the track came in and then go out and check to make sure that everything was right for qualifying. We went out for second round and the karts were just as good as they were on Friday but then we realized that in qualifying we wouldn't be able to draft and we didn't know how much that would change the RPM and lap times. My crew chief almost wore the numbers off the calculator buttons trying to figure out what gear to use. Finally, he put a gear that was one tooth larger on the back and we went out to qualify.
The sprint kart was first and I got a draft off a slower kart on the 4th lap for a time that was 5th quickest. I don't think I've qualified that well all year! Then, I qualified the champ and came up with a 4th fastest time. When we got back to the pits my engine builder noticed that there was fuel coming out around the spark plug. I've been doing most of the cleaning and preparation of the kart during the week before the race and it turned out that I never tightened up the spark plug all the way. My crew chief was able to un-screw it with his fingers! Oops!
In the sprint race I got a good start and pulled under the second and third place karts to fall in behind the poll sitter where we ran for about 5 or 6 laps. I wanted to draft with him but he was a little slower than the karts behind us and they kept slamming into the rear of my kart so hard that I thought I was going to get spun out. Finally, as I was coming off of turn 2, I pulled down and passed the leader. I lead for about 2 laps and then the pack behind me (just as everyone had told me) drafted by. I fell in at the 6th spot and picked up a spot when the new leader got spun and another spot when a kart in front of me went high so I finished the race in 4th.
The champ race was kind of a heart breaker. For some reason neither me or my crew chief ever thought about getting my transponder. In some of the other series we race in, the officials check to make sure that everyone has picked up their transponder before they leave the grid and if you have forgotten it they'll run it over to you. But not at the WKA Nationals, WKA doesn't feel that they should help the racers, they are all about punishing them (at least until the green flag drops). Well, I left the grid without it and they stopped me on the track before the race started and gave it to me. Then, they made me go to the rear of the field and start in the 29th position. When the race started the karts in front of me wouldn't go so I went around them on the outside. As usual, they called off the start because someone spun and then lined us up single file to restart the race. I pulled down and waited for the karts I had passed to go back around me and a few did but the others just slowed down behind me. Next thing I knew we were going down the back stretch to start the race so I speed up to get in line. I guess I should have pulled down into the infield or something because WKA didn't like that either and penalized me 4 more position at the end of the race for jumping the start. Once we got under way I got into a draft with a kart that was pretty fast and we ran all the the way up to 9th in just 14 laps. On the last lap he tried to block me but I had so much power that I just went to the outside in the last turn and beat him to the the finish line for 9th. They scored me in 14th but I don't care.
On Sunday the sun was bright and the track was pretty much the same as the day before. Everything was good in the sprint kart for qualifying but I think we must have missed the gear a little and maybe didn't put enough air in the tires. I qualified 15th. In the champ things were a little different. We pumped up the tires and went out to turn a lap that was second fastest but then in tech the pole sitter got DQ'd because his carburetor was too big so I got the pole!
In the sprint race things started out pretty good and I was up to 7th in about a lap and a half. I was looking at the kart in front of me trying to decide if I should draft with her or just go around but I guess I should have been watching what was going on up in front. Next thing I knew she was half sideways and I put on my brakes and then got hit from behind. That sent me up the banking and while I was able to keep the kart going in the right direction I got all the way up into the grass and lost all my momentum. While I was getting back on the track and up to speed just about everybody went by me. I passed quite a few karts and thought I had a top 10 finish but it turned out that I was only able to get back up to where I started in 15th place.
Now for the big finish! The champ race! We didn't forget anything this time and my crew chief told me to go slow on the pace lap so that everybody could get lined up and maybe they wouldn't spin on the start. This would cause them to race side by side a little in the beginning and give me a chance to check out. Well, I drove pretty slow but we still couldn't get the race started double file. We lined up again and this time I had my foot on the brake and wasn't even pressing down on the gas while the entire field pushed me around the track! At about the middle of turns 3 and 4 I felt a bump and I new that would bottle everybody up behind me so I took off and went. The second place kart stayed with me but I caught everybody else off guard. We pulled out to about a 100 foot lead in the first lap over the 3rd place kart and by the second lap we were already lapping karts! The race went on like that for about 10 or 11 laps while we ran 1st and 2nd in a draft and everybody else was struggling to catch up. Then I got to thinking about what everybody had told me, about how they go past you at the end. I didn't know how many karts were behind me but I knew there was at least one because I could feel him bump me every now and then. So, with 5 laps to go, I started pulling down in the straightaways to block and then pulling back up to enter the corners. The 2nd place kart didn't follow me down there so we broke our draft and started to slow down. Meanwhile, the karts behind us got in a draft to catch us and with each lap they got a little closer, but it wasn't enough because, even thought they caught us on the last lap, I held on to win it! I won the Nationals!
I've got a lot of people to thank because, after struggling with the chassis and the tires and then the motors along with everything I have learned this year, I know that I couldn't have done this without some help. I've got to thank Twister Karts for sticking with me and having confidence in us when I'm sure it looked pretty bleak at times, and M & M Performance Bodies for helping us out all these years. Cody Mallory sure knows what he's doing with our tires and David Hicken has just turned our motor program around with his awesome Hicken Power motors. I've got to thank my mom and dad for giving me an opportunity most boys can only dream of and God for providing for my family so that we can do this and keeping me safe during every race.
Well, there is still quite a bit more racing to go this year but I don't know how I'm going to top this! Every race has it moments though. I still have "Hottie" to deal with and we're going back to a few of my favorite tracks so make sure you come back and check in with me next week and see how I'm doing will you?
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