WKA National Road Racing Series
Virginia International Raceway
June 1, 2002

If you have never been to this track, you should make the trip. It is a beautiful place with a beautiful facility and an awesome course. I was racing in the WKA Enduro National Championships this weekend.

Dad, Charles and I headed up to Virginia Thursday afternoon after work. We got there real late (or early). We were ready to be on the track for the first session. I started out in Dad's kart while Dave Armstrong was kind enough to loan Charles his kart for the weekend, so we didn't have three people using one kart.

I knew the course was going to be challenging, but it is amazing how much you can't see, especially two inches off of the ground. We only raced on the North course, which was 2.26 miles long....coming down the front straight I was getting a good bit of speed before braking hard for a hairpin turn with a late apex (turn 1). Then there was a short stretch up to turn two which was a quick left hander. Turn three could be, and was, deceiving. You have to get on the brakes and turn left, it is slightly down hill, so you can't see what's on the other side until you've made the turn (the first practice session I cut the turn off completely and got the kart all dirty!). Turn four is a quick right hander immediately after three. Then another right hander followed by a series of esses and then a straight away under the drive-over bridge. Next was a 90 degree right hander with a steep incline. Going over the top of it you never had any idea what might be on the other side. There were another series of esses
before you were going up hill slighly (and blind), brake hard and dive down to the right for the "roller coaster." The roller coaster is the section of the course where you lose more than 100 feet in very little time, then a very fast right hander back onto the front straight.

Now that you have an idea of the elevation change and course layout, I'll tell you about the weekend.

I raced on Sunday. There wasn't much time to practice, so I went with the set up I thought was best. Since I raced in Yamaha Medium I gridded at the front of the line. My number was 16, but there were a few karts missing. I got a good start and was right in the middle of things from the beginning. There were four karts that took off and then I was in a group of four. For the first 15 minutes we swapped positions back and forth. I lead the group for a short while, but was usually second or third in the group. #10 and I swapped places a lot. I would pass him braking into turn one and then he would pass me in the roller coaster. We were back and forth all of the time, the great thing was he always gave me room and I always gave him room. I slid a little too much coming up the steep hill and lost all of my momentum and had to work to chase down the other three. I knew there was someone right behind me because I could hear him.

Then I got completely sideways going up the hill and lucky for me I hit the rumble bumps sideways and they knocked me back right. but number 12 was able to get by me at the top of the hill after that. That's when I realized I had no front brakes and started adjusting my bias (which I ended up doing more and more as the race went on). In two laps I was able to track him down and pass him. Then we came up on lapped traffic. In the first set of esses is where I encountered my first group of four Sportsman competitors. I picked them off one by one in each turn. One guy didn't see me and almost pinched me off of the track going onto the short straight. But I got by. I could tell 12 was still with me through all of that, so I kept my foot to the floor. The next thing I knew there were only six minutes left in the race. I held on to seventh position and took the checkered flag. Then we went to the scales....I made sure to keep my suit on and drink all of the Gatorade I could. I came across the scales at 385...just enough to make weight. The winner was disqualified in post-race tech, so I came home with a sixth place finish in a National event. #12 was trying hard to talk us into coming up to Summit Point for another national. That's a long way to go, but it sure was fun, and great to run competitivly with great people.

Dad and Charles raced on Saturday...Charles finishing 15th and Dad 16th. They both had a great time too. Charles enjoyed chasing dad down and dad was happy to finish after a couple of off-course excursions in turn one.