National Road Racing Series
Carolina Motorsports Park
March 23, 2003

We spent another great weekend karting at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina. I was a little nervous about the weather at first, but by 10 am Friday morning the skies were clear and the sun shined on us the rest of the weekend.

Dad met Charles and me at our house around 10pm Thursday night and we made the four-hour trek north to Carolina Motorsports Park. Friday was a full day of practice, once the fog lifted. After some advice from fellow karters I signed up for the PP Can lite class, Dad and Charles entered in the PP Can Heavy race.

CMP is a great track. There are a lot of wide-open straights and turns combined with some serious turns. I learned the track fairly quick and started working on kart set up and gearing. After I was finished practicing Dad went out for his practice time.

Saturday was race day for Dad, Charles, Dave and Chuck. There were a lot of familiar faces in the PP Can Heavy class. Dad got a great start and moved up in the field. Charles' start wasn't so great, but he worked his way to 8th before spinngin off the track and not being able to get restarted. Dad spun on the first lap and had to push the kart back in so I could restart him. He finished the race.

My race was on Sunday. I was ready to race Charles' kart since I'm convinced it's faster. We were getting ready for the first of two practice sessions when we started looking at the left front brake. Then we started working on the brakes and found that the front brakes didn't even work (hence his spin the day before). We abandoned ship and set up Dad's kart real quick like for the first practice.

I got lucky and my number for the day was 66. I figured that had to be a good sign. I got a good start and hung with the front runners for the first lap. Then they started to pull away. I was all alone for a little while. I ran off of the track trying to go flat out through a fast right hander. I didn't spin and rejoined the track with nothing lost, except for a few seconds. I went into the hairpin turn after the long back straight and there was Bobby Moore. We had a good battle. I would pull him on the straight and then he'd get right back on me at the exit of the turns. #62 was also joining in the battle.

#62 passed me going down the front straight and Bobby tucked in behind me. #62 pulled a little on me exiting the turns, but I caught back up to him by the "flat-out" turn on the back straight. I drafted with him into the tight hairpin turn. He gained a little on me in the following two right handers before I sucked right up on him in the turn leading to the front straight. I was able to draft by him on the front straight and immediately moved over hoping to get rid of any drafting Bobby might have been doing. I led the three of us going into the esses after turn one. The faster Yamaha Medium guys caught up to us by this time and passed us in the series of right handers before the long back stretch. Bobby passed me in these turns and #62 was able to draft with the mediums and pull away from Bobby and me.

Bobby was in front of me but I was catching him fast. I knew if we drafted together we may be able to catch #62, so I stayed behind Bobby. Then my impatience got the best of me and I decided he could follow and draft with me, so I passed him. We stayed this way the rest of the race. Almost every time I went into the haripin turn I could see Bobby get up beside me as I had to go way wide. My kart was pushing terribly, so it was all I could do to keep it on the track. At one point I even ran off the track, but managed to get back on in front of Bobby. Near the end of the race #67 drafted by both of us on the front straight. He must have gone off course and came back on because he was faster than us. At the end of the day I was classified in 9th place.

Driving in the can class is a little different compared to the pipe. The can is VERY restricted and you have to be extra careful not to slide or lose any momentum.

I'm looking forward to my next race in the Spec Racer at Roebling Road. My next kart race will be May 18 at Roebling Road where I'll try my hand at the can class one more time.