Southern Road Racing Series
Roebling Road Raceway
February 7-8, 2004

The racing season is starting to pick up again and we were at Roebling Road this weekend. It was certainly a weekend of firsts for me...Charles and I went down to Gainesville a couple of weeks ago and helped dad get the karts ready to race.

Since I'm now living northeast of Atlanta I didn't get to Savannah until late Friday night. Saturday morning we were up early and at the track. Since everything was ready to go we just unloaded the karts and went to tech.

I got out in the first practice session and got used to the new CKI at Roebling. Matt Mendenhall (the guy who has helped me a lot with the new kart) was following behind me. When we came in he gave me some setup advice, so off dad and I went to see what we could do.

I still love my new kart. We made one minor adjustment and I could really tell how it changed the handling of the kart. It was awesome.

Charles and I ran in the PP Can Lite class on Saturday. When we lined up there were only three in our class, one junior and three in the other class (Sportsman). We all got off to a good start. Charles led PP Can into turn one. I followed close behind, I wasn't about to let him out of my site. When we went into turn five we were close to the sportsman guys. One guy went too wide and got in the dirt on the right of the track. When he came back onto the track he went all of the way across and hit another kart and they both went spinning. Charles let up a little and I almost hit him, but dove to the inside and passed by him.

From there I saw no one. One sportsman spun in front of me and then got back on the track behind me. I knew he would catch me eventually, but it took him a long time. Then when he did get by me I tried to stay with him. As the race wore on I started to think of all of the things that could go wrong. Then I saw Charles and started keeping my eye on him trying to catch and lap him. I didn't have enough time to catch him, but I did lap the third place guy three times. When the checkered flag flew I was about 3/4 of a lap ahead of Charles. I won my FIRST enduro kart race!!

Sunday Dad, Charles and I were all entered in PP Can Medium. Lance and Jim Fry (the father and son I raced so close with in Daytona) showed up to race in Medium too. Charlie Fox also signed up to race.

I got an okay start, but Dad got a great start. He led into turn one with me and the Fry guys close behind. As we exited turn six and went up the hill it was a picture-perfect moment. Leading was Jim (dad), followed by my Dad, followed by Lance, then me. It was like the parents showing the kids the way around. Of course when Lance dove to the inside of dad to pass him going onto the straight I followed:) I had a good race with Jim and Lance. I followed as close as I could. Just like in Daytona they had some awesom straight speed. I started working on where I could pass them. I was much faster than both of them going into six and coming up the hill. I tried to pass them a couple of times, but just didn't have what it took.

Then we caught a sportsman and Lance passed him. I knew no matter what, I had to stick to Jim. We both passed him. Then going down the straight the sportsman passed me and split me and Jim up. I couldn't let that happen. So at the exit of turn five I pointed my CKI to the inside and passed the sportsman. I'm glad I did that before turn six, where I was able to catch up to Jim and Lance. A couple of laps later I finally got the timing right and went by Jim on the straight. Then we all started mixing it up. I'd pass Lance, he'd pass me. Jim would pass us both. Going into turn one a little past half way Jim was leading, I was second and Lance was third. When I got to about the two brake marker the steering wheel jumped. I thought it was Lance or the Sportsman guy giving me a tap. Then I starte to brake and tried to turn and couldn't. At first I thought someone was really rubbing on me, then I started to brake and thought let off the brake, you've locked up the front wheels. So I got back on the gas and still couldn't turn. That's when I was completely off of the track and started to notice how fast I was heading for the tires. I got on the brakes and lifted up a little to see if I could still turn. At that point I started to spin and get even closer to the tires. I just laid down, held onto the steering wheel and closed my eyes. When I stopped I opened one eye at a time. I was about three feet into the raked "sand" (mud because of the rain) and about eight feet from the tires. I had no idea what happened, but I knew I needed to jump over the tires and get out of the way. This was the first time I had ever spun an enduro and if I have my way, I won't do it again!

I spent the next 20 minutes watching Jim and Lance go at it, watching Dad and Charles switch positions about every lap and wonder if something broke or if I just couldn't drive. When it was over Dad beat out Charles. After giving everyone a clap I ran to my kart. Sure enough, the bolt that holds the steering column in place was gone. That would make it real hard to steer! It took three of us to lift my kart out of the mud. When I weighed in I weighed 419 (I only had to weigh 385). The mud really helped. I really wish I could have raced to the end with Jim and Lance. Maybe next time! I still had a great time...my first enduro win and my first enduro spin.

I don't get to race the kart again until May, but I'll be racing a Mustang at Roebling Road in April.