WKA Grand National
Virginia International Raceway
May 27-29, 2005

We left Thursday and headed for VIR. We arrived around 3am and got a few hours of sleep before it was practice time. We practiced all day working on gear and set up.

Saturday the PP Can Lite race was the second race of the day. I hate being early in the day. I decided on a gear and went with it. I was afraid I may be getting too many RPMs, but I went with it.

When the green flag waved I got a great start. I pulled up into third place behind Bill Holder and Jim Fry. I was staying with them when we saw the red flag. I slowed and came into pit lane. It was a complete restart with a 35 minute race. I told my dad when I came in they were going to be tough to stay with on the straights, but it was too late to change a gear then!

The second start wasn't as good for me, but it wasn't bad either. I was following Jim, Bill, Terry Russell and Scott Berkheiser. As we settled in I knew I should have dropped another tooth. I could stay with them going up the hill (turn 7) and through the bottom of the roller coaster, then they took off from me. On lap three we came up on a Sportsman in turn four. I stayed behind him and at the exit of the turn he just didn't accelerate and I hit him square in the back. He went spinning and I continued. That put me far enough back that I could see Jim, Scott, Terry and the other yellow kart, but couldn't catch them. For now it was a race between me and Bill. After about five laps something happened to Bill and he slowed some. I caught up to him and passed him under braking at the top of the roller coaster. I led him all of the way down until we were at turn one. He passed me on the outside.

He would leave me a little through the first set of esses, but by the time we got to the top of the hill I was right back on his bumper. After following him for two laps I decided to make my move. I got beside him after the esses and passed him going into turn 7. I wasn't sure how far behind he was, but I knew he wasn't far. As we went down the straight I kept looking for him and waiting on him, but never saw him again. I did my best to pass lapped traffic quick. I knew Bill wasn't too far behind and any small mistake would give him an advantage.

I never saw Bill again. I ended up finishing fourth because Terry Russell went off in turn one. I learned a lot in the race about gearing and knew what I had to do for Medium the next day...or so I thought.

I only practiced once on Sunday because I didn't want to use up my tires. In practice the kart was stuck. Too stuck for me, so I took a degree of caster out, which was two degrees from the Lite race. I couldn't get a good lap in practice because of the traffic, so I decided to race with the setup I had.

I got an okay start, but Charles got a better one, along with Bill, Jim, Scott and Matt Mendenhall. Going into turn four Bill threw his hand in the air and slowed. I got by him okay and stayed with the main group. At the top of the roller coaster another kart, Robert Stickley, passed me. I knew then that I still had too many teeth on.

I was all over Matt going through the esses and got beside him at the bottom of the hill. At that point I knew I had made a mistake as the other four were already leaving us. Matt went by me and I tried to stay with him, but he had too much momentum. Rich Lehman also passed me there.

Matt caught up to the other group and Rich and were there alone. I stayed behind him as best I could. We worked together for about 15 or 20 minutes catching the top five. We caught them as we were getting on the straight and there went Rich and I was alone again. About three laps later we were coming down the hog pen and there was a lapped kart.
That slowed everyone up and Charles got the worst end of the deal. Good news for me though, I had caught back up to the front!

I passed Charles and stayed in sixth until we got through turn three. The front group was leaving us and I knew Charles was faster. I waved him by and stuck on his bumper. We worked back up to the group in a few laps. Charles passed Rich. It looked like Rich's handling was going away. On the next lap at the top of the hill Rich got real wide and went off track. I moved over and gave him room, but passed him at the same time.

I stuck with Charles for a couple of laps and then he messed up at the top of the hill. I had to let up pretty good to not hit him. Then we worked together to catch the group...again.

We did! Then we hit lapped traffic big time. I got a little behind and that was all she wrote. I just ran my race after that and could see Charles drafting with everyone else, getting further and further away. With about seven minutes left in the race I went into turn four and pushed at the exit. I went off track, but kept my foot in it. When I came back on the track my wheels grabbed and I thought I was going for another ride. I got it straightened up and got back on track. Rich was the only person who passed me. I ended up seventh.

When we went to pick up our trophies Charles and I looked a the time sheets. He may have finished fifth and me seventh, but we had the fastest (Charles) and second fastest (me) laps of the race!