National Road Race Series presented by Mazda
Putnam Park

August 17-19, 2007
 

Once again I find myself being slack with writing race reports. Where does the time go????

This season I've been taking it easy. I couldn't make several of the first races of the national season, so I haven't been in contention for a championship. While that's dissapointing, I have really enjoyed showing up at a race and only caring about winning : )

In June we headed to Mid-Ohio for the Grand National. I really like the track. In my mind it's only second to Road Atlanta! I had a good race going Saturday until a "faster" kart ran into me while I was passing him. I managed to keep it on the track and finished third with an ill-handling kart (the toe was messed up when he hit me).

Sunday Palmer Adams, Charles and I had a great battle for third place. When it came down to the last lap neither of them could get by me, so I made it to the podium again.

After two months of no racing (ugh) we made it up to Putnam Park for the 7th national of the year. The weather was wonderful in Indiana. I decided since there weren't any points to worry about I would try running a "pipe" class. This is a different exhaust that makes the kart faster. We also read the rule book and found that if I ran the Yamaha motor I have in the Formula 100 class I only had to weigh 310 pounds (versus the 410 the faster motors have to weigh). After practicing most of Friday with the pipe it was clear I wouldn't be competitive, even weighing 100 pounds less. There were some adjustments I could have made to the clutch and pipe, but it just wasn't worth it. What did make it worth it was this....

First practice session, Matt Michel (a fellow competitor who moved up from Juniors last year and has been tough to beat this year) was taking his first laps at Putnam Park. His dad, Pete, was timing me to see where they needed to be. Apparently he was shocked at how slow Matt was compared to me. He was telling Heidt (another Dad) how he didn't know if they could make up that much time and how could I be so fast. They stood at the wall a while. Then Lance Fry came over to watch with Pete and Heidt. Lance causally says, "I've never seen Lindsay run a pipe before." I think I gave Pete a heart attack : )

Now on to the racing. Saturday Lite was the second race of the day. It was still cool and overcast, so I decided on the smaller gear. Because I didn't pre-enter I had to start at the back of the pack. I tell you, a girl could get spoiled by starting up front all of the time. There were nine karts that took the green flag in my class. I was near the back of the pack. Palmer led the way down the long front straight. I was fighting for 6th with a guy in an orange kart. Pat Blake is usually really fast on the starts, so I set my sights to tuck in behind him. The orange kart also wanted that space and moved over on me. I didn't move an inch and we rubbed tires, but I beat him into turn one. Matt and Ashley (Matt's sister) were in front of me going into turn seven (the only braking turn on the track). They had an incident the day before in practice, so I sat back and let that sibling rivalry work its way out. Matt got by Ashley, but not without contact. That contact allowed me to pull up on the other side of Ashely and get by her going into the bowl.

I knew Matt was fast, so I stuck to his bumper. We made it up to Palmer and passed him on the straight. I stayed in behind Matt for the next lap and then he made a small mistake at the exit of turn 7 and and pulled by him. The next lap he passed me under braking going into turn seven. He led for a few laps, then I passed him coming out of the bowl. As we came by Pete on the front straight he gave us the +11 sign, so I knew we had broken away from Palmer. Matt stayed in behind me for the rest of the race, but I knew he was there just waiting. On the last lap we caught Jimmy Driggers, for the third time, going into the braking turn. I knew Matt would try me there and he did. With Jimmy right in front of me I lost my momentum and Matt passed me and gapped me just a little. That was the end of the race.

Sunday was a new day. We raced late in the afternoon and I made some setup changes before the race that I hadn't tried all weekend. I was both anxious and nervous about them. I got a great start from first and led into turn one. Coming out of turn two Palmer hit me in the back pretty hard and I thought I might go around. I managed to keep it straight and lead the first lap. The next lap Palmer passed me for the lead coming out of turn 3. From there is was a three-way race for first between Palmer, Matt and me. Palmer and Matt swapped the lead a couple of times. I stayed right on their bumpers not wanting to loose them. What I didn't know was Charles and Don Harrod were right behind me the whole time waiting for things to play out. I first noticed this when Margaret (Don's wife) was on the wall all excited every time we went by.

Palmer, Matt and I were having such a great race that the first time I looked at my clock was 23 minutes into the race! That's when things got interesting. Don and Charles were tired of sitting back watching us have all of the fun. Charles pulled next to me on the straight and we raced side by side through turn one. He got me...that lap. The next lap I pulled him coming out of the bowl. The lap after that Don came rocketing up by me. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't follow behind him??? I pushed him past Palmer, then he moved over and I fell back. Once Don passed Matt he was gone. That left Matt, Palmer, Charles and me to race for second...and race we did. Palmer and Matt were racing each other hard on every lap. Palmer was really fast at the end of the straight, so he'd pass Matt there. Then Matt would get a run on him coming through turns 3 & 4 and pass him going into seven. With 10 minutes to go Matt pulled away from us a little when Charles started to race us.

We must have swapped places three times a lap. Palmer was faster the second half of the straight, Charles was faster the first part and I was fastest in the turns leading up to the straight! One time Palmer and Charles were side by side through two and three. This gave me a run on both of them, and they left me room, so I got between them. We were three wide going into turn four. What a great time. I think Palmer won that turn. The next lap I passed Charles in turn one and Palmer coming out of the bowl. On the last lap I kept waiting for Palmer or Charles to pass me, but neither did. Charles was pulling up on me when we got to start/finish, but couldn't make the pass before the checkered flag. I finished third, followed by Charles and Palmer.

I didn't like Putnam the first time I went there, but I like it better now. It was a ton of fun and I think I'll stick with the Can. We have such great races and everyone respects each other. Now I have to wait until the first weekend in November before I race again. The good news is it's Road Atlanta. The even better news is we're going back to Daytona this year!!!!