Elite Karting World Championships
Daytona International Speedway
December 28-30, 2007

The day after Christmas we switched gears and were ready to head to Daytona for the World Championships. They didn't have a race there last year, so I was really anxious to get back to the big track. That was until I slipped out of the motorhome and broke my ankle! It made a really loud noise and hurt pretty bad. A trip to the ER confirmed I had two broken bones. They put it in a splint and told me to see an orthopedic surgeon when I got home. I called Dad when we left the ER and told him the news. Four hours later I arrived at he shop to find a hand throttle on my steering wheel.

We got to the track Thursday after Dad had already set up and gotten the karts teched. Friday morning we were up early and at the track to get things figured out. I got in the kart and Dad figured out what we had to do so my ankle would be protected. I went out in the first practice session just to get used to the throttle. I spent most of the day working out how to use it. It wasn't a hard concept, but retraining your brain to react with your left hand instead of your right foot is a challenge. I thought I was doing okay until I drafted up on another kart for the first time. My immediate reaction was to lift my foot, so I did. Duh, that hurt a little!

Because getting used to the hand throttle took up most of my time Friday I had to go with the gear I thought was good and see how it did in the race. I lined up second on the grid. I got a great start and led the other 11 karts into turn one. Jarret Swartz passed me coming out of turn two. I followed him for the next two laps and then he started slowly inching away from me. Soon I saw the yellow nose of David Linhardt. After he passed me Mike Swartz also passed me. I was a little worried they would hook up and leave me, but I had a lot of speed down the back straight and could catch back up to them. By about half way down the back straight Mike would top out and I could go by him, but David was harder to pass. We spend the next 30 minutes going back and forth having a great race.

I wasn't sure how far Mike was behind me on the last lap, but David was right in front of me. I thought about waiting to pass him going into NASCAR 3, but I knew he had more power there. Coming out of turn six I was a little behind David. I sucked up to him and decided to pass him as we were exiting NASCAR 2. I went by and pulled over in front of him. I knew he would try to come back by me, I was hoping I could hold him off. He pulled up next to me at the exit of NASCAR 4. I went down on the apron and he was up on the banking beside me. I beat him by .01 seconds!!! We went through tech fine. As we were standing around I heard that Jarret had been disqualified for his body work, handing me the win. I tried to contain myself until it was official. At that point I would have normally jumped up and down, but I couldn't. The good news is Carol (a Girl Scout leader) and her daughter Melody were there. Melody did my jumping for me!

That night we went to the WKA banquet where Charles got his two eagles for winning championships in 2007. We had a lot to celebrate!

Sunday morning we woke up to rain. I had mixed emotions about the rain because rain points would have been nice, but it was Daytona and I wanted to race again! The sun finally came out and we went to practice. I practiced with Charles and found that I was terribly slow in the infield. I added a tooth for the race. It was finally race time around 2:15. I started 7th out of 21 karts. Charles and Dad were both in this race too. I was a little worried about the start. Sometimes with that many karts you get bumped around on the start. I got a really good start and was second going into turn one. When we made it through the infield with no incidents I was very happy.

As we went up onto the banking I was passed by Jarret. That put me in third place. Michael McCombs was leading. As we came by start/finish I saw the patched up nose of Dad's kart sneak up next to me. I led him into turn one and the rest of the infield part of the track. As we went up on the banking Dad and Charles went by me. I sucked in behind them and went along for the ride. We could still see Michael and Jarret, so I hoped we could line up and catch them. Dad was sort of drafting Charles, but he wasn't directly behind him. He moved up as went down the front straight and I sucked in right behind Charles and gave Dad the "line up" signal. I followed Charles into turn one and the rest of the infield. He really pulled me in turns five and six, but by the time we got up onto the banking I could catch him.

As we exited the infield I looked over to my left and saw a white nose. Just as I was about to cuss Dad I realized it was David Goodwin. Then I looked to my right and Mike had pulled up next to me. We were three wide going down the back stretch as Charles was inching away. As we got closer to NASCAR 3 I was pulling past David and Mike. When I got by Mike I moved over. At that second I realized that Dad was probably behind me and that's why I went so fast....sorry Dad! I led the three of them through the infield. The next time going up onto the big track David and Mike drafted by me. Dad also went by me. Then Dad and I drafted past Mike on the front stretch. I followed Dad through turns one and two. As we went into turn three Mike hit me pretty hard from behind and got me out of shape. I went way wide through the turn and he passed me. Then he passed Dad going into turn five. After that David and Mike hooked up and gapped me and Dad a little.

I passed Dad again and hoped we could draft to catch back up to Mike and David. By this time Michael and Jarret were way out in front and Charles was alone, but still way out. About two laps went by and all of the sudden Dad and I caught Charles. We passed him in NASCAR 3 really fast. I could smell his tire was rubbing on the exhaust. Dad passed me the next lap. I decided to settle in behind him and see if we could run Mike and David down. I rode there for a few laps, then peaked out from behind Dad only to see it looked like we were gaining on David and Mike. I tucked back in and rode behind Dad. With about 10 minutes to go it was clear we weren't going to catch them, so I started thinking about how to pass Dad at the finish. With two laps to go we caught lapped traffic going into turn one. Dad tried to go around him and lost his momentum. He was able to pass him before we got to three and I thought I was done for because I couldn't get by the guy. Just then Dad messed up in three and went really wide. I passed the lapped kart and Dad. That wasn't in my plan!

Now Dad was working on how to pass me at the end! As we made our last lap I waited and waited. Finally there was the familiar nose trying to get by me. I beat him at the line by about three inches!!!

It turned out to be a great weekend for me...a win and a fifth. Unfortunately Dad and Charles didn't have the same luck. In Dad's Saturday race he had fast lap of the race, but spun out in turn three about 10 minutes into the race!

Charles ran in Sportsman Medium on Saturday. He finished 9th. He had clutch issues (all of the oil was in the floor pan, not the clutch, by the end of the race). Sunday morning he got hit in the Sportsman Heavy race and watched the race from turn one. Sunday afternoon in PP Can Medium he finished 16th with a flat tire!