103rd Street
Jacksonville, FL
Feb. 12, 2000

 

This was the last race of the season in Jacksonville. The only way I could have won the championship was if Matt didn't show up, and he did, so Congrats to him. When the race was over, his dad was grinning and saying how he'd been racing there since he was 10 and he finally won a championship!!

As for the race it self...

The first heat I started fifth out of six karts. There were a couple of new guys there. They were "national" drivers who usually ran Jr. classes, which tells me they weren't old enough to be out there! Anyway...I don't remember much about the race, just that I finished 4th.

The second heat I started 2nd. I got a great jump on #88 and beat him into the first turn. Next thing I knew they were red flagging the race. Seems 19 and me were the only ones who made it through the turn! After a break everyone made it back to the grid. This time I got a real bad start and fell back to 4th. About 3 laps into the race I had a good run coming out of the sweeper, but I was a little wide and ran off the exit of the turn. I kept it going and managed to pass #6. He passed me back before the flat turn. I finished 4th again, blame that one on the driver.... forgot to put the brains in the helmet!

For the feature I started, you guessed it, fourth. I got an okay start and slid into third place. From there I didn't have it to get by the top 2 until the third lap when I was able to pass #19 on the outside at the end of the straight. Then on the next lap I drafted by #46 for the lead. I stayed there for a lap before 19 & 46 hooked up to pass me again. I didn't have enough to get by #19 until the last lap when I got on the inside of him. He kept coming over to "protect his line." until I was almost in the grass. Our wheels were rubbing the entire time, so I let off a bit and the kart jerked over to the right of the straight. I finished 3rd. That's okay. We managed to finish every race of the season....

Not to worry, State and National races are just beginning.