6/10, 4th place in Shawano – We went into the next regional race confident we could build off our previous Midwest run in South
Bend. The only problem with the weekend was that I wouldn’t be able to race on Saturday because I had to take my ACT. This put us at a disadvantage since I wouldn’t be able to experience the degree of the track changing due to things like amount of
rubber being laid down and heat in the track between Friday and Sunday. After qualifying 4th, Aaron Milavitz and I got the jump
on the outside at the start of the prefinal, but Brian Jacobsen and Patrick Olsen got around me putting me back in 4th for the final. At the start of that race, both rows ran even through turn 1, but Olsen came down on me in turn 2 putting me half in the grass and
taking all of my momentum away. At this point I’m still in 4th, but the top three have put some distance between themselves
and me. Olsen then dropped a tire on the exit of turn 5, and I got sideways trying to avoid him, causing Jamie Thiel and Mark
Vielgut to get around me, leaving me in 6th. I was later able to get those two positions back, putting me in a finishing position
of 4th.
5/20, A win and fast time at Badger – Our second club race was nothing short but stellar for us. All day we
were the fastest kart in our class, HPV Heavy, and the entry numbers weren’t down either, with 14 total karts in the class. In the first heat I started towards the front so it didn’t take me long to get to first and win that race. I had a little more
work ahead of me for the second heat as I was to start from the back, but I was able to move up enough spots to claim the pole position
in the feature. I didn’t get a very good start in the final dropping me back to third, but I managed to fight my way back up
to first by the second to last lap, and in the process I set the fast time for the year with a 39.6. Hopefully we will be able
to keep the momentum into the next MWSS race in Shawano.
5/4, Two 3rd place finishes at South Bend - Going into our very
first Midwest Sprint Series race, I looked forward to bettering our result in Jacksonville, running against many of the same people. Our practice day was pretty much trashed due to rain, but we were at least able to get a few rounds of practice in before we got racing. Our Saturday class was HPV Heavy. In qualifying, we posted a decent time that put us in the top five for the prefinal. For that race, I got a bad start, but I managed to pick my way back to where I started to finish fifth. This time, for the final,
I was able to hold my ground and get fifth off the start, and I held that position for majority of the race following Patrick Olsen
and Aaron Milavitz. But, on the second to last lap, those two tangled, and I slipped by. I was then able to hold off a
hard charging Jesse Wirtz to finish third.
