July 8, 2007

Motorsports Ranch Cresson, West of Ft. Worth, Tx
3.1 mile permanent road course

SWRA rolled into MSR Cresson this past weekend for the 4th of 7 race meetings. Because of financial tribulations I wasn't sure I'd even make the race, so I skipped Friday practice and came up on Sunday morning hoping to practice before the midday race. It didn't happen, I arrived after 8 and before I was ready to go out, practice was already over and the first heat races began.

There was rain in the area and before the second race could begin, the rain came and sent the field of racers back into the tech area under the pavilion canopy for shelter. After 20 minutes or so the rain quit and people were allowed to go on-track in their street cars to take laps and help clear the track of standing water. Taking advantage of this, I made several laps around the track in my pickup truck. It was a very lucky happenstance, as I'd never been to the track before and was looking at having to race without ever having had a chance to look it over turn by turn. But here we were, Frank and I, cruising easily around the roadcourse in my pickup, labeling turns and complex corners (multiple apexes, off-camber turns and such) when we came up to the top of the track near the clubhouse on our first lap out. I had sped up slightly when people came up behind me and though I entered the last turn of the "rattlesnake" section I was not applying the throttle at all, indeed my foot was off the accellerator completely. Even though, the rear end of the truck broke loose and began to come around on the left. I didn't hit the brakes, just turned the wheel into the skid but it was to no effect: the truck spun around and came to rest along the inside of the track, luckily still on the pavement and not out onto the soft dirt. Now this was a wet, slippery track!

After twenty minutes of so of making laps, we were cleared off the track and the interrupted class got the green flag again. The rain stayed away but just when my class was in pre-grid, word came down that the rain was 30 minutes away. Our race was thirty minutes long, but it took us several minutes more to start.

Right from the start I had my hands full with a skiddish kart: for some stupid reason, I had put "tire-black" onto the tires earlier in the week which killed any grip the tires might have. It took the better part of the first lap to scrub it all off. By then the pack had disappeared completely. I wasn't worried, it was part of my adjusted expectations that since I had never been on-track with my kart and had no idea how to drive it, I was going to take it easy and just make sure I finished. Once the slip-agent had left my tires and I began to recieve some grip, I began taking the turns faster and faster. After six laps I was turning fast laps and had begun to catch the slower karts in the field. Out of the seven that started, I had passed two and was now in fifth place. Only a few short laps later there was rain smacking into my wind visor and I came out of the throttle, slowing down my entry and exit speeds to ensure there would be no DNF(did-not-finish= zero points awarded), due to a spin-out and a motor that died. Twice my motor almost died because of the diminished rpm's I was giving it, but I kept it running and passed the start finish line for the last time: the rain began to really fall hard when I got to turn 1 and caution flags were out at every corner. So were the off-track competitors. I passed two more karts that had gone off on that last lap, kept it running and finished in 3rd place.

As you know, I was tied for second place in the points standing coming into this race which was a large part of why I strived to make this race and salvage any points I could. Jamey Brown finished first, a national kart competitor and a fast guy and Kari Summers finished second. This would make the third time I finished behind Kari this year, but it gave me the points lead for the season with 4 of 7 races complete.

MSR Cresson is a huge track with lots of high speed cornering and massive elevational changes. I really had a great time and I look forward to the next race in Hallet, Oklahoma at the end of August, another track I have never raced at. But that shouldn't matter, with Friday practice I should be a force to contend with and one of two with a chance to win the championship.

-Katykarter