Race #7

Mixed weather at the track this time.  We saw a shower blow-in just before the first heat and got the race director to panic and stop Lian's class from taking the track.  The club officers made it clear that with this club, rain does not stop the racing during the months of June, July and August.  By the time the corner workers made their way back out to their positions, the rain had stopped and the wind had the track mostly dry.  I think she was more concerned with the dampness in her pants after sitting in her seat.  Here she is after climbing in:

"I just sat in a puddle!"

We started looking over the kart to make sure we were ready to go and discovered a broken seat mount!  This was a real surprise.  When did it happen?  Who knows.  Presumably late in the feature last week because I would hope Lian would have noticed something amiss.  Anyway,  I quickly started to dismantle and remove it.  As soon as I had the long arm removed, I handed it to Lian and told her to run to the Rocketech Motorsports trailer and see if they had a replacement.

Fortunately, they had another in stock and after setting the proper length, we were back in business before the first practice.

The practices went fairly well with a best of 21:82 sec and a small air pressure adjustment promising even better traction in the Heats and Feature.  When the rains came, advice was flying around the pits on how to manage the limited traction situation.  We listened intently as we did not have the option of putting rain tires on (haven't invested in those... yet).  I was relieved when Lian didn't have to use any of that advice.

In Heat 1, Lian started 6th out of 6 and was very frustrated that she couldn't make any passes because of how the 5th place driver kept closing the door on her.  I calmed her reminding her that she would be starting from the pole position in Heat 2 so it would be her turn to hold back others.

Heat 2 was her start to control but she started slow and the outside row started hard.  Entering the first turn, she was side-by-side with the kart that started 4th.  The driver that started behind her was very aggressive and bumped her in most of the turns in the first lap.  Lian was so angry, she turned her fastest lap ever at 21:55 sec.!  She got out a 5th place finish from that and she came off the track very upset that the roughness she experienced didn't bring even a warning from the officials.

Because she drew such a high number at registration, she started in the back of the Feature.  I told her that she can't wait for the blue flag to be displayed for her.  Her blue flag is her front bumper.  Becoming more aggressive will be an adjustment for her but I think that at some point her frustration will be too much for her to hold back.

Lian sporting the GoPro camera during the Feature race.

The start proved interesting.  Lian actually moved up to 5th very quickly when one unfortunate racer had a flat from a leaky valve stem. Before the field spread too much, she closed in on the 4th place kart but then he surprised her and caused her to move off the edge of the track - spinning in the grass.  With a quick boost by a corner worker back on the track, she didn't get passed.  Try this link to see Lian's First lap from Race #7 on 6-30-13

The rest of the race was a downer for her, getting lapped by the leaders while her tires dried, then passing her friend for 4th place when her friend lost a neck brace on the track.  Here she is with the rest of the leaders.

I've got a few small things I'd like to do to Lian's ride before next race.  It will be a night race on the 13th so lights are on the list too.  Until next time...