Ferrario finishes 8th in competive 33-kart field

Race: Russel Racing Championship Karting Series
Class: TAG Amateur (33 kart field)

Qualified 12th, Finished 4th in the even qualifier prefinal. Started 8th in the combined main. Finished 8th in the main after spinning out in 6th place with two laps to go.

Can you say everyone who’s anyone showed up for this race – this was a field that was packed with fast guys and I knew it was going to be a tough weekend. I qualified 12th out of a huge field of 33 karters. They decided to split the field for the prefinals and ran an odd qualifier and even qualifier prefinal. I started sixth in the even qualifier prefinal. Everyone seemed to get the same start, but I manged to pick off one spot and slotted into 7th place by turn one. The leaders quickly pulled away from the field and I worked on staying with the two karts in front of me. The karter in front of me and myself were both being held up by a slower kart in front of us and were trying to pass him before the leaders got even further away. He passed the other kart and I finally got around a lap of two later. Once by I opened a huge gap and set out to pass the one kart I could see in front of me. I finally passed him for to work up to 6th place with only a few laps to go. I felt the heat of two guys on my rear and didn’t realize one was a teammate. I was driving on the edge trying to prevent a passing opportunity. With two laps to go, I got offline on a high-speed turn and dropped a wheel off into the dirt. I didn’t want to give up a postion so I kept the gas pinned and tried to ride it out. Well, my other wheel found the dirt and I started a high-speed one-eighty spin out sliding sideways, taking out a brake marker and sending a cloud of dust over the racetrack. Two karters got by me and I quickly restarted the kart and got back on track and up to speed while the rest of the field was coming fast. I managed to get the kart up to speed and fend off others trying to pass and finally re-built my gap between me and the karters behind me. With only another lap to go I did close the gap and was starting to catch the two karters that got by me, but the checkered flag came all to soon. I ended up finishing where I started in 8th place. Thanks to Scotty for his advice on set up tweaks and driving line for the main to make me faster – they all helped and I ended up running laps that were comparable in time to the leaders and actually turned a few laps faster than them. With MMI’s new trailer and pit setup, I sometimes feel pretty blessed to have such an awesome level of support – who can ask for anything more than a trailer that houses probably every part I’d ever need, plenty of shade, fun people and top-notch mechanics that can make things better in an instant. What did I do to deserve what mirrors the “factory support” that the top guys get – and in many ways is way beyond. I also have to remind myself that I’m only in my second year of karting and that the other drivers I’m finishing among have been karting their whole lives – so even though I didn’t finish on the podium I’m still beating a lot of guys that have tons more seat time – it must be the Rocket Kart and TeamMMI support!