2017 Race Recap: Ignite Series and Supercomp Series Race #1

After months of waiting and much anticipation, the first races for the Gateway Kartplex race series finally began on April 1st and 2nd. A good run in the WKA Manufacturer's Cup race at Daytona led to me to believe that 2017 would be a year with a lot of momentum carried forward to this years Ignite Series. I ran a few test sessions days before to try and make sure my skills are still sharp, and that I had what it took to finally get that podium finish. I had a lot of help from people at the track, such as fellow competitors Jon Vernier and Greg Stamer, who helped me with certain components on my kart that I did not know too much about. I also had a lot of help from Greg Dingess from Margay Racing, who fixed a bad vibration during the practice sessions. That vibration ended up being a bad axle cassette, and a bad spindle bearing. Luckily, those were fixed and I was set and ready to roll thanks to all of their help. An awesome field of 19 karts on Saturday meant the Ignite Series and the competition would be absolutely intense with a bunch of veterans coming back, and some new guys from different states wanting to race in racings newest spec series that was taking storm across the United States. In my field was also the owner of Switch Racing Engines (Kevin Nelson), and karting legend Rick Fulks. I knew I had to have my work cut out for me, but with help from others at the track, I knew I needed to prove something. So during final practice, with a lot of speed and determination, I was able to get the quickest lap. But in Karting, laps do not mean anything unless you know proper racecraft. This is something I learned in the first heat race, where I made a bad move running with Kevin Nelson being too impatient, and I lost a couple positions and fell back to 6th. My impatience unfortunately struck again during the second heat, where I was too impatient with a lap car and ended up cutting the track for position. I gave the position back and lost multiple spots, ending up 13th. Knowing I needed to just bide my time and have more patience, the key goal was to finish the race. I started 9th in the feature. I knew I had my work cut out for me if I wanted to win, so I decided to just follow Matt Cowhey, who started in front of me and was quick all day long. After karts started falling out and battling hard with new competitor and iDrive champion Colin Predith, I placed 6th at the line out of 19 karts. While I did feel a tad bit disappointed with this result, I had to remind myself that 6th was my best finish last season. What this race did was give me more confidence for the next race, which happened to be the next day! A smaller field of 11 karts in the Supercomp Series did not disappoint, as these guys were all fast drivers. I was using an old set of tires from Daytona, with a borrowed set of wheels! In practice, the top 7 were separated by a couple hundredths, as I was 7th with a 34.3, and the fastest driver was hitting consistent 34.0's. A poor qualifying result for me lead to start 7th again, and in the Pre-Final, I finished 7th. With 3 results in 7th, I ended up lucky in the feature. After an unfortunate crash in the first turn in the first lap, I snaked my way through and for the rest of the session, the top 4 were all separated from the rest of the pack. What was really awesome, was the fact that the guys I was running with, were guys I was chasing and learning from in my first year of Ignite. I had a few runs on 3rd place, but I wanted to be patient and not pass in precarious situations. At the end of the race, I had a huge run on 3rd place Eric Loddeke, but fell short to finish 4th. This was a very successful weekend for the team, and I really have to thank my sponsors! Elliott Henderson Graphics, Thai Express Restaurant, Simply Thai Restaurant, AMSOil and Vernier Motorsports. I also have to thank Margay Racing for all the support as well. Finally, everyone at the track who has helped me and made karting very fun for everyone. You guys are the best! Our next race will be April 29th at Gateway Kartplex, where we will run the SuperTrack. Last season, I didn't have the best race with my seat breaking in the feature, and with that I was a second and a half off the leader. However with more work done this year and better maintenance, I hope to get a better finish! Hope to see everyone there!