Road Race Results....I survived

As the title states....I survived this monster:

Tucked away south of Madison, WI.  A 1/2 mile plus road coarse with lots of tight corners.  I managed not to break anything.  I managed to not wreck the kart.  They had a great turnout of Vintage karts, there were 10 to 12 49's that showed up a, weird Honda 90cc that raced with us 49s, a number of 91s, and some sidewinders.  Great turn out.  Close 20 old karts on the track in the practice session.  The repaved areas are smooth and fast, and more repaving is supposed to happen this fall.  The straightaway is definitely the fastest I have ever been on a kart, you have to be a little nutty to go wide open down that and not lift in that left hander.

Just the fourth time in this kart, I'm really just figuring out how to drive it and still have very limited knowledge on how the engine runs and how to adjust the carbureator.  And this the first time I've ever been on this track racing.  I only spun out twice and that was while pushing it in the time trial session, but I ran some good laps, fast enough to qualify second in the Vintage Senior Mc49 class, 80 cc, two stroke engines.   In the first heat I finished second to a 16 year old kid that is a past track champion, and I almost beat him.  Second heat they inverted the field and I managed a second again to the kid, more tight racing, was really having fun racing with him.  I think we managed to put on a really good show for the spectators.  In the Feature I started second.  I dropped all the back to 4th  in part of lap off the start, got back to 3rd then up to 2nd.  I was closing on the kid again when I messed up a corner really bad and nearly spun out.  Then on the last lap I nearly messed up the shicane which in the dark and the shadows under the lighting was really hard to see.  It was a lot of fun.  That long straightway is so fast, the left hander out of it is fairly simple, but that tight right hander is tricky. 

My dad was also very fast, the 100cc McCulloch has so much more power down that straight and out of the corners, I was surprised how much faster it was when he passed me during hot laps.  He was the only one in his class, so he was essentially running time trial like laps against himself all night.

I had absolutely no expectations going into this, I've watched alot of road racing over the years and always wondered if I could actually do it.   Well I think I have finally proven that to myself.  Which is good since I've essentially committed to doing four more this season.