Flippin' Great Racing!

Ah...yeah...the "flippin'" part.  Well, my HES2 driver, Hadyn, flipped her kart last night. To start off with, she is fine and she raced great last night. Set her new personal best time! But during the first heat, one of her competitors spun out on a corner and when Hadyn came around the corner, she didn't know what to do and just ran right up over him and flipped her kart over and landed on her shoulder and head. I was working the corner right where it happened and pretty much knew what was going to happen before it did, so I was already running that way.

She was crying, of course, and said her shoulder hurt, but the paramedic checked her over and there seemed to be nothing broken or severely injured. She has some road rash and little bruising on her shoulder, but that's it. She determined then that she was done with racing, but by the time the 2nd heat came up, she was ready to go back out. My trooper. Five years old...had her first (and hopefully last) flip in her kart...and got back in the saddle and finished the night. She'll be something to watch out for, that's for sure!

My other HES2 driver, Hunter "Blue Bolt" Stine, and his competitor friend, Jake, gave everyone at NTK a heck of a show last night!! The boys were running such fast times and running so evenly that for the final heat, it was back and forth all race long. Hunter made a very impressive and daring pass on Jake but then got caught behind lapped traffic coming out of a corner and Jake took advantage of that and took the lead back. Hunter would run him down and on and on it went until they were coming around the top of one banked corner stuck together - side by side - like glue - and went OFF the track side by side - sat OFF the track - side by side - came back ON the track - side by side - and finished the race just like that. Jake edged Hunter out in the end by one tenth of a sec, but man, that is one 2nd place finish Hunter can be proud of. Both boys came out the tech area cracking up along with all the friends and family around.

We have told our kids time and time again...there is NO win more important that showing good character and sportsmanship and they all showed that last night!!

Yeah, a flippin' great race all around!

Real Racing!

Last night was the last race in our NTK Spring series and Hunter clinched the championship with an awesome win! So far this season, our competitors really haven't been up front running with Hunter for various reasons, but last night one of our friends - who has a new kart and new confidence - really poured it on and gave Hunter a real run.

Jake consistently ran faster times than Hunter (yes, we have him on old equipment - again), but Hunter didn't let that stop him. I told him that we could put on new tires, new drive sprocket, new gear, etc and he could possibly have set the track record last night, but we didn't, so it was up to our driver to show us what he can do with what he has. And Hunter certainly stepped up to that challenge! He loved having to run down and chase another kart.  That is what fuels his fire - stiff competition. It was lapped traffic that caused Jake to stumble a bit and for Hunter to capitalize on it. Hunter just has more experience and confidence in his passing and once he got around them, it was all Blue Bolt time.

For the final heat, Hunter took off out front but Jake was on his tail. The two of them blazed a trail around the track like there were no others on it. They tore off from the pack and it became a two man race in the front. With three new racers on the track, lapped traffic might have posed a problem, but Hunter and Jake looked like they were glued to each other as they passed one kart after another. We were so thrilled to watch Jake take the corner passes with Hunter and stick with him so closely. That was exactly what Jake needed to do to gather more confidence. One last kart to pass caused a sticky bit of issue for Jake so Hunter bolted past, but Jake got hung up for a second leaving the win wide open for Hunter.

We certainly know that with that experience and now that Jake knows what he can do, there will be no more advantages for our Blue Bolt racer - it's going to be gun and run the entire race from here on out.

But that's what our racer wants - real racing!

And not to be left out, our HES"2" driver, Hadyn, got to race in Kid Karts again last night. She and I worked on her corners a little bit on Friday night and reviewed before her race on Saturday. With just a little bit of coaching from Mom, she was able to shave 7 seconds off her previous "fast" time to set her new personal best time. She's getting better every time - just imagine what she'll be like at Hunter's age if she sticks with it!!

Next weekend is the start of our NTK Summer series.
Until then!