Birthday Run

Hunter had a great birthday yesterday! He had a choice of having a birthday party at home or racing (with a smallish party at the track) and he chose racing.

Even with the heat, it wasn't too bad. We had a nice breeze blowing all day, so it was bearable for a daytime race. Hunter broke his carburetor on Friday night during practice, so we were using a borrowed carb. He was turning some really good times during practice. Then we had some other issues and thankfully for the good sports of other dads (Scott was still at work), those problems were fixed and we were good to go.

He had a really good qualifying run and then he and his race buddies met at our pit stall for birthday cake. Hunter opened his box of NASCAR's from Mom and Dad (he collects and plays with the 1:64 diecast cars). Seems that all the karting boys like NASCAR and Lego's, which was what Hunter was getting for his day.

Heat 2 - Pre Final went pretty good for Hunter. It would have been better, but one of the kiddos was black flagged for blocking another racer and had to leave the track. In leaving the track, he slowed down right in front of Hunter, which made him slow down and he ended up losing a position in that race, but up until then, he was flying!

Heat 3 - Final. For some reason, Hunter was not prepared to leave the start/finish line at the green flag and did not get his good start. He was in fourth place keeping up with the pack and then he spun out at a corner and dropped even further back from the pack. He knew he could not catch up but he did not quit. He raced hard to finish strong. Of course he was so bummed out when he came off the track, but it didn't last long. Once the boys hit the tech barn for the awards, he had cheered up and was goofing off with all of them.

I told Hunter I was so proud of him. He raced even though he knew he would not win. He was bummed, but he knows this is just part of racing.

Yeah, I think I have a racer on my hands. Love it!!