Sunday, August 2, 2009

The Thrill of Victory....The Agony of Defeat

Wow!! Wow!! Wow!!

Summer 4 at North Texas Kartways started out GREAT for our Speed Racer, Hunter. Now that he is out of rookie status, he doesn't have to start at the back of the pack and try to catch up. Well, starting on the front row worked well for him during the qualifying heat. Hunter took off like a flash and stayed out in front for the entire 8 laps! He even pulled ahead of the other 4 karts and put a great deal of cushion between him and them for a fantastic finish. There was a delayed reaction when he took the checkered flag...one that almost said, "who's that for? Oh YEAH, MEEEEE!!"

However, the thrill of victory was short lived. Last night was also the last race for the Red River Regional Series race, so when we went out to qualify for that race, things did not go so well for Hunter. With no set up change from the first heat to this one, we lost on average 4 seconds a lap which put him dead last. The only thing that changed was the weather. It went from hot to cooler and cloudy. And Scott and I are not experienced or knowledgable enough to know how to change the set up according to weather.

With there being a club race and a regional race last night, Hunter ended up running a total of 6 heats last night, broke a chain, lost some set screws on the rear axel, passed some karts, got passed by others and we didn't leave until 11:30 last night. By the time the last couple of heats came up, we had made enough changes to get some of his time back, but nothing like he ran in the first heat. I guess we'll be experimenting with his fuel mixture based on weather. Anyone really good at formulaic equations for stuff like this?

We are so proud of how well he is doing with all of this. Even with the bad runs he had, he never quit, he kept running until he crossed that line. That's racing, folks.

On another note, we are so very proud of our little NTK friends who went to Kid Kart Nationals in St. Louis this past weekend. Reilly won 2nd place in nationals in the unrestricted class!!! His trophy is almost as big as he is. Our Tulsa friend Paige, placed well too, in nationals. Ryan and James placed 1st and 8th in the restricted class. Way to go kiddos!! We are so very proud of all of you!!!

1 comment:

  1. In the NASCAR races, when something "happens", they say that is all a part of racing. Well what happened at North Texas Kartways with Hunter, is all a part of racing. You two will get a lot of training along with Hunter for all that is in his future. Things will go better next time...count on it. We love you all!

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