Bouncing Back at 3S

Kartstars Round 4, Sutton, 3S Go-Karts. Third and final away race of the season, although this time it was on a track that I’d actually driven before. Now, last year, racing Briggs, I didn’t do as well at Sutton as we would’ve liked, and so coming off of the back of my first defeat of the season, we wanted to take extra precautions for this race. So, on top of coming our usual day earlier, we also decided to come out for a little driver coaching.

The week before the race, we came out to the track for a day of driver coaching with Nolan Bower, and incredibly fast driver whose home track also happened to be Sutton. The day was very helpful, with Nolan and his dad helping us to find a setup we liked, teach me about the parts of the layout that were changed from last year, and generally improving my lines around the track. It was a valuable day, and combined with the three days of practice and my prior experience at the track, we went into the weekend comfortable and confident for a win.

The weekend went almost without a hitch, a much welcomed change from Shannonville. We started off with a comfortable pole, half a second up on the next fastest and over a second to third, and went on to win the first two heats, leading from start to finish. There was a small hiccup in the third heat, though: on the formation lap, I felt a something bump against my leg, and I looked down to see that my airbox came off while I was driving. Thinking quickly, I grabbed it with my right hand before it could fly away and held it over the opening. I knew I couldn’t come off, or there was a chance I wouldn’t start pole for the prefinal, so I decided to just hold it in place and drive the race one handed. It was incredibly hard at first, as you could imagine, and Paul Rhodes managed to jump me at the start, but I wasn’t too concerned. As long as I held on to second, I was safe. So, I settled in behind him, and once I got adjusted to driving with one hand, I actually managed to close up the gap and get right on his bumper. Eventually the race ended, thankfully, as by the end my driving arm and the hand I was holding the airbox on with were both very tired.

But, with that little issue over, we finished well enough to score pole for the prefinal, and the rest of the weekend went smoothly, winning both the prefinal and the final with commanding leads. Coming off of the humbling experience at Nationals, it was a good feeling to be back on top. All in all, it was a great weekend at a fun track, and it put us one step closer to the TRAK and Kartstars championships.