Did our first races this weekend and had an amazing time. I’m kind of blown away by how much we learned and how great the experience was.
I was really worried that my son would be so much slower that he wouldn’t have any fun. But, as it turns out, there are three other kids around his pace so they had their own battle going a couple secs behind the experienced kids. So it was a race within a race and worked out really great.
The masters worked out really well in that the delta between the fastest (excluding Bonanno who was vacationing in masters for fun) and the back of the pack was maybe one second with the majority turning laps within .5 of each other. So, lots of fun to be had.
My biggest takeaways: Well I can go fast enough for this gang (my fastest lap in prefinal was 2nd fastest in the group). However, being able to put down fast laps with no traffic isn’t going to get me on podiums. I need to A) develop some courage and B) not slow down and match pace with the guy ahead of me and actually pass them (see A).
Next race I am going to try to find the courage to get comfy with riding the other guys bumper and trying to take the inside line and go for it, rather than hanging back and waiting for them to make a big mistake. That’s a tall order but I think it’s a getting used to it thing.
I unfortunately wasn’t able to complete the final race as my engine decided to implode on the third or fourth lap. Nick had a bit of a heartbreaker in that he spun off in the final, and everyone got past, but soldiered on valiantly from his mistake and drove really tidy laps as he tried to make up lost ground.
At the end of the day we had huge amounts of fun and learned so much. After I ended up behind everyone, having had to go x-country to avoid t-boning a fella who spun, I drove like a bat out of hell and put down the best laps I have ever driven. Chasing down the guys in the distance and closing in on them was the most fun I have ever had. Nick put himself out there and fought tooth and nail, eventually trying a big inside pass in turn one that didn’t go as one would hope, but he tried which is more than I can say for me.
Anyways, I can’t wait do do it again!
One last thought: watching your kid race is simultaneously one of the most anxiety producing yet exciting things ever devised.
