Dumping my rump on a stump @ The Place

The Place finally happened!  After a failed trip to Mohegan, we traipsed down the road to The Place, in Guilford, CT.  I did not expect it to be across the street from a Walmart, or to be waited on by the proprietor!  He regaled us with stories about the clientele and his affinity for fishing.  Of course, we ordered the fresh blue fish he'd caught earlier in the day.  We also ordered roasted corn and the roast clam special.  It was all great tasty fun.  So maybe we weren't so lucky at Mohegan, but made up for it at The Place.

Almost Third Place!

Guess who made weight for her motor AND did not finish last today?  That's right: moi!

Singer's tired too.  (Note the duct taped shoe.)

For the first two seasons, I was zooming around in a Comer with a 380 lb+ total weight requirement.  After the Comer ate some metal, he was replaced with a PRD Fireball.  Bad news? Definitely a lot less zzzzoom. That "knock your head off" feeling I used to get going down the back straight has been replaced with a steady put-put-put.  However, with the decreased power comes a much lower, 340 lb weight requirement.  Even so, I was still underweight by more than a few pounds.  A hundred twenty dollars worth of lead weights later, I was officially legal, with five pounds to spare.

The August 4 race was different in another way as well: for the first time ever, the TAG class had two qualifying heats instead of a qualifier, pre-feature and feature.  When you have two qualifiers, your first qualifying start position is determined by your draw.  For the second qualifier, the field is inverted.  In any event, I drew a 253, which put me fourth in a pack of five during the first qualifier.  P5 was a really nice guy who used to race on dirt tracks as a kid, drove at Etown for a few years, and was now returning to karting after a hiatus.  I guess having kids does that to you though.  To my surprise, I beat him in both qualifiers!  During my second qualifier, I pulled a 43.99, my fastest time yet, despite being on a slower motor and having the least seat time in years.  (I guess life does that to you too. :P)

For the feature race, I started in P4.  The start was clean, but during the third or fourth lap, I started catching up to P3 (Kart 11)!  Kart 11 was totally within spitting distance, and I saw him fiddling with his motor down the straight.  Uuunnfortunately, I got a little too excited about this unprecedented happening and broke way too late at the end of the straight and spun out.  A few bumps over the turtles later, P3 had cemented his position as P3.  :(

The good news is that I had also cemented my position as P4, and for the first time ever, beat someone!

Made weight: Yup
Drove faster than someone: Yup
Hit a personal best at the track: Yup
Beat someone for reasons not related to their equipment failure: Yup!

YEAAAAAHHH!  Maybe as a treat, I'll finally get some real karting shoes.  During my first qualifier, I could feel the wind on my toes.  I fixed the situation with a little duct tape, but I'm pretty sure the abrasion protection of duct tape is limited.