We returned to Brentwood Karting this week for Round 4 of the championship, and this week was already going to be difficult as I had a 6-place penalty due to finishing P3 last week. It was made even harder by the fact that it was wet, and I hadn't driven in the wet for over 6 months, so this week was going to be a learning curve, to say the least.
For qualifying, I placed P8, which wasn’t terrible considering the conditions, especially since I started on the outside, which in the wet is actually a good thing. This proved to be true as I moved up 3 places at the start, bringing me up to P5. However, later in the race, another kart sent it up the inside at post 4, and my kart spun around after another kart hit my rear, sending me to the back and last place. This was not an optimal start, but I managed to catch up to the train ahead, which was very aggressive. I made up a few more positions, putting me in P9 for the first heat, which wasn’t awful considering I had been taken out.
For the Heat 2 qualifying run, there was one corner I struggled to get right, but the rest of the one-shot lap felt good, and in the end, it placed me in P6 for the start. This start was a grid start, which proved quite helpful for me because if it had been a rolling start, I would’ve lost many places. But with the grid start, I actually gained a place, and later on in lap 1, I made another move at post 4, putting me in P4 by the end of the first lap. The karts behind were catching up, but during the race, I noticed a dry line forming around the outside of Bubba's, which proved to be very quick. I began to pull away from the karts behind, finishing in P4—a good race, which hopefully puts me high in the B final.
In the B final, I would be starting last because of my 6-place grid penalty. If I hadn’t had it, I would have been starting on pole in the B final. Instead, I had to start last and work my way up to the top 2 to try and get into the A final. At the start, I made up some good ground and moved up to P7. I was then chasing down P6, who was battling with P5, so if I played it right, I could have moved into P5. However, despite getting myself into decent postions to make moves, the kart just didn't have the drive out if the corners, so I only managed to gain one place, crossing the line in P6.
This wasn’t the round I wanted, but considering I had a grid penalty and was also hit off in the first heat, this week wasn’t that bad. The good news for next week is that I won’t have a grid penalty, so I’m excited for Round 5.
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