DECENT RACE RESULTS

Everything went fairly smooth this weekend. Rick raced at the Berville Bump-N-Run. He was looking strong and racing hard when he managed to skin his drivers side door. He tore the entire outer part of the door off and therefore, was blackflagged. It's probably for the best, that track was tiny but tough and the cars were being destroyed. At least he still has a car for Imlay City. We were releaved at the beginning of the race when one of the other drivers and his family backed us up on the "dirty racer" incident. They completely agree with us that what those couple of drivers are doing is wrong and unsafe. It was nice to hear they were on our side. We certainly aren't looking to make enemies. After the race we stopped and had dinner. There, Rick ran into Ian Kemfp. Ian runs the Imlay City Fair. He mentioned to Rick that a letter came through addressing the safety issues and that he is scheduled to give it to the man that is going to be in charge of the Imlay City race this year. Rick said, "Yeah, that was from my wife." I'm glad I wrote the letter. It seems everyone feels the same as we do and therefore, the Lions members (aka officials) need to be made aware of our concerns.

Now onto Mason's results. He did good. He looked stong on the track and his driving skills are definately taking shape. The only problem now is getting him the equipment to be competitive. His motor isn't up to speed with the other kids. They are all running what is called an Animal motor and Mason has an old Flathead motor. The Animal motors are naturally faster and Flatheads are getting phased out. He has told me that he will be asking Santa for an Animal motor ($1500 approx.) for Christmas. I hope Santa reads this post and starts saving!

We did have a scare, however. Mason was hit really, really hard from behind. All the kids were stopped for a caution and the officials were in the process of re-lining them up when another kid came around full speed and slammed into the back of Mason's kart. Mason said he seen the other kid coming and said to himself "this is gonna hurt". The other boy hit him so hard that the other kids eye goggles flew off of his helmet and went past Mason's kart. Mason's visor flew open. Deloris (grandma), who is also the track EMT, and I ran out there to check on him. He was teared up but elected to finish the race. He is a tough kid. After the race, everyone was so great and so concerned. It is really nice to have a family sport to participate in where everyone is supportive. Mason complained of a little soreness this afternoon but has been fine the rest of the day. As a matter of fact, right how he is referring to himself as "Pirate Spanky". (We went to a pirate bday party today) :)

HERE WE GO AGAIN

I guess I missed a bit of posting. As most of you know, the North Branch Bump-n-Run didn't go as well as we'd liked. Once again, the same driver we are having issues with took Rick out before even completing one full lap in the Main. That race could have gone really bad as this idiot was so aggressive he almost flipped Rick over, hood first.

This was just the beginning of our bad luck for our 4th of July weekend. Mason attempted to race on Saturday but only made a few practice laps before damaging the motor. Rick work really hard last Friday to try to get it going but with lack of parts suppliers, it was a no go. Therefore, he has missed a couple of races in a row now. I ordered parts online and we received them yesterday, only to determine that the place shipped the wrong gaskets. Parts are such a pain to get. Hopefully we will have him back and running for this Saturday's racing.

Tomorrow, Friday, July 16, Rick will attempt to run another Bump-N-Run in Berville. We fixed the car after putting $100 in to parts. I took the time to write a letter explaining my concerns to the North Branch Lions Club and sent copies to Berville and Imlay City Lion's Clubs as well. If something bad happens because of these aggressive drivers, it's all on them, I gave them fair warning. Time will tell...wish us luck!

NORTH BRANCH JULY 2, 2010

One more day until the big North Branch Bump-N-Run. We are really excited. Rick has a fresh car and we are looking forward to seeing what it can do. It's a 1997 Cavalier Z24, named "Black Widow". We put all of our sponsor stickers on it and it's ready to go.

As always, with my excitement comes anxiety. I'm really not impressed with the field of drivers this year. All I can hope is that they have damaged their cars enough that they won't last long and in turn will have less time to beat on our drivers. It still amazes me how many people I associate with think this is a derby and the point of the race is to physically take drivers out by wrecking their cars. This is a lap race! You don't see motocross riders smashing into each other. Don't get me wrong, it's ok to "bump" a car out of the way but it's not ok to deliberatly smash into them full speed and run them off the track. It's obvious when you watch the races what each drivers intention is, whether it be to smash and bash or to actually try to win the event. There are a couple of brothers from North Branch that I'm really tired of. In watching my video from last week, it is plain as day that the one brother was deliberatly smashing into Bill Stoutenburg so his brother could take the win. We have a team of a few drivers and other acquaintances on the track but don't think for a minute that one would smash his car in order to create a win for another of our drivers. We are all there to win! We also respect the rules of the game. I really wish the officials would start following through with their rules and start black flagging the ones that break the rules. They need to show these guys that they are serious about safety and serious about enforcing the rules.

By the way, I have updated our Twisted Metal Racing website.

OFFICIAL DECISION KIDS RUNNING MORE THAN ONE KARTING CLASS

Here is a quote from Dave Hausbeck, owner of Arthur Raceway and his decision on allowing kids to run in more than one class.

"We will allow and encourage kids to run more than one class as it helps to develop their driving skills. Someone can run the class that their age allows them and one class above, if someone runs two classes up from their age group, then they can only run one class down from the most advanced class they run. This will also help all the kids by creating more competiton and that will challenge them to become better drivers. At a young age, it is not how many wins, although everybody always wants a win, it is about challenging and teaching kids how to become better drivers. The more we challenge the kids the better drivers they will become in the future."

As I stated before, Rick and I can see it from both sides, therefore, the decision is fine with us.