New Tires

We purchased 2 new right side tires today. Here's to hoping they will help. I'm not real excited about the rain they are calling for this coming Saturday. Mason sure needs to win this next race or his good season will quickly turn to bad.

BUMMED OUT

Mason had a rough night last Saturday at the track. We waited through rain storms and racing began around 7pm. There was no practice and they eliminated one heat race. The track was like ice due to the water. Mason just couldn't manage to get where he needed to go. After all said and done, he ended up 3rd for the night. 3rd isn't bad, except now he is tied for 1st place points, rather than having the lead. We received information from the track owner that admitted to a calculation error and Mason should have started the feature race on the pole, rather than the second row. This may or may not have changed the outcome; we will never know. We are really bummed that there isn't more of a point gap. Mason has won so many of the races, yet he is tied for points now due to one 3rd place finish. I don't know how this is going to pan out, we are just hoping Mason will be able to pull it together and stay in the top.

BACK IN THE GAME

Last Saturday started off really badly. Mason just couldn't get out of his own shadow. He qualified with a rotten time. There was obviously something wrong with the kart but we just couldn't pin point the issue. Finally toward the end of the night, someone suggested checking his clutch. It was hanging up and not engaging all of the time. We borrowed a clutch from our engine builder and he made his way to a 2nd place finish for the feature race. We are really proud of him.

We ordered replacement parts for his clutch. Now we really need to consider tires too. The points have been reset to start "the chase". He is ahead by only 6 points now and has 5 races in the chase for the championship. Everyone else seems to have newer skins than us so hopefully it won't hinder his chances at the championship. Wish us luck!

EASTERN MICHIGAN FAIR

Once again Rick started off strong. He got the whole shot and had 1/2 track lead on the rest of the field. Drivers were actually racing decent, until he came up on a lapped car that turned into him and blew out his right front tire. He made it around a few more laps but with a flat, it put way to much pressure and stress on that right front tie rod and axle and they broke, leaving him stranded and everyone else free to go by. The night wasn't a total bust though. Rick's good friend, Joe Kirchoff #544 won the race. :)

BAD NIGHT

Out of four kids last night, Mason took fourth. :( We honestly don't know what the true problem was. None of the karts were very fast due to bad track conditions because of rain. Was it the motor? Driver? Tires? You could look in Mason's eyes and see he didn't have any fight in him, which didn't help matters. He is so afraid of spinning out or crashing that it appeared he wouldn't push the kart to see what he could do so he chose to ride in the rear for way too long before passing. By then he was too far back to do anything. We are beside ourselves and don't know what to do to help him.

OCTANE ACADEMY

We made Rick a video for Octane Academy submission. Check it out and vote "FAME". Here's the link... www.octaneacademy.com/video/ju​st-want-to-drive

MO MONEY!

Mason's motor is at the shop being gone through to make sure everything still looks good. Our engine builder recommends this service mid-season just to freshen it up and check things out. It's costing us another good chunk of change but it's better than the alternative, blowing up the engine. We have seen recently a new engine on a fellow racer's kart throw the rod. We are hoping to avoid any issues. Man this stuff is expensive! I love my son...I love my son...I love my son. :)