"It's good to be back" ???

As we pulled up to Arthur Raceway this past Saturday the first words out of Mason's mouth were "It's good to be back".  Little did he know what the night was going to bring.  During practice he looked really sketchy.  He wasn't running very good lines and having so much experience at this track, Rick and I were a bit confused as to his thinking.  Well Rick had some words with him that ultimately led to a not so great outcome.  Mason has a tendency to pick and choose which words he hears during a conversation and this was certainly one of those times.  He was told by his dad not to pass on the inside, needless to say, there was more to the conversation but none of that translated.  I guess, he is only 9; small attention span.  Anyway, come feature time, he ran in second place during the purple plate alcohol class and ultimately that is where he finished.  (He should have attempted to pass but didn't want to get in trouble.)  The kart looked fairly good.  It could always be better but we put more focus and attention on the gold plate kart because that's the one we are struggling with so badly at Arthur.  The race started pretty poorly for him as he seemed to keep going backwards in the lineup.  Mason finished in 2nd, however, was awarded with 3rd place.  I'm not going to try to sugar coat it, Mason truly was a 3rd place kart, but the way the race played out, he should have took 2nd place.  On the final lap, Mason was running in 3rd place.  He and the 2nd place kart approached a lapped kart and each took a different route to go around.  Mason took the inside and Hunter #22, took the outside.  Mason made it by the lapped kart but Hunter didn't and they spun off to cause a caution.  In the meantime, Raven #33 took the checkered flag and Mason followed, also taking the checkered flag.  After deliberation by the officials, they somehow came up with the call of freezing the field to the last completed lap, where Mason was running in 3rd position and Hunter in 2nd.  In my opinion, this was a really bad call.  I'm not saying that Hunter didn't deserve 2nd place, because that boy raced his heart out Saturday night.  Hunter is a great driver and a super nice kid.  Just as we were a 3rd place kart all night, he was a 2nd place kart but the way the race played out, Mason clearly should have been awarded the 2nd place.  I was pretty upset and once again had to calm myself down.  What's done is done and there's no going back.  I will admit though that I do agree with Mason, it was nice to be back at our local track and see familiar faces.  The kids at Arthur are all great kids and really good drivers.  They are really polite and courteous  to one another off and on the track.  I get a kick out of seeing all of them improve their skills as drivers.  We have a couple more Saturdays (not this coming Saturday though) of racing at Arthur before we go back out to the Burris Tour, hopefully we can pull ourselves together.  Ultimately, we wouldn't have to worry about shady calls if we were running in the front.  :) 

Here is the video, you can make your own conclusions...

Arthur Raceway Gold Plate Feature 6/23/2012

Here's his first feature race of the night...
Arthur Raceway Purple Plate Alcohol Feature 6/23/2012

Don't forget...Rick is racing in the North Branch Bump-N-Run this coming Saturday, June 30th.  The car's ready to go, as long as Rick doesn't blow it up racing it around the field first.