HE DID IT!

Mason is officially the 2011 Arthur Raceway Purple Plate Alcohol Champion. He made it look easy this past Saturday at the race track. He went out and won 3 of the 4 races. His point lead over 2nd place ended up to be by 21 points. We are looking forward to the Arthur Raceway Banquet in November where he and all the other drivers will be honored with their accomplishments. We are so proud of him! He is equally proud of himself too. He was twirling and spinning and just so full of excitement and joy after the race was over. They did end up teching our motor but it passed with flying colors.

Now we have some things to think about and some more money to spend. We need to decide what class to put him in next season and refresh his engine. He's also going to need a new body and other odds and ends.

CAN'T CELEBRATE YET

Well we were hoping to come home from this past Saturday's race knowing Mase had the championship wrapped up. He ended up coming in 4th place. Rick (setup), Mason (driving) and myself (everything else) really need to work on better finishes and set ups for poor track conditions. We just don't seem to be able to pull off a 3rd or better finish when conditions are less than perfect. It will take some really bad luck for this next (and final) race for Mason to not win the championship. Still, until we are certain that he has won, we aren't going to celebrate.

SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF

What a race. This past Saturday, Sept. 17, we celebrated Trenton and Mason's 9th Birthday at Arthur Raceway. This race night was non-points, however, it was the State Championship. Dave Hausbeck, Arthur Raceway Owner, made the night free for everyone who attended and raced. The racing started off really well. Mason qualified in second place and won his first 2 heat races. He was in a small accident that broke off a piece of the lexon we had protecting the nose of the kart. During the dash race, where he started in the rear of the field, he came around turn 3 and ended up on top of a kart that was tangled up with another driver. They lined the kids back up and they took off again, this time getting tangled up in turn 1 where Mason's cracked piece of lexon was snagged and ripped a hole about 1 ft. x 8 in. in his nose piece. We waved him off the track so he didn't end up finishing the dash race. He was so upset and crying that his kart was messed up and he didn't get to finish the race. We calmed him down and used good old duct tape to hold the kart back together for the feature race. He was lined up in second place with Steven #66 on the pole. They took off and just couldn't hold off the 3rd and 4th place karts. Steven and Mason were running 3rd and 4th. With just a few laps to go, both Mason and Steven finally found their fastest line and enough speed to go by those other two karts and claim 1st (Mason) and 2nd (Steven) place for the State Championship Purple Plate Alcohol race. It sure was an emotional night, especially for being non-points. There were several of us women that had tears in our eyes as he took the checkered flag. We are so proud of Mason for being able to put the bad stuff behind him and go out there and continue to race his little heart out. He received a big trophy and we look forward to going to the State banquet we have been told so much about. :)