OFF TO A GREAT START!

After a long winter of getting the kart ready to race, we are off to a great start. Mason got his very first feature win tonight at Arthur Raceway. He did everything perfect. He qualified with the fastest time and ended up sitting on the pole for the feature race. He got out front and stayed there the entire race, caution after caution.

This season a lot of time and money went into making sure he is competitive. We really had no choice on getting him a new engine since he blew his flat head up last season. We purchased a new Briggs and Stratton Animal engine and hired Chad Bennett (also races at Arthur) to build it up for us. It sure feels good to see our investment pay off! We were fortunate to pick up a pretty good sponsor for this season; Dietrich's Collision of Imlay City. Other sponsors include Don's Auto Repair, Imlay City and Castle Sign Co., North Branch.

We look forward to a season of good, competitive racing. We have high hopes for this kid!

Almost Ready

We have been working hard to get Mason all set with a (almost) new kart. We changed the body, graphics, engine and tires. Now were are just waiting for the weather to cooperate so he can see what that baby can do. Hopefully we will be going to test it this Saturday. We are getting excited!

SEASON IS OVER

The racing season is finally over. Mason ended up with a 5th place finish at Arthur Raceway. We don't know where he will be racing next year as Arthur has had some issues and is considering not opening up next year. We went and checked out Owosso Kart Speedway a couple of Fridays ago. It is a very nice track, big and fast. It is a much longer and harder drive than it is to get to Arthur. While we were there, we witnesses a horrifying crash. It happened literally right in front of us. It was a little guy, possibly a couple of years older than Mase. He got loose in turn 2 and hit the chain link fence full speed, head on. Owosso has a full fledged ambulance and EMTs at their races. They told me it was mandatory for their track.

Mason was hoping to race indoors this winter but we've made the decision that he won't be running a full season. Maybe we will take him to run a couple of races but it's a really small and hard track and pretty much just destroys the karts.

Yesterday we went out to Backwoods Speedway in Marlette. It's a small track that not a lot of people know about. It was really nice as it was only 15 mins from home. It is a nice track and Mason said it was alot of fun. It was just run and have fun, no racing. Mason keeps asking when he can go back.

I've been trying to talk Rick into the possibility of getting a kart instead of a race car. I know we would all enjoy a race car better but it sure would take a lot of hassle off of us as a family if he raced karts the same night as Mason. Not to mention that it would help with teaching Mason different aspects of racing. Right now, Rick isn't a whole lot of help because he doesn't know what Mason is seeing or feeling on the track.

Arthur is having a banquet to celebrate the season on Nov 6. We will be attending so Mason can be awarded his trophy. I'll keep you posted.