Sorry about the delay in getting the latest update to you. We hustled all week to get the Kart ready for Saturday's races. All of the repairs were completed by 8:45 p.m. on Friday night. As a result, we missed out on Friday's test and tune opportunity. However, the guys at Miller Motorsports Park and MSquared really came through for us in getting the parts for us and in getting everything back in working order.

First practice laps on Saturday were an adventure in figuring out what felt like an entirely different Kart. By the second practice round, we had made some adjustments and were beginning to get dialed in. The weather was blustery and every once in a while would spit on us a bit. However, it was nowhere nearly as bad as it was forecast and as a result... the turnout was lower than the past few races. After racing in 100 + degree temps all season, the 70 degree weather felt downright cold at times. LOL

The cold temps and high humidity were also giving us a few fits in establishing our base set-up for the day. We simply had nothing in our notes that even came close to the conditions so we were left scrambling from pit to pit and from friend to friend to inquire as to the general set-ups that others were using.

This will be a benefit to us in the future as we run in other areas and at other tracks. At least we now have a full sheet of race day data and three pages of notes from which to work on our set-up in the varying conditions that we will certainly face. All-in-all, this turned out to be a very positive experience for our young race team.

As for the racing... we had one of our better over-all days of our rookie season. A Top 5 in the first Heat and nearly indentical 6th place finishes in Heat 2 and in The Final rounded out a day of chasing a serious push and a few brake problems. This helped us move up one more position in the season standings and we are now within 200 points of reaching our rookie season goal of a top 10 finish in the season standings with just two races to go! WE BELIEVE!

We have picked up 3 positions in the past two races and just need to keep the rubber on the track and continue to improve our consistency to achieve this important goal. I know that we can do it! If I can garner another top 5 finish and continue to finish the final two races in the top 10... things just may fall into place for us. Remember, we missed the first 4 races of the series due to my pre-season injury. We had set our team goal of a Top 10 prior to that and did not change it. Our team's resolve and dedication is paying off.

As for the repairs to the Kart after last race's carnage... we seem to have nearly all of the bugs worked out. We still have to install our new Ribtect Carbon Fiber Seat (Thank You Ribtect for being such a fantastic sponsor!) Nearly everything else is back in place and working correctly though. We still can't seem to figure out where our ongoing problem with the brake system is. We have replaced both master cylanders and have rebuilt the cailpers. There are no apparent leaks in the system, yet, if we do not bleed the brakes nearly every run (before and after) it seems that I am stepping on a sponge instead of a brake pedal!

I will leave you with this for now. Amy Woods, our Driver-In-Development, is considering doing an arrive-and-drive in the Senior 4's for the final two races of the season. This should give her a much better idea of whether she is ready to commit the time and effort that is required to join our race team and to help us work towards meeting all of the goals laid out in our 5 year plan. We wish her luck!

As always, we have a PayPal "Donation button" placed on our Sponsor Page. If you wish to help our team to continue to improve and to help us get others involved in this great sport, we would certainly appreciate any donation you may wish to make. Even a single dollar can be stretched very far by our frugal team owner. We will continue to recognize all donors, unless you desire to remain anonymous. To those who have already donated to our team, we offer our heartfelt thanks! To those who may be considering a donation, please read our Bios page and find out more about who we are and the mission that this race team is on. Until next time...

Scott -- Team Captain