Riker Racing #00

On Saturday we made our way up to GVAT once again. The weather was looking pretty good and the track looked great as well. I picked a #9 when I signed in and that got me a 3rd place start for the heat out of 7 cars. We have yet to have a field bigger than 10 or 11 cars and it seems to be decreasing ever week with people moving out of the rookie class and up to regulars. Once again we didnt get many practice laps like last week. The rookie class always has to run the track in so we did. Before the track was even close to be completely dry, they gave us the green to start practice but no one could truly drive their cars because it was so slick and everyone was spinning out everywhere. So when we finished with that we went back out to practice with the regulars to get a better feel for the car and track that day. The car was handling okay but it just did not feel fast at all. We made some small adjustments and went out for the heat.

In the heat I started 3rd behind a car that just would not go. After one restart that was called off we finally went but the first place car didnt. So I dove under on the inside of the car and got behind the second place car who was now in first place. The track was actually very smooth but I felt like the car was still loosing so much speed through the corners and it still didnt feel fast. I ended up finishing in 3rd place right where I started.

For the feature we made some different changes to see if it would help with the corner speed. On the start I got a good jump on the second place car and I stayed right behind the leader. I was within 3-5 car lengths behind him the whole race and sometimes I even got closer. Before our race of course they watered the track again so it was extremely slick during our race. I would be driving down the back stretch and the car would be turning sideways and almost hitting the wall. As the race went on though I figured out a different line to run through the corners and to the back stretch that helped a lot. We had two single file restarts. The first one the leader had a great jump on my and I fell back a couple car lengths from him but I stayed in my second place position. The next restart was better and I stayed right up with him for the first couple laps. From that restart on, the motor sounded kinda funny at times and I could definitely tell that the car was loosing speed because I was dropping back from the leader even more. I didnt want the motor to blow, but there was only two laps to go so I decided to stick it out. I ended up finishing in 2nd place which is a pretty good finish! After the race my dad looked over the motor because I told him about it not sounding right and he found that part of the spark plug was not attached and fell off when he touched it. He said that this is why the motor sounded funny and why I started to slow down in the end. I was happy to hear that it was only a minor thing and nothing that was going to ruin the motor in anyway.

My dad changed spark plugs and when all the races were over with, we went back out for practice because we finished the races so early. While I was out practicing I was moving the pan hard bar around to change the wing's position to see what worked and felt better on the track. We got a lot of good practice time but the track was pretty black and had tons of bite which is the complete opposite of what the rookies get most every night. It was still beneficial because now I know which ways help and hurt the car by moving the bar. We will not be racing for the next week or possibly two weeks so this will be the last race for us for a couple weeks. It was a good one to end on too. We are getting closer to that win every week! Thanks for all the continued support!