Ferrario starts season with a 4th place podium finish ...

Russell Racing Championship Karting Series
Class: TAG Amateur (30 kart field)

Qualified 7th, Finished 4th in the prefinal. Finished 4th in the main.

My Rocket Kart was on fire all weekend. The motor was really strong and the chassis was a breeze to drive – thanks to Scotty and Tad for dialing a great setup and gearing. It was another large and very strong field for the TAG class. I qualified 7th, which is the best I’ve ever qualified. In the prefinal, I got a great start and slotted into fourth by turn 1. I stayed with the leaders and made an amazing pass thanks to late braking – I knew the kart would stick and hold the tight line I needed to keep my speed up so I wouldn’t get repassed on the exit. The announcer was all over the top three cars – basically saying we had the race and our positions locked up – we were so far off the front and strung out compared to the rest of the field. Well, then lap traffic became a real factor and pain in the neck. I got stuck behind two lappers who repeatedly ignored the blue flags being waved in front of them at every turn. I got by the first lapper easily, but had a hard time with the final one. Meanwhile, the fourth place kart had time to catch up to me and let me know he was there with a love tap on my bumper. Finally, the race director actually went onto the track in front of the final lapper who was causing a race-changing sequence of events and waved the blue flag at the guy and motioned him to move over. He did, but into the racing line and my path, blocking me and allowing fourth place karter to beat me into the next turn. With only a few laps to go, I just couldn’t get around the kart and finished 4th. Thanks to MMI for the awesome wrenching, maintenance, watchful eye on my driving and sound advice on setup – my lines through the last few turns I was struggling with really improved after heeding the advice.