For the sixth race of the fall season there were seven kids competing.  It was a beautiful day for Racing.  The plan was for two heats and a main.

 

For the start of the first heat Claire was in fourth place.  She had a great start and was able to pass for third in the first corner.  Going into the second corner she was able to pass for second.  for the next lap and a half she was chasing down the leader.  Exiting “The Daytona banked corner”, turn three on the second lap she was able to get a good run down the back straight and take the lead.  For the rest of the race she built a dominant lead and lapped two of the other karts.  The top three finishing order was, Claire, Sara and Ashton.

 

For the second heat the starting order was reversed.  Claire thought that was fine because she had such a great start from fourth in the first race.  The second start was even better.  Claire took the lead before the first turn.  Sara dropped in behind her and they started to run away from the pack.  By the end of the back straight they had a 5 kart lead.  Sara tried as hard as she could but she was never able to get around Claire.  Ashton who had fallen back at the start was able to work her way back up to third.  The top three finishing order was the same as the first race, Claire, Sara and Ashton.  The picture above is Claire approaching the finish in the second race.

 

We returned to the pits and prepped the karts for the next race.  We were checking Sara’s kart as the announcer said over the PA that the NASCAR race at Phoenix International Raceway was in a rain delay.  I looked at the sky to the south west and there were very heavy black clouds coming at us.  A few minutes later it started raining.  We pulled the tents together next to the trailer and put the karts inside.  It rained for fifteen or twenty minutes with some hail.

 

As the rain started to thin and you could hear the PA the announcer said that the mains were being canceled due to the rain and the fact that the track was flooded.  He then said if you had completed your heat it would count as a main win.  Claire, Sara and Ashton were all a little disappointed that there would not be a main race but they were having so much fun under the tents that the disappointment did not last for long.  The sun came out a few minutes later and we started packing up the equipment while the kids all played in the puddles.