08-04-2006

Since we had a week off from racing, I took the Kart out to Jerry at Quick Service to have him look it over and go thru the front end. We picked it up this morning and he asked Jaz how in the world she was able to steer it - it was that bad! ($192). I also picked up a spare air filter ($8). I got the Kart home and put the nose back on and checked all the bolts and blew out the air filter and adjusted the air in the tires. It's time to go racing!

Attendance was down a bit, but 11 rookie cage Karts showed up. We ran two (A and B) heat races and had a feature with all 11 Karts. Jaz started on the outside poll and fell to 2nd place on the start and held on for the finish in the first heat race. Her throttle was sticking and wasn't returning properly. I took a look and it looked like part of the cable was rubbing on the bottom of the gas tank. Joy and I removed the gas tank and cut off the excess cable we thought was rubbing and accidentally bumped the tank and the gas hose came off and we had gas running all over the place! Of course this was the night I decided not to bring my full tool kit so we had to scramble between three other pits to find the proper tools. While messing around the entire cable assembly popped off the return assembly and I was scrambling to make a quick fix to start the second heat. We were running up to the track when they called out that we had 30 seconds to line up, that was close! She seemed to run fine on the first lap but then came down the track and went into the infield, at least it was smart on her part because the caution did not have to come out and everyone was able to continue. The track crew managed to push her Kart off and I asked her what happened and she said her gas pedal was not working - sure enough the throttle cable had broke.

Removing the gas tank part II - Joy and I are much more seasoned and shut the gas valve "off" and remove the line to the motor and removed the entire assemble without spilling a drop. We look at horror on what little we have to work with but one of the track owners comes over (Ed) and gives us a hand. We make repairs and even though it sticks a little everything seems better than before. Jaz understands to use her brakes if the throttle sticks and is eager to get out for the feature.

Jaz starts on the outside of row 3 but quickly falls back on the start. With 11 Karts on the track and all the accidents and spin outs it was hard to keep track of where Jaz was, we think she finished 6th or 7th. (Official results, Jaz got 6th) There was a wreck in front of her coming out of turn 4 and was right in her lane, she came up on it and was unable to slow down but managed to steer up the track and avoid it - I do not think she would have been able to do that without us getting the front end fixed, so yes it was worth it having getting it done.

Nice weather, good racing. I will have to fix the throttle cable but the Kart was much better. Jaz said it drove so much easier and I noticed it was much easier pushing her through the pits. She was having so much fun that she even took her hands off the wheel and held them up in the air once while I was pushing her up to the track - now she would not have been able to do that before.

1. 7K - Trevor Mass
2. 95 - Matthew Schaaf
3. 82K - Jaden Livingston
4. 82 - Parker Fretheim
5. 06 - Michael Flynn
6. 14 - Jaz Nelson
7. 35K - Kale Kosiski
8. 12jr - Ty Hipnar
9. 60 - Jackson Chicone
10. 77 - Bret Klabunde
11. 3 - Trevin Ballinger
 

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