So it’s been quite a while since my last blog entry.  Let me see…  Last entry I wrote was about the local JSS race at PBIR back in October.  Well, a lot can happen in 6 months.  Unfortunately a lot of my plans got put on hold for a couple of those months.  Shortly after the last blog entry I wrote, I was spending a lovely Sunday afternoon riding my KTM SuperMini, when I was involved in an “on-track incident.”  Needless to say, I got knocked off my little bike and got knocked out myself.  Damage to Shmini:  scratches on the sliders, but perfectly ready to go racing again.  Damage to me:  concussion, laceration to my left hip (to match the laceration to my right hip from a highside in Jennings a few years ago, of course), the usual bumps and bruises, and, worst of all, a badly broken left foot.  A few broken bones and some serious tissue damage are definitely not good for my training.  Thank goodness I don’t remember anything about the accident, or else I would probably get “the fear.”  I only fear getting “the fear.”  I spent the next two months progressing from a wheelchair to crutches and then to an exaggerated limp.  Yes…two months to walk again.  I told you I badly broke my foot.  Hell, it was the COLOR and SHAPE of an eggplant for 3 weeks.  Totally gross. 

I was asked to come work for DucatiMiami at the beginning of 2010.  New year with a “new” job.  Groovy!  DM had just gone through a buy-sell, so I was ecstatic to be hand-picked to come work under the new administration.  I don’t think I can thank Luigi enough!  I get to be back to work with some good friends, helping some good clients, and being re-immersed in true Ducati passion.  Although 55-60 hour weeks have pretty much filled up my schedule, I have still made room for my #1 passion: racing.

Because of my injury, I had to totally blow off Florida Winter Tour.  (It turned out to be quite lame this year, anyway, so I’m kinda glad I blew it off.)  I never got a chance to test a stock Honda moto, so my kart was still set up the same it was for FKCS last year.  I really didn’t want to blow off any FKCS races, but I was still healing, so I showed up as un-prepared as possible to the first race at Andersen RacePark back at the end of February.  Here I am at a track I have never even seen before on the morning of a race day.  I did get a track walk in, but that about killed all my walking for the day.  Limping around the pits in pain and then having to drive a shifter kart is something I probably shouldn’t have done, and I could never tell my ortho.  I drove hard.  I drove with my eyes tearing up.  But, you know what, I learned something.  Kinda like an epiphany, come to think of it.

I pushed through the pain.

In words, it sounds like nothing.  To those who haven’t done it you probably think you have…but, trust me, you haven’t.  It’s like an orgasm.  You never know until the first one, and then it changes your concept of every intense emotion you’ve ever felt.  It feels remarkable.  It envelops you.  It changes you.  I learned to be a different animal.  A new breed of crazy.  It made me feel like a shark when its eyes roll to black right before it bites.  All that adrenaline, not hindered by my physical well-being, pushed me past my limit.  I’ve always stayed within my bounds, during training, racing, everyday life.  Only grazing that limit, careful not to “overdo” it.  (Now I look at it as a point of no return.)  But on that day, during the final race, I broke my safety barrier clean through.  I was in piss poor shape (hell I haven’t been for a jog for a few months prior), I was under way too much stress, and every step I took made me wince.  But I drove hard.  Sure, I didn’t drive as well as I could have…far from it, really.  But I drove harder than I possibly could, given my current state.  Pulling up to the scales at the end, I had tears in my eyes.  Not from pain…those had already dried up after the 3^rd lap.  These were from joy.  I had gotten myself on the podium.  A 3^rd place finish for a chick with a broken foot at a track I’ve never been to ain’t too shabby.  Trophy aside, my real prize was my realization that I can break my own limits.  Interval training, CrossFit, running till you puke, whatever you fancy…has got nothing on breaking both your physical and mental barriers the way I did that day.  It may just be my new drug:  to push through the pain.

How overwhelmingly free I feel now.  I’m still human.  I bleed, I cry, I sweat, I dream.  Now I know there’s more for me to bleed for, to cry about, to sweat over, to dream…to one day come true.  I can’t wait to do it again.

Fast forward to Sunday, March 21^st:  I’m at Homestead Miami Speedway with Jeff and our good friend Susie.  It’s shakedown day for my new racecar.  (My 25th birthday present almost 2 years in the making.)  A 1990 red-ish Spec Miata named Ruby with only about $3500 into it.  Probably less than that, really, but we’ll just say $3500…worth of racecar.  Worth every penny, too.  I had so much fun driving this thing.  Sure it’s slow, but that thing handles so nicely.  My rusty junkyard beater was surrounded by Porsches and Lotus-es (Lotii?)  all day, but I’m sure nobody had as much fun beating on their car as I did.  I did a whole session in the R32, but it was not as fun as the Miata.  Bad-ass little beater Miata.

A couple weeks later FKCS is at Homestead Karting.  Again, I show up completely unprepared without a practice day, and still pretty much out of shape.  My foot is only about 85%, but significantly better than the last time I drove a kart at Andersen.  Jeff freshened-up the K9C with a new rod and piston, so we get to the track early so I can drive during engine break-in.  We’re the first in line, only to find out that we were in the wrong line.  We lined up at what is usually pit out.  Of course.  Too bad everybody else was lined up at what is usually pit in.  ???  We soon learned that FKCS was running the track in the opposite direction than what we were used to.  Great.  Here goes for another race day where I have to learn a “new” track during the morning practice sessions.  After engine break-in, it starts to rain.  I get only one practice session with a soaked track while on rain tires.  Then the track dries completely.  Dammit!  So all-in-all, I get to learn to drive at race speed for the first time on dry tires on a new track configuration during qualifying.  Ecstatic, really.  They lumped all the shifters together, so I was stuck with the Masters and Stock Motos since I qualified 9^th out of 15.  I drove like s***.  I managed a 7^th out of the pre-final.  I drove better in the final, but ended up 5^th overall, and 4^th in ICC Shifter.  Not the best day.  And we’ll leave it at that.

The following weekend (which happens to be last weekend) I found myself in Daytona for CFR’s SCCA Driver School.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the procedure of procuring an SCCA competition license, allow me to confuse you:

First you must attend TWO SCCA driver school weekends.  You must pass (yes, you get graded) both weekends.  You are then given an SCCA Novice Permit.

Second, within the next year (or two, or whatever) you must attend TWO regional SCCA race weekends with any SCCA region, and be “incident-free” for both.  You may then apply for an SCCA Regional License.

After FOUR “incident-free” regional SCCA race weekends on your regional license within a particular timeframe, you may then apply for an SCCA National License.  With the national license, you may compete in both National and Regional SCCA events across the country.

My instructor for the weekend was Perry Young, a former Spec Miata racer himself.  He has since modified his car out of SM, but he is still actively racing it.  As a matter of fact, his Miata is also red, and was “born” in October 1989….just like Ruby.  He brought his VIN number with him on Sunday, and, as it turns out, both cars were built so soon to each other, that they had to have been on the same ship on the way over to the US!  How friggin cool is that?!

On both days the weather was great, the car was excellent, and I had a superb instructor.   I can’t thank Perry enough, and I can’t wait to run into him and his wife Susan again in the pits!  I might have been the only driver that weekend who didn’t have a major car malfunction, didn’t touch another car, didn’t drop a wheel or go completely off track, or have any other serious mishaps.  Needless to say, I had a near-flawless weekend and had my required second school waived.  I’m ready to go racing!  Woo-hoo!

I know I’ve been bad lately with posting my race videos and such, but I will be putting some up on Youtube shortly.  If you haven’t subscribed to my channel yet, shame on you, and it’s never too late to check it out here .

Thursday night Jeff and I went up to PBIR so I could turn some laps in the ICC on the kart track.  Mind you, I was on the tenth and final day of my bi-annual lemonade cleanse diet.  Some people may think I’m crazy, but I can definitely attest to the benefits of this cleanse, almost as if I pressed the “reset button” on my body.  You can look at it as a re-boot on your system.  Now totally cleaned out, I can re-build my body so I can be a perfect athlete for the 2010 racing season.  It’s hard, believe me, it’s hard, but the benefits are definitely worth the 10 days of detox.  I suggest you Google it if you’re interested.

 

Back to the story:  Thursday night has HOT and HUMID.  Hell, I was suffering.  I hadn’t been in a kart since the ill-fated race at Monticello back in July, and I hadn’t had any solid food in 10 days.  Yeah, I was in rough shape.  I still managed to drive halfway decent, though.  It’s kinda like “riding a bicycle” now anyway.  Haha!

 

Sunday I was much better off.  A cold front blew through Saturday night and made the outdoors way more comfortable.  Humidity felt a bit lower and the temperature was in the 70’s and low 80’s….yeah, very pleasant conditions for racing.

 

PBIR was hosting some huge drag racing event while the Jon Smith Subs Champions of the Future Kart Series was running on the kart track.  They even had about half the road course covered with vendors and whatnot.  The other half was used for a drifting competition.  They even had a car show, as well.  Needless to say, there was a TON of people wandering around the motorsports complex on Sunday.   Groovy!  More exposure!

 

Back on somewhat-solid food, I had way more energy for athletic competition.  Good, too.  JSS is organized to have each class run two 10-minute practice sessions, a 10-minute qualifying session, a 6-lap heat race, a 6-lap pre-final, and an 8-lap final race.  And I was definitely “feelin’ it.”  It had been too long since the last time I was wheel-to-wheel with other competitors, and I was starting to get antsy.  I need to race to unwind!

 

There was 5 other drivers in the “catch-all” Shifters class.  I snagged the pole position in qualifying.  Good.  The guys who qualified in 2^nd and 3^rd weren’t too far behind on their fastest lap time, so perhaps we’ll make a race of it!  I stumbled a little bit on the start of the first heat, but still managed to get the holeshot into Turn 1.  I drove.  I drove hard.  I drove away.  Four laps in, I take a look back….where did everyone go?  I had put about a full straightaway on the guy in 2^nd.  Hmm!  OK, time to cool down and save the tires.  Pre-final race:  I get a better launch, and the rest of the race was pretty much the same as the heat.  Just gotta be nice to the tires or else I won’t have any left for the final!  The noise and commotion from the other motorsports events at the park were winding down, and now the crowds were meandering over towards the kart track.  By the time the shifters went out for our final race, there was quite a good-sized crowd watching.  That’s frickin’ cool!  The start of the final was good, but I lost the holeshot to another competitor on a new Tony Kart with a Maxter.  I managed to squeeze him out going into Turn 2, and then, well, like the other two races….drove away.  I’d have to say that being in the lead for the ENTIRE day, except for ONE corner is not a bad way to spend a race weekend.  And I was nice enough to my tires that I think I can still use them for some practice time later this week.  LOL

 

Some of the other drivers asked if I was going to come and do some more of the JSS Series races at PBIR…almost as if they were scared.  Ha!  I got a kick out of that.

 

Be sure to check out my photos and videos from the day.

 

Although PBIR has not yet posted the results on their website, they did post a picture of me on the top of their podium here!

After Bill Wright announced that he was dropping the KZ2 (ICC shifter) class from the 2010 Florida Winter Tour, I was pretty bummed.  Although the idea of finally getting to play with a stock Honda moto shifter lifted my spirits, I hated the idea of expensive Italian engines collecting dust for a few months.

Well, now, I think I can have my cake, and eat it, too!  Championship Karting International has announced today that they will be having a Florida series for three weekends in the months of January, February, and March.  Although all the weekends will be at the same venue, Homestead Miami Speedway, I think it'll still be fun to attend.  They haven't officially announced the classes yet, but I can see from their nationwide series that they run a KZ2 class.  Hopefully, they'll keep it for their Florida series, but I won't count my chickens just yet.

CKI posted a press release on www.ekartingnews.com, but you can also check it out on their website here:
http://www.championshipkartracing.com/news/2009/10/championship-karting-international-updates-2010-schedule/

***So, the Awards Banquet for the 2009 FKCS season at Ocala went well.  Of course, I got 3^rd place in the ICC class, and ROOKIE OF THE YEAR.  –That I’m quite proud of!-

    

The crew who put together the whole event did a fine job, and I must applaud them for their effort.  Good food, good prizes, good times!  I drank a bit too much after the ceremony, and got quite silly, but without making a fool of myself, thank goodness.  Haha!

 

***Jeff and I spent the week following the banquet in Daytona for Level 2 Ducati Technical Training.  What a blast!  We got to meet some very important higher-ups in the Ducati world, and the class wasn’t so bad, either!    I did learn a lot from our instructor Bruce Meyers.  He is an endless source of Ducati info, that’s for sure.  Now, I am happy to say that I am the first FEMALE Level 2 Ducati Certified Technician in North America!  (How frickin’ cool is that?!)

Piero, Van, me, Francesco, Jonathan

 

***Last weekend was SpeedJam ’09 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  IndyCar, Firestone IndyLites, and the Grand-Am Rolex Sport Car Series were all having their championship finale races here this weekend.  How exciting!  Since Jeff used to sponsor Ryan Hunter-Reay when he used to drive karts, he managed to get us kick-ass tickets and paddock passes for the weekend.  I got tons of photos, and got to meet a lot of important people in the racing industry.  What fun!  (And I even got a touch of sunburn, too!)

 

***IMPORTANT NEWS:

We received confirmation that Florida Winter Tour will NOT be running an ICC class for the 2010 season.  (big-time bummer!)  I was assured by Bill Wright that they will have a stock Honda shifter class that I could run.  ---OK, I’d rather run an ICC, but, whatever.  Racing’s racing.  At least I have the world-famous king of stock-Honda-builders Jeff Hudlett on my team!  I’ve never driven a moto-shifter, so, I guess there’s another learning curve I can look forward to!

 

***I’m working on a sponsorship packet for the upcoming Florida Winter Tour.  Any interested parties, please e-mail me at info@hannahjohnsonracing.com, and I will forward it right over!

Well I had a fabulous night last night.  My sweetie took me out on a hot date, but,unlike most girls, I wasn’t taken out to dinner and movie.  BETTER.  Jeff and I went to Palm Beach International Raceway so I could compete in Equipe Rapide Sports Car Club’s Autocross Under the Lights at the kart track.  I’ve clocked hundreds of laps at PBIR’s kart track…albeit in a kart. Throw in traffic cones, some slaloms, and the fact that I’m driving a Pontiac, and the game changes a little bit.  The class that my Solstice fits in is C Stock,which is usually dominated by Miatas, but, this time around, a Solstice won!  And, yes, I was driving it!  Yay!  Another 1^st place trophy!  Check out the results page here.  I'm hungry for the fastest lap of the day award.  Next time I'm bringing an ICC...

I used two different cameras on the car, for different points of view.  As soon as I edit all the runs together, I'll upload it to Youtube and post a link.  Sounds simple, but I have yet to find a video editing program that I like.  *sigh*  Eventually I'll upload and post and all that good stuff.  At least the photos that Jeff took are easier to deal with...

FKCS Race #4 at Ocala GP was glorious!  Gloriously hot, too, I must add.  We measured a scorching 102 degrees in the shade on Sunday.  OW!! 

Practice at Ocala went very well.  By the end of the practice sessions on Friday we got the kart dialed in perfect.  Jeff thinks we're making bettergrip around Turn 1 than any of the other shifters.  Good!  We were able to compare my Pi data to Jonathan Branam's from a few years ago when Winter Tour ran here with this same track configuration.  (Jonathan drove for Bobby and Jeff a couple years ago.)  I might lose a few tenths on the big right-handers, and I may be missing a few MPH at the end of the straightaway, but if you compare the split times, I'm actually a little faster than him through the tight corners.  That's a given, though.  Slower, tighter corners like smaller drivers (like me),and faster, sweeping corners like taller drivers (like Jonathan).

On Sunday I fought hard with Connery during both the pre-final and final, managing a respectful 2nd place finish in both.  What a blast!  I got some good video of both races, but the doggone files are "corrupt," or some nonsense, and won't play continuously or upload to Youtube properly.  Looks like I need a techie's help...any takers?

Sunday's ICC final was definitely my favorite session of the season up to that point.  Pushing hard in 3rd place all race, trying to stay right on Connery's tail, and three corners before the checker I get past him into 2nd.  He pushed me the whole way to the end, and we drag raced to the line!  That was exhilerating!  I'm sure it was exciting for the spectators to see, too.  Fantastic racing!

Here are some photos and (non-corrupted) videos from the weekend.  Also be sure to check out the results from MyLaps.com

Between the races on Sunday, Todd Kovi interviewed me for the Driver Spotlight article in FKCS's Monthly Newsletter for July.  Excellent write-up Todd!  Thank you!
Check it out (in blog-friendly form):

Driver Spotlight - Hannah Johnson

You would never guess there is a fierce competitor behind the friendly smile and welcoming personality of FKCS ICC Shifter Driver, Hannah Johnson.  Hannah is in her first full year of karting and doing well, which is impressive considering the fact she started competing in an ICC Shifter that requires a higher skill level than other classes.

Hannah comes from a family of motorcycle enthusiasts and her parents have restored antique bikes for many years.  Growing up in a mechanically oriented family led Hannah to pursue a like minded career.  She is a certified motorcycle mechanic, among other things, and works for a high performance bike center in Ft. Lauderdale.

Hannah Johnson with her Moto GP

Hannah says she has always been competitive but just searching for the one sport where she could excel.  She raced Moto GP with some success over the years but tried out karting during a trip to a Ft. Lauderdale indoor track and was hooked.  She spent almost a whole year on the indoor circuit, taking advantage of the free ladies night offer and getting plenty of seat time.  The next step was a test drive in an EasyKart 100 but it just didn't offer enough performance.  She then tested with a shifter in Opa Locka and decided to step into the class.


On the Podium - 2nd Place, 2009FKCS, Race #4

Hannah has worked hard to get to the front of the ICC Shifter class and currently leads in points going into the final race of the season.  She thanks her coach and tuner, multi-time national shifter champion, Jeff Hudlett for all his help.  She enjoys racing in FKCS, loves the camaraderie, and has made many new friends in her first year of competition.  In addition to karting she also enjoys autocrossing and is currently building a Spec Miata in anticipation of competing in SCCA events.  You can learn more about Hannah on her website, http://www.hannahjohnsonracing.com.



FKCS Race #5 at Monticello…not so glorious.  Y’know, I’m not happy with the result at Monticello.  Not happy at all.  For those who were there and saw what happened, you know why.  For those examining only the results and points pages on the internet, you should be able to determine that something happened that was not in my favor.  I won’t go into any detail until the officials finish with the disputes and calculate the final season points.

If you’re a little curious to know…check out Sunday’s footage from my on-kart camera here.

Wow, what a busy past two months I've had.  I wrote my last blog entry before the race at Ocala, so let me start my catch-up blog from there.  I do hope you have a few minutes, my friends, as this might take some time…

FKCS Race #2 Ocala GP:
We had quite a busy weekend.  Long, hard, and a lot of work.  It seems we kept finding problems left and right.  Little things, silly things, left and right.  Our kart stand broke, while the kart was on it (and running, mind you), which bent the right rear wheel.  Thank goodness the axle, as well as everything else on the kart, was OK.  What's that old Scout motto?  "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail?"  Well, Jeff always packs spares, and plenty of them, so the wheel issue was an easy one to fix.  The kart stand was repaired by way of a pair of leftover 8mm Tony Kart kingpins at the pivot points.  What else would we do with them since we're using the 10mm kingpins on the karts now?  LOL
Sunday morning practice gave me my very first opportunity to drive a kart in the wet.  What fun!  Although I only got a couple laps in, and a couple spin-outs here and there, I learned quite a bit about wet driving.  But thank goodness the track dried before the racing started.  Here’s another first for me:  I got my first standing start amongst other shifters.  I'd have to say I did pretty good, not perfect by any means, but quite impressive for a first-timer, nonetheless.  I had qualified 4th, behind Schule, Zanella, and Connery.  In the heat, I finished third, behind Schule and Martins.  Then, time for the feature.  In the second or third lap, one of the Masters Shifters drivers went off course in a fantastic fashion, red-flagging the race.  They left a couple other classes run before they let the shifter classes re-start.  My third standing start, and I haven‘t seriously blown any of them.  Man, I’m on a roll!  I drove as hard as I could, and made a few small mistakes here and there, but we drove to a strong 4th place finish, behind Schule, Zanella, and Martins.  That there puts me 2nd in the points championship.  Nice!

Check out some of the photos and videos from the weekend.

HKSS Race # 1:
We decided to go down for Homestead Karting’s Spring Series opener race.  I really like the track at Homestead, so I was definitely pumped for another fun race day down there.  Unfortunately we ran into some tuning problems due to the fact that the spec fuel for this series is a bit lower quality than what we have been running in the state series.  We didn’t get the all the little issues sorted out until after the qualifying session.  Nevertheless, I qualified 5th out of 8 drivers, despite the horrendous bogging and nonsense that was carrying on.  I would have to say that I had a blast during the pre-final!  Even though I started further back in the field, I drove hard and finished 3rd.  I had a very fun time in that race, so I was super-pumped for the final.  Starting 3rd, I ducked in behind Cooke, who started 1st, but he seemed to have a problem getting around Turn 1.  That put me in quite a predicament, as I was ready to flow through the corner quite fast.  That put me sloppy, and a few other drivers passed me.  I drove like a madwoman trying to catch back up the ground that I lost.  Until…some dude spun himself out in front of me going into Turn 2 on the second or third lap.  I avoided him as much as I could, but still knocked him good with my right front.  DAMMIT.  I kept the engine running and was off again, only to find out that something in the steering was less than straight.  This all happened with still about 10 or so laps left in the race.  It was the most difficult 10 laps I’ve ever driven.  I still managed to pass a few other drivers to get up to 4th place overall, but, man, I was so tired by the end.  Finally getting out of the kart at the end, I examined the damage to the kart, finding a bent steering shaft and a seriously bent right tie-rod.  (That would explain why the steering wheel was turned about 20 degrees to the left while the kart was driving straight…)  I hope I didn’t embarrass any of the other drivers too bad by driving around them with the kart in that condition.  LOL

Check out some of the videos from the day.

Motorcycles:
I participated in FLAMRA’s season opener at Miami GP on April 19th.  Check out some of the photos from the day.  Although I must admit that I am not as competitive on 2 wheels as I am with 4, I just love how fun it is to play around with the mini motos.  I have a KTM 85SX all dressed up for mini-moto-ing, with bigger front brakes, 12” wheels, custom footpegs, y’know, the whole works.  I have an absolute blast on this thing.  I must applaud FLAMRA for their efforts in putting together a great race series for all the mini-moto racers of ALL ages.  Speaking of which, you should see some of these kids.  The next Rossi, the next Stoner, the next Spies, all these little squeaks are running around making me look bad.  LOL  I competed in two classes, and I didn’t place anywhere spectacular.  Like I said, I’m in it for the fun, the exercise, and the social atmosphere.  Jeff decided not to compete with his KTM 560SMR as he did not want to risk anything, being that we are in the middle of moving our shop.

SIDE NOTE:  We have signed a lease on a free-standing 2,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Fort Lauderdale  Although not 100% yet, we’re getting closer to being completed relocated everyday.  This place is our toy shop, to the fullest!  We are building an office and separate lounge area (AKA the Trophy Room) apart from the workshop, which will have different sections for Jeff’s machines, and dedicated workspaces for each motorsport.  We will have a separate area for the bikes, with the bike lift and tool boxes and benches and whatnot.  There will be a special kart area, with a lift for those heavy things, dedicated tool boxes, plenty of workspace and even a dedicated 2-stroke engine-building bench.  We’ll have the car lift for the race cars installed indoors, once we get ready to dive into that project.  (Side Side Note:  In the move, we did get both Spec Miatas running, in order to get them into their new home.  Yay!)  We also have about 3,000 sq. ft. of outdoor storage alongside and behind the building for the boat, race trailers, Guido’s dead Celica (future autocross beater), as well as four 20-ft containers for parts storage, dyno storage, and Spec Miata parking.  The containers will help prevent the obscene storage problem we had at the old shop.  (Thank goodness.)  With proper climate-control and de-humidifying systems in place, they’ll turn out to be right good for storing the race cars.  I’m very excited about the new shop.  It seems everything is turning out just right after all.

Back to Motorcycles:
Jeff competed in the mid-May CCS race weekend at PBIR with his (factory) KTM 660 SMS.  Mind you, this bike has not been played with since Jeff rode it at Daytona about 3 years ago.  We have a client with a brand new (also factory) TM 660 Supermoto who raced in the amateur classes (with Jeff in the expert classes) where these two bikes were competitive.  I would have to say that Jeff’s big KTM is one of the most impressive motorbikes I’ve ever worked with.  That son-of-a-gun was perfect!  With fresh oil, fresh fuel, and new tires, that thing smoked every other supermoto out there.  It is a work of art that is the pinnacle of obscurely genius Austrian technology - all applied to an asphalt-loving dirtbike.  You just can’t beat that.  Now, the TM version has an equal WOW-factor on first impression.  But I’d have to say, the KTM seems to be a bit more reliable, especially under the conditions from that weekend.

Which brings me to my next bit:
I’m actually writing this blog entry during my between-sessions time at the end-of-May CCS Weekend at PBIR.  Our client Vito rented Jeff’s 560 SMR to ride this weekend, as the engine and swingarm from his big TM are on their way back to Italy.  (long story)  Jeff uses the 560 SMR only to play around during mini moto practices, but it turns out to be a really good road course bike, as well.  Vito rode hard on a strange bike all weekend, and he placed better than what we expected.  Mind you, all the supermotos are thrown in the GP bike classes, as if the two riding styles are anywhere near being similar.  But Vito did excellent, very impressive.  (He may have to build a trophy room for himself sometime soon, too!)  I wonder if Jeff and I have finally persuaded him the KTM-way.  Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  KTM’s aren’t built in Italy.  LOL

And finally to the best part:

FKCS Race #3 Jacksonville 103rd Street:
Well, let’s start this chapter the Monday before the race weekend…
Since Jacksonville is Jeff’s all-time favorite kart track (he has literally thousands of laps there), he wanted me to get some seat time there before the FKCS race weekend.  We decided to go on Monday, my day off work.  With not a soul there, we had the track to ourselves all day.  I got a few good sessions in.  I was cooking by the third session, for sure.  Even Jeff was very impressed by how quickly I learned this new track.  Then I made my first (and last) mistake of the day.  I don’t make many serious mistakes when I drive.  Sure I may miss an apex here, and I may get a little too far in the marbles there, but I don’t ever get way out of whack.  I may still be fairly new at karting, but people are always surprised when they learn that I first started outdoor about 6 or so months ago.  Anywho…  I was getting used to flat-footing the entire bowl before the back straight.  (Those who’ve driven there in a shifter know how that’s actually a bit more difficult than it sounds.)  I was pushing pretty hard, and managed to catch my left front in a small hole right off track.  POW!  I found myself caught under the fence.  The hole made my chassis bottom on the pavement, and then I was shot straight off the track to the right.  A fence post took most of the 50-ish MPH off, while me getting caught under the fence took the rest.  I was perfectly fine.  In fact, I was pissed that I wasn’t wearing my camera, as that would’ve made one hell of a video!  Jeff didn’t even have his cell phone in his pocket to take a picture of me trapped under the fence when he came to rescue me.  Dammit!  This was the first kart accident that I caused myself.  As the kart wasn’t really banged up and I wasn’t even shaken up, I knew I would have to learn as much as I can from the incident.  Now I know where the limit is.  And, to be honest, it feels good.

Later that week:
The Hudlett Racing Team arrived back at the 103rd Street Sports Complex early Friday morning and snagged an awesome pit spot.  We even managed to make it out for the first practice, which went quite well.  Second practice - not so well.  A few laps in, I’m following a moto shifter out of the bowl onto the straight.  Something happened.  It seemed as if he just stopped accelerating; he just dropped an anchor.  I was about a kart length back from him through the bowl, so I tried to avoid him when his kart unexpectedly slowed.  Well, well, well, I find myself in another unfortunate predicament here in Jacksonville.  My right rear caught the bump on the far right side of the track, sending me skidding sideways off to the far right side, into the serious marbles.  Sliding sideways I saw another driver, who had to have been almost 10 kart lengths behind me through the bowl.  Target fixation, maybe?  Tunnel vision?  Panic?  I don’t know.  I got nailed hard on the left side of the kart and spun around so I was facing the other on-coming drivers.  I jumped out of the kart and found a CRG upside down further down the track, and Rubio squatting on the ground.  Holy S***!  (Although I missed it entirely, I was told later that, after his kart contacted mine, it started to cartwheel and sent him on his impersonation of Superman.)  Shaken up doesn’t even describe his state.  (Hell, I probably would’ve peed myself if I was in his shoes.)  After getting hauled off to the hospital, we learned that he injured both his arm and his collarbone.  Dammit.  Second practice on Friday.  And he’s leading the points in his class!  I was weirded out the whole weekend.  I shouldn’t blame myself because this is racing, but I should blame myself for making a mistake like I did.  But I shouldn’t blame myself for someone else not being able to avoid me, but I should blame myself for putting someone else in a position where they have to avoid me.  It went on like this in my head all weekend.  But, that’s racing.  Right?  I’m new to this, and I’m just going to have to learn to cope with these situations.  Right?

My parents drove all the way down from Maryland for this race.  I haven’t seen them since Christmas, and they have never seen me drive a kart, so this was to be a special weekend for us.  Besides, I needed someone to watch my dog while Jeff and I were working.  LOL

Sunday went well.  Mostly.  I qualified third, behind Grektorp and Zanella.  I completely blew the start during the pre-final.  I was so lucky I didn’t stall the engine.  I had to spend the whole heat driving back through the Masters who passed me into the first turn.  I managed to make up all the ground I lost while stuck behind the Masters, and I was stuck to Martins’ bumper by the finish line.  Nevertheless, I finished sixth (last) in the pre-final.  Most of the way through the day’s feature races, the rain came.  Hmmm…my first wet race.  This will be interesting.  Yet again, I blew the start big time.  I just had a hard time with the super-tall gearing we needed for this track.  At least I didn’t stall it!  I drove hard.  I mean, really hard.  I had something to prove.  I even had a special audience to see it!  I drove through the Masters who passed me into the first turn, yet again.  And then I started picking off the ICC drivers.  It all felt so easy.  I’m so lucky to have Jeff setting up my kart.  He is a master engine builder, tuner, and one heck of a driver, but who would’ve thought he knows how to set up a kart for racing in the wet, also?

I think I would’ve had a lot of fun with Grektorp, if I had the opportunity to drive with him.  He’s one of the fastest drivers in this series, and his fastest lap of the race was only 0.21 seconds faster than mine.  If only I could’ve started better and not be caught up behind the other drivers for so long…  There’s always the next race!

I finished second, behind Grektorp, and ahead of Schule, Martins, Connery, and Zanella (who went off course).  Schule, the points leader, got DQ’d for the race.  I’m not too sure why.  Underweight?  The fact that one of his crew crossed the line onto the track to help him when one of his wheels fell off during the warm-up lap?  The 90-second rule?  I don’t know.  That kid drove very well this weekend, and I hate to see these things happen to such a talented competitor.  But…since he was DQ’d and received no points for the race, and I finished second, that put me in the points lead for the series.  Granted, Grektorp has finished in the first position for two races (the race at Ocala he missed entirely), but, for the time being, yours truly is the point leader.  …In my very first year of competition…ever!  This is a great feeling, and I have all the confidence in the world to see it through!  I may sound cocky and naïve, but I am determined to win.  I am a winner, and I will prove it to anybody who may think otherwise.

In the tangle with Rubio my Vholdr camera got destroyed, so I had to rig up a back-up system, which I had a hard time trying to figure out the best (and safest) place to mount it.  It's the newest system from Motocomm, and involves many wires.  The cool thing about it is that I can mount the camera to the side of the radiator for the best view, I can mount the microphone under the front fairing for less wind noise, I can mount the battery pack alongside the Pi battery, and I can mount the control unit right on the steering wheel.  Despite the complicated wiring and nonsense, this system, when mounted correctly, has the best image quality in comparison to a lot of the other systems I've experiemented with.  It also records in MPEG4, which makes it much faster to download to my computer between sessions (and upload to Youtube later), and it also makes it easier to edit, should it be desired, later on.  I've been uploading all my videos for everyone to see in their raw state...no editing whatsoever.  Eventually I might make an '09 season compilation video that might actually be a delight to watch.

I got a couple good videos from the weekend, but my most impressive drive, during the final, I missed entirely.  I was in such a hurry to get out on the grid, and get driving, and learn the moist track quickly, that I didn't get the time to start recording!  Man, it would've been a good one, too!  Oh well, there's always next time!  Check out some of the videos and photos we did get for the weekend.

Yesterday we went down to Homestead Karting for a private track day with Doug Cox.  He is competing in the Masters Shifters class of the Florida Winter Tour, where he is currently in second place in the points championship, even after missing a whole race!  This guy is FAST.  It was such a good learning experience for me to chase him around.  I definitely learned A LOT about my driving habits (good and bad), the kart, the track surface, the line, everything.  I don't think I can thank him enough for his time yesterday.
We got quite a bit of driving in...more than what I would in a WKA weekend, that's for sure.  I realized that, even though I am in pretty good shape, I need to start cross training again to keep up my endurance.  I want to be able to drive as well as I did for about 2 or 3 more "longer sprint" sessions a day than what I did yesterday.  Not a huge goal, but it would make the difference at the end of a long race weekend.

                   
Be sure to check out some more of the day's photos.

Wow!  What a busy week we've have!  Last Monday night we went to PBIR to get some more practice time with the new chassis and to test the Pi system that we just mounted to the kart.  The warm-up session went fine, but the second session....well....not so good.  The piston ring caught the edge of the exhaust port and tore a chunk of piston off during its downstroke.  Needless to say, I got spun around as far away from the pits as I could be.  Thanks to the course workers who gave me the tow back to the pits, ending our night.

The next day was a frantic scramble to find parts for this engine.  Thanks to Italian Motors in Washington who overnighted a new cylinder, head, seals, and small bits of all sorts to us for delivery on Thursday.  No thanks to the inclement weather that delayed our overnight shipment by another day, with delivery on Friday.  Soooo....my number #1 engine, the K9B, will not be used for Friday practice at Homestead.  And my #2 K9B engine needs a re-build before we trust it to run it.  Oh dear.  Looks like I need to break in the brand-new K9C that my sponsor just pulled out of a box.  Oh dear!  How fortuitous!  So Thursday night we get the trailer packed up and the kart loaded.  Mind you - there is no engine on this kart right now.

On Friday morning we get to the track at about 7:00am and meet my sponsor Bobby.  Out comes the K9C from the back of his truck, and down goes Jeff, spinning wrenches as fast as he can to get it mounted.  We missed the first practice of the day, but that's OK, I don't like going out for the first session of the day anyway.  (The track's usually too dirty.)  I did get six sessions in during the course of the day, with many, many adjustments to the kart along the way.  The major thing that I was not happy with was the Bridgestone tires.  Not happy at all.  But, hey, what can I do?  The Bridgestone YJB's are the spec tire for my class.

My class doesn't race on Saturday, so I went back to my day job.  After work, I had the opportunity to do some research as to last year's FKCS results.  A 17-year old named Kyle Connery snagged the 2008 ICC championship, winning 3 out of the 5 races.  If I'm going to do it, I need to beat Kyle.  That'll be my goal for the weekend.

           

On Sunday morning, we decided to do the two morning practices with a set of quite-used MG Yellows.  (The buzz around the pits was that the ICC shifter drivers were going to vote on either staying with the spec Bridgestones or going for open tires, so we wanted to get some kind of testing done with MG's at this track.)  As it turns out, I got my fastest lap time of the day in the last practice session with those dead MG's...a 48.63.  Not bad for a rookie.

Drivers' meeting - vote goes to open tires for the ICC class.  Yes!

Qualifying - Jeff pushed my kart to the front of the pack, right next to Kyle, who managed to get out for the qualifying session ahead of me.  I ran him down...HARD.  Although I couldn't seal the deal and pass him before the end of the 5-lap qualifying session, I know I had better times than him.  Although both of our engines were evenly matched down the straights, I made soooo much ground on him under braking and with my faster speed through the corners.  Even though I made a few mistakes, I would catch right back up with him.  He did brake-check me pretty hard going into Turn 1, but, yet again, I caught back up to him quick.  I can't wait to actually race with this kid!  The announcer called out the starting grid for ICC.  Yes!  I did qualify ahead of Kyle!  ....but behind Tyler Schule and Chris Grektorp?  Where the hell did these guys come from?

                                                            

The heats started, and during the TAG Masters heat, the rain came.  The first rain on a freshly-re-paved track.  Oh dear.  As soon as it got moist, all the oils came up and made the track as slippery as ice.  No amount of gumball rain tires would keep a kart gripping on that stuff.  Needless to say, they cancelled the rest of the heats (only the ICC shifter and shifter masters classes), as well as all the feature races.  They called the results as the standings from the end of the heats, and as the results from qualifying for the shifter classes.  What a disappointment.  I really wanted to get wheel-to-wheel with these guys!  I already knew how it would start:  I would start in 3rd, behind Chris, who I would tuck in behind at Turn 1, shutting the door on Tyler, and then we'd drive away from the rest of the pack to fight our own battle towards the end of the race.  All I need is a rabbit!  At least I still got a trophy.  And HEY I did finish ahead of last year's champion.  And that was my goal for the weekend.  Go me!

Now I have another goal....I need to get around this guy:                            


Check out some more photos and videos from my weekend at Homestead.
       
    

Hannah Johnson won the C Stock Ladies class yesterday at Palm Beach International Raceway with the Equipe Rapide Sports Car Club.  In comparison of the times from the standard C Stock class, she would've finished second in C Stock, behind a Miata with R-compound tires.  Out of all the Ladies classes, she got the fastest time of the day with a 60.3!




Find the day's results on the ERSCC website.



Check out the videos of her five runs here:

Run #1 Sighting Lap

Run #2 Tire Pressures Test

Run #3 Bad Start

Run #4 Too Much Tire Chatter!

Run #5 Final, and Best, Lap of the Day