January 26th, 2011 
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PKRA Track - Click to Enlarge
Phoenix was a great experience this year, especially compared to last year at the same event, which was Sting Ray’s first ever Rotax Mini Max race. Out of 14 kids last year he usually finished 13 or 14th. He could not hold his head up in some of the turns because of the high “g’s” at the pkra track. He was just past his 7th birthday at that time. The gps recorded about 65 mph down the back straight. Besides the record rain, wind and constant “flash flood” evacuations, it was very cold (35 degrees) and miserable.
Move ahead one year: This year was much better. With sunshine and 70 degree weather, Sting Ray was always between 3rd and 8th out of a field of 20 Mini Max drivers. One heat race, while starting 6th, he was hit from behind before the first turn. He was hit so hard that he bent an axle, a wheel, and knocked off his chain.
Sting Ray then started the Main in 19th, and rallied to a 7th place finish. On day two he had to chance to blow by Colton Herta in the heat race for fourth on the final lap, but he calculated that because of the outside starting position for the fourth place kart, that he would not pass Colton, which would give him a 5th place inside starting position in the final, right behind his buddy, Kyle Wick.
Inside Position
This backfired as Royal McKee (number 2) was disqualified. That would put Sting Ray in 4th on the grid in the final, on the outside. Sure enough, he came out of the first turn in about 8th position, while the inside lane freight trained right by.
All in all it was a good weekend. We did notice that we were not able to rev the motor over about 13,500 rpm. The top three racers were all in the 14,200 rpm range. Our goal is to figure this out before we travel to Calspeed for the next Gatorz race, in hopes that we can land a podium or two. We still need to work on consistency and hitting those marks and being as smooth as butter through the turns.
Watching the videos really brings this out. We also think we are going to figure a way to take a basketball hoop on the next trip. Sting Ray wants to shoot at least 100 shots a day to hone up those skills for the weekends that he doesn’t get to race. Poor kid.
See ya later,
Lar
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