March 29th, 2011 
admin By: Larry Robb
Patience: Calmly accepting difficult situations when the going gets rough.
The Lake at "tic tak toe"
James 1:2-4 — “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. You know that the testing of your faith develops your perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be, mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
When Sting Ray brings home the “assignment of the month,” I always marvel at how closely the message is needed in whatever we are doing, and how we should apply it to our racing. Much more importantly, how we should use it in our daily walk. This week’s “word” was patience, and the “scripture” was James 1:2-4.
The Sonoma race at Infineon Raceway required about all the patience we could muster. We have raced in rain before, as recently as round 3 and 4 of the Gatorz race in Fontana, but last weekend was the biggest brother of the rain we have experienced ever.
Courtesy GatorZKarting.com “From the start, Robb was untouchable, and he began to pull away from the rest of the field. Robb dominated the fourteen lap race until the tenth lap, when he was blackflagged after his rear bumper came detached from his kart. The attention then focused on the new leader, Huffaker, who had Kami Moreira-Laliberte giving chase. However, a mistake never came, and Huffaker took the win with Moreira-Laliberte in second and Garrett Gulenchyn in third.”
Sonoma was round 5 and 6, and the final weekend of the series. We were in sixth place in the point’s race, even though we were finally in the “fast” category in Fontana. In race 3, Sting Ray had qualified 3rd, finished 3rd in the heat race, and ran unchallenged in 2nd in the final until two laps left. Lapped traffic, (they had already been blue flagged) tangled with Sting Ray and spun him out in what should have been a clean pass. He still finished 4th, even though his engine died in the spin out and he got back on the track in 6th, rallying in the last lap. Race 4 was his first pole of the season, and in the final his throttle linkage broke.
Interesting Paint Job
Sonoma wasn’t much different. Sting Ray qualified 1st in race 5 on Saturday. He went on to win the pre-final fairly easily. Our hopes were high, anticipating a win: finally. As the group of 18 rounded turn 1 during the formation lap, Sting Ray was leading the pack, slowing down for the start, and was pummeled from behind by another driver just as they entered “tic-tac-toe”, and tricky s-turn that on this weekend had a river running through it. I’m not kidding. NO BRIDGE. Sting Ray spun and went off the track.
He really had to hustle to get back to his pole position before the green flag flew, indicating the start of the race. He got there in time, took the lead for 5 laps, and we noticed the officials waving the meatball flag at him. We noticed his bumper was riding low and dragging a bit after he was rear ended, but I knew it was safety wired on. Taking all the dramatics out of the long story that ensued, he came in, and upon inspection, we had to agree with the officials. The rear end collision was violent enough to snap the 3/8′s inch bolt that holds the bumper in the frame, destroying his opportunity to win, again.
Where is the silver lining? In races 3, 4, and 5 he qualified 3, 1, and 1. He was third in a pre-final, and first in another. In those three finals he was spun out once, broke a throttle cable once, and was black flagged while leading, (for a bolt broken off in an unnecessary collision.)
Next week we start the Region 6 IKF season in the Tri-Cities. Sting Ray will be competing in Mini Max, Junior 1 Animal light, and Junior 1 Animal Heavy. His 4-cycle kart is nearly complete with Sting Ray stripes and new Red Apple stickers. We think we have been patient, and as in the book of James, our perseverance is certainly being tested. Being the fastest kid on the track doesn’t win races, but I’ll bet perseverance does.
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