Grant’s indoor racing experience proved invaluable this past weekend with Beaverun’s double race weekend. Rain moved in early Saturday morning and stayed all weekend. Rain racing requires very smooth driving and good sense of touch as the grip is reduced even with rain tires.
Saturday morning we changed the chassis setup for the wet weather as well as getting a new set of rain tires. Practice went well and we were about 10 seconds slower than a normal dry weather day. Grant qualified on pole for the heat race. When the checkered fell Grant had slipped a position and settled for a second place finish. The Saturday feature started and we held the second position for a few laps when the third spot driver moved in front of Grant. These two battled the entire race swapping position several times. Although Grant didn’t go off track, the kart he was battling with did just long enough to hit a mud puddle on the side of the track. Grant was completely covered with muddy water from the incident, as seen in the photo above. As they rounded the last corner onto the straight, Grant was leading and the kart just behind him pulled out of the draft for a drag race to the checkered flag. When the water spray cleared Grant had held to take a second place finish.
Sunday was more of the same except the drivers had to contend with downpour rains during almost every session. In fact, it was so wet that Grant scaled ten pounds more than normal due to water in his race suit. Sunday, qualifying went well again and Grant found himself at the pole position for the second time. Unlike Saturday’s race, Grant got a bad start and finished third. The feature proved tricky as well, when for the second time Grant had a poor start. By the time the group had gotten to turn two Grant was in the fourth position. Grant was turning faster lap times than the kart in front of him and he wanted to get by as quickly as possible as not to lose sight of the two front karts. The kart just in front of Grant slowed more than Grant planned at the end of the straight. Instead of plowing into the other racer Grant hit the brakes causing him to spin. Now sitting stopped on track facing perpendicular to the direction of travel, the slower pack was moving in. Grant was able to hold the fourth spot by half of a kart length. Now the third place driver was a quarter of the way around the track. Grant managed to catch this driver by the end of the race but this time Grant lost the drag race to the checkered and had to settle for a fourth place.