Grant attended a National Auto Sport Association, NASA, driving instruction weekend at Summit Point West Virginia.  The event was organized by the Mid-Atlantic Region of NASA.  During a NASA race weekend, the driving instruction sessions run in between race sessions.  There is both on track and classroom instruction.  Grant spent time on track in three 25 minute sessions both Saturday and Sunday.  Grant was driving a Spec Miata provided by and supported by RP Performance.  Bret de Pedro, with RP Performance, provided great support and driver encouragement throughout the weekend. RP Performance is located at Summit Point and we highly recommend them for Spec Maita race support and rentals. When Grant was not busy with driving and classroom sessions we watched a lot of our friends race in the Spec Miata class.

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Just a week before the last race of the season, Grant and I traveled to Beaverun for a test day.  Making the 4 and 1/2 hour drive up, testing and then driving home made for a very long Sunday.  We needed to solve some handling issues and we knew we wouldn’t have time for practice the day before the race.  Normally we would test the day before the race but we are in the middle of football season so our Saturdays are spent on the football field.  The test day went well and we felt ready for the last race of the season.

Arriving late Saturday night before the last Beaverun club race, we went to sleep feeling ready for the Sunday race having thought we solved our setup issues the weekend before.  Sunday morning was wet from a rain the night before.  The track was still damp for the first morning practice.  Our times were off a bit but most of the crowd was off pace as well.  As the track dried before the second practice we turned a time that was 1 second faster than the first session.  We still needed to find some time however if we expected to finish well in a very talented group of drivers.  We put newer tires on for qualifying, made a few minor adjustments and hoped for the best.  After four laps of qualifying Grant was not in the top five and I began to think about what we needed to do for the heat race.  Just as I started to ponder the situation the announcer went crazy as Grant ripped the fastest time for the session nearly 3 tenths in front of the second place kart with a lap of 1:00:639.  He went from about 6th place to the top of the leader board.

The heat race gave Grant trouble and he finished 4th after starting on pole.  His times were a bit slower and we made a few adjustments for the feature race.  Starting 4th for the feature sits Grant on the outside of row two for the start.  After the first laps the karts settled in the order they started but now they are nose to tail.  Sailing into turn one Grant braked a little later than he should have causing him to tap the rear of the third place kart.  The front three were unaffected but Grant put his left rear in the turf allowing the fifth place kart to slide by.  Two laps later and Grant fought his way back to third and he was closing the gap quickly. Grant’s kart came in perfectly for the end of the race and he set fast lap of 1:00:490.  In the last lap he was able to pass the second place kart to finish the season with a second place.

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