Being away from racing for five weeks took
its toll on a lot of us this warm and not so humid second points race of
the season. Yes fans, we are almost into June ands only two points
races down. Ti say everyone was a little hyper is an understatement.
But the racing was awesome, and their
Survivor Series race was our Animal Heavy class doing their survivor
race for the first time ever. It was Enik Sanders taking the win in this
long duration race. Nine Animals made for a great race.
In our Junior Sportsman Champ Novice
class, it was Brandon Stubblefield getting his first ever feature win. I
happen to know this because this was his first ever race. With the
exception of some practice laps the night before the race, he was
participating in his first ever event. Way to go Brandon, and he was all
smiles when i saw him later on as he showed me his picture that was
taken out at the track. We cant forget to mention another newcomer to
this class, Courtney Wilson, daughter of Roger Wilson.
We also had a first for ARP, an ALL
GIRLS race in our Junior Novice Class. Kimberly Stephens, Chelsea
Atkeson, and Brittany Rochelle competed with Kimberly taking the win.
And what about the Crawford's??? Travis
taking his first ever feature win in the Purple Champs, and Pete, taking
a well deserved win in the Senior Champs.
In the 5 classes, we had 47 Champs in
all.......totally awesome!!!!
We also had TWO track records set, one
in the Animal class by Enik Sanders with an et of: 11.543. The other was
set in the Stock Medium class by Mark Pasino with an et of 11.449.
Congrats to both our new record holders.
Check out all the top 5's below and
congratulate them the next time you see them.
139 Entries again, (Two races in a row),
not too shabby. Thanks for all the racers and fans who came out!!
Personal Comment: The night was full
of excitement, but it was also full of adrenaline I suppose because we
had not raced in such a long while, and everyone was anxious to get back
to what we all love to do. The uncertainty of being so hyped up showed
both on the track, and in the pits. We had some rough contact in both
places. And to be honest, I am not sure which place had the roughest
contact going on.
I know this is not a laid back hobby
or sport we all are involved in. Racing is competition and contact, and
keeping the contact under control is as much the racers job as it is
ours as officials. But when the contact crosses the line and is so
obvious that it becomes intentional, then we all suffer the results of a
lack of control.
We had an incident in the pits, which
stained the entire nights racing. People screaming at each other, vulgar
comments, pushing and shoving and threatening, and this was carried out
by adults, all the while being watched over by some of our young racers.
I been involved in kart racing for over 14 years now, and it still is so
hurtful to see some of us displaying this kind of behavior not only in
front of other kids, but our own kids as well.
I thought we were supposed to be
having fun out there???; teaching our kids about friendships and
true sportsmanship???; treating each other like we want to be
treated ourselves?.....they call it the Golden Rule!!!, just in case some
of us have forgotten.
I wonder, when that rule was created,
did the creator have in mind how the term *gold* is
connected to money and power, and how money is connected to points and
feature races, and how winning HAS to be accomplished at all costs, no
matter the loss of friendships, or the loss of respect??........costs??....now we are
back to who has and who has not again.....*sighs*
...never mind!!
Danny Davis
Operations Manager
