November 2006

Lap Report
Pace Lap Pace lap, Steve Paulauskis on pole leads 29 karts, Kirk Schenck will start late with a battery cable problem.
Lap 1 Start lap, good line up, the flag man holds the pack for a few seconds. Karts fan out six wide but everybody makes the first turn and lap. Don Lee leads first lap.
Lap 2 Jeff Catlin leads, Samantha Vesperman drops out with engine troubles, William Pfeifer pits with a flat tire.
Lap 3 Paulauskis leads, Schenck joins race.
Lap 4 Paulauskis still leads, a group of 5 karts starts to separate from the pack.
Lap 5 Paulauskis maintains lead, Don Lees engine seizes for the first time, he restarts and continues.
Lap 6 Darren Young spins and cannot get restarted, William Pfeifer rejoins race.
Lap 7 Bill Pyles catches lead pack, Paulauskis still leads.

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Part One

It was a hot day for October. Not so hot that you saw heat waves coming off the pavement but hot enough that you wanted to sit in the shade with a cool drink and watch other people do the work. It was the kind of hot that would sneak up on you if you forgot your hat. Burn the tips of your ears and the back of your neck.

It was just the kind of day that makes you want to get an early start so you can be done by mid-afternoon and then go home, get cleaned up and maybe take your family out to dinner. Go to a nice Mexican food place and relax. Talk about the days events over chips and salsa. Talk about how hot it was, and when it’s going to cool off. About how great it was to have people do all that work that goes into putting on the things you did today.

You know, a perfect day to be at the races.

Part Two

Jeff looked across the infield and saw Rich standing by the grid looking back at him. He raised the rolled green flag over his head and twirled it around in a little circle. Rich waved back and turned to the karters sitting on the grid, “Fire ‘em up!” he said. Buttons were pressed and karts were pushed. The engines were coaxed into life, some smoking, some quietly muttering. Rich held his breath so he wouldn’t breath the acrid smoke and waited for the last of the engines to start. When it finally did, he waved the machines onto the track. The noise engulfed him and he grimaced as they went by. Then it was quite. The noise wouldn’t be back for just over a minute. Rich looked at Jeff as he waved the flag to start the race.

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