We headed out to the Glen Helen Raceway for round 6 of the Lucas Oil Regional Race. This race was going to be an exciting one for me. It was the first time I would be debuting my brand new Polaris RZR 570. The most fun about the races is showing up the night before move in and talking about strategies and big dreams with your friends.
Friday morning would come quickly and so would practice. I headed out to the track and made my first 5 laps in the Micro Punisher, they were fast and flawless. As I headed back to staging I saw the Red Rocket sitting by the fence waiting for its first time I was really in the seat and the first time ever on any sort of track. With about 5 minutes worth of seat time, I followed the line of 570s behind the pace car ready to see what we could do.
My First practice was flawless, I felt calm and quick in my new best friend, the second practice went just as well, the 3rd practice I got pretty comfortable and caught a rut and ended up going end over end and side to side landing on the k-rail in turn 2. But that wouldn’t stop us. We limped back to the pits and my dad began the long process of repair and replace so that I could race the next event.
Saturday Morning would bring me a 3rd position in qualifying in the Micro Punisher Polaris rzr 170 and a 2nd place in the race. As I whipped around in the punisher reality soon sat in and I realized this was my last year in my favorite car, the car that started my incredible winning streak. We rolled past the checkered flag and headed back to tech. Brian waved us through and I jumped out of my 170 and into the 570.
I didn’t qualify in the top 5 earlier in the day in the 570, but that wasn’t going to stop me, starting in 7th position and the 4th row, I was determined to earn some stripes and be competitive. As we followed the pace car around to the flag stand I felt an overwhelming sense of calmness, I watched the green flag drop and racing was on, as we headed into turn 1 a driver lost control which would catch half the field up and I was able to maneuver around the track. The officials called a restart. As we lined up again, I would once again watch for the green flag. As we came back into turn 1 the same driver made the same mistake again, this time the race was in full swing. I quickly moved into 2nd position where I would I would remain a great portion of the race. As we headed in to the last lap, I scrubbed some speed and lost a position determined to take this position back I would charge hard to the finish line. I would end up in 3rd place for my very first race in my RZR 570.