As the halfway point of the MIKA season rolled around right off the tail of the second CRFKC race, VRS and the Demaras Auto Racing Team arrived at Mosprt Kartways looking forward to another exciting race.
Practice didn’t go well at all for Daniel, with him not going faster than a 1:10, and ending up slowest overall. The team got to work on trying to change up the kart’s setup, and Butch, a member of VRS brought out his “laser alignment system” to check the alignment on the front wheels, and after finding out that the wheels were completely messed up, got to work o fixing that.
Daniel set his best ever time with a 1:08.5, but that was only enough to start 18th out of 20. The team made further chnges to the kart by switching up the tire pressures for the pre-final.
Daniel started on the inside row for the start, but more importantly for the long uphill left hander turn two. Daniel made an incredible start getting all the way up to the bottom end of the top ten, with many quick drivers behind him, including teammate Keadon Fletcher, who went for a move on the outside of turn two, but Daniel defended brilliantly and kept the position. Fletcher did however end up passing #12 on the downhill straightaway into the hairpin, as did several other drivers, and in the end Daniel finished 14th.
And then it rained.
The team scrambled to put rain tires on and get the kart ready for the tricky conditions. Despite aa good start, Daniel felt that the kart wasn’t ready enough and after struggling for control managed a still impressive twelfth place.
While Daniel had a tricky race. fellow VRS driver (and Daniel’s part-time driving coach) Tyler McCullough fought his way to the front of the Briggs Senior class, while running wet tires on a rapidly drying track. An impressive win.