This race weekend was an education to say the least. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong and the weekend ended with Luca’s first retirement due to mechanical failure. It’s an important lesson for this young racer to learn to rise above the disappointment and to put it behind him. And an important one for me too as that possibility had not crossed my mind until that point! It’s all part of racing.

Saturday practice started well enough. The kart seemed to be performing well but it was lagging in terms of lap times. Luca, usually so quick, was struggling for time on this fast track. He was consistently 1 second off the pace and no matter what the pit crew tried, they couldn’t make the kart as competitive as it had been in previous races. Luca was enjoying the seat time, pushing hard at every turn. He even said that he felt that he was fast but his lap times did not tell the same story.

Sunday race day did not see any improvement in his performances. He qualified 6th on the grid and 2nd in his class. In Race 1, he made an excellent start, taking 3rd in the first corner but his lack of top line speed meant that he gave up positions relatively easily to the faster karts. Her finished Race 1 in 6th and 2nd in class behind Bria.

Race 2 turned out to be a deep disappointment for Luca. After a poor start by his standards, I see Luca pull off the track around lap 3 at the entrance to the pits, banging the steering wheel in obvious disappointment. He was retiring from the race.

I run to the pits and Doug is speaking into Luca’s helmet. He makes the stop sign and Luca gets out of the kart as Doug inspects the problem. His seat is loose and we realize that it had detached from the chassis frame. It wasn’t a serious problem but for safety reasons, it warranted his retirement. Luca did well to recognize that there was an issue and to bring the kart in to protect the equipment. I was told that this is not often the case with young and inexperienced drivers. Good job Luca …

A few tears of disappointment were shed. Luca really wanted to do well, especially as his close school friend Ethan had made the trip to the Speedway to watch him race. But his frustration was short-lived as he realized that mechanical failures happened even to the best racers. He felt that he performed to his best with what he had to race with this weekend and he had fun doing it. The rest, as they say, is history!

It’s the first time that Luca is not on the podium, although he is up there with a winner’s medal for his 2nd place finish in race 1. He dealt with his disappointment with grace and maturity, congratulating Bria for her excellent performance. It’s good to see his sportsmanship.

He will be back for the next race on the weekend of November 27th. GO LUCA!

Speaking of the next race, I have decided to upgrade Luca’s equipment to the ItalCorse chassis and his engine to mini swifts. He’s ready as he has dominated his class in 2016 and the step up will be mandatory in 2017 as a consequence. Look for the next blog on a new gofundme project that I will launch to help us get there.

Luca is so excited …