Date	Oct 2, 2016
Track	Simraceway, Sonoma, CA
Configuration	Reverse Sprint
Total Drivers	10
Qualify Position / Time	P5 / :50.500
Heat Race 1 Position / Best Lap	P5 / 1:03.790 (Wet)
Heat Race 2 Position / Best Lap	P4 / :51.034
Main Race Position / Best Lap	P4 / :50.874
Points Earned / Series Points	155 / 1195
Standings Position	3/21

SGKC Round 8 was arguably the best I had driven in Senior Rotax to date. The day of the race was full of ups and downs, and I'm still learning a lot every time I exit pit lane.

Practice

Saturday practice started out slowly for me, and I began to grow frustrated at the fact that my lap times weren't improving since the first session. My mechanic Wes told me that I had to work on my braking in just three spots, which is where I'm losing all of my time. Everywhere else on the track was consistent for me. At the end of the day, I was still struggling, and then my dad told me I'm probably not driving well because I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before. Chances are, that was exactly what was affecting my driving. Better recharge my batteries the right way next time!

Qualify

I went to bed early on Saturday and proved my dad's sleep-theory correct after I cut my lap times down by a full second during qualifying. On my fast lap, I dropped a tire coming out of the last corner and qualified in 5th place. Had I not made that little mistake, I probably would have qualified even higher up, which meant that I had some passing to do throughout the day.

Heat Race 1

It began to rain before the first heat race, which struck a bit of tension under the tent I was under. However, I was literally the only person who walked into the pouring rain to praise the sky. I had to hold back a bit of laughter when the rain intensified. At the start of the heat, I moved up from 5th place to 3rd within the first couple corners. I then found myself battling for 2nd against Carter Herrera and came out on top after the first lap was over. I was then closing the gap on Zach Pettinicchi until the track began to dry out. Zach picked up his pace from there, and Enzo Prevost found his way around me. I slowly slipped back into 5th place, struggling to adapt to the new track conditions as Roman Alekseenkov and Alex Marquez drove by late in the race. It was a missed opportunity to earn more points in the championship series, but I still learned something very important in the end.

Photo by Tony Leone, Dromo Photos — Photo by Tony Leone, Dromo Photos

Heat Race 2

I had a poor start for the second heat race, as I came out of turn 1 in 5th, when I could have potentially came out of the corner in 3rd. Not much happened during the second heat, ad I was able to bring the kart home in 4th, which meant that I would be starting the main race in 4th place.

Main

I made another poor start during the main race and once again found myself coming out of turn 1 in 5th behind Zach. Carter Herrera and Enzo Prevost pulled away from the pack and left Roman, Zach, me, and Dominic Giansiracusa in a battle for that podium spot. I managed to overtake Zach after he made an attempt to pass Roman and got crossed over, and then got around Roman a coulee laps later in the race. Dominic was right behind me the whole time and managed to pass me after I made a small error heading into tic tac toe late in the race. I drove hard and didn't let Dominic pull away while Zach followed closely behind, waiting for me to make another mistake. I finished the race in 4th place, just barely off of that podium finish. I kept looking back at my GoPro footage after the race to look for where I made my mistake that allowed Dominic to go for the pass. I wasn't surprised at where the mistake happened, given my history with tic tac toe. Looking toward the final race of the season, the odds of me finishing 3rd in the championship are definitely in my favor. I am also looking forward to possibly racing in a second class for the final race of the year!