So, definitely had race night two of the season tonight, and, as before, it was AWESOME!
Qualifying: First off, they only gave us all one lap to qualify instead of two like last week. I knew I couldn't screw up on that first lap...since that was all I got. Unfortunately, coming out of both two and four I was sawing at the wheel trying to keep the darned car off the wall. I had no doubt that there was no way that lap was better than last weeks (which was a 16.95). This weeks fast lap for me: 16.89...so definitely some improvement...especially with a lap I thought was total crap.
Heat: Once again I was in the first heat (ie the "slow" heat). Starting outside row 2. First off, it would be nice if these racers would learn what their last name is. 9V is me and 9H is not me. So 9H was supposed to be in the fast heat, but he was definitely in my spot to start. Did anyone change that? Nope. But it was all good, I just went at it anyways. It was an 8 lap race and I had one near miss on a guy that spun in turn one. I didn't see him until I was almost on him (good thing I was taking the outside lane on that turn that lap anyways). Things were going, I was almost a straight away behind the next car in front of me (same guy that was in front of me at this point last week) with the white flag about to fly (I was running fourth at this point). Lucky for me, a caution came out right then. All I can think is "well well Mr. Slater. We are here again. Pardonez moi." I'm not sure what it was like from the stands, but I definitely was racing it like I stole it. I had two laps to get past this guy. Into one, out of two, side by side down the back stretch, into three out of four, drag race to the finish...and I got him again to finish third!

It was AMAZING!
Feature: Ahhh, Friday night racing feature. Twenty laps on the quarter mile ring of fire. Where to begin (probably the beginning I guess). I started on the pole...yes the pole. How I got there, I have no idea, but I wasn't about to complain! Of course, there is me thinking "I really hope my car actually goes this time." I was ready, I had her gassed on the backstretch to make sure she was working. Coming out of turn four, I put the pedal to the medal (literally) and before I knew it, I was out front (by myself). We got through one lap (yup, one measly lap) before the first caution flew, but not for me, thankfully. I was still out front. We restarted with me in the front, and what do you know, two laps later another caution came out for the guys behind me spinning (those guys really need to learn how to drive correctly). This time, the reigning track Bandit champion was starting behind me. We were three laps in, and I was a bit nervous and excited, which transferred into my driving on that restart. By the end of lap 4, I was back into 3rd place, where I found a nice little niche for another seven laps, which is about when I realized "hey, I'm in 3rd place!" I then proceeded to spin out once again right into the grass, lucky me. I seem to really like that stuff. There I spun on the backstretch, and what would you know, another guy came and hit me a little bit. Um...excuse me, do you not see my beautiful pink car sitting here on the backstretch and the yellow caution lights all blinking and stuff out there? That means "slow down and be careful, there is something wrong on the track" not "go find the pink car and hit it" DUH! Well, I was fine, no worries there. It was just a little love tap. Well, so this is lap 10. We restart, with me at the end of the line of cars since I caused the caution, which I believe put me in eighth or ninth. Something around there. I pass a couple more cars and what do you know, five laps later I do the same darned thing! There I go, driving through the grass again (didn't get hit this time though). This is when I started to get angry with myself. I knew what I had to do, and spinning through the grass was not part of the plan! We restart, I'm at the tail end of the cars, again. I have 5 laps to make up as much ground as possible. I get past one car, but this other car is going to give me trouble. We raced basically side by side for two laps. I finally passed him and got ahead coming out of turn two, when he proceeded to turn left (on the backstretch mind you) into the right rear fender of my car. I hadn't hit him or anything when I was trying to pass him, and I had the inside in the turns. There was no reason to get all testy about it! Grr....well, I definitely pulled away from him then and cruised around the track two more times to finish in a wonderful sixth place position. It was a great night of racing.
To summarize:
qualifying 11th (16.89)
heat 3rd
feature 6th