I just won the first race of the inaugural GGLC Winter Karting series. We had some 25+ folks shop up at LeMans Karting in Fremont for a fun afternoon of pizza, karting and a little competition. After a series of 10 heat races we were split into 3 semi-finals which were won by Jordan, Jay and me respectively. However because I started the lowest in my semi, I was on pole for the finals with Jordan and Jay right behind me. I knew that both of them were about half a second a lap faster than me which meant that I had no chance of beating them on pure pace. So I went to my “pole position plan” which is to make a good start and then drive a super defensive inside line – this meant that my lap times were crap compared to the others but I was still quick enough that they couldn’t pass me around the outside. Plus this has the effect of bunching up the field so that the people behind couldn’t try too adventurous a pass because it meant that they would lose a spot if they made a mistake.
Photo by norcalturbo
In the end I was able to hold both of them off and won the race despite having the second slowest quick lap of the field. Jay has taken to calling me “Captain Slow” for winning at the slowest possible pace. I’ll point him to the following quote from Alain Prost: “I always say that my ideal is to get pole with the minimum effort, and to win the race at the slowest speed possible.” What’s good for a four time Formula 1 World Champion is good enough for me 😀
Photo by norcalturbo
Update: LarryB just posted this awesome video of the final race.
GGLC Karting Race- 1 from Larry B on Vimeo.
