Well this is my last run of the year. Seems so early to wrap things up in July. I had such big plans at the end of last year and the Great Lakes series is heading to Grattan next month, a race I anticipated all year. Been around it a gazillion times on a bike. Doing it a kart in my mind would be an incredible experience.
At any rate today would be the test to decide if my shoulder was up to the beating Grattan would put on me. Anyone who knows Grattan knows that it is a bumpy ride on a bike. In a kart 2 inches off the ground the beating would be quadrupled.
Marshall came out with one of our regular karting friends Chris and so I had someone to run with. I spent the morning getting dialed in and getting my kart jetted. From there Chris, occasionally Marshall and I spent the rest of the day pushing each other around working our laptimes and braking zones down. I felt pretty good and in the afternoon ran four 20 minute race simulations at race pace.
Everything went as planned except for the shoulder problem. The pain has now become so bad that I had to make a decision as to whether I would run the Great Lakes kart race at Grattan or go to the Indianpolis MotoGP and watch some killer MotoGP which were on the same weekend.
In the end I opted to forgo racing based on the intense pain I was having with my shoulder and bicep. The effect of having a screwdriver shoved into your shoulder socket 10 times a lap makes you think that maybe it's time to stop and get the problem fixed. I figure there is always another year to do Grattan and if I can rehab quickly I'll make the entire Great Lakes series which is my goal in 2010. My surgery is scheduled for September 15th. And I'm actually looking forward to it.
Dispite the pain I once again had a blast. I probably ran around 200 or so laps in the two days I made it to the track this year. I hardly spent much money this year as well. $200.00 for a set of tires, some fuel and $45.00 for the all day track rental so it's been cheap fun. I want to thank Marshall and Al for helping me out and everyone who lifted my kart on and off the stand this July. Also wanted to thank Chris for running around with me all day.
As usual Karoline shot a slew of photos.
Hoping the surgery does the trick!
See you at the track.
Jim
