My 4th meeting in a row at Todd Rd so it is starting to feel like i have never raced anywhere else. We spent some time testing Friday and was about 5 tenths off the pace, yep half a second. That was until Clint put the power valve in the correct way (woo go Dad!). I instantly gained 4 of those tenths and thats where i remained for the rest of the day.

There was no carby session which was a bit strange but it was called 'Timed Practice' - IE: Qualifying. Felt sorry for the people that turned up on the day! I qualified 3rd which was okay. A little bit off the pace but still at the pointy end of the grid. I managed to get 2 shocking starts in the 2 heats, dropping places both times but finishing 4th in each one not far adrift of Kel Treseder. My pace was only average and was running thin on ideas on how to get up with the pace of Pringle and Richert.

We managed to find some pace overnight after making a few changes to the kart. I moved my way up into 2nd in the pre-final and set the fastest lap along the way. Then the heavens opened. Leading up to our race it was looking like it was going to dry out pretty quickly with the wind blowing, the sun occasionally out and with lots of karts on the track. This wasn't to be the case. By the time we had to head down to the grid we still had not made a decision on wets or slicks. We left the slicks on but took the wets with us to the grid just in case. There was a dry line starting to appear on the track and that was enough for me. With 6 laps left of Junior Clubman the decision was made. Slicks. Pringle and Richert made the choice for wets and Kel Treseder made a lost moment call to take slicks.

I made a good start out of P2 and lead heading into T1. Richert dived up the inside but slid up the track and i held onto 1st coming out of T1. Heading up the hill for the first time was going to be interesting. We had not been up that part of the track yet as the cut through misses that part of the track and so that made me the pioneer. Speed vs Caution was hard to decide. I slipped and slid around but managed to keep it on the black stuff. I had Brad Whyatt giving me a hard time for the first few laps but then i managed to edge out a gap. From then on it was a matter of keeping it on the black stuff on a semi dry track, taking half wet lines in some corners while other corners were normal dry lines. The track was changing every lap but i just made sure i maintained my gap. Treseder made the move on Whyatt on the last lap and i crossed the line 4 seconds ahead.

As for the guys on wets? Most of them pitted on the first 2 laps because it was just not worth staying out there and completely destroying a set of wets. I was really happy with the result because for the first time i can remember i had made the right call about going wets or slicks... and i was the one that made the decision so it made it even sweeter.

There is a bit of a gap between now and the Nationals at Eastern Creek at the end of September... hmm the last weekend in September - sounds like something else doesn't it? Oh yes... the AFL Grand Final. If my team the Saints make it i get Grand Final tickets. That's a hard call and something I've been doing a lot of thinking about and i am yet to make a decision on.