yep! awesome!! hollie and aaron and alex are coming down. we should definitely get together this weekend and of course bring the fiance.... just let us know if you want to do anything!
cool... we're going to a bible study night. yall are welcome to come, tomorrow we have a wedding to go to at 2 but maybe we can do something tomorrow night!
Now that summer is almost over (summer break, that is)...I guess I'll post about my "summer". We have done a good bit of racing this summer. I have also made a couple of trips to South Carolina. Amanda was able to fly down for a couple of races then I would take her back to SC a weekend after the race. Her parents are very kind for letting me occupy their guest bedroom for a couple of nights!
July 19th was a good day for me! We had a kart race that day which was my best yet. I was able to win the heat race and the feature! That was my first feature race win in a points race in this series! I've had several good finishes and races that could have resulted in a win but hadn't succeeded until then.
Last weekend, we raced the gokarts at a track which we had not raced on before. Rain kept us from getting much practice time on the track. Then, I got in a minor wreck in the heat race which kept me from finishing that race. I was able to fix my kart for the feature and start last...out of 25 karts. Long story short, I finished 7th. Not too bad of a night there, either. I can't complain about that.
Last night, we raced at one of our regular tracks. 14 karts showed up to race. My wonderful luck got me a 13th place starting position. My race luck was better though! Before the end of the first lap, I had managed to get to 4th place! A lap or two later, I took the lead, breifly. That didn't last long, though. I decided it would probably be smart for me to just stay in line and try to get the best finish I could, even if that wasn't a win. That's what I did, finished 3rd. Once again, no complaints about that!
Next weekend we are scheduled to race the late model. This should be a good race. We've made a lot of changes to the car and there should be several cars there for the race. I'm really looking forward to it!
Even more exciting than that is that Amanda, Lord willing, will be back in less than two weeks!! I can't wait! Hope everything is going well for everyone!
What a weekend... Fun and exciting times and not so fun times.
For the fun times, I got to go racing again (gokarts) this past Saturday. Nothing makes racing better than having my girlfriend there with me! I only ran one round of practice and everything was great. Come race time, I started 5th of 11 in my heat race. I quickly worked my way to the front and took over the lead position. I believe that was lap 2 or possibly 3 when I got there. I held onto the top spot and won the race. There was an inversion for the start of the 25 lap feature; the top three rows were inverted. This put me back to the 6th starting position. I had a teammate starting second so we had plans to run together and attempt to help eachother. We did attempt to do so. However with me trying to push him, we weren't able to go as fast as I knew my kart would. I was able to pass my teammate (which he wasn't overly thrilled about) and march on toward the front. Long story short, I ended up finishing 5th. The second place finisher was disqualified for being under weight. This moved me to 4th position. Not a bad night even though I had hopes of a feature win, also.
While we were at the track, Amanda's parents came into town. I met her dad briefly Saturday night when I dropped her off at the hotel after the race. Sunday, we all met (her family and mine) at services. I really enjoyed meeting them (still have to meet her oldest brother, Brandon). Monday, I was able to take the day off work and spend more time with them. First, we went to the Gamble Plantation in Bradenton, FL. If I remember correctly, Amanda's dad's great grandfather was involved in doing some of the masonry work on the house. It was pretty interesting to see the house and property. Then we went over to the Manatee River State Park. I've been past it many times (since it is right before you get to one of the race tracks) but this was the first time I've been in the park. We went to the boat dock and looked around some then walked a trail. Amanda and I went to the play ground area (while mom, dad, and Brian stayed in the van). Her and I attempted to break some play ground equiptment. Ok, we didn't try to break it but we discovered that maybe it wasn't intended to be used by older kids, too much. After noticing a few things flexing that weren't supposed to, we decided that was probably about enough. We headed back to Tampa and had a big dinner. I really enjoyed getting to meet Amanda's family and as always, I enjoyed spending all of that time with Amanda!!
The sad part is that she is now back in South Carolina. Thankfully they had a safe trip! However, I wish they didn't have to leave.
Hopefully she will email me some of the pictures that we took so I can post them on here...
You have a wonderful family and it was a pleasure to meet them (and you, of course!) We enjoyed our time with you and look forward to seeing you again soon. Thanks so much for the hospitality.
that sounds cool alan!!! Haven't talked to you in a while it's good to hear that things are going good!! You should come visit, it's only about 9 or 10 hours LOL!!
Dude--where's a new post? It's like almost August!! You got first place, you have stuff to post! Don't be selfish with your life! Post it for the world to see! :)
We had another champ kart race last night. This one went much better for me than the last two!! I finished 2nd in my heat race and in the feature! I lead most of the heat race but ended up getting beat by probably 2 inches or so. I got to the lead a couple of times during the feature but circumstances put me back (back to 5th at one point). I was able to work my way back up to 2nd place but wasn't able to get around the blocks thrown by the guy who ended up winning. But, 2nd isn't bad...especially after the luck I've been having! Amanda was able to go to this race, also! I was glad that she was able to come watch me and we got to spend time together when I wasn't on the track.
The next late model race is next Saturday! Hopefully we'll have good luck in that race, also!!
Here's my dad, me, and Danny (primary sponsor, boss, fellow racer, and car owner (late model))
How's everyone doin?? I'm doing good. Racing has been a mess so far this year. I've done well in the races but haven't been able to produce a good finish yet! :( Because of various reasons that we won't get into right now. Anyway, next gokart race is the 12th of this month. The next late model race is the following Saturday, the 19th.
Other than racing, I've got a new special someone who has been filling my time! Her name is Amanda! Here's a picture of her getting ready to go to FC banquet yesterday. I didn't get to go... :( She looked beautiful, though. I'll see if I can get some other pictures from her to put up.
