Wild West Motorsports Park
August 22 – 23, 2015
Rounds 13 & 14 of the Lucas Oil Off-Road National
The team went into this round completely blind as to what they were expecting the course to be like. Having to be prepared to make proper adjustments to the karts as problems arose through out the weekend to maximize performance. Fridays practice was the first time on the course ever for Branden and Amanda. Branden’s best lap time was 00:47.957 and Amanda’s 00:49.045 in just 3 short laps.
After practice one, the team decided to make some adjustments to tire pressure in hopes to get better traction on the course for the second practice of the day. These adjustments helped improve their lap times, but they did not qualify where they hoped to be.
Race Day 1
Come 12 o’clock it was race time! Starting in the back of the pack Amanda was doing great. She said the track had a lot of hair pins, which wore out her arms very quickly. Branden and Amanda kept getting stuck behind one another and slowed down with multiple cautions thrown throughout the race. Branden was making his way up in the pack when he two wheeled it into the wall. They ended day one finishing behind each other, Branden 13th and Amanda 14th.
Race Day 2
After day one, the team decided it would be best to change the gearing after running the course at race pace. Changing the gearing really helped the car get up to the pace we were looking for, but couldn’t get it together for qualifying ending up in the back again for the race. Branden starting 15th and Amanda starting 17th. Branden started making his way towards the front and on the restart he ended up last after a car was stalled in front. By lap 7 he was in the top 10 and got spun out in turn 6, finishing in 14th. Amanda was performing well with her new gearing change as well until her rear end locked up. Unaware of what happened she pulled into the pit and discovered her sprocket was broke about lap 7. The team quickly got it fixed and sent her back out after being two laps down. Back on the course for not even a full lap her chain broke, ending her race.
Special thanks to Fox Shocks and Undaunted Apparel for letting us keep our karts at their booths on display for the remainder of the races and all of their continued support.