Race Weekend #1 of 2014

The kids were off from school last week for spring break and the karting season is officially underway which means that I have little to no time to update the blog with all the activities we have going on. I am going to try to get all the backlogged posts on the blog this week.

First up, race weekend #1--

The first race weekend of the year was a busy one. It was a double-header race weekend with the first race in southern NJ and the 2nd race at OVRP in the Catskills.

Friday before spring break was a half-day for Chloe so we headed out to the track mid-day in mad dash to get a few practice sessions in before the sun went down.

Matt, Oliver and Chloe went in “Nellie” and Emma Claire and I followed in my car because Oliver had a soccer game late Saturday afternoon.

The drive took about 3 hours and the only eventful thing that occurred was the $28 toll on the thruway for Nellie! Ouch!

We got settled in at the track, unloaded Chloe's karts and she got a few sessions in before sundown. For dinner, a group from OVRP all went to the pub located on the race track grounds. Oliver had a blast chasing Tim around and it was decided that night that Oliver would have his first karting session with Tim during spring break (more on that in another post).

Watching a movie outside.

The race team tent - Team OVRP.

Saturday was race day and Chloe did really well. Her driving has improved a lot since competing in the Florida Winter Tour and she qualified 2nd, came in 1st for the pre-final and finished 2nd in the race. It was a good sign that this was going to be a very competitive year for her.

Chloe leading during the pre-final at NJMP.

Saturday's podium.

Oliver, Emma Claire and I had to leave about mid-day from south Jersey to go to Oliver's soccer game. He scored the only goal in the game for his team!

Oliver and his soccer teammates.

Our original plan was to go from the soccer game to OVRP but the race in south Jersey didn't finish up until 6 p.m. so we decided to spend the night at home and head to OVRP early Sunday morning.

Sunday's race was a pre-season race, only a kick-off for the race season at OVRP. Lots of people came out to race though and the kids were reunited with all their race pals.

Oliver playing with his friends-after I snapped this photo, I had him STOP playing on the forklift.

There was lots of competition on Sunday. There were four racers who could take the pre-season win. In the end, Chloe came in 3rd place and had some good racing with two competitors.

Chloe during Sunday's race at OVRP.

 There was no podium on Sunday since it was a pre-season race. There was a podium for the kid karters and of course, Oliver was asked to fill in for a kid who didn't stay for the awards. He was happy to do so.

It was a great start to the season. Looking forward to the first regional race in two weeks.