A Family United: Pan-American Race

Chloe had two major races nearly back to back. The last NE Regional race of the season was held in NJ and then days later we were in North Carolina at the Rotax Pan-American Challenge. It was a lot of back and forth and a lot of traveling.

On the grid at NJMP for the start of the final in the last NE Rotax regional.

Podium for Sunday's race at NJMP.

Oliver filling in--he knows the drill.

Being silly with fellow NE karters.

Chloe competed in the Rotax Pan-American Challenge in Mooresville, NC. This race is a international race comprised of Rotax racers from South, Central and North America. In other words, some of the best drivers in the world.

The professional photographer that took photos of the event really liked taking photos of Chloe. He said her colors really popped and made for great pics.

We were excited that two other Micro driver's would be joining Chloe as fellow teammates. Having three Micro drivers out on track all working together is a big boost--that's triple the data that can be used for race day.

But, as they say about the best laid plans....

The Wednesday and Thursday practice went very well. Chloe was the fastest racer on track the Friday morning of qualifying. In the qualifying session, though, the team plan unraveled and Chloe was not able to set a good time in the draft. It was fully expected that 5th was the worst she would qualify but, she qualified a disappointing 11th which was not great, but not terrible.
When you qualify mid-pack things can happen, especially at a international race where there is a lot on the line and racers are more determined and aggressive. Saturday and Sunday simply did not go well. Out of the three heat races, the pre-final and the final, Chloe was taken out crashes caused by other drivers twice. She also had a bad fuel pump which ended her race early in one of the heats. With the bad luck, it was very hard just to make progress with tuning and setup. It was just a really tough couple of days and Chloe ended up placing 21st when a top 10 finish was the expectation going into the weekend.

One of the driver's from the NE region, Ugo (Ollie's pal) did win the Pan-American race and that was a highlight. It was also a great final Micro race, we just wish Chloe had been in the chase.

Despite the disappointments and bad luck, we did have a good time when we weren't on the race track. PaPaw and Aunt Deanna came to the race and it was good to see them. It was also at Pan-America that Chloe got some big news which we will share later, after we can reveal it.