CBR Speedway Round 2 “The Shitshow”

First I want to explain the name of this video, many happenings factor in, a lost cat that was never lost put our flagman Keven not exactly concentrating on his job, (I understand if my pup was missing I would feel the same), excess watering of certain spots on the track and a tree root extending above the ground covered with packed dirt which didn’t pack, all carts being low to the ground, some drivers who didn’t know to watch the flagman, what each of the flags mean, or what it means when the flagman puts one finger up signifying one more lap before green flag, also a trailer parked by the questionable corner which didn’t permit an even higher line at full speed to get out of the mud without the chance of hitting the trailer. Many restarts moving at too slow of a pace for the carts to get over the root or through the mud without getting stuck, one cart would get stuck and that would slow the next cart and cause a chain reaction of stuck carts, after the race a rash of penalties went out some deserved some not, the situation was so many things were going wrong at the same time, especially for myself I couldn’t keep track of anything but trying to keep the cart moving, I hadn’t a clue who I was supposed to be behind. Actually it was a great track and a lot of fun so I’m not complaining about prep, track configuration, or any other of the many issues that were happening on this day, it was nobody’s fault just many things that didn’t go as planned, hence the name “The Shitshow”. A little history, Colton and I have been racing each other since he was a youngster, many years already, mostly with wheelers (older videos). I bought a go cart for my children to ride about 30 years ago way before Colton was a thought in anyone’s brain, he grew up watching offroad racing with his dad. At some point Colton decided he wanted to start racing go carts, most of this happened around the great Covid scare of 2020, Colton wanted all the carts to be the same, tire size, slicks, gearing, engines, etc. Most of Colton’s carts came from the same fun park that had go carts there so they were pretty much all the same, my families cart of course was not the same it had 6” tires compared to Colton’s 5” tires, but Colton wanted them all the same so he said he would rebuild my cart, I gave him the money, but everything was scarce in 2020 thanks to all the idiots shutting down the world, so Colton had it rough finding the right parts my cart, it still has no bearing caps on the rear as the correct hubs weren’t available, anyway the 6” tires are 2” taller than the 5” tires which made my too low already cart sit 1” lower, it would take a complete cart rebuild to raise it so I just dealt with it. Last year I cut some framework and got about ¾” of height back but my cart still sits a couple inches too low. I told many before the race that I was not planning on going inside on the corner with the root, and loose dirt on top, as I knew I would get stuck on it, but the outside line was a mudhole and if you wanted to try and go higher at full speed the trailer could be an issue. When the green flag dropped I got tangled in a mess that I couldn’t avoid, that caused a restart but not in original order restart, a rolling start in a line, on the restart I got stuck in the muddy corner, and would have lost a lap but the red flag came out prior to the leader Colton passing me. So a full lap had still not been completed for all drivers so we restarted again, it was at this point I knew my only path through that corner for me was going to be the inside line over the stupid tree root, but I needed enough speed to hit it and continue or I’d get stuck on top, and with all of my own commotion trying to figure out how I was going to get through that corner, I was not paying any attention to what was going on around me, who was the cart in front of me, where should I be restarting after all the red flags, I just parked in line where I was, nobody complained and told me they were ahead of me, was I a lap down, was it again another complete restart, there was nobody to line up cars like would be normal so I just assumed I was in the right spot, and continued as I was. We raced to the competition caution, and I passed several carts and had gotten up to third place which is where I finished the race. As soon as I got out of my cart I went and talked to several of the spectators my first comment was, “was I supposed to restart in back, was I a lap down”. Colton has a camera on every drivers helmet, plus cameras staged all around the track, they started looking at footage, I said I didn’t want to be involved in the decision, whether I was third, fourth or last, but the red flag had come out prior to Colton who was the leader passing me, and we never all completed a full lap. After about 30 minutes they gave me third place. Obviously the conversation continued later as I seen on Instagram that one driver received a 15 point penalty for not adhering to the rules or to the flags which I am not sure they completely understood, and I also had gotten a 15 point penalty for restarting in the wrong position, I went to Colton’s rule book which stated nothing about a point penalty for either of our infractions, and started a complaint on both accounts, which both were overturned. What a shitshow! Next race Round 3 Memorial day weekend.