Over the weekend I attended my first State side national event since the pandemic started last winter. I flew into Cleveland Ohio on Monday and was picked up by Paul Cicarello. Tuesday we got to the track and began setting up the pits and putting final touches on the cars while also having a couple laughs. This track is a little different then any other track I’ve been too however. It was a glued surface and provided a insane amount of grip to adapt too.

Wednesday was track practice and I really focused on getting tires all situated and cars handling great as the grip got higher and higher throughout the day. By the end of the day I already figured out what tires worked best and started building a good setup for each car.

Thursday was Seeding practice and the track got another layer of glue the previous night so the grip was even higher then Wednesday. As Seeding started the heats were randomly put together and the first heat got a really fast heat with a lot of top guys so it was a pretty big advantage. In my heat I really struggled to get a third good lap to really make a impact as I felt like my pace was pretty solid in 2 wheel and 4 wheel. After seeding was done I seeded in the B heats for both cars which was Okay I guess.

Friday was the first 2 rounds of Qualifying and first race up for me was 2 wheel. After some setup changes the night before my car was simply lovely to drive. Had tons of grip and felt like I could push it as hard as I wanted too. I had a mistake early on in the run which costed me quite a bit but I just tried to keep my head down and push all the way to the end. I ended finishing 2nd in the heat and 10th for the Round. In 4 wheel I again had a little bobble early but my pace was still pretty strong and I made the best out of it. I would be 11th for the round. Round 2 in 2 wheel was looking to be really good as I had a little more pace and didn’t make a single mistake until the last 2 laps when I rolled it over and then got caught on a pipe which costed me about 5 sec in total of time. I ended being 9th for the round but it would have put me 5th without that mistake. In 4 wheel I struggled a bit more this time and had too many mistakes to really make a impact.

Saturday was the final 2 rounds of Qualifying and I glued up and ran a fresh set of tires and got them broken in on track the night prior during the practice sessions. But during the 2 min sessions something just felt off. I didn’t have as much as grip as I had the previous days. In both runs in 2 wheel I felt like I just lacked the confidence from myself and felt a little disconnected and obviously was disappointed in myself. After Qualifying was all done I would be 2nd in the B-Main in 2 wheel and 5th in the B-Main for 4 wheel. They had some practice later on after the day was done and I immediately tried to hit the track to see if I could find some speed back into my cars and try to get some confidence back.

On Sunday we had the mains. I was up first with 4 wheel and I after some big changes to the car I thought it was really good so I felt confident. After a couple laps I had a little bobble after getting up to fourth but that mistake would drop me down some. Tried my best to fight back but just couldn’t move up anymore. Got 6th. In the 2 wheel B-Main I was holding onto Broc who was leading for the first few laps until I again made a mistake on the left side of the track which pushed me back to 6th. After my tires warmed up I started getting better traction and was able to get myself into 3rd until another bobble pushed me back to 4th where I ended up finishing. Overall for me I would say this was a pretty disappointing weekend as far my driving and preparation for this race was. I definitely did not come into the race as prepared as I thought and just never really felt like I had it all under control. This is one of the few times that I can really say I didn’t have a great time at the track. But regardless I will learn from this and come back next time a little more prepared and hungrier to get back to that top level. Thanks to all my sponsors for all the support, Thanks to Gord, Ty, Troy and paul for all the help throughout the weekend, Thanks to my Mom, Dad, Brother and Girlfriend for all there love and support. And most importantly I wanna thank the man above. I wouldn’t be able to do what I love if it wasn’t for him.