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| Features |
| Learning Curves – Lynsey Tilton’s Stars Finale Experiences |
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 | | Lynsey Tilton stives for professional career in motorsports |
San Diego, Calif., driver Lynsey Tilton, provided eKartingnews with her second race report from her latest racing experiences at the Champ Car Stars of Tomorrow Karting Championship held Oct. 30-Nov. 2. This was Tilton’s first run on the newly constructed one-mile Moran Raceway in Beaumont, Calif.
In Lynsey's Words:
This was a race I was really looking forward to, but it turned out to be one of my hardest races that brought new experiences for me. I was doing double duty by running the ICC class along with the Rotax class.
Friday was practice and we had six sessions. Since I was running two classes I would get more track time. In the first two sessions for each class, I didn’t get much practice because of little problems that kept happening in both classes. Finally, in the last four sessions I got going good. In the ICC class we struggled with chassis set-up, but in the Rotax 125, I was in the top three.
Saturday morning brought rain. Practice was in the rain, but it dried out for qualifying and the heat races. The day was scheduled for qualifying and two heat races, but due to the rain everything happened except for two of the heat races for the ICC class. I struggled in ICC, but not as much as before. After the 20-minute session, I ended up 44th out of 65. When I went out in the Rotax, I had a flat left rear tire. I came in and my brother and my dad put in about 25 pounds of air to see if it would hold out until the end. It did and I would end up fourth out of 21. We later found out that the bead lock was leaking on the wheel. I was happy with both results because I had improved, although I was not super happy with ICC because I knew I had a long way to go.
For the first heat race in ICC, I started in the back. I moved up at the beginning and then started to drop back toward the end, as my kart still wasn’t working right. In the Rotax, I kept right with the third place driver when I finally got around with six laps remaining. I slowly started to close in on second place, and with three laps remaining, I was able to pass for second. On the last lap the third place driver tried to make a pass but wasn’t able to make it stick. After the race I went through tech and got DQ for having the fuel filter in the wrong place. Having never ran this class before we didn’t know so I knew I had my work cut out for me on Sunday during the main.
When Sunday morning came around, I was looking for a good run in both classes. We made some drastic changes on the ICC, with the hope of running better. The first heat would show that. I was working my way up, but with three laps to go the throttle cable broke. The next heat was right after that one. At the start I moved up three positions and was working my way up further when on lap four, I went to pass the kart in front of me who was having problems and he turned in on me. At the same time, I got hit from behind and it sent me up over the kid and at least five feet in the air. Out of that crash my kart wasn’t hurt too bad, but I had a bruised back and later found out that I had bruised my lungs, we think. Since my two bad heat races I had to go to the LCQ, short for last chance qualifier. We thought we got everything fixed, but in the race it proved we didn’t. Through the corners my front end was hopping and I had missed the qualifying position by two spots. From there, all my concentration went to Rotax.
 | | Tilton (center) draws on the advice of NASCAR driver, Shawna Robinson, at the 2003 LS James Foundation gathering for Women in the Winner's Circle. |
In the main I started 21st due to my DQ from the heat race. My goal was to be in the top five by the fifth lap so I could have a chance to win or be on the podium. But this wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. Each lap, I slowly started to reel each person in and pass them. At one point I was running a half second faster than the leaders. I eventually ended up running out of time and ended up with fifth and felt this was a really good run.
I want to thank everyone that has helped me this year. There are so many, I can’t name everyone. But I would really like to thank my whole family and all of our friends. My plans for 2004 have not yet been decided, but will be testing a midget over the winter for sure.
For more information on Lynsey Tilton, visit her web site at http://www.lynseytilton.com
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