Round 5&6 of the Skip Barber Formula summer series took me to a track that I have been visiting for years throughout my childhood and dreamt to race on. Road America is the most iconic North American track. I had been waiting for this weekend since I saw the summer series schedule. Going in to the weekend I was looking forward to picking up where I left off at Road Atlanta. The weekend started off better slow as I was getting around pretty fast but I was still searching for that last second to put me up front. Going in to the first race of my weekend, I qualified 4th to start the race. During the race I was only able to finish 4 laps when I started having trouble grabbing a gear and could not finish the race. I was really upset because at the beginning of the season I told myself I want to see every checkered flag to gain as much experience as I could. But fortunately they called it a mechanical problem allowing me to have another race in group three. I was very pleased to hear that but since I wasn't able to qualify that means it put me in the rear of the grid at the start. I had a really good start and slowly settled in to a rhythm and charged to the front. Not being able to see the front running guys I still pushed to grab the best finish I could. Unfortunately for my other competitors they had some issues and errors giving me some positions, allowing me to finish 4th overall. I was amazed and was very pleased with that finish considering I started dead last.
Race 2 was a lot better I was able to shave two seconds off my time to qualify 4th for race two. I was very happy with that but it was time for race 2. I had a wonderful start and was able to grab 3rd place at turn 1. As the race went on me and the top 2 pulled away from the pack. As me and 2nd tried working together to keep 1st in our sites we couldn't hold the same pace as him. This allowed Dakota Dickerson, was running 2nd and I to have a great battle going back and forth switching positions, fighting for 2nd. Coming to the Checkered flag I was able to set turn 14 up well as I drafted along him and was able to pop by him 50 feet before the finish line and was able to grab 2nd place and my first ever podium in my career. I was so ecstatic about the outcome of the race and proud of myself for battling back the whole weekend to grab a strong finish along with some good points towards the championship. Huge credit to the Skip Barber instructors and my dad for allowing me to keep my head up and push forward.
Overall this weekend was absolutely amazing being at Road America with my dad and gained some great experience. It also was amazing experiencing the cool small town of Elkhart Lake. It was such a friendly environment and just such a great racing town. But overall a good weekend and I can't wait to continue what I have learned and gained and take it to rounds 7&8 at Homestead coming August 6th.
I want to thank everyone for the support along with my sponsors Invisible Glass, USwag, Burton, Hitcase, and iRacing. See you guys in Homestead.