Round 6 of the DIRT Series is in the books and it was a great day of racing! My dad wasn’t able to make it to the race this weekend, so all of the responsibility was on my mom this time to get me to Glen Helen Raceway. This was the first time one of my parents couldn’t be there, which left me a little nervous, but I knew everything would be alright.
We arrived at Glen Helen on Saturday morning and got my car unloaded. I headed to tech with my car, and my mom got me checked in at registration. Then I went to line up for practice. I was able to get two practice laps in and the car felt great. Glen Helen is one of my most favorite tracks, so I was super pumped to race!
After the driver’s meeting, I headed back to my pit to look over my car one last time before it was my class’s turn to head to the line. I raced in the Open 1000 class and we were race number 6 in the lineup for the day. When it was our turn, I headed to the start line. I picked my spot with the other 9 competitors in my class. I got ready to go and as soon as the flag dropped, we took off! I was second off the line as we rounded the Talladega turn and headed down the hill. The track was tight so I knew I was going to have to try to make a pass on first place every chance I got. For five laps, I stayed on the car in front of me and tried over and over to get around him. Going into the last turn on the last lap, I was able to take the inside line and make the pass! We headed up and over the finish line jump and I took the checkered flag in 1st place! I was so stoked!
After going through the race line up once, it was my class’s turn to line up again for moto 2. The flag flew and we all took off! Heading up Talladega hill, I was in the third place position and immediately started to apply pressure to the car in front of me. I was finally able to make a pass on lap 2, and took off after the car in first. I pushed the gas to the floor and drove like crazy to make up time. I was able to get around him taking over the lead going into the last lap! I stayed focused, kept my head in the race, and crossed the finish line in 1st place! I took home the overall 1st place spot for the day!
Our next stop is Fox Raceway on August 10th for the SXS Regionals round 4 and August 11th for the DIRT Series round 7. We’re getting my car prepped and ready to go so I can be back at it in a few weeks!
Thanks so much to all of these amazing companies and people that support my program: Candle Motorsports, Addict Racing Engines, Demon Powersports, Method Race Wheels, GBC Motorsports, Benchmark Performance, Crow Enterprizes, Roll Design, Elka Suspension, Energy Coil Racing, Factory UTV, Ace Motorsports, Baja Designs, Gates G-Force, PRP Seats, Rugged Radios, Maxima Racing Oils, Bikeman Performance, Grounded 4, Tireblocks, Crown Performance Products, Surface Sun Systems, HOK9, Corona Print Shop, Perrault Motorsports, Dirt Rider Designs, UTV Underground, and my parents who make this possible for me! Thanks to Steve for putting on the DIRT Series, and thank you to Lisa at Major Impact Photography for the great pictures! You can check out the Sims188 Racing team on Instagram @csims188 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/csims188/.