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Heat #1 Finish: 1st
Heat #2 Finish: 2nd
Feature Start: 2nd
Feature Finish: 2nd
Number Of Karts: 3
Practice recap:
The goal for practice was help get Matt Brehm up to speed, "we can't figure it out, we talk before the race and after every week and still he's stuck in the back of the pack," said Michael Metzger. "I just must have bad luck getting bad karts, I think we're getting faster each week, it's just not going fast enough to keep up this year," said Matt Brehm before practice. While out there Michael tried pointing out some key lines to use when running the track before trying some things with his kart. "I tried helping Matt, then I got too far ahead and was trying to see how fast I could do some corners, had to be enjoyable to watch for the fans I was sideways like Steve Kinser (sprint car driver) out there on some corners," said Michael. "I learned something by watching Michael that will hopefully help me in the heats and feature," said Matt after the practice.
Heat recap:
The surprise for the night was Eric Zwirlein could not make the journey up for this weeks race, "I knew he'd been threating that he couldn't make it most weeks so this is no real surprise for me," said Michael. Once again a lack of turn out amongst all weight classes made for a combined night of events, which might have delighted fans with some great action, did not go over well with some competitors, "I hate it, I really do," said Michael. "The other karts just get in my way and keep me from racing the karts I need to for position," Michael continued and was not alone in compaining, "it really hinders my learning curve adding these guys who can be wreckless out there," said Matt Brehm. Starting second amongst heavy drivers, sixth overall, saw Michael just up to third overall after the first few turns as the drivers third through fifth got together. "They all wrecked each other out there in turns one, two and three and I finally got by it going into four," said Michael. From there Michael cruised in third overall until being passed by Tony Barbagallo (medium division) who did not make any friends making the pass. "He hit me going into four, got by me in five, couldn't hold it, then I got back around, but once I knew it wasn't Joe (Milazzo fellow heavy driver) I let him go he was really pushing it though," said Michael after the race. Michael crossed the line fourth overall and first among heavy drivers for his sixth heat win of the year. "Like last week, it's nice to be piling up the heat wins, but they've gotta start translating into feature wins," said Michael in victory lane.
For the second heat Michael stayed in second amongst heavy drivers and sixth overall. A pile up in the first turn allowed Joe to pass Michael, also getting by was Tony which set the stage for those two drivers to have a race long duel in front of Michael. The karts of Joe and Tony bounced off each other each lap, causing both to get warnings from the officials, this after every driver was issued a warning after the first heat display. "The best way to describe those two out there was a couple of spider monkeys trying to f*&k a door knob," said an angered Michael Metzger after the race. The bumping finally came to head in turn three where contact between Joe and Tony sent Tony spinning and Michael looped his kart to avoid a big pile up. "Those two were beating each up every turn and I get penalized for it, that one medium driver (Tony) is a freakin' idiot. He's about a tenth of a second faster which means he can get ahead of you but not pull away, so he either gets repassed or crashes you. I further don't understand the warning rules, I think those idiots should have both been parked for rough driving, I'll have to get an explination on that one," stated Michael after the race.
Feature recap:
For the third race in a row, Michael started second among the heavy drivers and sixth overall. "I thought I had a good kart, just had to keep Joe in sight and pounce in the closing laps," said Michael. But that was not the case, following another pile up in turn one, Joe got ahead of a few medium drivers and kept that distance as Michael tried to fight through them. "I knew it was going to happen those medium drivers cost me the race tonight, I don't know if it would have been close without them, but I would have felt like I'd have a chance without them to contend with. No wonder they're always getting warned they all drive like maniacs out there, they were putting their karts in places where you can't pass, but not letting up," a dejected Michael said after the race. Riding behind three medium drivers, Michael could do nothing but watch Joe inch away. Michael did get around Tony, and that led to another run in, "he was slaming into me every corner, so I tried my best to rattle his cage when he got by, but it was no use, the guy has a cinderblock for a brain out there," said Michael. "My frustration is probably ten fold because I should have won tonight, and I know I'm better than the performances I'm putting in, it just I can't drive with these idiots out there, Earl (track operator) pointed out that myself and one other driver were the only ones not to be running into everyone out there. That just shows you that five out of seven guys out there don't know what they're doing, they watch NASCAR every weekend and think it's ok to run people over. Well it's not, especially in this conditions of road racing and go-karts, common sense people," said Michael as he stormed from the pit road.