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Heat #1 Finish: 2nd
Heat #2 Finish: 1st
Feature Start: 1st
Feature Finish: 2nd
Number Of Karts: 3
Practice recap:
Practice saw the return of MMR friend Steve West to Batavia International Motorsports Park. During the session, Michael and Steve had quite the battle on track as Steve got used to racing the tricky road course. On the last lap of practice Michael made a daring move in turn five to get the "win" over Steve. "This was good since I followed Steve most of the way I could tell him where he was loosing time and where he was gaining time," said Michael after the practice as the first heat for the Light/Medium division rolled out.
Heat recap:
On the pole for the first heat, Michael was not a factor. Going into turn one the kart broke loose and Eric Zwirlein and Dave Lyon got past, "I hate that kart, it's the same one I had in last weeks feature and I can not drive it. Everything I try it breaks loose in turn one and five, which are critical corners for gaining or loosing time," said Michael after the race. Dave Lyon spun after two laps, giving Michael the second place finish.
The second heat was a sign of things to come for the feature. Starting third, Michael moved his way to second on the first corner, "I got a good jump on the start and stuck the kart under Dave and set my sights on Eric," said Michael. It was a fierce battle for first with Eric and Michael swapping the top spot numerous times with some fender rubbing out there. "I wanted him to know I was there some times and try to rattle his cage," said Eric. Instead of making a move with three laps to go, Michael waited and road right on Eric's tail until the final lap where he made the pass for the lead going into one, "I didn't want to get by him and give him a chance of passing me back, that's why I waited until the last lap," said Michael. Eric gave charge off of turn one, Michael taking the low line and Eric the high it was a drag race to the finish, with Michael winning by about six inches. "The only mistake I made all race was running Eric into the grass at the end because I was watching where he was to me coming to the line, what a finish," said Michael. "He made the right call protecting the inside, that's where you want to be for that last run," said Eric.
Feature recap:
Starting first was Michael, followed by Eric and Dave as they cars entered turn one it stayed in that order. After a few laps, Eric got by Michael, who then followed Eric looking for that one mistake to get back infront. Trying a daring move going into turn one Michael dove to the inside of Eric, but went in too hot and drifted up the track and Eric got back by. "I didn't think I had a good enough run until the last second, tried it, and luckily quickly gathered up the kart and put the peddle back down to catch him," said Michael. Following for many laps Michael started trying different lines, "I started getting frustrated because I could catch him late going into turn one, so I'd have a super run going into two, so I began looking to his outside in that corner which actually helped to line me up for turn three," continued Michael. As with the heat race, Michael waited until the last lap, but it was going into turn four that he made the move. "Eric didn't give me much space there, I didn't expect him too on the last lap, but I was determined to stick my kart there anyways, got to his inside and made the pass, the only problem is I never did get back to line myself to turn five and I can't make that turn well being on the inside," explained Michael. As the karts roared into turn five, Michael's kart washed up the track enough to let Eric get the inside as the two drag raced back to the start finish line. With the inside line Eric just nipped Michael by less than four inches. "I knew he'd (Michael) try on the last lap to get me, because I left the door open a few times before that and he didn't pounce on it," said Eric. "I got the inside and just held the gas down, that was an awesome race," continued Eric. "I'm not frustrated, upset, or anything, that was a great race, I did exactly what I wanted in getting the lead, I just need to work on turn five, looking back I can probably figure out something to do to prevent him from getting the inside, but that won't change the results. It was good, hard, clean racing and I know I can do that with Eric without him knocking me out of the way," said Michael in the post race interview. "There was no real banging, no worries of one of us wrecking, the only thing Michael could have done was run me in the grass, but at that point I wasn't backing down so we would have wrecked for sure," said Eric from victory lane.