Last month at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, just over a year into my career in cars, a result finally happened, some points are now mine. That’s not to say my focus is on points and results alone; my focus has been on putting in the work, on making my performance count, fighting through any uncontrollable situations that come my way, and developing as a driver. As a racing driver, that’s all I can hope to accomplish, and, I know if I stick with that formula, results will come. But of course, I am trying to get a good result. That’s what every competitor is here for.
On Skip Barber Momentum F4 we have been seeing small results since the beginning of last year, but overall, we were not where we wanted to be. I’ve implemented small race craft tricks I’ve picked up and there, however, I was still far from the leaders. I knew there was much more I had to find driving wise; moreover, I didn’t have the ability to communicate what I needed about the car. I was not performing at my personal best.
Leading into this year, what became important was how the people around me helped me keep a winner’s mindset, a drive to work hard, put my best down in my second season, and to believe that results will come.
Simply, this season has been showing us that our work is coming together, and, at PITT Race, it finally gave us a taste of what we are aiming for.
I spun out in the first race at PITT, so we decided to use the second race as a qualifying session for the third race in order for me to get back to the top 15 crowd I had been racing in. We started the third race in 11th. After a good start, we were racing hard into the top 10, but before long, a caution came out. When it came time to restart, I had a forgettable one. I fell several car lengths behind Benjamin Pedersen, who is in contention to claim the championship, in front of me, and I was getting swarmed from behind by other cars. I vigorously defended my position from the car behind me, racing wheel to wheel through corners, clearing him on the exit, seeing his nose dive back outside of mine on the entrance of the next one.
Josh Hurley, my coach and engineer, was enthusiastically spotting me, berating me with his usual calls of, “Outside, still outside….clear! Defend all the way down….hold him….yes, good boy!”
After a lap or two, I was able to pull ahead and my focus turned to the orange Global car glimmering in front of me. I knew catching him was going to be a challenge, though, as he sat comfortably several seconds ahead of me. I was in eighth with a little under half the race to go. I started putting down laps. I was calmly pushing myself right to the limit. It especially felt great when I got the call once or twice from Josh, “You are the fastest car on track right now, keep it up.”
I chased Benjamin down to the line but never got close enough to make that last move. I came across the line in eighth to cheers from my team. That was it. Finally, some championship points in our back pockets.
I wanted a little more. We had pace to finish higher, but I realized what these points meant to us. It hit me that even though we had been racing with top-10 pace several times this year, even though we are so clearly improved from last year, we had not had any real championship results to speak for it. Josh, Phil, and the Skip Barber Momentum F4 team put together their best performance yet in the form of my car. A major thanks to them, my parents, sister, and others who have helped me put my best down at PITT Race.
The next stop is at Skip Barber Momentum F4’s home track, New Jersey Motorsports Park. With the feeling of success still fresh in our minds, we are not going to settle because we have the potential to climb even higher, and we’ll do our best to do just that.
Thanks for reading,
Kent