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Richert “Flies” to a 3rd place finish
July 25, 2004 Gimli, MB - David Richert took 3rd place in MKA Race #6. Under clear skies and extremely hot temperatures, the day got underway with morning practice sessions. Both morning sessions proved to be uneventful with the main change being that Richert
had to wear glasses due to contact problems. “The glasses worked alright
but it took awhile to get used to them” stated Richert, “everything
seemed to be coming at me faster than usual”.
The afternoon saw qualifications getting
underway as the karts took to the track to determine the starting positions for the final.
The session proved to be a disappointment as Richert was over half a second off the pace and would have to start back in 5th position. Starting the pre-final from
5th, Richert immediately got jumped by the kart beside him sending him back to 6th place.
Setting times quicker than his qualifying ones, Richert was able to put pressure on the karts ahead of him, but as
the race wore on, there was a distinct grinding sound coming from the side of his kart.
The left side pod was coming apart as the race went on, eventually falling off completely causing the race marshal
to send Richert to the pits due to the lack of safety material. This side-pod
failure, coupled with a destroyed starter on his motor from Saturday’s practice, demonstrated the bad luck that he was
having all weekend.
The first few laps of the Final were identical to those of the Pre-Final. Once again, Richert had to battle from the back of the pack, but this turned out to
work to his advantage. As the karts ahead fought it out amongst themselves, one
by one they each made a mistake and Richert was able to capitalize, moving up into 3rd place.
Once again, the kart ahead had a problem and was going slowly on the track, as Richert tried to get by, the kart veered
back onto the racing line, causing the 2 karts to collide with each other. The
resulting collision saw Richert’s kart #82 launched into the air and slamming into multiple pylons. Fortunately every one was fine with minimal damage to the karts; unfortunately the accident caused Richert
to drop back into 3rd. The rest of the race proved to be an intense battle between
Richert and the 2nd place kart as the two raced each other hard. The final lap
saw them going side by side down the front straight but it wasn’t enough for Richert as he was forced to settle for
3rd.
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