[bruecksteve]

Well..... my son Matthew did it!!!! He qualified here in Atlanta at Andretti Speedlabs for the Red Bull Driver Search. Last night was the last night to qualify after almost three months of intense competition. And it came down to the wire.

Two of the top four qualifiers were there last night, a brother and sister combination, John (14) and Mary (18) Mossey. They both qualified last year and both have considerable karting experience driving Rotax karts. Coming into the night Matthew was .05 seconds out of 4th place (Mary had a 29.48 to Matthew's 29.53) and they were only taking the top four, so it was a do or die evening. Everyone used the same kart.

Matthew made some good runs and finally managed to get a 29.60 (his best run ever was a 29.53) which Mary eventually tied. It wasn't looking too good for a while. Then Matthew pulled out a 29.46 to grab the 4th place spot. Mary and family panicked and she went out to try again. After about 16 minutes she ripped a 29.45 to steal 4th back by .01 seconds. Matthew kept trying but couldn't quite get there. Matthew and Mary had two 8 minute runs left. Mary went first and decided to do back to back sessions against her brothers better judgement. A little more than halfway into her runs she pulled a 29.36 to further seal the lead but that was as good as she would get.

So it came down to Matthew's last two sessions. Matthew was consistently in the 29's and on his 14th run managed a 29.39... close but not enough. By this time everyone was sweating. More runs pass. Then... on lap 27 Matthew comes screaming around with a 29.30!!! He did it!!!!! Pulled it out by .06 seconds!!

I really hated it for Mary, she really wanted it very bad, but needless to say, apparently Matthew wanted it a little more.

So now the next step is the run-offs. The Run Offs will take place at 2 outdoor go-kart tracks, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast, in July and August. Each event will have approximately 150 qualifiers and will take place over a 3 day period. The events will be organized by Red Bull and the qualifiers will compete in equal karts provided by Rotax.

Up to 10 drivers will be selected from the Run Offs and invited to attend the Semi Final in September.

So keep your fingers crossed for us. I suspect the Matthew's lack of karting experience will begin to show during the next round. He's only driven karts about 7 times now, once at Goldspeed when about 40 of the SCCA guys rented the track several years ago and about 6 times at Andretti. So if anyone out there would like to help Matthew and maybe let him share a ride in a kart at an autocross or anywhere else, I know he would greatly appreciate it. He definitely needs to get into something faster now and get a little experience with more speed.

Needless to say I was pretty proud. I would have given anything when I was a kid to have an opportunity like he's had. He's always at the autocross's with me so maybe you can come by and give him a little more encouragement.

For more info you can go to http://www.redbulldriversearch.com

[AllZWay]

That is awesome. Good Luck in the future!!