Factory Trackmagic Kart driver and Muscle Milk Extreme Athlete, Memo
Gidley, went to what is considered the biggest karting race in the
world with winning on his mind.
"The SuperNationals is such an awesome display of karting competition
and attracts the best drivers from around the world," said Gidley. "I
love the challenge of racing there but know that to have a shot of
winning you really have to be at the top of your game."
Factory Trackmagic Kart driver and Muscle Milk Extreme Athlete, Memo Gidley, went to what is considered the biggest karting race in the world with winning on his mind.
"The SuperNationals is such an awesome display of karting competition and attracts the best drivers from around the world," said Gidley. "I love the challenge of racing there but know that to have a shot of winning you really have to be at the top of your game."
This year’s race not only the top kart racers from around the world, but also car stars like Michael Schumacher, Buddy Rice, Dan Wheldon to name a few.
At the top of his game he was, as Memo was consistently in the top five for all eight sessions during the two days of practice. "The track was really slippery at first and for the first day we concentrated on not chasing the track and just working on jetting and gearing," said Gidley. "Everything really felt like it was going accordingly to plan and I was excited to get to qualifying."
Then in Friday’s 12 min qualifying session, Gidley impressively put his Trackmagic kart third out of the massive 70 kart S3 field. "Qualifying is the ultimate measurement of outright speed and it was great to know that we were right in the hunt," said Gidley.
Because of the huge field, the next two days were spent running heat races to narrow the number of drivers to forty to start the main event. Gidley had three great heat races finishing second twice and winning his final heat to put him fourth for Super Sunday’s Main event. "Because I was able to qualify my Trackmagic so well, for me the heat races were really just an opportunity to mess up an otherwise great starting position," said Gidley. "The key for us was to learn about how the track was changing to fine tune our set-up… and not to be involved in a crash."
For Super Sunday’s main event, Gidley would start fourth, outside second row. Gidley timed the start lights perfectly to immediately jump into third going into turn one. Five laps later Gidley made his move on second place just after the high speed kink. Now locked onto the leader’s bumper, Gidley was waiting for an opportunity to take the lead. "The opening laps were great," said Gidley. "The kart was working nicely and I was just working on not sliding my tires too much, but I did want to get myself in the front to see if I could possibly break away."
After following the leader for a couple of laps, Gidley made his move. Gidley only held the lead a couple of corners and was re-passed. The two leaders had the crowd going crazy as they went back and forth a number of times each taking a turn to lead. "As fun as battling for the top spot was, my kart felt like it was using the tires a little too much going back and forth," said Gidley. "I started slipping back and now found myself holding off second place."
Just past halfway the second-place driver made a move to the inside, and although Gidley gave a little room to the inside, he was squeezed into the outside barriers, which caused the rest of the field to fan out three and four wide heading onto the middle straight. "The next thing I knew I was tagged from the rear, spun around, and staring at the rest of the S3 field as they all tried to avoid hitting me," said Gidley. "It was too bad because we were running so strong and had a great shot at the podium."
Although Gidley was officially classified in 27th, he was still happy for the great Trackmagic showing. "I want to thank Mike Pickman, the owner of Trackmagic, for giving me all the tools to be competitive and a great chassis," said Gidley. "We have all worked very hard over the last few months in preparation for this race. Also thank you to my two mechanics, Taylor Joy and prototype owner Kevin Doran, for giving me a perfect no mechanical weekend with my kart. And of course, all my sponsors for giving me the opportunity to compete and do what I love."
Gidley now leaves for Brazil to represent Trackmagic in the Granja Viana 500, a massive 12hour go-kart race that attracts drivers from all over the world. Upon returning in a week Memo is then off to a two-day test at Daytona driving Doran Racing’s #77 Daytona Prototype in preparation for next year’s 24 Hours of Daytona.