How to (nearly) win the Supernats: Friday Frenzy

The excitement builds on Friday as after two days on track practicing and qualifying, drivers are finally into racing.

I’ve found out the hard way how to lose a SuperNats on a Friday before by crashing out in the opening heat race of the weekend. My last year in X30 Senior in 2019 I had qualified P8 and started the opening race P4.

I was just hoping to get around the first few corners and settle into a decent race. But unfortunately entering Turn 2, I was squeezed into the inside barriers and ruined half the kart and my weekend.

The mindset shift from that is massive. If you finish race 1 with a solid race, you don’t need to take risks for the second heat race. Consolidate your opening heat, with another solid one and let other drivers around you take risks and potentially ruin their own weekends.

That year I ended up winning heat 2, taking some bold and risky moves along the way to the race lead as I knew I had nothing to lose whilst others around me did.

Everyone is revved up to get into racing, that’s why we see so many unnecessary incidents on the opening day of racing.

Nerves, excitement, anxiety, pressure all combined together mean drivers are running on a lot of emotions and mistakes can be crucial.

Once drivers have got through their opening two heat races, they’ll already have half an idea on how their weekend is looking.

Two bad results, and Saturday is all about taking risks to avoid the LCQ.

Two good results, and falling back a position or two in Heat 3 to consolidate, might be the best option!

As we move into the weekend, it’s all about avoiding the LCQ on Saturday and sitting in the stands to watch the action unfold!