Give Nothing,Waste Nothing
January 2025 GP
The very first GP of 2025 came so fast and so much had changed from last year. My first GP in 2024 I spoke to no one, now I knew everyone. I had the new helmet and my line had evolved. I felt different but not necessarily confident.
I wanted to chuck all my bad quali habits this year. Things like not taking time to warm up tires and set up whips for stronger momentum. My first quali was suspiciously smooth sailing. My second was spooky good. The kart held up all the way through. I was placed in a good group allowing me to take full advantage of my fast line. I was being my most behaved and it paid off.
There were A LOT of new faces and I wasn't sure where I stacked up until one of the staff members pointed at me and yelled, “You did it! You're in A!” An entire year of GPs in ‘24 and I had never gotten into the fastest group. This was one hell of a way to start the new year.
Aaaand now my nerves were fired up. There's a lot emotions and ego in this group. I’ve learned a lot from those guys, but I never raced beside them like this. I didn't want to make enemies but I also couldn't be Miss Manners. I placed 7th for the final. As we were gridding up I told myself “give nothing, waste nothing.” As in, don't leave openings and don't waste an opportunity.
The green flagged dropped and I stuck to my ugliest, most defensive line possible. The level of contact was higher while at the same time, everything felt faster. After a few laps, the pressure from behind had backed off. I had room to operate on a faster line. Suddenly I was right on someone's ass. Overtaking hadn't really occurred to me for this race. I was honestly terrified of slowing everyone down. But an opportunity presented itself at the end of the track that I couldn't ignore. He went a little too fast into the final pin and I was able to slip into the inside.
Now I had a very talented, pissed off driver behind me. He wasted no time letting me he wanted his place back. I was back on the ugly line, I was the hugging the inside so tight I could lick the barriers. I was driving him insane to the point that he almost spun me out at the twin pins.
The kart was not loving the contact and I could feel it fading which meant I was going to have to slow the pace of the race for everyone. This was hard for me. I knew how fast the guys behind were. It was a selfish thing that had to be done for me to hold on to 6th. It felt like a pack of fire-breathing dragons behind me as I held that position for 2 more laps before finally seeing that checkered flag. Part of me was terrified, and the other part of my absolutely LOVED being an absolute menace. I came out of the pit with a big grin on my face. I held my ground, ten toes down and it felt amazing.
The adrenaline from this GP hit a little different. This was a new level and it was going to take work to keep my skills there.