After taking a two-month break from karting to finish her high school education, female pilot Emily Maddison returned back to the seat at the SuperKarts! USA (SKUSA) SummerNationals two weekends ago. With the event taking place at the picturesque Miller Motorsports Park facility in Tooele, Utah, Maddison would compete with a D-Power Racing Engines, Phil Giebler Racing FA Kart in the ultra competitive TaG Senior division. Though the end of the weekend results did not show the young female’s true speed, Maddison was happy to be able to consistently run in the top fifteen in terms of lap times.
Completing her twelfth grade education, Maddison’s mind was now focused strictly on racing and that could be seen right out of the gate during Friday’s test sessions. Taking some time to get back accustomed with her FA Kart and the Utah facility, Emily and her tuner Terry Ventresca went to work on finding the necessary speed to compete for podium results. Happy with their progress throughout the day, excitement was high for the weekend.
Starting Saturday morning with a solid warm-up that would see Maddison clock the 13th quickest time, disappointment would come in qualifying after claiming the outside row nine and 18th starting position on the grid. Hoping for a top ten result to start her day, the female driver would be forced to start mid pack for the first of two heat races.
When the green flag flew, Maddison would look to be aggressive and try and gain as many positions as possible in the opening laps. Early contact would see her fall to the tail of the 37-kart grid and she would be forced to begin her march forward. Clocking the fourth fastest lap of the heat, the D-Power Racing Engines driver moved up to the 28th position. Heat two would be much of the same for Maddison as early race contact would relegate her to a 32nd finishing position.
Forced to start Saturday’s main event from just outside the top thirty, Emily would look for the chance to complete an on track session without contact. Short lived, a first corner incident forced her to retire from the event.
“Today was just a bad day for us,” explained Emily Maddison. “I feel as if we were just a magnet for the incidents on track. Whether they happened right in front of me or I was driven over from behind, I just seemed to be right in the middle of them. I am hoping that we can rebound tomorrow with a better result.”
Sunday would see another difficult start to the day with a 26th place run in the timed qualifying session. Taking to the track for the first wheel-to wheel combat of the day, Maddison managed to gain five positions and reach the checkered flag to garner a 21st place finish. Looking to do the same in heat two and set up a good starting position for the day’s final, Maddison would be involved in another first corner incident and eventually classified in the 36th position.
With a difficult, deep in the field starting position for Sunday’s final, the Phil Giebler Racing driver was determined to gain a solid result. Making it through the first corner and then the first lap, Maddison was quickly working her way forward. Turning times that would see her competitive with drivers in the top ten, the Canadian would slice and dice her way to a 16th place result en route to the fifth fastest lap of the event.
Maddison continued, “Sunday’s result was still not the finish we were hoping for but it was a definite improvement. I am glad that we were able to show the speed we did and am looking forward to my next event.”
Emily Maddison would like to thank Phil Giebler Racing and her driver coach Phil Giebler, tuner Terry Ventresca and D-Power Racing Engines for all the help and support throughout the weekend.
For more information on Emily Maddison, please visit www.EmilyMaddison.com or contact David Maddison at 403.850.0419.
