Beitske Visser Runs Out Of Chassis At SuperNats
press release
Beitske Visser went to the US on the weekend of 20-21 November to attend the karting event that gathers the highest number of entered drivers in the world (almost 500)! The Supernationals event, which has now reached its 14th edition, is part of the international calendar and is held in Las Vegas, on a track prepared in the huge parking lot of Rio Hotel, Nevada. Far from being frightened by the importance of the event and the high level of the meeting, the talented Dutch girl found herself quickly in the group of the fastest, in a category with 39 entered drivers. Unfortunately Beitske was involved in some of the many collisions that marked the meeting and was forced to retire, with a lot of regrets.
Unlike most of her most dangerous rivals, it was Beitske Visser's first time at the Supernationals and on its very special circuit. "During the whole season, I have often raced in circuits that I did not know. But I have always adapted very fast. It is even a motivation source when you try to set some good times quickly", Beitske noted. Indeed, already on her first time on the track, the Dutch girl reached the top 10. She even set the second best time during her third free practice session, and she repeated her excellent performances during Thursday's last session. "I was very happy with my performances and the race had started under the best auspices. Unfortunately the track was bit cooler the following day, during timed qualifying, and setups were not 100% right for those conditions".
But she reached an encouraging 7th place with her Intrepid-TM anyway, finding herself between a world champion and a European champion. On the first heat, Beitske Visser staged a superb performance. "I was 8th at the start. I felt I was faster than many of the drivers who preceded me, but it is rather difficult to pass in Las Vegas". And then she found the gap. "It was too late, then, to reach the first six, though I managed to reduce the time gap and I set the best lap time in race, which was really encouraging".
Unfortunately, Saturday turned into a nightmare. "When I had just reached 6th place, during the second heat, a driver pushed me violently against the barriers and I was hit by a group of five drivers. The chassis was completely destroyed. The team did a great job and I had a new kart ready in less than an hour. In the third and last heat, I was involved in a collision at the start and a driver hit me at high speed ... and destroyed my kart again".
The team was already getting ready to assemble a third kart for Beitske, but race officials did not authorise her to use it. "Such a long trip, and so much time and effort, and not being able to attend the final race was really disappointing. The barriers, which are as hard as walls, were not suitable, and many drivers could not be in the final race for my same reasons. Under such conditions, they should have let me use another chassis". When you have the performances to aim for a podium in Vegas, you can definitely regret such a disappointing ending...
