Don't Go Straight in the Chicane

In racing, it's really important that you use the steering wheel, throttle and brake to navigate the course without making contact with the wall.  I know, did it really need to be said?  But based on this video, someone needed to tell me.

This is from that league I ran when I was eleven.  It's a little blurry, but you can see me pass two karts, and then get passed back by one.  You can also hear how nervous my mom is, and a few seconds later, you see that she'd had reason to be.  At the far end of the course, there's a thud, and one of the karts is no longer moving.  That kart would be me.  I went straight in the chicane.

I do not know why this happened.  I have since tried to recreate the incident, and no matter how inexperienced I may have been at the time, I cannot fathom how I would have failed to prevent it.  At least it was only during practice.  Maybe I was just trying to get all the mistakes out of my system by making one huge stupid one.  

Go ahead and laugh at me, because I'm laughing, too.  But this is a PSA, so remember it:  please, don't go straight in the chicane.