October 25 and 26, 2008

The Halloween Howler.

Jack is still getting over his bronchitis so we left it up to him whether or not he wanted to race this weekend. Sure enough he does. Not only is Jack racing in his regular Tiger B class but also is trying his hand at the Tiger A money class to gain some experience.
The weekend started on Friday night when we drove up to the track to drop off the trailer.
Saturday's practice session started early. Gates opened around 8:00. We got to the track a little late and missed the first couple of rounds of practice. Because Jack is still getting over his bronchitis we didn't want to wear him out and so we only had him practice with the Tiger A's. Jack had to prove to the track officials that he could keep up or they wouldn't let him in the race. He did an excellent job keeping up and stayed in the draft proving that he could handle the big race. After practice was qualifying. We did time trials this week which Jack is usually pretty good at so we had high hopes for him. Tiger A's went out first. It was a really cold day and Jack's tires didn't have enough time to heat up, We saw others lifting the back ends of the cars and scrubbing the tires on the ground to build some heat but we opted not to. Jack got a little sideways in turn 4 and managed to hang on but it was enough to slow him down for an 8th place starting position. The Tiger B's qualifying round went a little better. He had no mistakes, went out and drove 2 perfect laps which was enough for him to take home a first place starting position. Time to pack up and prepare for tomorrow.
Rain was in the forecast for overnight and into the morning so even though the gate opened at 7 we weren't in too much of a hurry to get up there. We knew they'd have to spend a couple of hours drying the track. Turns out we were right. You could see the water line on our trailer tires about 6 inches above the ground. After a couple of hours of re- setting up the car we were ready to go. A couple of rounds of practice and then it was off to feature racing. Tiger A's, the money race, was the Second race of the day. Jack started dead last in eighth place. He would have to work really hard if he wanted a shot at the money. Jack started off pretty good, lined up with the field and kept up with them for the first few laps. Jack rode around in last place for the first seven laps sizing up the field and trying to make his move. An attempted pass by the 12 over the 25 resulted in the 12 driving over the 25 and Jack's excellent reflexes kept him out of the wreck. With all cars continuing on no caution flag flew and Jack was now shown in seventh. On lap 12 a caution would fly when the 43 and 13 got tangled and the 7 went around in turn 4 trying to avoid the wreck. The 3 also went around when he hit the brakes too hard seeing the turned car and Jack got into the back of him. The 43 would be taken off the track unable to continue. After a couple of caution laps to get the cars back on track Jack started in 5th place. On lap 15 Jack made a pass on the 3 to put him in 4th place. Lap 18 would bring out another caution when the 3 went around in turn 4 all by himself. Jack starts in 4th place with 12 laps to go. The 43 of Devin O'Connell comes back onto the track in 8th place. The 7 of Brad Zahensky, starting just in front of Jack in the second position gets an excellent restart and takes Jack with him to run first and second by the time they hit the backstretch. Jack runs a very smart race looking to make a pass for the lead but knowing finishing 2nd is better than crashing out with an unsafe pass. With 1 to go Jack gets an awesome run and crosses the finish line neck and neck with Brad just missing first place by half a car length...

The Tiger B race had Jack starting first ahead of TJ Bleau and Justin Barry. Jack gets out to an early lead bringing Justin with him. With no one in front of him Jack is able to drive his line to perfection and creates an awesome lead on the field. 5 laps into the race he's already lapping traffic. On lap 9 the 15 goes around on the backstretch drawing the caution flag. The cars get all lined up and go racing again. On lap 15 Jack's lapping cars again. He's out to about a 1/4 lap lead when he tries to make it three wide on the backstretch to pass two cars at once. He thinks better of it and slows down enough to pass just one car at a time. The 17 goes around in turn 4 just after Jack passes him. They line them back up for the third time with 9 laps to go. Single file restart this time. Jack leads Justin Barry, TJ Bleau, Will St George, and Gabriel Camuso. Jack takes the green but the officials call it a jumped start so they throw the caution and Jack slows on the backstretch making everyone think somethings wrong with his car. Little did we all know Jack saw what nobody else could. He saw the caution and slowed down before anybody else even knew it was out. They start them racing again and Jack jumps out to an early lead one more time. With 5 laps to go Justin's car gets jumpy on the front stretch and he loses a lot of ground. Two laps to go Jack's lapping traffic again. Jack takes home the feature win with ease to wrap up an incredible day. Second place his first time out with the big boys in the Tiger A money division and a win in his second straight Halloween Howler event in his division. What a way to end the season!!!

October 18, 2008

Jack has bronchitis

October 11.2008

More to come

October 4, 2008

Jack is Back!!

Last Wednesday the Jack Walker Racing Team, along with team coach Dave Cazares, practiced at Route 106 Racepark. Jack had an excellent practice session putting down over 110 laps and learning a ton. Unfortunately we were unable to see how that practice session paid off due to rain last Saturday so we were all geared up to see what Jack could put together this weekend.

September 27, 2008

Will it ever stop raining???

September 20, 2008

This weekend started earlier than usual because we went up to the track to run the rental karts before the main event. Dad ran the rentals with Dave, Mike, Donnie, Dave and a bunch of other guys. Around 3 we got our pits all set up and went out for practice. Jack did real well in the first practice running fast and making some passes, including getting around Justin Barry to cross the finish line first. In the second practice Jack attempted to get around Cameron Dionne in turn one and just clipped him taking them both for a spin in turn 2. They settled in opposite directions along the outside wall and chatted with each other waiting for the officials to separate their cars and get them moving again. Jack started and finished in 2nd place for the heat race but made a couple of decent passes around Cameron Dionne and held off TJ Bleau to maintain the second spot. The feature race had Jack starting second. He had a much better race this week than the last few races. Although he didn't win the race he was able to keep up with the leader and made quick work of getting around lapped traffic to finish just behind the first place kart of Justin Barry. All in all it was a good week for Jack Walker Racing.

September 13, 2008

This weekend held a lot of racing for us. We started out on Friday by attending qualifying for the Sprint cup race at Loudon. The rain put a damper on the racing but we had fun walking around the track anyways. The Helluva Good 125 was postponed till Saturday morning so we got to go back to Loudon on Saturday. Jack's friend Joey Pole was making his Loudon debut in the Camping World East tour and we were excited to see him drive. Joey had a really good race and finished 6th. We didn't get the chance to talk to him because we had to get back to 106 for practice. This weekend held the big money race at Route 106. Even though Jack's class wasn't part of the money race we still had to get to the track early and practice with the rest of them. Jack went out for a couple of rounds of practice.

September 6, 2008

The race was rained out due to Hurricane Hannah coming through. Better luck next week...

August 30, 2008

Three cars at the track this week, Jack, Justin and a newbie; Will St John. Jack and Justin nearly missed first practice and caused Will to go out by himself. Ryan, Justins brother in the Tiger A class, missed his first practice and went out with the boys in the B class. Ryan may have taught the boys a thing or two about how to get around the track quick because Justin picked up quite a bit of speed on Jack this week. Jack had a couple of road blocks to try and get past this week, for some reason the car wasn't set up as well as usual and created an awful bounce Jack had to deal with coming around turns 3 and 4. This caused Jack to give up quite a bit of speed and not drive his line trying to find a way around the bounce. Jack spent the day in 2nd place never really being able to catch Justin.

August 23, 2008

We decided to go back to school this week and see how well Jack could listen to and follow directions. So for both practices Jack just went out and drove around trying not to get caught up in a wreck and listening to and paying attention to the officials and the flags. Jack did a great job learning what it feels like to take it easy. Qualifying was time trials again this week and Jack was able to qualify with the fastest time. Jack started out on the pole for the feature. He jumped out in front and led lap 1 but then Justin and TJ got in to each other in turn one on lap 2 causing a restart. After getting lined back up again they took the green flag and TJ turned down into Jack in turn 2 bringing out the second caution. Coming around to line back up for the third time TJ's chain fell off at the start finish line causing the caution to continue. The track workers put the chain back on but then it fell back off again and TJ had to be pushed off the track. Once they finally got going again Jack got a bad start and got beat on the outside. Justin jumped to the front and Jack played follow the leader for the rest of the race and came home second.

August 16, 2008 - North East Speedway Pavement Series

This weekends racing started around 9am. Because this is a special event gates opened real early to allow for 5 or 6 hours of practice prior to the time trials. Jack started this weekend with a brand new Animal motor and Firestone and Burris tires. That meant that the first 3 practices were spent breaking in the motor and testing out the tire set ups. We went into time trial feeling pretty good and actually came out with a quicker time than the Tiger A class. Jack would be starting on the pole. The NESPS held an award ceremony for the Fast Time Awards in each class. Jack got introduced, given an award and had pictures taken during the drivers meeting. The feature race started with Jack on the pole and after getting sideways coming around turn 4 on lap 1 Jack jumped out to a pretty hefty lead. On lap 8 Jack lapped the 199 coming across the start finish line and took off after the 96. On lap 13 Jack headed down the back stretch on the inside of Justin. Just before turn 3 Justin moved low causing Jack to ride up over his left side tires and spin out bringing out the caution. Jack now had to start in third position because the officials deemed it his fault. Jack got a horrible restart and ended up about 10 car lengths behind the leader heading into turn 3. On lap 15 he made the pass in turn 3 and 4 around the 96 and almost got the 15 at the same time. On lap 18 Jack heads into turn 3 just behind and below the 15. Jack misjudged how high TJ would go into the corner and turned him in the center of the corner. They ended at the exit of the corner and collected Justin as he came around turn 4 trying to go underneath them. TJ broke a spindle and had to be carried off the track in a golf cart. They restarted the race with Jack in the lead and had a two lap shootout for the win. Jack pulled away and took the checkered flag for his first NESPS win.

August 9, 2008

We were all geared up to go racing this week after having missed so many lately with all of the rain. Looking to the sky we saw nothing but blue skies and big puffy clouds so it looked as though we might actually get some racing in this week.
The track was packed. Looks like everyone was either ready to go racing again, or ready to prepare for next weeks NESPS race at 106. Either way there were a lot of karts at the track this week. Jack had 5 in his class; Justin Barry, Nick Curdo, TJ Bleau, and Dan Gayman.
First practice Jack was pushed out first but had to take a caution to allow the final two cars to enter the track. Jack easily maintained his position up front throughout the practice session but discovered a problem with the car so he had to miss second practice for repairs.
Jack started last in the heat race and had to work his way to the front if he wanted a good starting position for the feature. He made a really clean pass around Nick on lap 2 and went to work on Dan in the 08. He was having a little trouble setting up his passes and drove in a little too early into the corner. With Dan being a relatively new driver and driving a somewhat erratic line, Jack was unable to drive underneath him in the corner before Dan started back down to the low line collecting Jack and bringing out the caution. The contact dropped Jack to the back of the field. Starting in fifth with less than 7 laps to go Jack tried to make his way back through the field. He made another clean pass around Nick on the restart and again went to work on Dan. He finally made the pass with 4 to go but was caught half a track behind Justin and TJ having been held up behind the 08. Running flat out he just didn't have enough time to get to the front runners and had to settle for third.
Jack loses the jump on the start and lines up behind the 96 and the 15 in a race for the checkers. Attempting to make a pass on lap 7 in turns 3 and 4 Jack goes under Justin and Justin just barely comes down the track bumping into Jack causing them both to spin out on the front stretch bringing out the caution. Both drivers get their cars righted on their own but Jack gets sent to the back of the pack with 8 laps to go for "having brought out the caution". 8 laps was just not enough time to make up that many passes and Jack came home third.

August 2nd, 2008

So we headed to the track today around 2:00. We got there around 3 and the clouds looked ominous. Everybody kind of took their time unloading, waiting for things to get cancelled because the skies looked terrible. After waiting around until about 5:00 we were finally told that racing was going to be cancelled for the night. About an hour later we all decided to head over to the 99 for dinner. Waiting in the restaurant the skies opened up, Thunder Lightning, the whole 9 yards. Looks like we'll have another race to make up later in the season...