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.