May 9, 2009

Week 3
This week was all about the rain. The skies were becoming more ominous with each passing minute. We only made it through about 3 heat races before the skies opened up for good. When the rain finally did come it came in buckets.
Jack managed to get his Tiger Sprint heat race in before the rains came. Jack started from third spot with an extra kart this week, Josh Gayman in the 95 Lightning McQueen machine. For some reason the caution flew on lap one and they restarted the race with Jack in 2nd. The 95 took the spot from Jack and then took the lead from Justin. The four of them drove in a nice tight pack for the remainder of the race with Gayman in first, Barry in 2nd, Jack in 3rd and Bleau in 4th. With one lap to go Barry made the pass on Gayman for the lead which let Jack catch up a little bit but he was unable to catch them before the end of the race and came home in third place.
As Jack started his Jr Sportsman heat race the skies opened up. Instead of calling the whole day the track decided to count the heats that ran this week as features and make up the heats the following week.
The five usual karts started the race with Jack starting from the 2nd spot. Jack stood on it on the start and jumped out to a huge lead but then came too close to the back wall and slowed down to save it. Barry had followed Jack through the start and easily took over the lead as Jack tried to collect his kart. Jack continued to drive the wrong line and let the others drive away from him. He managed to string together a few good laps which let him go from being two laps down in last weeks race to just getting lapped once with one lap to go. All in all it was a marked improvement.

May 2, 2009

Second race of the season. Jack is once again driving both the Tiger Sprint and the Jr Sportsman Champ.
Jack started the sportsman heat in first place. He pulled out to a bit of a lead on lap one but took turn 4 way too high and bounced off of Ryan Barry coming across the stripe. He settled into third place until he looped it coming out of turn 4 with 2 laps to go to finish in the fourth spot.
Jack starts the Sportsman Feature from the fourth position. Jack and TJ tangle on the backstretch on lap one bringing out a single file restart. Jack was put one lap down about half way through the race but managed to hold off the 15 from getting around him. With two laps to go he was lapped for a second time and finished the race in fourth position.
Jack started the Tiger Sprint Heat from the second position in a single file start behind the 15 of TJ Bleau. The boys maintained their positions for the entire heat race to start the feature from the same spots.
The Tiger Sprint feature was about as interesting as the heat race. Ryan Barry started in third place behind Jack and followed him around for a couple of laps when he slammed the outside wall hard at the start finish line taking him out of the race for the night. Jack and TJ drove around to the backstretch while they waited for Justins kart to be removed from the track. Once the officials cleared the track for the restart Jack drove around to the start finish line but TJ's kart wouldn't go. TJ also needed to be taken off of the track so Jack drove the remaining 18 laps by himself to take the win.

April 25, 2009 - Opening Day

Today's the day. Opening Day. The day we get to see what all that practicing did for the kart, the driver, the crew. Dd we make the right calls? Is Jack feeling comfortable in the kart? Can he remember the fast line around the track?

The day started out with a need to change the schedule. They originally had Jack's two classes back to back. There's no way that will work. Plus Jack's not the only one driving both of these divisions. He shares that joy with TJ Bleau. They switched the Tiger B's with the Tiger A's so we ended up going out second and last. Not to bad a spread until the end of the rotation and they start the line up over again!! Needless to say we missed one round of practice in the Jr Sportsman. Not an ideal situation. Jack needs as much seat time as he can get to try and get the line down to memory.

The Jr Sportsman heat started the day. Jack jumped out to a solid third place position behind Dylan and Ryan with TJ nipping at his heels but he was running pretty loose and came out of turn 4 too high and looped it on the front stretch. This meant he had to start at the rear of the field. He managed to pull ahead of Cody on the restart and ended up qualifying 4th in the Sportsman behind Dylan Duhaime, Ryan Barry, TJ Bleau and ahead of Cody Zompanti. Jack started the feature in 4th place and hung with TJ for half the race getting closer and closer to the wall with each passing lap. Just as they announced half way Jack finally came to close to the wall for his liking and looped it on the back stretch drawing the caution. He managed to get away without hitting anything and took the restart from the rear of the field. Jack got Cody on the start again and managed to hang with the front three for a handful of laps when the high line he was running got the better of him and he went around coming out of turn 4. With only two laps to go they lined up single file and Jack came home in fourth position.

Jack started the Tiger Sprint heat in second place behind Justin Barry and ahead of TJ Bleau. They spread out into single file after a couple of laps and drove the remainder of the race that way. Jack starts the feature in second place for the last race of the evening. On lap 2 Jack comes out of turn 4 way high and Trevor ducks right underneath him to take the spot. They ride around Barry in first, Bleau in second, Jack in third, spreading out and sucking back up together until lap 18 when Jack gets a massive run on TJ in turns in 1 and 2 and takes the spot on the back stretch. Crossing the stripe Jack goes wide again and TJ cuts underneath. Jack and TJ go neck and neck into turn 1 when TJ goes below the yellow line, the two touch, and Jack bounces out in front of TJ to take second place in the race.