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.