2010 05 15 Week 3 Route 106 Weekly Series Feature Race

The night did not get any better for Jack Walker Racing. Jack started the feature in 5th spot after an inconsistent call sent him to the back for spinning in the heat race.  Jack immediatley jumped into 4th spot and battled TJ for the third position before winning the battle just before the completion of the 2nd lap.  Jack held off TJ until the half way point when Jack made the pass attempt for 2nd spot on the 96 of Justin Barry.  Jack and Justin got together and TJ spun trying to avoid them sending the three of them to the back of the field.  Jack would take the restart from the 5th position.  Justin and Cody got together as Justin made the pass attempt on Cody causing them both to spin.  Inconsistently again, the track put the 24 back in front of TJ and Jack, who had passed them during the spin.  Jack took the green from the 4th spot and took a couple laps to pass the 24 of Zompanti.  In the closing laps the 96 and 95J battled for the 3rd position with Jack narrowly missing the spot as they crossed the checkers.  Jack takes 4th in the feature.

2010 05 15 Week 3 Route 106 Weekly Series Heat Race

Week 3 at Route 106 Race Park and the JWR team is still missing by just a little. The Heat race lined up by points so Jack started in 5th spot. A turn 2 crash on lap 1 caused half the field to spin bringing out the first caution and started the race over with the initial lineup. Jack made quick work of getting to the third spot on lap one but was immediately taken over by the 83 of Ryan Barry dropping Jack back to the 4th spot. Jack settled in behind Ryan until Ryan hooked up with the 24 of Cody Zompanti and fell out of the groove allowing Jack to drive by both of them on the front stretch to take over 2nd spot. Jack maintained the 2nd position until about the halfway point when Ryan hooked up with him causing Jack to fall out of the groove and loop it under the flagstand. Jack was sent to the back for bringing out the caution and had less than half the laps to try to make up some spots. Jack started in 6th spot behind the 09 of JP Brennan and made the pass in the first couple of laps but had fallen back from the rest of the field and did not have enough time to catch them. Jack finished the heat in 5th spot yet again.

2010 05 02 Week 2 Route 106 Weekly Series - Feature Race

Jack started the feature in 5th and made quick work of getting up to 3rd place behind the battling 15 and 83. The 15 and 96 spun out on the front stretch almost simultaneously bringing out the first caution and landing Jack in 2nd spot. Jack fell to 3rd on the restart when the 15 and 96 brought out the 2nd caution for spinning again getting into turn 4. The next restart went single file with Jack back in 2nd as the field hadn't completed a lap on the previous restart. The 83 of Ryan Barry had a commanding lead and Jack was comfortably sitting in 2nd as the laps ticked by and they drove to the checkers. Jack comes home in 2nd spot.

2010 05 02 Week 2 Route 106 Weekly Series - Heat Race

Week 2 at Route 106 RacePark. The heat race started with Jack in 3rd place and he quickly jumped up to 2nd, but soon was overtaken by the 83 of Ryan Barry. The 15 of TJ Bleau attempted the pass but Jack took it right back to remain in third spot. The field spread out and started catching lapped traffic which hurt Jack when he tried to take the high side. TJ and JP got around him.  Jack finally got down and tucked in behind JP but time was running short and he had a lot of ground to make up.  As time ran out Jack came home in 5th place.

2010 04 24 Week 1 Route 106 Weekly Series Feature Race

The Feature race started with Jack in 5th place, inside of the 3rd row behind Ryan and Cody. Jack got a really good start, as Cody drifted up the track through turns 1 and two Jack was able to drive underneath and hook up with Ryan jumping from 5th to 3rd.  Just as the field was crossing the start/finish line Cody got loose and the kart pitched sideways hitting Justin's right rear tire bringing out the caution and taking Justin out of the race with a bent axle. The restart saw Jack in the third spot behind TJ.  Jack got a decent start and moved ahead of Ryan taking over 2nd down the back stretch.  Ryan made the pass attempt through turn three but backed out of it setling into third.  The top three evened out for about 5 laps until the next caution came out as JP went around.  Jack was now starting on the outside of row one.  The boys came around to take the green but it was thrown off as the flagman didn't like the start.  The next time around the green flag flew.  Jack got a bad start and Ryan went right around him.  TJ, Ryan, and Jack drove around for about 6 laps when Jack made the pass on Ryan coming out of 2.  Ryan immediately made the crossover and got back by Jack.  This back and forth let TJ pull out to a slight lead.  Now Ryan and Jack had to work together to catch back up.  They just ran out of laps as they caught TJ with one to go.  Ryan made the last lap pass attempt at the line but just missed it having the boys finish one, two, three for a photo finish.  An excellent end to an excellent day.  This was a great way to start the 2010 racing season for Jack Walker Racing.

2010 04 24 Week 1 Route 106 Weekly Series Heat Race

For opening day at Route 106 racepark the track lined up the heat races by how you signed in at the gate. This put us in a 5th place starting position. On lap one the Barry Brothers touched going into turn 1 sending Justin around and through the infield and bringing out the first caution. Since they hadn't completed a lap they just lined them back up in qualifying order. Jack started 5th again on the inside behind Ryan and Cody. They got a great run and the three of them went to the front of the field. Coming out of turn three Justin and TJ got together, nearly sending TJ down the exit ramp and again bringing out the caution before a lap was completed. This time they lined up single file. With Jack in 5th he had his work cut out for him. Caution laps were going way too fast. As the track workers tried to slow down the field they started checking up when they saw the flagman on the track on the backstretch. This caused them to bunch up and Jack went for a spin. After the race director had a quick talk with the leader, they got them slowed down to caution speed and finally threw the green. Coming out of turn 4 on lap 2 with Jack about 2 kart lengths back, Justin looped it. The flagman saw it differently assuming that since Jack was behind Justin he must have helped him around and put Jack to the rear of the field. We're now at lap two of the heat race in single file, starting last. At about lap 6 Justin and Jack passed JP through 3 and 4. Jack then went to work on Justin trying for the 4th place spot. Jack ducked under Justin out of 4 coming to the checkers but didn't quite make it. JWR took home 5th for the heat race.

April 3, 2010 - First Practice Route 106 Racepark

The outdoor season has officially begun with an 80 degree first practice. We couldn't have ordered better weather!  We had a pretty good field for first practice with 5 karts showing up for the Jr Sportsman division.  What a difference a year and good tires makes.  Jack and the Barry Brothers ran neck and neck all day long with JP not far behind. Only TJ had a bit of trouble with what appeared to be new chassis and motor issues. 
Jack drove great all day.  Looks like those indoor races paid off!!  We worked on the kart a little bit all day long to see if we could make the kart a little better.  All in all it was a great day.  This should definitely be a fun class to watch since the karts are already so close together.  From what we hear there's also supposed to be 4 or 5 more karts in this division.  Let's hope the weather holds out for another great practice next Saturday!!

Victory Lane Indoor Karting 2/28 and 3/28 2010

02/28/10 - We just completed our first ever indoor racing event using Jack's own kart.  We decided it would be a good way to get some practice and work out some of the bugs in the kart before the outdoor season begins.  We arrived Friday night to drop off the kart at the track and get a little rental kart racing in. 
Saturday was practice day - Jack's first time out on the track.  The track uses Pepsi Syrup to make the driving surface sticky so the karts won't slide around so much since they drive on slick tires.  We had never run on syrup before and had no idea what to expect.  That stuff is STICKY.  It will pull your shoes off if they're not tied on well!!  Jack went out for first practice and did a pretty good job figuring out the track and getting around pretty good.  Second practice was a different story.  You are supposed to clean the syrup off of the tires in between runs because it will cause you to skate on the track.  Well we were unaware of this and didn't clean the tires.  Jack went out for second practice and skated all over the place!!  He came off the track and said "Daddy, you need to tighten up my car or I'm not driving it!!"  Needless to say we cleaned the tires in between runs after that.  Jack did great for his first time indoors without being very prepared.  He drove a good line and had some pretty decent times.  Jack's only incident came in the heat race when TJ attempted a pass through 3 and 4 and got sideways on exit.  Jack was right there with nowhere to go and T-boned TJ.  Both karts were fine and continued onto the race where Jack finished third, but kept the kart in one piece and had a blast doing it!!  Looks like we'll be coming back again.
03/28/10 We ventured back to VLK for another shot at indoor racing.  We had the place to ourselves in our division as it appears everyone else is getting ready for outdoor racing to start.  For Saturday's practice we were the only kart in our division.  The kart was set-up a little different than last time, as we took some of the helpful hints the competitors had given us at our last outing and attempted to put them in practice.  After a couple of carburetor issues threatened to shorten our day we finally got out for practice.  The kart was loose and Jack had a difficult time maintaining speed through 1 and 2.  After a couple of changes and a quick peptalk with the driver, Jack went back out and got better and better each time.  Another kart showed up for race day, though not and exact match, it was a rocker with a different engine, they were close enough to be paired together so they at least had each other to drive with.  Jack figured out the speed and just missed his entry into turn 3 causing him to clip the wall at the exit of turn 4 during the heat race.  Since the walls are just tires with a pliable barrier once it's hit, it moves.  The wall was now in the racing groove and after a few laps, Jack missed the entry again causing him to slam into the now closer outside wall.  His kart spun around on impact but the collision caused him to bend his front spindle.  After fixing the kart Jack started second for the feature where he flatfooted it all around the track and drove perfect laps.  No incidients in this race.  All in all Victory Lane was a good racing experience for Jack and we will most likely be back again next year.

F1 Boston - Week 1 - January 9, 2010

This was Jack's first week back at F1 Boston.  Jack moved up from the 3B class, which is the first entry level class they offer, to the 2A class.  Jack appeared to be the youngest, definitely the smallest driver in this class.  As is customary your first week in a division, they need to weigh you to see how much weight they need to add to your kart.  Needless to say Jack being the smallest in the class needed to add FULL Weight.  The weight in these rental karts is not like the weight in your own personal kart because, for obvious reasons, it needs to be removable.  Basically there is a "weight box" on the left side of the kart next to the drivers seat which holds various sizes of weight bars, 5, 10, or 20 lb's up to a maximum of 30 lb's.  The weight rattles around in the weight box and can make the kart "hop" once it builds up enough grip, if there is enough weight in the kart.

The day started off with a round of practice - without weight.  Jack did great.  Considering he's the smallest in the classs he kept up with the field and searched for the line on the track until he found where the kart wanted to drive.  Races and starting positions are chosen "at random", meaning you don't race for your starting position, everyone starts one race up front, one in the middle, and one in the back. You alos don't race for which races you drive in.  There are 5 races in Jack's division based on the number of drivers in the division.  They randomly place you in 3 races for the day.  Jack was scheduled to drive in races 2, 3, and 4 with starting positions of 2, 6, and 3.

Jack started his first race in second spot and did very well keeping up with the leader and driving away from the field behind him  But then the kart started to gain some grip and then started hopping making it increasingly difficult to drive.  Jack has never driven a kart in these conditions before and, in addition to getting tired trying to muscle the bouncing kart around the track, he was unsure that there was nothing wrong with the kart and began slowing down.  Jack fell to sixth spot but continued to drive his line and stayed on the lead lap.  Because he's driving in the very next race there is very little time for coaching between races.  Jack's Dad ran down to make sure he knew that it was ok to drive the kart hard even though it was bouncing.  He wanted to make sure he knew that the bounce didn't mean the kart was going to fall apart on him.  With no time to rest Jack started the next race in sixth place and again started to fade around lap 9.  He managed to hold off the kart behind him and maintained his sixth position for the remainder of the race.  Jack started his third race right away and held on to the third position again until around lap 9 when you could see him physically getting tired.  He faded to sixth but again managed to stay on the lead lap.  Jack came off the track completely breathless and sweating like crazy!!
Two weeks off until the next race.  Just enough time to get a workout program in place to build up a little bit of strength and stamina to go out there and race for wins.