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2005 results

10-30-05 - NTK Fall4 - Just like last weekend we spent Saturday practicing only to have it rain over night and change the track for Sunday. Jake started out really well and was fast on his tired Yamaha. Jake qualified 3rd which is where he started in the pre-final. Jake got a great start holding on to 3rd but would later move up to 2nd when Connor spun in turn 7. Connor was able to keep it running and started charging after Jake. With only a few laps to go Connor got a around Jake for second and Devin finished first. Jake started 3rd in the final where a great start put him second behind Devin. On lap three Jake comes into turn 2 (a really FAST left hander) and the kart starts to slide up the track. Jake says he felt the kart sliding and thought it would catch. It didn't sending Jake backwards off of turn 2 where he hit the tires so hard it caused some of the tires on to the other side of the track. Jake is a little sore both his muscles and spirit. I'm proud of Jake today considering he hadn't run the class in 3 months. Well try again next time!

10-22-05 - NTK Fall 3 - We spent the night at the track and boy had the weather changed from Saturday! A cold front moved in with lots of wind making the track cold and slick. I sent Jake out for the 1st practice of the day. He was slipping and sliding everywhere so he decided to come in for some adjustments. It only got worse! The more we chased it the colder it got and then came the rain! The race was re-scheduled so we will try it again next week. It was fun watching Jake with his hands full behind the steering wheel. That boy has Jedi reflexes!

10-22-05 - Well we decided to put the ol' Yamaha on his new chassis because no one was running their Mini Max and Jake was really wanting to race. He went out on Saturday to blow out some of the cob webs from the worn out beast. By the end of the day Jake was starting to get the hang of running the Yamaha again. I felt we were still off from what we should be running but hopefully we could get it right Sunday.

10-19-05 - Not a lot has happened since the summer 3 race. Jake's old Margay chassis broke on the main tube making it unsafe to race not to mention the Yamaha motor was starting to slow down (needing a complete over haul). Not knowing what class we wanted to run next year we decided to get Jake some seat time in his new Rotax Mini Max. We are really liking the Rotax and want the class to grow. Stay tuned to see what our plans are for next year. Also check out the new pictures of his Rotax.

7-30-05 NTK Summer 3 race- Jake qualified 3rd out of 10 racers. On the first lap of the pre-final Jake was hit from behind by #96 causing Jake to spin and get taken out of the race. Jake started 6th and finished 6th in the final. On a better note Jake finally practiced his new Rotax 125cc mini max.

7-23-05 NTK Summer 2 race- Another hot summer night race! Jake qualified 3rd behind Devin and Connor. He also finished the pre-final race in 3rd. In the final Jake started 3rd and got a great start behind the pole sitter Devin. Jake ran 2nd until lap 4 when a hard charging Connor got around him. Jake hung on for a 3rd place podium finish out of 10 racers.

7-9-05 NTK Summer 1 race -Jake qualified well but had some problems on the start resulting in a 5th place finish.

6-24-05 Day 3 Kart Nationals –Today was a new day! We learned from yesterday’s mistakes, we were ready to race! Jake ran in a different class which requires more weight to be added to the kart and we had Jakes motor fixed before we headed out to the track thanks to John at SRS. Here we go….. Session 1: Jake looked fast and everything was clicking. Session 2: We made a few changes and Jake again was flying. Qualifying: Jake ran some hard laps and qualified 4^th out of 17 racers. Pre final: Jake started 4^th and got a very bad start dropping back to 8^th. He was able to pass a few and ended up 6^th. Final: Jake had a perfect start and was running 5^th. Two karts in front of Jake got tangled up and one went spinning. Jake was able to avoid them, putting him in 3^rd. He and the #21 kart battled it out for the remaining laps and Jake finished in 3^rd place! At national events the top 3 karts go through a very technical inspection ensuring everything is by the book. The 2^nd place kart was disqualified for an illegal exhaust which automatically moved Jake to 2^nd! We are so proud of Jake and what he has accomplished after only 1 year of racing. National events are so serious and competitive, but Jake remained his happy, go-with-the-flow self. He stayed focused always knowing all he had to do was look straight ahead and keep the pedal to the metal.

6-23-05 Day 2 Kart Nationals-Jake had such a great practice the day before that we were excited to see how things would play out. It was a hot day, hotter than Wednesday. We got everything situated and headed up to the grid for our first practice. Session 1: Jake was driving fast and was able to stay with some of the faster guys out there. Session 2: Jake took off and after a few laps I noticed he looked a little slower. I checked things out and noticed some oil around the spark plug. When I tried removing the plug it just fell out! I didn’t have a back up motor and I was starting to panic! We only had 30 minutes before qualifying. Mike Edwards let me borrow a head so I checked the clearances and stuck it on. We got up to the grid just in time. While we are on the grid the tech director checked our fuel to make sure it was legal. GUESS WHAT? Ours wasn’t! He said not to worry about it and he would check it again after Jake’s qualifying run. Qualifying: How fast you go during your qualifying run determines where you will start in the first race. You only get one warm up lap and then 3 laps to go as fast as you can. Jake looked great considering all the problems we had with the fuel and the motor. Jake came off the track with a really great time, we were confident he would get a great starting place for the pre-final. We headed back to the trailer to check things over and I noticed the transponder (the device used to keep track of each karts time) was missing!!!!!!!! This was bad! Now the track had no record of Jake’s lap times! I went to the race director and told him our problem, he said Jake would have to start in the back, 16^th place! After learning the other racers times, Jake would have started the pre-final in 3^rd position. Pre Final: Jake started last and was able to move to 12^th before the 8 lap race was over. Final Jake started 12^th and had made his way to 9^th. On lap 4 a kid got sideways in turn 3 and karts went everywhere including Jake. He smashed into another kart and landed in the tires. They red flagged the race because one of the kids was hurt (he was checked out and was okay). The tech checked out Jake’s kart and let him restart. The kart was damaged, the front end was bashed in and the front was out of alignment. He managed a 12^th place finish. What a night!!! Jake stayed calm and cool. He showed tremendous poise even though I had messed up! He is truly a work of art! Also the reason our fuel didn’t pass was because of the difference in temperature from our trailer to outside…There were many lessons learned today.

6-22-05 Day 1 Kart Nationals- We got to the track around noon just in time for a free BBQ lunch and man was it good! Practice didn’t start until 4:00 so we just hung out and played Play Station after lunch. We waited until 5:30 then took to the track for our first practice. Session 1 went really well and Jake was fast right out of the box! Afterwards, I came back to the trailer and downloaded the information to the computer. Jake and I looked at his lap times, the EGT, RPM’s and MPH. We were really off on the gearing! The motor was turning way to many RPM’s! YIKES! I changed the gearing and Jake went out again around 7:00. Session 2 was even better with Jake passing just about everybody in his way. When he came off the track he said the kart was really fast but it was hopping in the turns (this meant the kart was tight). We came back to the trailer downloaded the computer info and BAM! Jake ran some of his best lap times ever, but we were still too high on the RPM’s and the kart was still too tight. I made another gearing change and lowered the seat hoping it would help the hopping. Session 3 started about 9:00 and Jake looked a little loose (back of the kart sliding around). He came off the track and sure enough said “daddy the back end is moving around”. After downloading the computer data we learned the gearing was much better and his lap times had fallen off just a little. I know what changes to do for tomorrow!

6-4-05 The weekend started great. I had a good qualifying run and started 2^nd in the pre-final. I was really surprised about running the 2^nd fastest lap time. I had to get right behind Connor (pole) when I saw the green flag. The #8 kart started on the inside right behind Connor and he got a slow start so I just slid right in behind Connor. I ended up running the whole race in second place. The final didn’t start as good. My plan was to do the same thing and slip right in behind Connor but #8 must have known my plan. He stuck to Connors bumper and I couldn’t get in. I was frustrated so I made a wrong decision and came down on top of him making us both spin out. Once I got started again I was in 6^th place. Now I had work to do, five karts were between me and first place and I had 12 laps to pass them. I passed them one by one and finished 2^nd. Once I got off the track I learned that the decision I had made at the start was a wrong and I went to apologize to the driver of the #8 kart. We spent the night at the track and I stayed up until 2am playing play station. Sunday was a work day so we cleaned the track and emptied the trash. Daddy says my next race will be the Nationals at NTK where there will be drivers from all over the country.

5-21-05 Our day started out pretty good except for one thing...IT WAS HOT! Daddy was working on the kart to try and get more speed because my lap times were slow. He said it was because of the heat. We practiced a few times before qualifying but my lap times were not getting any better. It was now time for qualifying and man was it still hot! We got up to the grid a little late and had to start in the second pack. On my 3rd lap the kid in front of me spun out. I had to slow down to get around him and I was sure I didn't get a good lap time. Much to my surprise I qualified 2nd which put me on the front row. This made me really nervous being in front but daddy assured me it would be okay. I didn't get a great start and fell into 3rd place. I raced really hard and was able to make a pass on lap 6 and finished 2nd!! This put me on the front row in the final. The final is where it all went bad...I got a really bad start and several karts got around me. I dropped back to 6th and was able to get around 5th. When I tried to pass for 4th Clint (#15) and I hit coming out of turn 1. Our karts were stuck together and luckily we broke apart before turn two. I pushed really hard trying to catch 2nd and 3rd but got loose in two and spun putting me back in 5th where I would finish the night. I was very disappointed that I didn't do better but daddy says I did very good and that was just racing. I'll get'em next week!

5-14-05 This was the first night race of the year. The track was pretty slick from the rain on Friday. I didn't get a fast lap in qualifying so I started 4th in the pre final. It got scary in the first turn when the #21 kart came down on me causing us both to wreck. I was able to get going but I had fallen back to 6th. I was able to catch up and pass for a 4th place finish. The final was very exciting too because we were three wide going into turn one. I stayed in the gas and came out in 3rd where I would stay for the remaining 12 laps. I could hear someone putting pressure on me and it was the #7 Azaly Marquez. She's very fast! I ended up 3rd out of 10 karts. It was a good night!