It’s been a while since the last update and the month is almost over so here is an update on all the happenings for J&D Racing for July. We’ve raced 4 different times this month - 7/13 & 7/20 at Stafford, 7/25 at 106 Racepark and 7/26 at Pomfret Speedway.
7/13 at Stafford Motor Speedway
J&D racing had good night. A warm day and favorable track conditions worked in our favor. J started 8th of 10 karts in the heat race and finished 4th. Outside of the 2nd row was a good place to start in the Feature, but he fell behind the first two karts. As they began to battle back-and-forth, J was able to catch up and get into the mix as the laps wound down. In middle of turns 3 & 4 on the final lap, J made a good move to grab 2nd. A nice finish that kept him first in the overall point standing for the Tiger A division.
D also had a good night in the Tiger B class. He started 6th of 8 karts and he finished 4th. This put him in the first Feature race, starting in 6th place. He move up to what we thought was 4th, when the checked flag fell, but he was called back to the tech area and awarded 3rd place. The kart that was thought to have finished third was actually one lap down after spinning out earlier in the race. A nice surprise for D! This put D in the 6th spot in the overall point standings for the Tiger B class.
This night also brought a change to the team as a third kart was added. Now J&D Racing becomes J&D2 Racing - J, D & Daddy. We bought a kart for J to run next year in the Jr. Outlaw class, but no reason for the kart to collect dust with half of the season remaining. So S volunteered to jump in and run it in the Sr. Outlaw class. It was quite the experience - got scared once or twice as the turn 2 wall came up pretty quick and found out it‘s much harder than it looks from the stands, but had a great time nonetheless. S started 7th of 8 in the second heat race. Got spun in turn 3 on lap 2 of 8 and, therefore, finished last. S started 11th of 16 in the 15 lap feature. The feature ended with S in 13th place. A good learning experience and many changes needed on the kart (and the driver too).
7/20 at Stafford Motor Speedway
July 20th wasn’t as good of a night for the team at SMS. The warmest day of the racing season so far with temps close to 90F during the day. D had a decent night in the Tiger B class. Started and finished 6th of 7 in the heat race. This earned him the 4th starting spot in the 2nd Feature race. He moved to 3rd early in the race and held the spot through to the end. A podium finish, so D brings home some hardware. Good Job D!
J started 9th of 10 karts and finished 4th in the heat race again. The Feature race turned out to be an ugly race for the whole class. The caution flag was waved 5 or 6 times in the 12 lap race. As the laps wound down to two to go, J was battling hard for 2nd. As he took the white flag, the other kart squeezed him down to the inside of the front stretch, the kart behind him got impatient and decided to get to the inside of J. As J backed out of the gas so as not to wreck the kart in 2nd place going into turn 1, the other kart forced him way out of the groove in turn 1 & 2, so J fell to 6th coming out of turn 2. As the kart that forced him out of the groove & J got going again, this same kart lost control in turn 4, spun out and collected J. J ended up finishing 7th with a busted up right front spindle & tierod. After the may-lay, J fell to the 2nd spot in the overall points standings.
S didn’t race the Sr. Outlaw as “life” got in the way of getting the kart set up on time for this event.
7/25 at Rt. 106 Racepark, Concord, NH
This was race #3 in the Saturday Night Live Series that J has been participating in. D has been asking to race in this series and since he has been doing well at SMS, we decided to let him race too. J qualified 3rd and D qualified last of the nine karts. J was in 2nd for most of the 30 lap race and on the tail of the lead kart. With about 10 laps to go, J and the lead kart came up on D to put him a lap down. The first place kart got around D easily. J had a little harder time passing his brother. They raced for a lap or two and by that time, the lead kart had gotten ¼ of a lap ahead and J couldn’t catch up. D finished 8th and J finished 2nd.
7/26 at Pomfret Speedway, Pomfret, CT
Pomfret Speedway hosted an invitational race and invited those who race at Stafford on a regular basis. A neat little 1/8 mile oval track with a slight amount of banking in the turns. Seven karts from Stafford showed up, so a decent field for the Tiger Sprint class. D drew the 2nd starting spot, while J drew 6th. Starting the heat race took a couple of tries, but once they got going, it was a good race. J made a nice move in the final turn to grab the win by ½ a kart length as they came across the stripe. D finished 5th. The start of the feature was a repeat of the heat as it took 3 times to get the race under way. J took the lead and held it for about half of the race (25 laps). The caution flag came out with 4 to go. J tried to get past on the restart, but couldn’t get there, so he finished 2nd. D finished finished 5th. A decent run for both guys for the first time at this track as each one brought home a trophy.
Upcoming Races
The next race is scheduled for Stafford on Monday 8/3, which will be Car Club Night. There will be show cars from 3 different clubs on display - something for all of you car-buffs. Mark your calendar the race at Stafford on Monday, 8/17. This is Family Fun Night which is the event with many games for the kids on the fairway. Cost is $8 for adults and free for those 12 and under. Hope to see you then.
The J&D2 Racing Team
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