Lightning Strikes Twice at SMS - 6/8/09

J&D Racing Fans, Monday, 6/8 was another good night for J&D Racing. The weather was nice - temps in the 80’s in the afternoon and the high 60’s as the feature races were taking place. Neither guy set new personal lap times but both ran well.

D started 5th of 7 in the first heat race. He fell to 7th on the first lap and ended up finishing there. He stayed up with the pack but wasn’t able to make a move on anyone to pickup a spot. His 7th place finish put him in the 2nd feature race starting in the 5th spot of 7 karts. D fell to 6th on the first lap, but picked up 5th spot on lap 5 and 4th spot one lap later. The first three karts had pulled too far away for D to challenge any of them for a podium finish in the remaining 4 laps. A good job though to take advantage of the situations when they presented themselves. D is now 9th in the point standings. Keep up the good work D!!

J started 7th of 9 karts in the 6-lap Tiger A heat race. He moved up to the 5th spot on the first lap and up to 4th on the next lap. He and the #43 kart battled for 3rd for the next three laps. J crossed the line with that position with one to go, but bobbled in turn 1 and fell back to 4th coming out of turn 2. Going through the center of turns 3 & 4, J got his left side tires into the dirt and lost his momentum. He ended up getting passed just before the finish line to finish 5th, so that is where he started in the feature race. Watch the video to see how it turns out.




Great Job, J!! Congratulations on your 2nd win. You’re 2nd in the point standings. Keep it up!!

Next race is 6/22 at SMS.

Fun with science

The boys have been taking an on-line science
home school class. The class is about
the science of smell. They have learned
how the nose and brain work together to help
the body recognize smells. They've even
done a couple of experiments. This
is one where they try to tell which
is the lemon and which is the lime.
They've also learned how to make
scented water. Will post those pics later.

Oh, they both correctly identified the
lemon and lime.

On another science note, our frogs
did not make it. We did get to
see some changes as the tadpoles
were growing into frogs. For now,
we'll stick to butterflies and
Bettas. :-)

J&D Racing Update - 5/30 & 6/1

J&D Racing Fans,

This past weekend was a busy one for J&D Racing. J raced in race #1 of the Saturday Night Live series on 5/30 and both guys raced in the 3rd race of the season at SMS on 6/1. Weather for both days was 70’s during the day and about 60F at night during the feature races. Overall it was a good weekend for J&D Racing.

J is racing in a 5-race series at Rt 106 Racepark in Concord, NH called the Saturday Night Live (SNL) series. Each race of the 5 races is scheduled on the last Saturday of each month, May – September. D won’t be racing in this series since there is only one group of Tiger Sprints (A & B classes together). This series does time-trials instead of heat races to qualify for the feature. J won the pole with a time of 9.52 sec. Starting on the pole of the 8-kart field, J worked his way out to an early lead of the 35-lap event. Unfortunately, many cautions in the middle of the race took away his lead and eventually, one of the karts got around him. With two laps to go, J was planning to make his move to try to win, but lapped traffic got in the way. Check out the video for some good racing action. People were still commenting on Monday at SMS how good the race was at 106 on Saturday. Next SNL race is 6/27.




At SMS on 6/1, J started on the pole of the 6-lap heat race with 8 karts. He was suppose to start 3rd, but the karts scheduled to start 1st & 2nd didn’t make the race. He took and kept the lead for all of the 6 laps despite a caution flag on lap 3. So starting on the pole for the feature, J fell to 3rd on the first lap. The race stayed green for all 12 laps and he ended up finishing in 3rd. J has changed his line around the track and has reaped the benefits of faster lap times. The last 2 laps of the race, he ran his fastest times ever at SMS - 17.62 sec per lap. His kart is tight into turn 1 and so he scrubs off speed through turns 1 & 2. We are working on that for the next race. J is now 3rd in the point standings.

D also started on the pole for his 6-lap heat race. There were 18 karts signed in for the Tiger B class, so there were 3 heats with 6 karts in each race. He fell to second and ended up finishing there. This earned him the 6th starting spot of 9 karts in the first of two 10-lap feature races. D held his own and finished in 6th. D also ran his fastest laps ever at SMS, by finally recording two laps of 18.91 sec each. This is the first time D has run under 19 sec. D is 7th in the point standings.

It was a good weekend for J&D racing since both guys ran their fastest laps ever & J brought home 2nd & 3rd place finishes. We are hoping for another strong run on Mon. 6/8 at SMS. Unfortunately, weather may be factor. Stay tuned!!

J&D Racing,
S, B, J & D

J&D Racing Update - 5/18/09

Fans,

Monday was the 2nd night of the WTKS (Wild Thing Kart Series) at SMS (Stafford Motor Speedway). It was a very cool night. Temps were in the 50’s during the late afternoon and into the 40’s at night during the feature races. History has shown that cool nights are not the best for J&D Racing and this night would be no exception.

D started in the 6th spot of his 6 lap heat race. He would end up finishing 5th which was good enough to get him into the 1st feature race for the Tiger Sprint B division. He started last (9th) for the 10 lap feature event. He ended up finishing there, but he showed improvement through out the night by improving his lap times. Good Job D! D is in a 3-way tie for 7th place in the point standings.

J’s night was kind of tough. After bringing home his first win in the Tiger Sprint “A” class (and first win ever), means he started last in the heat race. Starting 10th, he worked his way up to a 6th place finish in the 6 lap heat race. Starting there in the 12 lap feature, he worked his way up to fifth, but on the white flag lap, spun in turn 2. Two other karts spun trying to avoid him, and after everyone got turned around and going again, J managed to cross the finish line in 8th. So it wasn’t the night we had hoped for, after celebrating the victory the previous week, but he will come back on 6/1 for the next event at SMS and give it his best. J is now tied for 3rd in the point standings.

Check out the write up on the Wild Thing Karts website for J’s first victory at:

www.wildthingkarts.com/Staffo27.jpg

J will be running the “Saturday Night Live” series at Route 106 Racepark in Concord, NH. This is a 5 race series on the last Saturday of each month May – September. The first race of this series is 5/30. Good Luck J! Stay tuned to see how he does in this series.

Blessings to all,
J&D Racing

Lightning Strikes on Opening Night

Monday, 5/11/09, was opening night at Stafford Motor Speedway for the Wild Thing Kart Series & J&D Racing was ready to go. Weather was nice - a cool spring day w/ temps in the 60's during the day and the mid 50's at night.

D is kart driving the #08 kart in the Tiger Sprint "B" division just like last year. There were 17 karts in this division on opening night, so they were broken up into two groups. D started 8th of 8 in the second 6 lap heat race for the Tiger B's. He worked his way up to a third place finish which put him in the 10 lap A-Main Feature race. He started 6th of 9 and held his own for the first 8 laps before he fell to 7th, where he finished. D started improving at the end of last season and he continued to show progress throughout the night.

J is driving the #95 Lightning McQueen paint scheme in the Tiger Sprint "A" division like he did last year too. The only thing different for the #95 is the new Animal motor J has on his kart. Thanks to all of our sponsors for making this happen - Service Master of Fargo, Uncle L & Grandpa S.

There were 10 karts signed in for the Tiger Sprint "A" division and J drew a 4th place starting spot. The kart in front of him got off to a slow start in the 6 lap heat race and J dropped back to 6th place. He kept digging and was able to finish back in the 4th spot. This allowed him to start in the 4th spot for the 12 lap feature event. We'll let you watch the action in the feature for yourself. Enjoy the race!!

Next race at SMS is 5/18/09.

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

The racing season begins in a couple of weeks.

Today, J & D with the help of their Dad

(or is it the other way around?), took the karts

out of the trailer and began getting them

ready to race. J worked on putting the

tires on his kart, while D worked on

getting the clutch ready for his engine.

J with his new Animal motor. Thanks Grandpa S., Uncle L.,

Aunt H. & Uncle K. for helping to make it possible. :-)

Homeschool Fun

For our life science studies this year, we are raising butterflies
and bullfrogs. Today was the day to place the chrysalis in their new
home. We've been raising Painted Lady caterpillars for a couple
of years now, and the process amazes us each time! God's
creations are amazing!




For the past two years, we've tried to raise African
Water Frogs.....with no success. They would get to the
point of having their back legs and then they would die.

This year, we're trying to raise bullfrogs. As you can see from
the pic, they're not very cute right now. :-) They can live a few years
and eat things that are living & moving! :-0 The boys are looking
forward to 'catching' their bullfrog's meals. Fortunately, we have a
good supply of crickets and worms in our yard. For now, they
are content to eat fish flakes and pellets.