The day for MINI GP race 2 at K1 Speed in Buffalo Grove arrived and once again Karen was in charge of the evening’s pit crew which included Katie.  This race also brought out some old friends Sophia and Skyler, who raced with Jason at Concept Haulers a few years ago.  In addition to Skyler and Jason there where a total of 17 junior drivers.  This would make the evening a bit longer with two qualifying sessions and two features, because the track can only handle 13 karts at one time.

Jason had a plan for qualifying: get into open space as quickly as possible and start setting fast laps.  The means he will either push forward to pass the leaders or hang back to create distance between him and the next racers.  He started in second and he was able to nurse his kart in pre-start low speed mode, setting up a move to the lead as soon as the green flag dropped.  By the third lap he had the fastest lap, and his times where continuing to drop as the kart reached its top speed and he settled into a rhythm.  In lap nine, after a few cautions and mucking with slower traffic, Jason moved down to third.  But in the very next lap, he set the fastest lap of the evening 18.208.  This lap time would pay off with pole position in the feature giving great prospects of winning the race.

With his excellent qualifying effort, Jason was in the faster of the two features and started on the pole.  This is the best place to be because it means that everyone is behind and passing is very difficult.  As long as he gets a good start and drives clean he should be able to win the race.  In the second lap Jason fended off an attempt to pass with a small adjustment to close the opening, forcing the other driver to brake.  From there he pulled away from the group and started to catch up to the trailing drivers.  With four laps to go Jason caught up to last place driver.  He worked very hard to get by but the driver was inconsistent and ignored the slow traffic flag.  In the next lap the driver was signaled by the official  to let Jason and the driver behind him pass, but instead, cut off and bumped Jason.  This caused Jason to loose speed and momentum and the driver behind got by.  Jason pushed for the last two laps but there was not enough time.  He finished in 2nd and was disappointed despite his excellent work.

Despite the second place finish Jason really brought his ‘A’ game to the track.  He came with a plan and executed it successfully.  He did not get first place but he race with his heart and the results where somewhat out of his control.  Sometimes that is just how racing goes.  He is now in 3rd place in the series, just 8 points back from first and 10 points in front of 4th place.  Overall it was a pretty good night and is still a very tight series.

The next race is Concept Haulers Motor Speedway‘s opening day on March 28th.  Two years ago we had an early April opening and the day was delayed by snow.  With the weather this year we are just going to hope for the best.  We need to spend the remaining little time putting the final touches on the kart and getting major pieces attached.

Very special thanks goes to Karen and Katie who had to hang out at the track for an extra long time.  To the folks running the races at K1 they work hard and and put up with a lot of BS.