Coming off a solid opening month of 2015 that included three prestigious final wins, J3 Competition and its COMPKART chassis took to the second round of the FWT at the Orlando Karting Center in Orlando, Florida. The team entered a consistent line up of drivers (Bressan, Armstrong, Thomas : Hewitt, Eves, Villacis : Nienkotter).
The team started its on track activity with open practice on Wednesday which closely followed into a continued day of testing on Thursday before qualifying on Friday. With two days of testing in dry conditions the team looked to be heading toward qualifying in the wet on Friday, however, the weather held off until Saturday giving the team another dry day.
In Max Masters, Leonardo Nienkotter picked up right where he left of in Homestead by taking the pole position for both Saturday and Sunday in commanding fashion. In the final on Saturday Nienkotter was all business taking the win in a wet race with a five second victory nearly half a second a lap faster than his closest rival, proving the COMPKART and Nienkotter are a tough match in any condition. Sunday’s final took place under a drying track and Nienkotter once again crossed the line in first place with a five second margin of victory while clocking times half a second faster than the competition a seeming trend over the weekend. Nienkotter is now positioned with a strong lead in the championship heading into the final round as he looks to secure the prestigious title and a ticket to the Rotax World Finals.
The team’s junior trio battled back from its outing in Homestead and looked on pace the entire week. Qualifying was witness to great efforts by Eves, Hewitt, and Villacis as they all entered the pre-finals on Saturday and Sunday in solid positions to challenge for some key results. Saturday was a rain soaked event that saw Eves charge from near last place finish to take a very impressive run in 8th with times as fast as the leader, while teammates Villacis and Hewitt impressed as well with both taking top 15 results. Sunday’s action was under dry/mix conditions and the trio of drivers were once again found clawing at the top of the charts with a final tally of 7th for Eves as he battled with the front packs of drivers while Villacis grabbed tenth after battling inside the top ten for most of the race and Hewitt collected another top twenty position.
The Max Sr. racing was a weekend that did not go the way J3 Competition and the COMPKART drivers had hoped for. After a reasonably solid qualifying effort, driver Hunter Armstrong was caught on the wrong end of a pre final incident on Saturday, which sideline him for the rest week with hand injuries. After a rough pre final on Saturday Bressan worked back from last place to a top ten finish, however, Sunday would not be as kind to Bressan as an accident at the start of the final ended his weekend prematurely. The weekends mixed conditions did not play nice to newcomer Everett Thomas as well, however with ample track time and racing, Thomas is on a clear path heading into the final round in Ocala.
About J3 Competition:
J3 Competition Inc. through its COMPKART ™ brand will provide a full line of high-quality chassis and products designed and engineered for the Karting industry. J3 Competition is among the most successful Karting brands and companies internationally. J3 Competition will aim to deliver the COMPKART ™ chassis line to the North American market as well as customers globally in 2015 and beyond with unprecedented performance and service. With its content, B2B, and B2C websites presently under construction, please visit http://www.j3competition.com along with all its social media outlets to stay up to date on the latest releases and happenings regarding the COMPKART brand.
