After a long week of mixed weather and track conditions at the 2012 US Rotax Nationals, the team at J3 Competition prevailed by qualifying two of its drivers for the 2012 Rotax World Finals. Nearly missing out on the championship in both of these classes, J3 Competition is proud to announce Thomas Issa (Rotax Jr.) and Andrew Palmer (Rotax Sr.) will represent J3 Competition in Portugal at the 2012 World Finals. In addition to Palmer and Issa, J3 entered a talented quartet of drivers at the US Rotax Nationals; Theo Chick, Michael d’Orlando, and Ethan Tyler in Mini Max and Nicholas d’Orlando in Micro Max.
With the challenging conditions Micro Max driver Nicholas d’Orlando was able to show poise and speed in both wet and dry conditions during the entire event. During the final timed practice (dry track) Nicholas was able to set the fastest time, thus putting his name in the running for the championship. Likewise, in wet conditions Nicholas was atop the charts in nearly all the sessions with a highlight of winning the last heat race decisively. With a total of sixteen points, d’Orlando would start in fifth place for the pre-final, which at the last minute went to wet conditions. Driving a solid race, d’Orlando was able to stay out of trouble and give him a solid starting place of ninth for the final with the second fastest time of the pre-final. During the final d’Orlando worked into the top five before a spin forced the young driver to work his way back up to the front for a solid sixth place finish in his first Rotax Nationals with J3 Competition.
J3 Competition’s trio of Mini Max drivers swarmed the top ten on the speed charts throughout the week’s events. After a qualifying session marred by wet weather, d’Orlando was classified in 10th with Tyler inside the top twenty and Chick further down the list. With work to do in their heat races, d’Orlando bested his effort with the quickest time in heat three and ended up with a point total enabling him to start the pre-final in a solid eight place. Tyler was consistent and trouble free in his heat races and thus started the pre-final in seventeenth with Theo Chick taking to the field further down in 26th. An exciting wet pre-final would see both Tyler and Chick retire earlier than expected as d’Orlando worked impressively into the top five before a late race spin pushed him back to tenth place. The final was yet again tricky conditions as the field took to dry tires on a somewhat damp track. Tyler worked his way from nearly last place to finish 15th with the fourth fastest time of the final stamping his mark on a challenging week of racing. After an early incident, Chick was sidelined ending his unlucky weekend and after a first turn incident, d’Orlando charged back up to finish in 19th.
Taking to the track in the Jr. Max category for J3 Competition was pilot Thomas Issa. The week’s events started out well for Thomas as he was able to post top times in dry conditions nearly every time on the track. Once the mixed weather hit the facility in South Bend, Thomas’s workload increased as he was hampered in qualifying, which forced him to start each heat race in the middle of the pack. With a difficult set of heats, Thomas was forced to start the LCQ on the front row in second place, with the top six finishers transferring to Sunday’s final event; Thomas finished a respectable fourth place. With Tomas in the final, it was a long night for the J3 Competition team as they prepared to make a run for the win on Sunday from a challenging starting position of 32nd. In what was undoubtedly the drive of the weekend, Thomas ran a clean and aggressive pre-final moving up to sixth place, thus giving himself a chance in the final to go for victory. In the final, Thomas jumped on the competition and moved into second place before the half-way mark and began to hunt down the leader. With not enough time to run down the leader, Thomas was able to finish in second place in his first Nationals as a junior and take a well-deserved birth at the World Finals.
Completing J3 Competition’s efforts over the weekend was senior driver Andrew Palmer. Palmer consistently matched and set some of the fastest times throughout practice leading up to Thursday’s qualifying. With the weather playing the major factor, Palmer qualified in the second group of seniors, which subsequently was during the worse conditions possible. With a qualifying effort of ninth, Palmer finished his first heat after a first lap spin in eight place. With immense confidence, Friday offered up another day of mixed conditions as Palmer would run both heat races with dry tires on tricky surface conditions. In his final two heats, Palmer scored a second and third place finish, which yielded him a fifth place starting position for Saturday’s pre-final. With a torrential rain in the pre-final, Palmer worked up to second place before settling for a solid third place finish. With a third place grid position, Palmer had contact at the second corner during the start of the final sending him back to ninth place on the first lap. With 25 laps left, Palmer put in a marvelous drive as he carved through the field and with six laps to go, Palmer put a bold move for third place and successfully captured the position. Once in third place, Palmer would finish the race virtually unchallenged and captured the final spot on Team USA and a well-deserved podium finish.
J3 Competition and its Race Department have full schedule of activities throughout the remainder of 2012, which can be found on at: http://www.j3competition.com. For further information regarding the J3 Competition Race Department or any of J3 Competition’s i products please contact Technical@J3Competition or Sales@J3Competition.com.
About J3 Competition
J3 Competition Inc. is an undisputed leader in Race Services since 2004, providing the necessary tooling and management to take drivers to the next level. Starting in 2015 through its COMPKART ™ brand, J3 Competition will provide a full line of high-quality chassis and products designed and engineered for the Karting industry alongside it potent Race Department. 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.
