After a successful first quarter in 2009, J3 Competition has moved steadily into the second quarter of 2009 with a busy schedule. Coming off a dominating 2009 FWT campaign, J3 entered the bulk of the season starting with its participation during the month of April. April was a busy schedule for the team at J3 Competition as they ventured to Castelletto, Italy for the WSK and Sunny Sonoma, California for the Pro Kart Challenge and Stars of Karting events.
April began with FWT Champion Tristan DeGrand’s participation in the third round of the WSK in Castelletto, Italy. After two successful testing days leading up to the event in Castelletto, Tristan was positioned to record a great first outing in Europe.
The first official practice day (Timed Sessions) in Castelletto were plagued by mixed weather as the team was forced to constantly alternate between its dry and wet chassis. With two chassis completely setup the changing weather was controlled from the team’s preparation standpoint. The two final sessions were the key indicators of Tristan’s ability to find speed in an unfamiliar setting with somewhat unfamiliar equipment. The day concluded with the recently turned 13 year old taking the 3rd fastest official time in practice against 68 other entrants, which is most likely a first for an American competing in Europe, let alone a junior driver on their first trip.
As the event progressed it was apparent that weather would be the only downside. Due to his 3rd fastest overall practice time, Tristan would take to the track in Q3. As the qualifying session unfolded, Tristan was on pace, unfortunately slower traffic would hinder his optimal efforts, thus giving a great effort with 15th overall. The heat races unfolded with Tristan recording finishes of 26-19-7-6, which would force the young driver into the repechage. As the team arrived to Parc Ferme for the repechage the skies unleashed nothing short of a torrential downpour forcing the team to quickly alternate to the rain chassis. As the repechage began the team would be unable to secure a spot in Sunday’s final. Although the team’s first trip to Europe didn’t end exactly as they hoped for, the speed and potential for improvement at the next round in Genk, Belgium will undoubtedly prove different.
After two weeks in northern Italy the team was back to the United States for a mere seven days before the upcoming Pro Kart ‘North’ event at Infineon Raceway. J3 Competition attended the Pro-Kart and subsequent Stars event with junior driver Alessandra Madrigal.
For the Pro-Kart event Madrigal entered TaG Jr. and HPV 2 Jr. categories. After a half-day of practice on Thursday Madrigal and the team were coming to grips with the technical circuit at Infineon. Moving into the Saturday’s race day the team prepared the best possible solution for Madrigal and she delivered with qualifying efforts of third in TaG Jr. and seventh in HPV Jr. As the two heat races progressed Alessandra moved up the charts and started the TaG Jr. final in second and the HPV Jr final in fourth.
The Pro-Kart finals yielded some exciting action especially the TaG Jr. class. Alessandra was in position during the final to make a pass for the lead at the half-way point until a lap car forced her to lose an additional 1.5 seconds. Once clear of lap traffic, Alessandra proceeded to track down the leader while clocking times over two tenths quicker a lap and as the checkered flag flew Madrigal would take second directly on the winner’s bumper. The HPV class was less exciting as Alessandra drove to a fourth place finish, which would prove to be valuable experience heading into the Stars weekend.
Rounding out the trip to Infineon was the Stars of Karting event where Madrigal entered Junior National and the more familiar KF3 categories. After a couple great practice days Madrigal completed the official qualifying rounds with third in Junior National and second in KF3. The heat races progressed nicely for the young driver and for Sunday’s pre-final Alessandra gridded P1 for Junior National and third for KF3.
The pre-final and final action was good for J3 Competition and Alessandra as the team scored valuable points in both events. At the conclusion, Madrigal took a step on the box in both categories with a third place finish in Junior National and a second place finish in KF3.
For further information regarding J3 Competition’s Race Department or the 2009 Kosmic Racing Kart line, Vortex Engines, ROK Series Engines, IBEA, JHC, OTK Kart Parts, and Tranzformer please contact our sales department at;Sales@J3Competition.com or 814-864-1846.
