With the familiar sun of Homestead Florida on their backs, the team at J3 Competition put in another impressive run at the opening round of the 2010 CKI Florida Cup. At the inaugural event the team endured the hot and humid weather of Florida along with some mixed track condition in the wet. At the end of Sunday, J3 Competition was able to secure wins and some key positions in the Championship race.
With the proven junior tandem of Tristan DeGrand and Alessandra Madrigal, J3 Competition was positioned strong in both KF3 and Rotax Jr as Saturday and Sunday closed in. The KF3 forerunner and number one plate holder, Tristan DeGrand proved his mark as he clocked the pole position on Saturday and continued through the day with dominating winning performances in both the pre-final and final. On Sunday, DeGrand looked poised for a repeat as the champion took a solid second place in wet weather qualifying. With a dry track for the pre-final and final, DeGrand looked to have the speed for a repeat, however a carburetor malfunction sidelined his hopes for the perfect weekend. At the conclusion, DeGrand still holds the top spot in the championship chase.
Alessandra Madrigal highlighted her weekend with the overall championship lead in Rotax Jr. along with a solid win in Sunday’s Rotax Jr. final. Madrigal compiled good points on Saturday with a podium finish of second in Rotax Jr., which allowed her to stretch into the lead for the early championship. In KF3 Madrigal had mixed results, however she was able to take home a third place finish in Sunday’s final giving her a good chance for the remainder of the 2010 Florida Cup.
KF2 newcomer, Phillip Orcic acquainted himself nicely with his new Kosmic package which included the manual OTK BS7 hand brake system. Utilizing the vast resources within the team at J3 Competition, Orcic was able to take the fight to some the world’s best KF2 drivers over the weekend. After an excellent qualifying and pre-final on Saturday, Orcic took to the final like a veteran where he secured a win by over four seconds along with taking fast lap honors by over four tenths of a second. Orcic was not as fortunate on Sunday as he finished the final in fourth place, however, the result put him securely in the chase for the championship.
J3 Competition rounded out the weekend with the entrants of Richard Benitez and Manuel Sanjenis in Rotax Sr. Upon arrival, Benitez took to his new Kosmic Mercury Rotax package with ease as newcomer Sanjenis took a couple days acclimating himself to the new material. On Saturday it was apparent that the Kosmic of Benitez was the mark as he solidly out qualified the field by over two tenths of a second and walked away to a pre-final win by nearly two seconds. The final however, would not be as kind as Benitez was slammed by a fellow competitor in the latter stages to eliminate his chances at the perfect day which forced the Puerto Rican to finish fifth while Sanjenis was forced out on lap one.
Sunday’s action was a near repeat as Benitez took pole and pre-final wins and looked to be the favorite for the final win, but unfortunately first lap contact forced another uphill battle and Benitez took the final step in third place. Sanjenis improved upon his weekend with a sixth place qualifying effort on Sunday, which translated into a sixteenth place final finish.
“The inaugural Florida Cup proved both extremely challenging and fruitful for our team”, stated Justin Stefani team manager for J3 Competition. “The entire team worked feverishly during the event and our strategies proved to be correct as our results and speeds indicate. Our successes were also aided by the introduction of our Unipro data acquisition program.”
For further information regarding J3 Competition’s Race Department or the 2010 Kosmic Racing Kart line, Vortex Engines, ROK Series Engines, Unipro Lap Timers, IBEA, JHC, OTK Kart Parts, and Tranzformer products please contact the sales department at; Sales@J3Competition.com or 814-864-1846.
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.
