Arriving at the opening round of the 2014 RoK Cup USA Championship, J3 Competition entered a total of five drivers for the newly formed Championship series. Luis Forteza and Theo Chick were entered in the RoK Jr. category, Thomas Issa and Mike Horton Jr. entered the RoK Sr. category with Mike Horton Sr. rounding the team out in RoK Masters.
The junior duo was anchored by Luis Forteza who proved to be the ‘mark’ in the category from his first session on track. Forteza worked solidly with the team and perfected his weekend by starting out with pole position on Friday and moving forward with three heat wins, pre-final and the ultimate final victory. Teammate Theo Chick had a great event as well with a top ten qualifying position, which he backed up with a strong set of heat races. On Sunday the team worked to develop a well handling setup, which Chick responded to and took home a solid fifth place finish in the final.
With a strong line up in RoK Sr. Thomas Issa looked to be a contender for pole position during qualifying on Friday, but catching slower traffic thwarted off his effort as he claimed a solid third place result. Working through the three heat race format, the team tested a few different solutions in preparation for Sunday’s events. Having a top-level setup in place, Issa took a well-deserved second place in the pre-final. Starting on the outside of row one for the final was difficult as Issa fell to fifth after the start, however, he worked his way to second before the half-way mark. Working to run down the leader, Issa suffered a mechanical failure and was forced to retire early – a real shame as he looked to end up on the podium.
With the Rok Cup being first time competing outside of the Northeast, the Horton duo worked very well progressing within the J3 Competition organization. After a continuously improving week of testing and racing, the Horton’s will join the team for the remainder of the RoK Cup USA Championship with the next round taking place in Homestead, FL.
“Our team members did a fantastic job in Orlando at the opening round of the RoK Cup USA Championship. With the categories being new to many of the team members, they all adapted very well to the Vortex engine performance as well as the Bridgestone tires. We are looking forward to expand upon our opening round results at the remaining RoK Cup events throughout the 2014 season.” – J3 Management
J3 Competition is an industry leading Raced Department, which attends some of the world’s most challenging events. J3 Competition will be attending the entire 2014 RoK Cup USA Championship, interested parties are encouraged to contact J3 Competition at Technical@J3Competition.com or 814-864-1846 to realize a potential program fit for this great series or any other interested series which J3 Competition will compete in during the 2014 season.
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.
