This past Sunday was the second race of the
2008 season for EEKR Go-Karters at Riverhead Raceway. There were
a record number of go-karts on hand to partake in the great
sunshine and cool weather.
With it still too early in the season to tell who will be in
contention for the championship at the end of the season, there
are a few drivers making their presence known. A few of them
are Kyle Soper, Joe Hodge, Vinny Delaney and SR Champ Raptor
driver John Thompson.
For those who don’t know, John Thompson changed the number of
his kart in the middle of the season last year to the #66, in
honor of his friend, John Blewett III. He thought John was a
great competitor and friend. He felt compelled to do this for
John, his brother Jimmy and all his friends and family.
Thompson had a rough season last year
trying to get the kart to handle having enough power to stay up
front. By the end of the season he was so annoyed that John
said, "I'm not coming back next year unless I can figure out how
to make this kart run better." Over the offseason, he went back
to the blackboard and made some big changes. First, he got the
motor rebuilt to give him the power he needed to be a front
runner. He then checked every inch of his champ kart from
bearings to the axles and everything in between. He wanted to
make sure that he didn't leave anything behind. He didn't even
make the first race, last week, because he needed a little more
time to make everything work perfectly.
All of the work paid off for Thompson in a big way. In practice
before the race on Sunday, Johnny's kart ran pretty well. Right
before the heat race, Thomspon noted that he had to make some
more adjustments to the kart. In the heat race, Johnny was able
to finish in 5th place, which gave him a good starting spot for
the main.
When he got back to the pits, John had told us that his kart was
running fine. He could not have been more correct. During the
main, he was able to go anywhere he needed to move himself up to
the front. Even when he got into a little mishap on the track
early on in the race with another driver, it didn’t stop his
determination to get back up front to win the race. When the
checkered flag waved at the end of the race, John couldn't
believe that he finally got the win he was looking for. With
his victory, John proved that hard work and a little luck goes a
long way.
Source: Danielle
McCormack/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
April 16, 2008
