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| October
30, 2004, Jacksonville, FL - The local
points race came down to the final race at the 103rd St Kart Complex
in Jacksonville, FL. At the end of 14 events Nick held a slim 12 point
lead in Yamaha Jr Sportsman. Having missed three races due to other
racing commitments, Nick had no drop points so a win was the only way
to capture the season championship. Nick played it safe running second,
several kart lengths back from the leader until the last lap and made
a last turn pass for the win and the championship! |
| October
24, 2004, Naples, FL - After competting
in a local race at the North Florida Kart Club in Jacksonville, FL,
Rickert Racing packed up and headed to Naples, FL for the final race
in the Florida WKA Championship
Series . Nick needed a good finish to clinch third place in the
series after missing two races due to schedule conflicts. Nick was
able to run 2nd in both the heat and feature before being overtaken
and finished both in 3rd place. Nick was able to finish the series
in third. |
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August
25, 2004, Norfolk, VA - The
final event of the Subaru of America, Evolution
Performance Driving Schools, Raceworks Divisional Solo2 Championship
Series took place at the Little Creek ACU4 Amphibious Base,
outside of Virigina Beach. The scenary was awesome with the course
area actually dropping off into the Chesapeake Bay, with a backdrop
of LCAC hoovercraft. This event would crown the Series Champion
as whomever won would take home the Championship. Nick's first
run on Saturday on the Terry Baker designed course bested competitor
Shelton Wright's 46.407 by only .3 and by the end of day one
only .3 seperated Nick from Shelton. On Sunday Formula Junior
ran immediately after lunch and started out on a damp course
with a light afternoon shower. Nick was able to rip off a quick
run of 42.756 on his 3rd run, enough to best Shelton's 43.221
final run and enough to clinch another SEDiv Solo2 Championship
by a mere .7 of a second. Nick was also 5th quick overall out
of 117 drivers and 1st in PAX. Photos available here and a video of one of his Saturday runs is available here.
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| July 11, 2004,
Jacksonville, FL - The Rotax Max Challenge made a stop at the 103rd
St Sports Complex in Jacksonville, FL and Nick was able to
take part in the Mini-Max race due to the generous offerings of
series director Al Duenas with SSC Racing. Nick took to the CRG Rotax MiniMax Cadet like
a duck to water, laying down quick laps. With only 2 practice sessions
and never driven a cadet chasis before, Nick qualified 4th .35
off pole. Though plagued with a pushing kart all morning he was
able to finish the heat race in 3rd and the final in 2nd. Rumor
has it you may see Nick in a Mini-Max a few more times this year
;) |
| June 25, 2004, Gainesville,
FL - At the Atlanta
SEDiv Solo2 Championship event, Nick was handed a rare loss by Shelton
Wright. With minors unable to compete at the next Divisional, in Laurens,
a second loss to Wright would mean that Nick could only finish second
in points for the series. The pressure to win certainly didn't faze
Nick, as he led by 1.8 after Saturday, and stretched that out to a
2.325 win for the weekend held at the Gainesville International Raceway's
test n tune track. The winner between the two for the series now won't
be decided until the end of August, at the Old Dominion Region hosted
Divisional. |
| Jacksonville, FL - The local points race has
really heated up at the 103rd St Kart Complex in Jacksonville, FL.
At the end of 10 events the top three in Yamaha Jr Sportsman are with
13 points after the three race drop. Local drivers Sean Rayhall and
Harrison Holmes have stepped it up a notch. Currently the local series
is taking a summer break and will pick back up in September. |
| May 30, 2004, Naples, FL - Having missed the
second race of the Florida WKA Divisonal Sprint Series due to an SCCA
Solo2 Divisional committment in Atlanta, GA, where Nick finished 2nd.
Nick was set to take on the field at the West Coast Karting Complex
in Naples, FL. Nick practiced all day Friday and took every available
moment to learn the track layout. Yamaha Jr Sportsman ran on Sunday
and Nick practiced on used rubber, quicker than his Friday practice
times. Qualifying showed we were not as quick as we had hoped and Nick
qualified 3rd, .5 off the pole. Nick was able to run 2nd in both the
heat and feature for only about half the race before surcoming to a
quicker kart and finished both in 3rd place. Happy to save a podium
finish, Nick will move on to another State race at the 103rd St Sports
Complex in September for race #4 in the Series. But prior to that will
compete the next WKA Manufacturer's Cup Grand National race in Dousman,
WI. |
| May 2, 2004,
Atlanta, GA - The first event of
the Subaru of America, Evolution Performance Driving Schools, Raceworks
Divisional Solo2 Championship Series took place at the Gwinnett County
fairgrounds, outside of Atlanta, GA. The weekend started off bad as
Nick's kart continuely fowled the plug after each run and failed to
make full power. The weather was also uncooperative as it rained off
and on all weekend. At the end of day one Nick was 1.7 seconds off
the pace and struggling. Things didn't get much better on Sunday as
Nick was unable to make up time and finished in 2nd place almost 4
seconds behind. Nick will need a win a the next event in Gainesville
if he hopes to repeat as Formula Junior Champion. |
| March 28, 2004, Jacksonville,
FL - Nick's second WKA National Manufacturer's Cup race took place at
our home track,
103rd St Kart Complex in Jacksonville, FL. Nick practiced Thursday
and Friday and was quick right out of the trailer, consistantly lapping
in the 40.2's and keeping pace with the led pack. As Sunday and qualifying
came we were set for a top five qualifying effort, but were to fall
short by .4 due to too much grip with new tires and qualified 8th.
During the pre-final Nick was plagued by a clutch lockup that dropped
1,000 rpm's, causing the kart to "be a dog out of the corners",
said Nick. The clutch problems dropped Nick from 8th to 12th and also
slowed .2 in lap times. With the clutch fixed Nick was ready to take
on the field of 24 starting in 12th place. At the start of the race,
Nick was hit in the rear in turn one, hit again in turn two and pushed
over the top of the kart in front of him starting lap one in 17th position.
After many valiant passes and attempts Nick fought back to finish 12th. |
| February 29, 2004, Jacksonville,
FL - The first
Florida State race of the year ended today at the 103rd St Kart Complex
in Jacksonville, FL. Nick set fast time in Friday and Sunday practice,
qualified on the pole by .3 (seven hundredths off the track record)
and set fastest race lap! The final outcome however, was not as good
when Nick attempted a last lap pass for the lead after playing following
the leader for 14 laps, dove into turn 6, hit the curb, spun and ended
up off course finishing 4th. Though Nick was discouraged, he has proven
he will be one of the top drivers for the rest of the season. Next
State race will be in Homestead, FL at the end of April. But prior
to that he will participate in the World Karting Association's Manufacturer's
Cup www.worldkarting.com race in late March at the same Jacksonville
track. The Manufacturer's Cup race will feature drivers from across
the country and this will be Nick's second National race for the 2004
season, with Daytona being his first, were he finished 14th |
December 31, 2003, Daytona,
FL -
After a long few days of down time between practice day (Sat.) and
race day (Tues), Nick was finally ready to take on the field of 35
plus karts at the purpose built Daytona sprint track. Qualifying went
well but not as good as expected, Nick qualified 17th, 1.9 seconds
out of first and 1.1 seconds out of second. 2nd thru 19th were covered
by only 1.5 seconds, very close times. Nick started the pre-final heat
race in 17th and was immediately punted to the rear of the field in
turn one! On the same lap a child was ejected from his kart and the
race stopped, causing a complete restart (the child was fine and restarted
the race at the rear of the field). Nick picked off almost a kart a
lap after a sluggish start and proceeded to finish 13th. This set his
position for the final race and we were pumped as we only needed to
pass three karts to have a top ten finish. At the start of the final
Nick picked off the 12th place kart in turn one and then picked off
11th and 10th before lap 8. This meant that he was now leading a 6
kart train of which on lap 10 the kart behind Nick ran up over his
left rear tire and proceeded to knock him off course and the train
went by. Nick as able to only pick up a few more spots before running
out of laps and finishing in 13th position. Not bad for his first National
race. Next National race will be at our home track, Jacksonville's
103rd St Kart Complex!
Special thanks to the Buccaneer Region of the SCCA, Evolution Performance
Driving School, Cha-Cha Motorpsorts and Joanne Albaneze for their
support in Nick's Racing
efforts. |
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