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| August 27, 2012 |
| Driver News: Christian Cole Finishes Ninth at 2012 United States Rotax Grand Nationals |
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 | | Christian Cole |
Palmetto Florida Rotax Minimax Driver Christian Cole traveled to South Bend Indiana to compete in the 2012 Rotax Grand Nationals on August 8-11. With Strong performances and race wins throughout the 2012 season a National Championship was the goal in Christian’s final Minimax race.
After 3 days of practice 36 karts would be competing for the 2012 Rotax National Championship. Qualifying would take place in rainy conditions for the first time all week and many drivers found it difficult to maintain control of their karts on a circuit with so much change in elevation along with wet conditions. Christian did not have any such issues in the wet however had to abort several good laps due to yellow flags from others misfortune. This resulted in a 14th place qualifying position.
The 14th place qualifying position would mean that Christian would have to start 14th in each of the 3 heat races. Heat one again took place in the wet conditions and Christian drove well finishing in 8th place. Heat two would be in dry conditions but would not be so kind as a driver behind drove underneath Christian’s rear bumper and lifted his kart off the ground before the race even started. With the 2 karts locked together as the green flag came out Christian had no control of his kart resulting in a crash leaving him in 36th position before turn 1. Fortunately he was able to get back on the circuit and fought back to 25th position. Heat 3 would be another good drive resulting in 7th place.
With the results of the 3 heat races calculated Christian would start Saturday’s pre final race in 12th position. With the forecast predicting dry conditions all day Mother Nature was true to form and the rain came down harder than it had all week. Again starting on the outside row as the race began Christian would be pushed off the track between turn 1 and 2 and would fall back to 22nd position before getting back in line. As the traffic thinned out Christian would overtake several karts and finished 17th. This would be Christian’s starting position for the Final race.
As the final race approached the rain stopped and the sun was out for the first time in several days. As the race got underway Christian got a clean start and was able to overtake two drivers on lap one of the 20 lap race. Christian then set his sights on overtaking as many drivers as possible and hoping for a little help from the front runners. Christian was able to push his way up to 9th place and his pace was on par with the lead group in what might have been his best race all week considering the 17th place starting position.
Christian added “It was a difficult week with the weather changing so often. I have never had to adjust from wet to dry and then back to wet again and then finally dry so many times. The circuit was constantly changing but it was fun. In the beginning of the week we had dry conditions but we couldn’t get the balance of my kart rite. With the changing elevation my kart just couldn’t rotate properly around the hairpin sections of turns 7, 8 & 9. Just before qualifying on Thursday my mechanic moved my seat forward to improve the balance and it definitely helped. Unfortunately the traffic in qualifying was a real problem. 36 karts on the track in the wet was difficult because many of the drivers clearly didn’t have experience driving in those conditions. There were people spinning off the track on every lap. This created a problem for us because I had several good laps going and then a slower kart would spin in front of me forcing me to abort the lap. There were yellow flags the entire session. The heat races were fun and the kart handled good but getting spun out in heat 2 was the biggest issue we had. I always expect contact when I start in the middle of the pack but having someone drive up the back of my kart and get stuck there was a first for me. The video shows my rear wheels off the ground about 6 inches. I couldn’t go anywhere. When the green flag came out the driver behind tried to over take me but since my kart was still in the air he spun me off the track. Without the crash I would have finished in the top 10 most likely and then I would have probably started the pre final in 5th or 6th place instead of 12th. From that point on we were always playing catch up and with this level of competition that’s difficult to do. In the end I drove from 17th to 9th and 7th place was rite in front of me. I feel I got the maximum out of myself and my kart but I just needed the race to be a little longer.”
I would really like to thank Tony and Ben from Supertune engines. Our engines ran great all week. I would also like to thank Jake and Ryan from Andersen Racing. They really worked hard trying to get my kart dialed in. In the end the kart was very good. We needed to be fast and have some good fortune. We were fast but just weren’t very fortunate.
I would also like to thank my sponsors TCB Products, Global Components and Fact Finders Internationals for their support. None of this would be possible without their help and support.
Christian’s father Rodney added” The expectations were very high coming in to this event since it was our last race in Minimax and we had such a good year of racing thus far in 2012. The entire team worked very hard all week particularly on Christian’s kart. Aside from the heat 2 crash which wasn’t Christian’s fault, getting the balance rite on the chassis seemed to be the biggest issue all week. Christian is just too tall for a cadet chassis. It has been difficult for him and the team to get the kart set up so he can just fit in the kart let alone drive it competitively. I know we all wanted to win but under the circumstances a top 10 is something to be proud of.”
Now with the move up to Rotax Junior’s we are looking for additional partners that would like to sponsor Christian. Over the next few weeks we will be testing several chassis to determine the best fit for Christian. Over the balance of the year we will continue to race mainly in Homestead, FL in preparation for the Florida Winter Tour starting in January.
For information about Christian or if you would like to become a sponsor for Christian please email: christiancoleracing@gmail.com or go to http://www.christiancoleracing.com |
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