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| October 22, 2012 |
| Driver News: Joel Jens Wins Big at RoboPong 200 |
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 | | Joel Jens |
The annual RoboPong/Dan Wheldon Cup event held at the New Castle Motorsports Park is basically the final large event of the year in karting in the Midwest region. Manitowoc Wisconsin’s TonyKart Driver, Joel Jens competed in 2 of the 3 class catagories of the event. Known for the past 8 years as the ultimate team endurance race in which up to eighty teams have competed in, this 200 lap race is a test for man and machine.
This years’ promoter, track owner and former IndyCar driver, Mark Dismore Sr. would add two associate classes to the event, Yamaha Junior Sportsman and Yamaha Junior. The later would find Joel Jens entering his TonyKart/Switch Racing Engines kart. This would be his last Junior event of his successful career and a chance to win $5000.00, an unheard of offering in karting prize structures. A race comprised of qualifying, a preliminary race and a 30 lap final event would test the skills and reliability of the equipment like no other race has. This event was basically twice as long as any other race in the season.
Qualifying was held on Saturday and found Joel 3rd in time on the sheet, but only able to complete one of the three available laps as a mechanical failure on the exhaust forced him to abort the session. This failure also resulted in a technical violation and made his time void and sent Jens to the back of the field for the preliminary race. Starting shotgun on the field, the smart driver lagged back and avoided the wreck the ensued at the start taking half of the 24 kart field off the racing surface. By the time the dust cleared Jens would be in 7th place after the first lap and race up to a second place finish by the end of the 15 lap race. Excellent skills and patience paid off allowing the favored driver to capture a front row spot for the main event on Sunday.
For the Final, Jens would take the lead early with second place in tow, as they formed a two car breakaway. As the race progressed the front duo would allow the train behind to catch up and at one point make it a 7 kart lead pack. Near half way another 2 kart breakaway formed, for a bit till Jens was able to pull away and even break the draft of his followers to take the win in a convincing style. This was a fitting end to a stellar junior career. “Compete ting against the best junior drivers in a Yamaha class is always fun, and I knew that we had the equipment to win this thing” Jens commented after the race. We were fast all weekend long and I had a plan, the minor set back was nothing to me as I knew this was a long race. We had our notes from the Man Cup race here and just worked on the chassis a bit to be the best on the track. “ “I also had incredible shoot speed even when fighting the wind head on during the race, it felt like I had motor and someone helping me get down the straight, but there was no one there, or was there?” When asked what he was going to do with his winnings after claiming the $5,000.00 purse, Joel said “ I am going to go race in France at the X30 International Final next week.
Later in the day Jens would help the Russell Karting entry to a 5th place finish overall in the RoboPong 200 event. Joel would complete 170 of the laps himself surrendering the seat to team owner Jim Russell Jr as the rain fell midway thru the race.
Jens would like to thank all those that helped him in the year and at the RoboPong event. Follow Joel Jens and his racing at www. JoelJens.com |
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