The 2012 Canadian Nationals are now ‘in the books’ according to the commentators, and I don’t think I’d be the first to say it would be quite an interesting book. On the weekend prior to the Nationals, I had a local double-header race at Mosport that we were using as a shake-down. On the first race day (Saturday), I didn’t get out for practice since my battery was dead! This meant qualifying would be my first session on track that day. Once I got on track, all seemed to be working fine, however, on a “downstroke”, the connecting rod in my motor catastrophically failed sending pieces of metal through the casing and cracking the cylinder! I didn’t get out for qualifying, and I was without a motor. I borrowed a spare to finish the day, but I didn’t know what I would do for the Nationals without a motor. Fortunately, I had a new motor built for Sunday thanks to my grandparents who paid for it, as we didn’t have any room left in the racing budget for a motor. I would have to break it in throughout the race day, but at least I could go to the Nationals!. Somehow, I still qualified 4th!  At the end of the day, while still breaking in the motor, I won a hard fought battle for third place - my first podium of the season!

The Tuesday after the double-header was the day we (me, my dad, my mum and my little sister) drove down to Mt. Tremblant. This was the third year in a row that the Nationals would be held there, so I was familiar with the track. This meant that starting from essentially the first practice session, my driver coach/tuner, Curtis Fox, would be working on getting this new engine to work. From the first session and through the rest of the day, we could never get that perfect set up to have the engine working. The problem was, the motor wasn’t revving properly. While it was supposed to be revving up to around 13500 RPM, it was only hitting about 12700 RPM, which makes a huge difference on the straights. Since there was a very long straight with an optimal passing spot just before the next corner, hitting 13500 RPM needed to happen. Otherwise, I would be eaten alive with no way to really defend. We knew there was another practice day on Thursday, but it was frustrating knowing that the engine was what was making us slower.

Thursday was another frustrating day. Whatever changes we made to try to free up the engine - jet, gear, float height, you name it, it never made the engine problems better. Sometimes, it even made it worse! I knew I had the racing line down, but it was so important that the whole package would work so I could qualify the best I could the next day. We were all hoping that since it was a new engine, maybe it just needed time to free up and it would all just come together. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

On the Friday, it was the first official day of the Canadian Nationals. In morning practice, it was evident that the motor still would not work. Some laps, it would work better than others, and then there were other laps it just didn’t work at all! Curtis and I tried to work together to see if there was anything else we could do. The second practice was critical because it separated the drivers into the fast group, and the slow group. I really worked hard in that practice, but it still wasn’t enough, so I would qualify with the slower group of drivers. I was determined to qualify better, since where I qualified would be where I started for the three heat races. Unfortunately, I didn’t do well in qualifying either! I would start 21st for each of the heats, one of which was later that day. I was excited to see if I could make up positions in the heat, because one bad race adds a lot of points to your total. The goal is that you have as few ‘points’ as possible, by having better finishes. The better your finish, the fewer points you have, and the fewer the points, the higher your start position for the pre-final. In the first heat race, however, I was spun from behind and had to make up a lot of ground on the people ahead of me. Working together with another competitor, I was able to finish 24th. It wasn’t a great finish, but it was better than finishing last, or not finishing at all.

Saturday, would be the day of the two remaining heat races. I was excited for the other heats, because it gave me a chance to try again. That night, however, we were contemplating renting a never-been-tested motor, just because I was losing so much speed on top end. At the end, we decided that we would stick with the new motor for another day and give it one last chance. The next day, after the daily drivers meeting, I was ready to go complete my heats and show that I can drive even with the continuing motor issues. In the warm-up session, it seemed those issues were not getting better. We tried another change in the engine, but it didn’t help either. I made it up to a high of 18th in the first of the days heats, but I was still losing a lot of ground on the straights. The issue was the same in the third heat. I got up to 15th from starting 21st, but I lost most of that again, and I finished 20th. This meant that I had a total of 65 points, and would start 22nd in the pre-final.

By the end of Saturday, however, it was decided that we would test the rental engine in the Sunday morning warm-up. The thing about this engine, however, was that it hadn’t been tested as a Rotax Junior, so we didn’t know if it would work any better than our current motor! Unfortunately, morning warm up was only 3 minutes long, so I definitely had to be on my A-game to make the most of it. Even though I didn’t have a great lap time in the warm up, I felt that the rental engine was better than the engine we had just bought, so we decided to use it for the pre-final and final. After all, there really wasn’t anywhere to go but forwards. In the pre-final, I had a great race and got myself up into 14th! I made up 8 positions, and this engine felt a lot better on top-end than the other one. I was really excited (and relieved), because I thought we had made the right choice with the engine. In the final, I survived all the chaos that comes in this ultra-competitive class even though I got shuffled back a bit at the drop of the green flag, and started to work my way up. From a low of 16th, I got up to 11^th and was one of the three fastest drivers on track in the race! I would have liked to have that one last pass so I could have been in the top ten at the Nationals, but I was satisfied considering the challenges we had to overcome. Seeing as I never seem to have the best luck at the Nationals, it was nice to finally have a good result. And maybe next year, I’ll do even better!

Months ago, Jeff Weil at Arai mentioned that there might be an opportunity this year for me to attend a NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup event with him. This weekend it all came together with a trip to Watkins Glen as the guest of Justin Allgaier #31 in the BRANDT Chevrolet Impala for Turner Motoorsports who is also an Arai Americas driver. It was an amazing experience and I don’t even know where to start in describing it.  Friday I spent the day in Justin’s tiny garage area.  I was stunned by how little space they are given to work on the cars.  We were constantly tripping over Paul Menard's crew pitted next to them and vice versa as everyone struggled on what set up to use as it was pouring rain for practice, but the weather for qualifying and race day looked clear.  He was satisfied with an 8^th place start because he is typically better on ovals than on road courses.

Saturday we got to sit in Justin’s pit box to watch the Sprint cars qualify and then watch the Nationwide race.  I even got to go on pit lane and stand with Justin prior to the singing of the national anthems! Watching the race from the pit area was an eye opener.  Oddly, we ended up watching it on the TV screens mounted on the pit box as you can’t see a lot from pit lane.

While at the Glen, I also chatted with Ron Fellows for a while until he was dragged away by an official who was taking issue with his racing gloves as they had outside seaming instead of inside.  Apparently this happens to him a lot!  Later I saw him on pit lane and I did find out that his gloves were deemed legal – again.

A highlight of the trip was Jeff arranging an introduction to Juan Pablo Montoya who also is an Arai driver.  I have followed his career since Formula 1 and it was so cool to finally meet him and have a chance to talk to him about racing while hanging out in his hauler along with Jamie McMurray.  Later that afternoon Juan set a track record and was on pole for the race the next day – I think it had something to do with the cake with massive amounts of blue icing on it that he and his crew were eating in the hauler! It should be noted that Jamie wasn’t eating the cake and he qualified only 10^th.

Attending a Nationwide/NASCAR race was an amazing, unforgettable experience since before I had only attended open-wheel races.  It was a completely different atmosphere and a different fan experience as the town embraces its racing heritage like nothing I’ve seen before.

Even though the ECKC season is finished, this year’s racing season is coming closer and closer to its climax, the Canadian Nationals. With that being so, it is time for another update.

The last race I did was the Le Monaco in Trois-Rivières, QC. It was a great experience because this would be the first time that I have ever raced on a street course, especially one with very unforgiving barriers/concrete walls. The practice day went well, and at the end of the day I had gone from being three seconds off to just under a half-second shy of the leaders. I was satisfied with that, but knew I would keep getting better on the race days with more practice. The next day, the feature was a Coupe de Quebec race, instead of ECKC. It didn’t count, but I wanted to do well. Unfortunately, I didn’t do great in qualifying, starting 21^st. The field was also really close in timing, and just two tenths would’ve put me all the way up in 11^th. That also meant that I had to be consistently fast, because otherwise people would be all over me in the pre-final. Sadly, the pre-final didn’t go so well either. I survived lap one (sort of) and gained lots of positions, but other people weren’t as fortunate, bringing out a red flag just past the mid-point of the race. After the restart, my luck did not hold out and I didn’t make it past the first chicane before hitting the barriers and bending parts – steering column, axle etc. For the final, this meant my starting position was less than stellar, going back down to 24^th. But in a race, anything can happen, and this time it did. I was quick on track, and gained 9 positions during the course of the race. I was hoping to have better luck the next day in ECKC – and I guess I did, somewhat. Even though I didn’t qualify well, 21^st again, I had another great start for the pre-final and got up to 13^th! I was hoping I could have another great start in the final that would earn me another great result, but that didn’t happen. In the end, I crossed the finish line in 14^th place. Not terrible, but I definitely wanted better for the season finale. I also finished the overall series in 14^th, so a top 15 out of 41 total drivers wasn’t so bad for my rookie season. Next year I will be looking for a stronger result, especially on the road course, since I really enjoyed that whole experience.

I can now officially say that I have raced at the Honda Indy of Toronto. Sadly not in the cars, but it was still an amazing experience. Normally, I go with my family every year to the Honda Indy to watch the IndyCar Race, but this time I was part of the festivities. There was a kart track built in the infield where the Kart Stars Grand Prix took place.

We signed in on the Friday and went to the drivers meeting. That meant that the only time we had to learn the track were the few practice sessions, qualifying and the race.

On Saturday, we had to be at the track really early because we had to cross the track between 7:15 and 7:30. And right before the first practice, it started to pour rain. After that session, it seemed the rain was starting to die down, but right before we went back out, it started to rain again! Luckily, I was fast in the rain! It started drying up for qualifying, enough that we had to switch back to the dry tyres. I wasn’t as fast as I was in practice, but I did qualify 5th. It didn’t help that I was stuck in traffic and that there was a red flag in practice, though.

Another early wake-up on Sunday! After crossing the track, it appeared that it was going to be dry all day, so it was back to learning the dry line in time for the race. Luckily, with a 50 lap race, that wouldn’t be an issue. The race itself was something else. Even though the track was extremely short, it was very wide, so for corner one, that should have helped. However, the lack of run-off, didn’t. A pile-up in corner one sent me flying over another kart, and took me down from 5th to 12th, but not out! I was fast enough to get back up to 3rd, and it was looking good. With three to go, however, I was taken out and into the barriers by a kart I was trying to lap. I managed to get back on track, but was a lap down. I had also severely bent my tie rod, steering column, and my throttle cable was stuck under the tie rod, giving me full throttle all track long. I somehow managed to finish the race back in 9th, but it was disappointing, after how well I was doing. But hey, there’s always next year!

When I was off track, I had some time to go around and talk to some of the Indy drivers and crews, even though sometimes I was still in my driving suit. I can say I got a few double takes as I was walking back to my paddock, that’s for sure! It was great that I got to talk to Simona de Silvestro, Katherine Legge again (who unfortunately wasn’t racing), James Hinchcliffe and Paul “Ziggy” Harcus, Ryan Hunter-Reay’s team manager & chief strategist.

The most recent set of races I’ve done this year were the two ECKC races at Mosport. It looked to be a good weekend, since I’ve done countless laps there, but luck was not on my side. For round 4, I qualified in 13^th, which I honestly wasn’t thrilled with, since I had consistently run in the top 5 until that session. I was even less thrilled with the pre-final, however. A crash behind me in the second corner meant karts were going here, there, everywhere. All of the contact resulted in someone driving over my kart, back to front, and took off my kill switch (so I wasn’t allowed to restart the race), bent my steering column and an axle (third this year!). This also meant that I would start dead last for the final race. For the final, I made my way through corner one, had even managed to pick up 6 or 7 spots by turn 4, and even made it through the first lap. The problem was that contact from behind in turn 4 on lap 1 broke my rear bumper bolt and so my bumper was dragging behind my kart. Sadly, the officials gave me the meatball flag only three laps into the race, leaving me with another DNF. A disappointing result, but there was always the Sunday race…

Which I’m glad to say went better. Even though I didn’t qualify well (18^th), the pre-final was another matter. Contact on lap one sent me back to the back of the pack, but I worked my way back up to 18^th by the chequered. The final went much better. After a lot of passing and attempted passes, I got back up to 11^th!  It was a lot better than the day before, especially because I didn’t bend anything – finally!

Overall, it was a long Canada Day weekend, but I’m looking forward to racing at the Honda Indy of Toronto this weekend and Trois-Rivières at the end of July!

With 8 races of my season complete, it is time for another update. Last weekend was a long drive up to Mirabel for ICAR.  In a few words, it was a weekend to forget.  It was the first time I have been on the ICAR track so I had to learn the track during Friday practice for the feature races on Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday I didn’t do so well.  I qualified 25^th, but was doing better in the pre-final (got up to 13^th) but I hit a curb a little too hard and went flying into the tire barrier, bending and breaking a lot of parts.  Miracle work from my mechanic/driver coach, Curtis, and the whole SH team got my kart ready to go for the final.  Luck however was not on my side, as my kart wouldn’t start when it was time for the race, apparently the battery was broken and with the quiet rule in effect we couldn’t test it to make sure it would start before we reached the grid.  That left me with nothing to show but a lot of broken parts and a DNS.

The Sunday is what really mattered, as it was an ECKC race, versus the Saturday, which was a Coupe de Quebec race, a series that I am not running in for points.  I qualified a bit better on Sunday with a 22^nd.  I made my way to 18^th in the pre-final, which was where I would be starting the final.  The final was looking good for about 3 seconds, until the middle of corner one. A window I saw to avoid carnage in front of me narrowed before I could get all the way through it, and I got collected from behind, ending up with my side pod sitting on top of another drivers front wheel.  I pulled myself off the other kart and managed to get going again, but something was wrong with the kart forcing me to retire on lap 3.  After the race we figured out that when I got on tangled up in turn one, my fuel line was pinched so very little gasoline was getting to the engine and giving me no power!  A DNF was not how I wanted to finish the weekend, but there was nothing I could do.

Sunday it was time for a Mosport club race.  It appeared that Mother Nature would be the deciding factor.  It was dry for practice and qualifying, where it showed that I was fast.  Even though I qualified in 6^th I was only 0.007 off of 4^th place!  It was really, really close.  In the pre-final I got up to 3^rd, but contact from behind (isn’t it always?) sent me all the way down the pack, and from there, damage from the contact resulted with a disappointing meatball flag.  In the end, I ended up 19^th.  Weather was now starting to become a major factor.  There were some sprinkles out in the pre-final, but before the race it was starting to pour.  Having not declared it a wet race, we were forced to go out on dry tires, even though it was really slippery.  On the warm-up lap I learned the hard way as I went off track, and even drove over a pylon!  After ripping it out from under the chassis (which I’ve been told looked rather humorous) I got back into place ready to start the race.  The first corner was finally not so bad, we managed it without contact, since everybody was cautious due to the rain.  For a while the weather seemed to cooperate since it was starting to dry up.  While it was doing that, I was making up a lot of positions.  Then it started to rain again and staying on track became harder and harder to do on slicks.  I was still making up positions, but then a red flag was called due to an incident on track.  When the red flag was called I was up to 6^th position, but because of the red flag the officials determined the final results from one full lap prior to the red flag being thrown placing me back down in 9^th.

The weekend of May 18-20 was the time for the first two rounds of ECKC, at Goodwood Kartways. On Friday practice, it was clear that Rotax Junior was a lot more competitive when compared to Mini-Max, the class I was in last year. With the track being freshly repaved, it brought some new challenges, but it had a lot more grip so it was also was quicker. I’d had the chance to race on the new layout the week before the ECKC event for a club race. Sadly, that didn’t go so well. An incident in the first corner sent me into the barriers, and out of the race. I managed to escape with minor bruising, but my kart was not as lucky. I needed a new steering wheel and seat, since I somehow snapped the steering wheel and broke the seat! ECKC came around a week later. With a flashy red Tony Kart steering wheel, I was all set to go. Qualifying for race #1 went fairly well as I qualified 12^th out of 29 racers. In the pre-final I lost a position, and ended up 13^th. The final went better than the pre-final, however, and according to CKN News, I managed to ‘creep’ into the top-ten, finishing 10^th. Not too bad for my first competitive race in Rotax Junior, but it could’ve been better. The next day was the second round.  This time, I did better in qualifying, starting 9^th for the pre-final. Unfortunately, contact on lap 4 sent me back, going from 10^th (which wasn’t great) down 10 positions to 20^th  (even worse). I got back up to 18^th before the chequered, but I don’t think the results did justice for how I drove. At least there was still the final, which went a lot better. I went from 18^th to 15^th in the first lap, and was up to 11^th by the sixth, where I remained for the rest of the race. I didn’t do quite as well as the day before, but overall not bad for my first national level weekend in Rotax Junior.

After much preparation and anticipation, the first race of the year finally arrived! Although the season started 2 weeks ago with the first Mosport Club Race, I couldn’t make it because of a school commitment (how could I pass up a chance to perform at Roy Thompson Hall?!).

For my first race, I qualified in 9th after I made a major mistake on my third flying lap, sending me into the dirt for the rest of the session. That meant I was more likely to be in the middle of the action early on in the pre-final because I was starting mid-pack.  The expected happened, I locked up my brakes to avoid getting into the back of two karts that were battling with each other for an apex blocking the track and ended up sliding off the track.  I managed to get back on track and pick up a couple of spots before the chequered flag, but that still meant I was starting the final down in 15th place.  I performed much better in the final race.  After two failed attempts at a start, which shortened my chase to the front, the final race finally got going. During the now shortened ten-lap race, I worked my way through the traffic and made it up to 7th place. Had the first two laps not been restarts, I think I could have gotten even further up the field since I was closing the gap to the karts in front of me!

You can watch footage of the final in the Video Section of my Gallery.  It is the video entitled MIKA Rotax Junior Race - May 6, 2012, check it out and see the world how I see it!

Come here often to get the latest details on how my racing is going.