JBR No. 18 Team Earns Hard-Fought Third-Place Finish In Tri-C Karters Round Three Race

Date: April 8, 2017 Event: Junior LO206 (Race 3 of 8) Series: Tri-C Karters Location: CalSpeed Karting Center, Auto Club Speedway Layout: Grande CCW (0.720-mile sprint course) Format: Five Stages; 5min prac/5 min qual/8 lap heat/8 lap heat/16 lap main Finishes: 4th / 4th / 4th / DNF / 3rd Winner: Jalen Mack of Mack Motorsports (VLR Emerald)

Justin Blumenfeld and the No. 18 JBR Racing team earned a hard-fought third-place finish in the main after starting at the tail end of the seven-kart field due to a second heat engine-related DNF.

Practice Recap:

Justin began the day running conservatively due to early morning rain preceding the event and a partial track repave just two days earlier, and with chilly weather and no track-drying equipment available, some drivers elected to skip the warm-up altogether, but the JBR team felt it best to check the track conditions and take advantage of the seat time.

Qualifying Recap:

With post-practice weigh-in coming in at only three pounds above minimum weight, the team elected to put another 5 pounds on and change rear gearing two teeth down. Blumenfeld was able to run mid-pack, struggling with grip a bit and looking for areas above the repave due to bottoming out (track officials said they will need to rework the repave for this reason).

Heat 1 Recap:

Speeds improved during this run, but the team was still running mid-pack by the end of this heat, starting and ending with a 4th place finish.

Heat 2 Recap:

In between the first and second heats, the team decided to make some setup changes, moving up a tooth in rear gearing, performing a front end toe adjustment, and changing the fuel/air mixture in the carburetor. Unfortunately, this change proved problematic, resulting in a needle height and idle mixture/idle speed setting that caused the engine to stall out during the grid-up pacing laps. With some help from a track worker, the engine was able to re-fire mid-course, but the choke was left in the lifted position by him, causing additional stalling and scorching of the spark- plug. A final restart attempt failed, and Justin had to push of-track, receiving a DNF and last place points for that heat.

Main Recap:

Due to the unfortunate circumstances in Heat 2, Justin was forced to start from the rear of the field in P7. He made a gutsy move at the drop of the green fag into turn one, but was unable to complete the pass. Showing his true racecraft, he worked his way up to fourth place over the next few laps and held that position, unable to gain on the top three leaders who were running on pace or faster than him. Luck would prove to be on his side, as a two lap battle between the second and third place competitors in the final four laps resulted in a DNF for Sophia Storey, allowing Justin to drive his CRG machine to a third place podium finish, maintaining his run of podium finishes in every outdoor race he has competed in.

Podium speech:

“I want to thank Galpin Ford, Pit Posse Motorsports, CatKart Racing, and my Mom and Dad for hooking me up today. I got third place, and I wasn't expecting it, but still got it, so cool! See you at the next race. J2TheB...out!”

Tri-C Karters 2017 Season Championship Standings:

Blumenfeld leaves the third race of the season ranked in second place in the 2017 Season Championship Standings, 19 tallies behind points leader Sophia Storey. He earned 350 points for the day, losing some much needed points with the Heat 2 DNF that likely would've put him in first place.

Next Race:

Blumenfeld may be competing on April 29th at Adams Motorsports Park in the F100 SoCal Championship if there are a minimum of 4 other entries in his class. If not, his next race will be on May 13th back at CalSpeed for Tri-C Karters round four, where they will be running the same 0.720-mile Grande layout, but in the clockwise direction this time.