It was a great weekend out at Lombardy Raceway. The weather was perfect, the track conditions were great, and the competition was strong.
First on the track was the junior class. We have a strong group this year, and Saturdays practice proved it. Rookies were picking up the driving lines quickly, and our more experienced racers were only getting faster and faster as the day progressed.
Sundays races were exciting to watch. Ryan Armstrong, Emily Conty and Dagan Hartman ran strong qualifying with only 100ths of a second separating their fastest times. Rookies Connor and Gavin Cose-Manuel and Dylan Villeneuve were learning quickly and picking up speed throughout the qualifying heats. The final race started with Ryan Armstrong in pole position, Emily Conty starting second, Dagan Hartman starting third, followed by Connor Cose-Manuel, fourth, Gavin Cose-Manuel Fifth and Dylan Villeneuve sixth. Ryan had a strong start and immediately took control of first place. Dagan Hartman pushed himself into second and Emily Conty maintained a solid third in the start. Emily Conty and Dagan Hartman battled throughout the race for second place, while Ryan Armstrong strengthened his lead by adding kart lengths between himself and second place. Emily managed to get past Dagan in the straight mid race, and started to close in the distance between her and Ryan. Ryans lead was too strong, and the race ended with Ryan Armstrong taking first, Emily Conty finishing second, Dagan Hartman in a close third. Connor Cose-Manuel gained some of the distance between himself and third place, finishing fourth, Gavin finishing fifth and Dylan sixth. Our rookies this weekend, showed great strength and perseverance this weekend, and it is very clear that we will be seeing these young racers in the front pack quickly this season. Dagan Hartman also proved in his first race as a junior, that he will be a great competitor, and that our more senior juniors are going to have some strong competition from this talented racer.

The senior class came next, and throughout qualifying new track records were made with David Laplante running a fastest lap of 36.917 in the pre final and Anthony Conty running a fastest lap of 36.918. Again, tenths and hundreths of a second separated the senior race order in for the final lineup. With Anthony Conty in Pole position, David Laplante starting second, Lee Williscroft third, Scott Armstrong fourth and Robert Microys starting fifth. It was a tight start as Anthony and Dave fought hard for first place and the inside line. Anthony lost the battle in turn four, spinning out when his and Daves wheels made contact. Lee maintained his position, taking advantage of the spin to take over the second place position, Scott and Robert also moved up a position as a result. Dave quickly padded his first place position with a few kart lengths making it difficult for the rest of the field to challenge him. Anthony pushed hard to get himself back onto the track, and make up the 1/2 lap distance between himself and the field, and although he did manage to get back into the grouping, there just weren’t enough laps left to get him back to the front. The final ended with David Laplant finishing first, Lee Williscroft taking second, Scott Armstrong third, Anthony Conty Fourth and the rookie, Robert Microys fifth. Again, the rookie of the field, Rob Microys proved himself a strong racer and someone to watch out for as the season progresses.

Our final class, the Masters class also had a strong practice day. Wayne Ross, showed significant improvement over last years lap times thanks to his new engine won at the fall banquet. Greg Jewel after fighting with motor issues finally accepted defeat with his defective motor and replaced it with one Wayne Ross generously lent him for race day. Sundays qualifying ended with Greg Jewel starting in pole position, followed by Jacques Larose beside him starting second, Sylvain Coulombe starting third, Kevin Conty Fourth, Wayne Ross, Fifth, Frank Jones starting 6th, Mike Harris, seventh and finally Tony Solimine in eighth. Greg Jewell quickly took control of first place, leaving the rest of the class behind to fight for their finishing positions. Jacques Larose had a strong raceline, and Sylvain Coulombe looked fast in his new Tony Kart. The Surprise was Wayne Ross, standing strong behind Kevin Conty for most of the race, showing to be a much more competitive racer this season. Mike Harris also looked much more comfortable and confident behind the wheel this season. New to NCKC, Tony Solimine showed perseverance and determination as he pushed his kart to close the gap between himself and the other racers. The Masters final ended with Greg Jewel taking a hard earned first place, Jacques Larose in Second, Sylvain Coulombe in third, Frank Jones Fourth, Kevin Conty, fifth,Mike Harris, sixth, Wayne Ross, Seventh, and Toni Solimine, eighth.

A big thank you to C2 kart supplies, who without them, many of our racers would not have made it out onto the track for Sundays final. Also a big thank you to Lombardy raceway for allowing us to race at their track, everyone who came out had a great time.

See you all at out next race, May 17 at the St Lawrence Motorsport Park in Morristown New York!