Team JP Racing’s campaign in the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship has come to a close and only one word can be used to describe the season: Frustrating!

Going into the season, JP was looking to improve on last year’s performance when, as a 9 year old in the 10 to 13 year old “Mini Max” class, he was able to claim his spot as the 4th best Mini Max racer in Eastern Canada. Unfortunately, during this 2011 season, JP experienced one frustration after another ending up in 5th place in the overall championship, only 2 points from 3rd.

There were a number of points during the 6 race season that the team could point to that cost him valuable championship points and thus costing him at least 2nd place in the overall championship, situations that were no fault of his. These included the following:

Race 1: JP qualified 3rd but bent a tie rod after being slammed from the rear and therefore having to start from the back of the 17 kart field for the Final.

Race 2: Starting 2nd in the Final, he was hit going into the first turn at the start putting him into the grass.

Race 3: Qualified 7th (in the rain) but was disqualified because a loose rear wheel caused a technical violation. To make matters worse, starting from the back in the Pre-Final, his throttle stuck causing him to have to come off the track before the end of the race.

Race 5: In the Pre-Final, he again lost valuable points when he was deliberately hit from behind and driven off the track.

Race 6: Starting 2nd in the Final put him on the front row for the start but his competitor beside him jumped the start which should have led a restart but none was called causing JP to lose 8 positions at the start.

Nevertheless, finishing 5th in the championship at his age, out of 22 competitors is still a very respectable accomplishment. JP was able to show his talent and skill when on a number of occasions, as a result of his setbacks, he had to drive from the back of the field. It was in these situations that he also displayed his determination and each time he was put in this situation he drove brilliantly.

To finish the season, JP will compete in a few more non-points races starting with this weekend’s “Bear Hunt” at Shannonville where he will try to reclaim the prestigious Bear Trophy that he had won last year but had taken away from him last year after a minor technical violation.

Once again, Team JP Racing wants to thank all of our financial supporters who made this season possible including our newest donors Gemma Trott, Donald Boyd & Alix Lugay, Stephen & Siobhan Campbell & Family, and David & Kareen Boyd.

If you haven’t seen it yet, please click over to our Video Gallery where you will find a video of our last race at Mont Tremblant, Quebec.

At the 0:55 second mark you will see JP’s accident in the Final when he was driven off the track in the first turn at the start of the race.  The second video is an interview we did with the Karting Network after the race.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljatU9W74jw

The caption on this next video reads: “Race 2 at ECKC was looking promising for JP Hutchinson. He was right up at the front until the 1st turn. JP talks about what happened and his father Anthony talks about what it’s like to watch his son in a tough situation.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVT6WKN0aMU

Saturday – Race 1: “What do you mean you couldn’t steer??”

In the first race on Saturday, JP  managed to qualify a very respectable 3rd out of 17.  Unfortunately in the PreFinal, on the first lap while trying to avoid two karts spinning out in front of him, JP got slammed from behind causing him to make contact with one of the spun karts in front of him, bending his steering tie-rod. That meant his Pre-Final was done and he would have to start the Final from 16th (2nd last).

Despite his extreme disappointment, JP had enough time to mentally regroup between sessions. Starting from the back he knew he could make up ground and at least get some good points. And that he proceeded to do by slicing his way through the field making one pass after the next and finishing a well-deserved and respectable 4th.

The most interesting part of the day was when he came off after the race and said that he couldn’t steer the kart and that it wouldn’t track straight down the straightaway. It was only then discovered that not only did the tie-rod bend in the Pre-Final (which was replaced), but the steering column was also bent! So the kid just drove from 16th to 4th with a kart he couldn’t steer!! Asked how he managed to do it he said, “I just dealt with it.”.

The good news after the race was that JP was granted 3rd place after another competitor in front of him was penalized for “avoidable contact” during the race.

Sunday – Race 2: Never Been So Happy to See a Red Flag!

In qualifying on Sunday, JP only managed to qualify 6th but all the times were so close. Qualifying 6th put him on the 3rd row (double file start) for the Pre-Final. Only two-tenths of a second faster would have put him on the front row! Nevertheless, in the Pre-Final, JP was able to work his way up from 6th and finish 2nd, putting him on the front row for the Final.

But disaster would strike again when another competitor drove JP off the track in the first corner of the first lap! By the time he was able to get his kart back on the track, JP was well behind the rest of the field and it looked like he would finish near the bottom. But JP would get a reprieve when, on the 5th lap the red flag was waved which stopped the race because of an accident.   This meant that instead of being half a lap down from the rest of the field, JP would now be right behind the field for the re-start with 13 laps remaining in the race.  After the race JP would express his happiness at getting a second chance when he saw the red flag come out. He knew that he would now be right up behind the rest of the field putting him in a better position to move up to the front on the re-start.  And this is exactly what he proceeded to do! Into the first turn on the re-start, JP would pass two karts and he promptly set off for the remainder with a steely determination.  In only 5 laps he was up to 6th place from 17th! By the 16th lap he had taken revenge on the kart that took him out at the start of the race by passing him for 5th place.  One lap later he was up to 4th where he finally ran out of laps, settling for 4th after his third drive from the back in his last 3 races!

While JP only managed a 3rd place finish on Saturday and a 4th place on Sunday,  he was certainly the talk of the Rotax Mini Max class.  (You can read the official race reports at ekartingnews.com – click here for Saturday’s race and click here for Sunday’s race). And despite the results JP remains upbeat and determined for his next event at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec from June 27th to 29th.  This weekend puts him in 4th place for the overall championship of Eastern Canada.

Once again, Team JP would like to thank all family, friends and financial supporters.  And please do not be afraid to leave your comments below!

In preparation for the start of the ECKC, JP raced in a club race at Goodwood this past weekend after having spent the previous four weekends at the track conducting testing and practice. Unfortunately his first two sessions (practice, then qualifying) did not go well due to a carburetor problem which was only solved after qualifying resulting in JP having to start the Pre-Final race at the back of the 15 kart field. While he was able to work his way up, he unfortunately got into the side of another kart, causing him to spin off track, again put him at the back of the field. From there he was able to work his way back up to 12th spot and at the same time showing his speed by setting the second fastest lap, only 4/100th of a second off the fastest lap set by one of the leaders. Starting 12th in the Final race, he put on a typical performance moving all the way up and finishing the race 4th and once again being one of the quickest karts on the track. While it wasn’t the finish he was looking for, JP was still happy with his performance and he was able to show his main competitors that he is still a force to be reckoned with.

Given that over half of Team JP Racing’s budget this year has come from sponsorship, JP recognizes the importance of having a good season. He is pretty determined to win the Eastern Canadian championship regardless and has put in a lot of hard work to this point. This series will involve 6 races over 4 weekends, with 4 races in Ontario and 2 races in Quebec. JP is really looking forward to the Quebec races and in fact has already started bugging the family about doing more races in Quebec which would involve competing in a few races of the Quebec Championship. Stay tuned!

In preparation for this weekend, the team will be out testing and practicing at Goodwood on Thursday and Friday with JP racing on Saturday and Sunday.

I just wish to once again say a special thanks to all who have made this possible through their donations. And I would like to send out an “honorable mention” to my employers, Boss Express Courier Service for their flexibility in allowing me the time off throughout the season. We certainly would not be able to get it done without that privilege. Please check out their website by clicking here.

For those wishing to follow us during the course of the weekend be sure to follow us on Twitter or friend us on Facebook where pictures, updates and maybe even some video will be posted throughout the weekend! Just click the links to the right.

The key elements of this revamped site are the new photo and video galleries. Here you will find exciting photos of JP’s races and the video gallery is intended to provide race footage along with some hopefully interesting videos of JP and the family. Currently the Video Gallery is filled with videos which have been posted to our YouTube account of JP’s “training” sessions on the racing simulator.  Have a look and you will see some great videos which clearly highlight JP’s wonderful talent.

To the right you will also see links to our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts.  Facebook and Twitter will be used to provide “live” race updates and keep all of our Facebook friends and Twitter followers up-to-date on JP’s progress throughout the season. So please add JP as your “friend” on Facebook and become a “follower” on Twitter.

Also, please do not hesitate to subscribe to our e-newsletter by clicking the first link on the right. By signing up for this newsletter, you will receive regular reports directly to your email inbox making it much easier to keep up-to-date.

JP is already preparing for the up-coming season which begins in late April.  He has spent the entire winter training on the xBox, racing simulator games as well as regular weight training to ensure he has the strength and stamina to once again compete as one of the younger competitors in his class.  He is definitely looking forward to competing for a championship this season.

The Hutchinson family would like to thank all of the sponsors who have stepped forward this year, allowing us to compete. Without them we would not have had that opportunity. Please visit “Our Sponsors” page to see you has supported us to-date.

Thanks

Team JP Racing

Team JP Racing is at a crossroads. Having examined our racing costs for the season just ended and projecting forward to next year, it is clear that JP will not be able to race next year unless we can secure significant financial support. As many of you know, JP is a boy who has had a passion for cars and speed since before he could talk when he would push around the TV remote pretending that it was a car. As he grew, his favorite car would always be the one that could go the fastest and when he discovered a car that was faster than his current favorite he would promptly switch allegiance! He went through a period when he would insist on“Road & Track” magazine as his bedtime story.  This is a boy who not only has a passion for racing but also has a talent.  Being the youngest in his age group he has proved himself capable of competing with the best and has made his mark at the track. The only question now is, given the financial demands of racing, will he in a position to continue to pursue his passion, develop his talent and continue to make his mark in the sport?

Many of you may not be aware that racing is a very unique sport. Given the fact that it is not a “team” sport in the same way as other traditional sports, it is driven (no pun intended!) by significant costs incurred by each individual competitor. In fact, while we belong to the GreenSpeed Karting Team, we own the kart, the engine and all our own equipment. We pay our own entry fees, purchase our own tires and all related supplies and equipment. To put it simply, our projected costs for next year are almost $24,000 which include competing in the Canadian National Championships for $2,200.  As you can imagine this is comparable to the budget for an entire Midget Hockey Team! Given these costs, the vast majority of the competitors in this sport are “self-financed” due to their upper-middle class to upper-class financial status. The only other method of securing race funds is through the seeking of sponsors.  Unfortunately, finding sponsors at the lower level of racing is very difficult and the ones who are able to find sponsorship have done so through extended family and friends.

As I’m sure many of you can understand, given our current careers, we are in no way able to continue funding a $20,000+ a year race program but at the same time we don’t want to see the natural talents of our young racer go to waste.  Because of these talents, JP has managed to gain a significant amount of exposure this season, with many people in the racing community recognizing his talents and his potential. In seeking sponsorship, we would look to try to leverage these talents and exposure for the benefit of any potential sponsor.

At this point we are making a very strong appeal to family and friends. We are asking you to think of people you may know who may own a business or work for a business that might be willing to at least consider the possibility of sponsoring this young talent. In particular we would like to find partners to sponsor the various elements in our budget and are therefore looking for at least one sponsor in each of the following areas:

• Travel & Accommodations Sponsor —> $8,500
• Equipment & Parts Sponsor —> $3,500
• Tire Sponsor —> $3,300
• Registration & Entry Fee Sponsor —> $2,000
• Race Tuner Sponsor —> $1,500
• Driver Equipment Sponsor —> $1,300
• Practice Sponsor —> $1,100
• Canadian Nationals Sponsor —> 2,300

This is a very serious appeal. How can you help us? What we are asking specifically, is if you could consider your circle of relatives, friends, business associates, (and even the company you work for!) who own small to large size businesses and approach them on our behalf to determine if they would be interested in talking to us further. Given this level of racing, I cannot offer a lot in terms of advertising or promotion for the business, but what I could offer is the following:

• T-Shirts/Polo shirts with sponsor logos to be worn by all members of our crew
• Company logo on the kart
• Company advertisement on our race trailer
• Company logo on our car
• Company website links on our race blog/website
• “Thank You” Plaque
• Income Tax Receipt for expense purposes
• We would also be open to considering other ways of promoting the sponsors’ business.

Once you have determined individuals that you think could help our program, I would ask you to do the following:

1. Speak to them directly on our behalf making a personal appeal to consider sponsorship.
2. Specifically get their permission to allow me to call them personally to set up a meeting to discuss the options further.

Given what we are up against, we can only do this with your help. Given all that JP has managed to accomplish in his short career to date, it would be tremendously unfortunate if he were not able to continue his development and fulfill his potential. We as a family, trust that you understand our situation and appeal for your help in finding financial partners.

Sincerely

Anthony Hutchinson

Team JP Racing

In the Saturday morning practice, JP was within the top three fastest drivers thus providing a positive outlook to the upcoming qualifying session. Because of the fact that the Sutton track is very tight and twisty leaving very little opportunity for passing, having a good qualifying position is paramount, allowing you to start the race at or near the front. Unfortunately, JP did not have a good qualifying session being stuck in slower traffic and not doing the best job of finding a way out of it. In the end this was another learning experience for JP who ended up qualifying a disappointing 6^th place out of 10 competitors. In the Pre-Final he was able to hold his 6^th place position on the start, finding himself behind a slower kart and not able to find a way around. Getting frustrated, about half way through the race he tried to make a pass and ended up clipping the back of the kart in front causing him to spin and putting himself in 10^th place. He was able to finish in 9^th.  Another learning experience! In the Final, by the time he moved from 9^th to 6^th place, the leaders were too far ahead to catch and thus he had to settle for 6^th. We made some changes to the kart for the Sunday race which would give the kart more grip and hopefully as a result more speed through the corners. This change paid off when JP was able to qualify with the 3^rd fastest time on Sunday only 4/1000^th of a second slower than the second fastest qualifier.  On the start of the Pre-Final race, JP was able to move up and take the lead on lap 3 (of 10 laps) before being shuffled down to third place by the 3rd last lap of the race.

While in third, JP kept the pressure on the second place kart of Garrit Tiemersma but unfortunately got too close while going into turn 5 causing him to make enough contact with Garrit to send him off the track and into the grass. This resulted in JP’s first black flag of his young career which is an automatic disqualification, meaning he would have to start from the back of the 10 kart grid for the Final race later in the day. Despite the result, JP was able to set the third fastest time of the race.

In what would be JP’s final race of 2010, he managed to have some good luck come his way when there was an accident at the start of the Final race between a number of karts and JP managed to sneak by into 4^th place. On the same first lap, many of the competitors let up and slowed down thinking that the red flag would be thrown signifying a re-start, but JP took advantage and instead of slowing down with the rest of the pack, kept racing and passing two karts he found himself in second place at the end of the first lap with the next nearest competitor a half a lap behind! Now he just had to try and catch the kart up ahead which had taken off from the rest of the pack in the first lap confusion. Unfortunately this first place kart also had an almost half track lead! But while JP closed the gap slowly lap by lap, he was also being slowly caught by the 3^rd and 4^th place karts and with only two laps remaining, his friend, Miles Tyson, was able to pass him for second place. Now JP had to chase Miles for second AND hold off Garrit who was pressuring him from behind! While Miles pulled a slight gap, JP was able to hold off Garrit for third place until the last set of corners on the last lap when Garrit (whom JP had taken out in the Pre-Final), tried a desperate pass on the last corner causing him to make contact with JP, sending him into the barriers. Needless to say Garrit was served with a black flag and was disqualified from the race. Unfortunately this didn’t help JP who had to settle for 7^th place and a ride back to the pits on a trailer. The only consolation being that JP was able to again set the third fastest lap of the race.

It was a tough way to end the weekend and as can be imagined JP was quite disappointed. But despite the result, JP was able to finish 3^rd in the overall Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship point standings, which is quite an achievement for a first year Mini-Max driver, especially at his young age. He managed to turn a lot of heads this year and had a lot of people talking and taking notice. At barely 10 years old and only 62 lbs, JP was competing all year against drivers 11 and 12 years old, and 100 lbs and over! Given the fact that the Mini Max class has a minimum weight requirement (both driver and kart combined), this means that while the 100 lb and over kids were throwing around their karts that weighed no more that 190 lbs, JP at only 62 lbs was having to try and muscle around the track a kart that was over 230 lbs!

While the year didn’t end great, it was still a great year with a number of significant highlights:

1. Finishing 3^rd overall in BSRKC
2. Achieving two – second place finishes and a third place finish in BSRKC
3. Winning the Grand National Bear Trophy at Shannonville (but having it taking away on a minor technicality!)
4. Going from last to second place with an exciting drive at Leamington (in the BSRKC) – a truly defining moment this season.
5. Finishing 4^th overall in the Eastern Canadian Karting Championships (ECKC)
6. Winning the second race of the ECKC (with a flat tire!)

The whole team will take the winter planning for next year and preparing JP for another season of racing. A huge thanks goes out to the entire team at GreenSpeed Racing and in particular, Michael Roth who provided great tuning advice and driver coaching. It’s also important to thank JP’s grandmother, Judith Blake at Rock Haven Bed & Breakfast for her financial and moral support. Also, thanks to Jim McGlade for the photos for this post!

All this track time and training should go a long way to preparing JP for a big weekend. He currently sits in 3rd place in the overall championship standings (which you can view here).  Unfortunately, in order to have any chance of finishing either 1st or 2nd in the overall championship, JP would have to win both races over the weekend (one on Saturday and one on Sunday) and then hope that the two drivers ahead of him falter.

Nevertheless, what ever happens this weekend we could not be prouder of JP. He has exceeded all expectations for such a young driver and proved that he can race with the best in his class. Our goal this weekend remains the same – to prepare as best we can, for JP to give his best effort, to learn as much as possible to carry forward to next year, and overall to do the best we can as a team.

I know some of you have expressed interest in seeing some of the racing this weekend. For those of you who would like see JP race, please do not hesitate to email me directly at aa.hutch@rogers.com and I can give you directions and a schedule. The Sutton track is just outside the town of Sutton on the southern shore of Lake Simcoe at the corner of Highway 48 and York/Park Rd (which leads to Sibbald Point Provincial Park).

Hope to see you there!

There has been an awesome video posted to YouTube showing the first lap of one of the races at Trois-Rivieres. This is the street race that JP raced in at the end of July. All of the Senior-Max races (JP races in Mini-Max) were filmed for RDS which is the Quebec equivalent of TSN (The Sports Network) here in Ontario. This video  is a “teaser” to the eventual airing of the race and shows the first lap of the Senior Max race with some great on-board footage. It will give you a great idea of what JP had to contend with when he raced that same weekend! When you watch keep in mind that despite the carnage that took place, this is JP’s favorite track!

For those of you who are not familiar with racing, what you will see in the video (click the link below) is as follows: It starts off showing the grid where the karts get ready to go out on track  followed by the karts entering the track for a warm-up lap. After the warm-up lap the karts then form two rows side-by-side and slowly proceed towards the starting line. As they slowly approach the start line in rows of two, the green lights will come on and the race is on! The unique but very dangerous aspect of this track, as you will see on the video, is the fact that they placed a “chicane” immediately after the start which allows only one kart at a time to maneuver through! This chicane caused havoc all weekend where a lot of accidents occurred.

You will also see that there was a serious accident on the first lap causing them to have to “red flag” (stop) the race before restarting it again. If I remember correctly that race was red-flagged 3 times due to serious accidents. And JP wants to do this same race again next year!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSgNMaOkI8M

The additional video below gives a stunning bird’s eye view of the track and the city. Some brilliant videography in this one:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5dc69oq4IA

It soon became apparent that in order for us all to learn more we would have to begin focusing more on the regional races and much less on the club races. With the club races being held at the same track for every race, the learning process would be significantly improved if we moved to regional racing where each race was held at a different track.  Despite putting in some very promising results including a win at the first Eastern Canadian Karting Championship, it became apparent midway through the season that we all had a lot to learn and the only way to end many of the frustrations that were preventing JP from achieving better results would be to join a team where we would have better support and much needed racing knowledge to draw upon. Thus the move to GreenSpeed Karting which paid immediate dividends when JP drove from last to second place at the Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship (BSRKC) at Leamington, Ontario.

Overall, despite this being his first year in the Mini-Max class and racing against competitors 2 to 4 years older, he has surpassed all expectations and has caught many eyes at the track. The consensus is that if he continues his progress, JP may just be the one to beat in the years to come.

Here is a quick summary of the two regional series we raced in this year:

Eastern Canadian Karting Championships (ECKC)

This series took place over four weekends with six races in all. The season began with two races at our home track of Goodwood, then two more races at Mosport before heading to Quebec for one race at The Monaco de Trois-Rivieres and the final race at Mont-Tremblant. Overall JP managed to finish 4^th in the championship out of 37 competitors in total. He managed to gain one win at Goodwood and a 3^rd place at Mosport. Things may have looked better for JP as he was in contention for another 3^rd place at Mosport when he was taken out on the final corner of the last lap. Other misfortunes included qualifying 3^rd at Trois-Riviere but hitting the wall on the warm-up lap in the Pre-Final as well as struggling with headaches all weekend at Mont-Tremblant.   Needless to say, it is a phenomenal result for a kid barely turning 10, in his first year at the 2-stroke racing level.

Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship (BSRKC)

This is an eight race series throughout southwestern Ontario including races at Leamington,  Shannonville, Innisfil (near Barrie), Kawartha (near Peterborough) and Sutton. With two races remaining in September at Sutton, JP stands 3^rd in the overall championship out of 20 competitors. Unfortunately, he would have been in 1^st place overall if it wasn’t for the minor technical disqualification which occurred after his win at Shannonville (read about it here) which even an official protest could not overcome. So after 6 races JP has finished 2^nd in two races along with a 3^rd place finish (not to mention a disqualified 1^st place finish!). One of the biggest highlights in this set of races was JP’s second place finish at Innisfil on a rain soaked track thereby overcoming his previous apprehensions about racing in the rain, along with his last-to-first run at Leamington.  Again, another promising regional result for JP with his current 3^rd place standing and with two races remaining, he still has an opportunity to finish first and win the championship!

JP will now spend the next three weekends prior to the double-header weekend on September 18^th at Sutton, practicing at the Sutton track trying to not only learn the track but to also try and determine the best chassis and engine setup in order to by as fully prepared as possible.

Stay tuned!