On Saturday April 5th, my 2025 racing season kicked off with the first club racing event at the new Norway Motorsports Park in Norway, IL. With the facility transferring ownership over the off-season and seeing many improvements to the facility itself, the hype for the new season at NMP was through the roof, and expectations were set high on both the officials and the drivers.
I went into this season opener having done a lot of off-season preparation, but with minimal testing time. Additionally, mother nature had thrown an extra curveball with low temperatures and overnight rain. I knew I would have my work cut out for me to get back up to speed, but despite my uncertainty, I managed to find that speed much quicker than I thought I would.
The day started with practice about 45 minutes behind schedule for track drying and temperatures still in the 40’s. In the challenging conditions and a field of 9 Ignite Seniors, I was fastest in both practice sessions, being no less than half a second clear of the whole field in each session. I was actually surprised by these results, and I thought I had left a lot on the table and could perform much better than I did. I went on to prove that point in Qualifying, taking the pole by 8 tenths over the next fastest driver.
With a full stomach from lunch and track conditions slowly improving, it was time for the 8-lap Heat Race. Starting from pole, I held the lead on the start and never looked back, winning the Heat Race by 4.5 seconds over Jacob Magnowski and Justice Buttala. The combined points earned from Qualifying and the Heat set the grid for the 12-lap Final, placing me on pole once again. Just like in the heat, I took command at the start and checked out, driving my #11 Ignite K3 to win the Final by 12 seconds over Justice Buttala and rookie Colin Cox. In the three years I had raced Ignite prior, I don’t think my kart had ever felt as good to drive as it did in that race. I think that spending the time and effort rebuilding the kart over the off-season went a long way to getting that result, and everything I learned from Jim Perry at CKT Racing Engines also made a huge difference in my performance.
By taking the victory in the Final, I accomplished one of the most difficult feats in racing—a Grand Slam. By placing first in every single session that day in the Ignite Senior Class, I got a Grand Slam for Norway Club Race #1 and laid my mark down as the man to beat in Chicagoland’s Ignite Scene.