Our Racing Team on the Papers for the Third Time

Last month our racing team made the Greenwich Citizen newspaper again. It's the third time now the local tabloids find interest in the 11 year old race driver. Sports writer Rob Kelly did a follow up story on Tazio after his promising Daytona National race debut. You can read the article by clicking on the photo. Our family would like to thank Rob again for his memorable articles on our team.

Tazio Featured on www.EKartingNews.com

After Tazio's superb National Race debut at Daytona Kartweek last month, On January 15th 2010 he appeared for the first time in the spotlight on EkartingNews.com, Karting's biggest and most popular website in the US. We always go on this site, almost everyday to check on the latest in karting competition around the world. To see our team featured among karting's national stars was just incredible.

Our thanks go to David Cole of EKartingNews.com for publishing our press release.

To see the full article on the web click the following link:

http://ekartingnews.com/news_info.php?n=14240

Tazio Shows his Potential with the Best Drivers in National Kart Racing

After a great performance at the legendary Daytona International Speedway, Tazio showed the speed necessary to race with the best in the national arena.

Daytona Kartweek each year, just after Christmas, kicks off the WKA National Championship. Our series is called the WKA Manufacturer Cup Series, and Tazio is in Cadet class.

After successful club and Regional competition since Tazio was 6, it was time to taste the next level. Daytona was the perfect opportunity.

Monday 12/28/09 was open practice day. National Champion Mike Doty, from the Mike Doty Racing Team prepared Tazio's kart. A Merlin cadet chassis. The Merlin had been quite dominant in the past couple of seasons. The Comer K80 motor was rebuilt and prepared by Doug Fleming from Fleming Motorsports. Doug has been looking after Tazio's motors since we entered cadet class.

With Mike's help it took Tazio no time to learn the fast .7 mile sprint track. By the afternoon Tazio was flying. His lap times were within 2 tenths of a second of the fastest drivers.

In race day 1, Tazio was able to qualify for the feature race. Only the top 30 drivers make the final race. He started 19th, ran strong, gained some positions and finished a respectable 13th. Not bad for our first National.

As always Dario, my 9 year old, was of great help with working and changing things on the kart. Under Mike Doty's supervision, of course. This guy is unbelievable. He knows exactly what the kart and the driver is doing and knows just how to set up the chassis. We feel very fortunate and proud to be part of his team.

On race day 2 Tazio went even better and placed his Merlin on the sixth row in the 12th position on the grid for the second final. Unfortunately 12th for him was on the outside line of turn one, more dangerous. He got a strong start and dove in the first turn. While he was negotiating the corner with 29 other drivers he was hit in the right rear hard enough to kick the drive chain off the motor. He was forced to retire. Tazio was very upset at first, because he knew he had the pace. He got over it after 20 minutes. Surprisingly my wife Lucia and I were not upset at all. We were rather satisfied that our little athlete had the speed, and just became a National driver. We are definitely planning to enter round 2 of the WKA Man Cup at South Bend, Indiana April 30th. Stay tuned....

Special thanks to Mike Doty, Doug Fleming, Chi Chi, John Baio, all the other dads especially Joe Cullura, my clutch specialist, and Mr. Stecher for the clutch spring.
Since Tazio & Dario were so good we treated our family to our first Disney World visit, not so far from Daytona Beach.

Cadet Sportsman Qualifying for race 2

Pos No. Name Chassis Best Lap Diff

1. 66 Zane Smith Top Kart 45.882 -

2. 28 Grant Quinlan Birel 46.074 0.192

3. 11 Leonardo Stoia PCR 46.093 0.211

4. 21 Austin Osborne Birel 46.099 0.217

5. 12 Matt Solarczyk Birel 46.126 0.244

6. 5 Gresham Wagner Birel 46.141 0.259

7. 0 Collin Campbell Birel 46.161 0.279

8. 15 Ryan Raffa Top Kart 46.211 0.329

9. 88 Emerson Reed Merlin 46.234 0.352

10. 91 Grant Sandberg Bor 46.292 0.410

11. 24 Tyler Moneypenny Arrow 46.325 0.443

12. 3 Michael Womack Birel 46.399 0.517

13. 77 Tazio Torregiani Merlin 46.429 0.547

14. 29 Austin Garrison Gillard 46.438 0.556

15. 17 Ashley Rogero Tony Kart 46.439 0.557

16. 32 Garrett Madison Birel 46.682 0.800

17. 81 Tristan VanWieringen KRT 46.748 0.866

18. 1 Derek Scott Jr. Birel 46.784 0.902

19. 6 Olli Pekka Kinos Birel 46.979 1.097

20. 4 Jacob Symank Corsa 47.068 1.186

21. 43 Levi Centeno Birel 47.427 1.545

22. 48 Brendan Cullura Birel 47.428 1.546

23. 82 William Wolfrom Birel 47.504 1.622

24. 10 Vincenzo Sarracino Maranello 47.544 1.662

25. 84 Philip Varner Tony Kart 47.604 1.722

26. 99 Logan Mitchell Margay 47.771 1.889

27. 2 Max Nikolof Top Kart 47.972 2.090

28. 8 David Malukas Birel 48.008 2.126

29. 22 Simon Sikes Energy 48.322 2.440

30. 72 Camden Donaldson Birel 48.458 2.576

31. 9 Tyler Jordan Kosmic 48.766 2.884

32. 18 John Paul Southern Jr. Tony Kart 49.500 3.618

33. 9 Nathan Pool Kosmic 49.857 3.975

34. 1 Mason Mitchell Margay 50.165 4.283

35. 46 Jared Cordova Birel No time -

DNS 80 Juan David Buitrago CRG No time -

Tazio to Drive in First National Kart Race at Daytona in December

After a strong overall performance and exceeding our expectations in our first WKA Regional Season, Tazio is set to drive in our first WKA National Race Weekend.
It's the legendary Daytona Kartweek on December 28-30, 2009. The first race of the 2010 WKA Manufacturer Cup National Championship. Tazio at 11 years of age on 12/13/09 will be competing in Cadet class. He will race in a field of 50 + national level drivers expected to be the best in the country. We don't expect to be running at the front on our first National race. We do believe that Driving together with this level of competition will sharpen Tazio's race craft to the next level. We are thrilled to race in the legendary Daytona International Speedway, home of the Daytona 500 and the 24 hours of Daytona.
We will join forces with the Mike Doty Racing Team. Mike Doty, a karting champion himself, coached many drivers to victory, including National Championships. Mike Doty will be looking after Tazio and his chassis together with another great tuner/coach, Mike "Chi Chi" Ramirez.
Last Sunday we were at Englishtown NJ for a club race. Doty had Tazio drive one of his Merlin chassis in trying to prepare and figure out the right kart to use for next month. The Merlin is much newer than the worn but fast Nevoso kart we have been using. Setup wasn't easy with a damp drying track during practice. But in no time after making some key changes Tazio's lap times continued to drop. In the final race after a great start from the third row, Tazio pushed the two karts on front of him hard and finished fourth with an unfamiliar Merlin chassis. He was able to gain ground in the club points standings with his two closest rivals. He definitely had the speed to run in the top three. Another trophy for the collection.
This Sunday November 22nd will be our last race of the 2009 Raceway park club season. Chi chi wants Tazio to drive the Merlin again to become more familiar with it. Tazio thought the rear was a little tight, so we need to free it up a bit and hopefully find more speed. Our other half of the team Dario and my wife Lucia couldn't make it as they were both under the weather.
They're better now.

Strong Podium in the Wet locks top Five in Points

October 24th and 25th was the last race weekend of the 2009 WKA New Jersey Sprint Series. Fortunately for us the forecast for Saturday all day rain was accurate. I had changed the chassis set up for the wet to find grip in a slippery damp track. Tazio's first race teacher Mike Doty pointed out that our old rain tires needed replacement to be competitive. We took his advise and got it done with Dario's help (Tazio's brother).
Tazio was immediately among the fastest in the wet. He was able to win his first WKA regional heat race and two podiums in the finals for Cadet and Junior sportsman classes.
He tangled with another kart at the start of one of the heat races which dropped him to the back of the pack.  His fast laps and careful driving enabled him to stay on the track and catch most of the field (click here to see the video).
By the end of the day Tazio was soaked, but also very happy to pick up his two large 2nd and 3rd place trophies.

On Sunday it was sunny and dry. It took us a while to find the right set up. He couldn't finish one of the heat races because of a loose wheel. He was smart to notice and stop before loosing the rim all together. I took the blame. This didn't help his qualifying which resulted in a sixth starting position. He finished his last race of the weekend fifth, however a well earned fifth with a brilliant last lap pass on his rival. Dario was of great help to the team changing the set up between sessions on both days.

After a brilliant drive in his first WKA Regional Series and and a racing accident which forced him to miss two finals, he was able to finish fifth in the points in both Cadet and RP Junior Sportsman classes. This makes Tazio an award recipient at the end of season banquet in December.
We'll be back at Englishtown on November 15th for the next Raceway Park club race.

Strong Comeback with Fourth Place for Tazio

After our WKA Regional Event at NJ Motorsport Park on September 13, our racing team had a month break, which we very much needed to repair and rebuilt the kart, and for Tazio's foot to heal, which after a couple of soccer games it proved to be perfect.

We came back to track at Englishtown on October 11 for the next Raceway Park Club Race. For the first time the track was run backwards which was like racing at a new venue. On Saturday they had open practice all day for drivers to learn the new track. We couldn't make it.

The time during the break really gave me the chance to take the kart all apart, clean it and put it all back together. When I was done it felt like a new machine. When Tazio hit the track first thing in the morning for the first practice session he was fast out of the box.

The great Mike Doty helped us tune the kart which made our lap times drop each session. Tazio managed to qualify fifth out of fifteen.

In the feature race he had a great start, stayed out of trouble and was able to finish fourth. He wasn't able to catch the top three but was able to open a large gap to everyone else behind him. The three that finished on front of Tazio were among the drivers that practiced on Saturday.

We were happy with the result. Watching Tazio's face pick up his fourth place trouphy showed us that his accident didn't slow him down.

This weekend is our final 09 WKA NJ Sprint Series race weekend, it's at Englishtown NJ. Backwards again.

We'll be there first thing Saturday morning.

Can't wait.

Tazio is doing Fine after minor foot Injury from racing accident

This past weekend of September 12 & 13 was our team's 4th WKA Regional Race weekend.

The track was the 1.1 mile circuit at NJ Motorsport Park in Millville.

During one of the final heat races on Sunday Tazio had an accident. While he was battling for position the tires on the two karts touched. Tazio's kart went up in the air and he was thrown out of his seat. When he landed on the ground he got up right away just to realize that his foot couldn't hold his weight and went down again. The race was immediately red flagged and stopped. I ran to him right away escorted by the track director. The track ambulance arrived immediately and the response was very professional. While Tazio was being checked His Mom Lucia was brought on the scene by one of the track workers. The ambulance took us at the Track medical center where Tazio was checked by a race doctor. The doc said the foot was either fractured or sprained, and that Tazio was otherwise OK.

When the ambulance brought us back to the kart track pits all his fellow racer kids were clapping and cheering as Tazio came out. It brought a big smile to his face, I think it was special moment he will never forget. Tazio didn't want to leave, he wanted to sit track side and watch his friends race in the two final races. He was very disappointed he couldn't race in the finals.

The next morning after some X-rays, Tazio's doctor said nothing was broken. Fortunately he only sprained the top of his right foot. He already started walking since Tuesday morning and getting better very rapidly. Our next race is not until October 11th which will give him plenty of time to heal 100%. I also need the time with Dario's help to check, fix and prepare the kart. Tazio's said he didn't get scared from racing but definitely learned from it.