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TJKR Storms New Castle at the Penultimate Round of WKA Competition - September 03 2010

The Team once again competed in four classes in the weekend. T.J. returned to one of his favorite circuits hoping to garner some valuable points and perhaps find his way back to the top step of the podium.

Koyen would clock in P5 for qualifying in Yamaha Supercan Lite grid that would see 23 karts take time. In the pre-final, Koyen was able to run with the front pack but toward the end the handling of the kart faded and he fell back a bit, battling with Dakota Pesek (Arrow) to the line. Koyen would finish 5th on a last lap slipstream past Pesek.

The Team identified what the chassis needed to improve for the final. After a good start, Koyen hovered in the 5th position. However, the gearing was slightly off, causing the leaders to gap Koyen significantly on the straights. The Merlin driver had to push hard to close the gap back up in the infield sections. On lap 10, things took a turn for the worse. Koyen was inches from the bumper of Ryan Stewart (Birel) when Stewart dropped a wheel under braking, spinning directly in Koyen's path and collecting him in a collision. The Birel driver's mistake ended T.J.'s race prematurely and Koyen had an 18th place DNF to show for his hard work.

Riding on a recent wave of success in the highly contested TaG class, the Team looked to have a great weekend in their Parilla powered Merlin. Qualifying didn't go as well as Koyen had hoped; with him only clocking the 11th fastest time in a field of 37. The Merlin pilot went to work in the pre-final though, fighting aggressively up to a 5th place finish, pulling teammate Michael Politis (Merlin) with him.

Koyen had a good start for the final, moving into 4th within the first couple laps. From there, T.J. moved into 3rd place and fell into a rhythm. The leaders had gotten away from him, but he gapped the karts behind him easily and cruised to a well-deserved P3 position at the finish.

In the Komet Lite class, Koyen came out of qualifying in 5th. The Team knew there was more speed in the kart though. Koyen admitted to several mistakes on his flying lap. Thus, the Team was quietly confident for the pre-final. Koyen was able to move up one spot to 4th at the finish of the pre-final.

The final was going to be a battle. Koyen ran in 5th for the first half of the race, biding his time. He then began to make his move to the front. Koyen drafted up past Ryan Stewart in the final corner on lap five and stole the line away. The old rivalry flared up and minor contact was made. Koyen took the spot fully into the first corner and defended low into the second. Stewart, undoubtedly flustered from the recent pass, placed half his kart in the grass on the inside of Koyen as T.J. defended and rooted Koyen right off the track. The Merlin driver continued through the grass and was able to get back on track two corners later and only lost a couple spots. Koyen completed the few remaining laps and came across the line 6th. Stewart's blatant attempt at wrecking Koyen resulted in the Birel driver receiving a penalty after the race was completed, putting him behind Koyen and promoting Koyen to 5th in the final standings.

The Team's fourth class of the weekend was the Parilla Leopard class. Koyen posted a satisfying time in qualifying putting him 4th, right behind teammate Tommy Andersen (Merlin). The duo would attempt to work together in the pre-final but were unable to improve their positions as they ran bumper-to-bumper with the other two leaders for the race's entirety. The Team knew they had the speed to take the top spot however so no adjustments were made between sessions.

The final proved to be an exciting one. Koyen battled with Andersen and Sean Meier (Kosmic) for the whole race. Koyen, exhausted from racing in the 14 lap Komet Lite race directly before this one, made several mistakes which he had to work hard to make up for. Finally, working together, the Merlin duo of Koyen and Andersen were able to shake Meier's Kosmic and the two had a few laps to scrap it out among themselves. Andersen gapped Koyen initially as he was able to get around Meier cleaner than Koyen. T.J. set his sights on Andersen's bumper and focused on setting consistent laps, knowing that his kart was just a tick better. On the last lap, Koyen finally ran up on Andersen's bumper down the first of the two long straights. He pushed Andersen down the straight and they exited the tight hairpin heading down the final long straight bumper-to-bumper. Andersen immediately defended. Koyen anticipated the move, slipstreamed, and pulled to the outside of Andersen. Side-by-side they blasted down into the final corner, neither giving an inch. Koyen braked deep into the corner, locking up the wheels, Andersen doing the same. Koyen was hoping he'd have position on his teammate to chop him down on the apex of the corner but both drivers went so hot into the corner that it simply wasn't an option. With both Parilla-power Merlins sliding, rear wheels locked up, Koyen had to concede the position to Andersen and they crossed the line with Andersen taking the win and Koyen finishing P2. Behind them, Michael Politis and Andrew Hobbs (Merlin) worked into 3rd and 4th, giving Team Merlin an incredible 1, 2, 3, 4 finish.

Although no wins were captured at the event, everyone was very satisfied with the results. T.J. continues to show strong in the TaG class. For the few remaining races, the Team has decided to drop the 100cc classes and focus specifically on TaG, which they will be running exclusively next year.

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