Cody Johnson Racing

Ocala Gran Prix Race Two Fall Winter Series

The second kart race of the Ocala Gran Prix Fall/Winter series had the largest turn out of any OGP series race this year with 85 karts turning out to race. Great weather and great kart racing just before the start of the holiday season what a way to start it off.

Cody took a half day off school and we went over to practice with Danny Formal and the other Rotax Jr's. Cody went out to practice on the Arrow Kart, Rotax Jr while I tried to get his Margay, KT100 ready to practice on and race. We would be trying to race both Rotax Jr and Super Can this weekend which is always fun to try and pull off.

Saturday morning was sunny but very cold for Florida which hopefully would provide for a fast track. I had Cody put his new Mojo's on the Arrow kart for one practice session as prior we had been practicing on older Bridgestone YHC tires and I wanted to make use we got the set up close for qualifying. Not the ideal situation but with no old Mojo's we didn't have much choice I wasn't about to buy two sets of tires for a local race.
The Margay/Supercan I had purchased a new clutch part that gave us trouble from the ever start; it turned out to be an omen for how the rest of the day would go in the Supercan class.

Qualifying: In Rotax Jr it looked to be a race between Nick Neri, Danny Formal and Cody with the other four Rotax Jr's fighting for the remaining spots. Cody never qualifies good for whatever reason and it proved to hold true with a P4 qualifying effort. Danny Formal, Nick Neri, Andrew than Cody would be how the grid would look for the prefinal.
In the Margay/Supercan we went out on old Bridgestone's as we left the correct new tires home and Cody qualified in P2.

Prefinal: Rotax Jr Cody took third place right from the start and pretty much stayed on Neri's bumper the entire race but was unable to pass him cleanly so we finished third.
Margay/Supercan class there where four kids racing including Johnny one of Cody's friends who sat on P1 at at the start of the race. Cody gave him a good run for his money but clutch issue's got the best of us and he finished second.

Final: It was getting dark out and the final would prove to be a very exciting race to watch. Cody took second place behind Danny into the first corner with Nick passing him shortly after. The first three karts where fairly close for the first couple laps before Danny pulled away and left Cody and Nick to fight it out for second and third place. Cody stayed pretty much on Nick's rear bumper and they traded positions several times with Nick getting Cody on the straight away and Cody passing him back in the corners. Cody was in third place at the start of the last lap and got by Nick cleanly in the hairpin turn and stayed bumper to bumper right up until the finish line with Cody taking second place. He drove a great smart race and I'm very proud of the effort he put forth.
In Supercan we where not so lucky as the clutch spun before Cody could even take the track so he had to settle for watching the final in Supercan. The second place finish in Rotax Jr made this a bit easier to take than had we done poorly in Rotax Jr class.

Cody this year has finally gotten to the point he is comfortable running bumper to bumper with the kids running at the front of Rotax Jr races here in Florida. Cody is really maturing as a driver and it's nice to see him accomplish the goals he sets out for himself ever race.

With exception of my not getting the clutch issue resolved so Cody could race the final in Supercan it was a great weekend. I have to give Donald at Advanced Karting a big thank you for without his help and support Cody would not have faired so well in Rotax Jr.
Cody still holds the lead in points in the Rotax Jr class for the Fall/ Winter series and we look forward to race three of the series.
Now I guess it's onto to Daytona in Dec. for the Manufactures Cup.