 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
2008
Success Continues into Karting Fresh off of his first win in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup less than two weeks earlier, Jurca made one practice day in his ItalKart/ Italian Motors TM to prepare for the biggest karting event of 2008 thus far. “My last few weeks have been hectic,” explained Jurca. “Just after coming back to Seattle from the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup event in Toronto, I traveled to Vancouver, Canada, the headquarters for Italian Motors, to participate in my first test day of 2008 with Italian Motors technical director Scott Cowell. We tested the all new 2009 ItalKart at the Chilliwack racetrack and were consistently under the track record. It was a good sign heading into the New Castle, Indiana race.” Having missed the first two Stars of Karting events due to schedule conflicts, David Jurca came to the Race of the Americas hoping to compete with the 2008 season regulars. Friday practice ended with Jurca leading two of the three official timed sessions and in the top three of all three practice sessions. Saturday would see Jurca qualify fourth on his first set of new tires. With that set of tires, he seemed to suffer from a left front vibration that would haunt him throughout his heat races. A finish of seventh, fourth, and fifth in the heat races still allowed Jurca to start fourth in the two finals. With a new set of tires for Sunday’s finals, the vibration disappeared and it allowed for Jurca to focus on the top step of the podium. Sunday’s finals proved to be some of the most exciting racing seen this year. In the first final, a race would emerge between Michael Vincec and David Jurca. After battling back and forth, Vincec nipped Jurca at the line by .2 seconds to take the win. With a few adjustments made for the second final, Jurca got a strong start off the line to go from fourth to second. Closely chasing Gary Carlton for the first half of the race, a mechanical failure would take the leader out. The race was now between the top three of David Jurca, Alex Speed, and Michael Vincec. Speed was able to get by Jurca with about 8 laps to go, but two laps later Jurca returned the favor and retook the lead. Setting his fastest laps at the end of the race, Jurca pulled away to a 1.7 second lead to take the win over Speed and Vincec.
David Jurca’s next Snap-on Stars of Karting presented by the Indy Car Series race will be in Shawano, Wisconsin July 11 – 12. His efforts in this series are supported by Italian Motors, ItalKart, Douglas Wheels, CMSI, WAM Development Group, and Aim Sports . The next race in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup will take place on July 26 - 27 at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon. In this series, Jurca will be defending his series point lead in the Pignataro Volkswagen sponsored Jetta TDI with additional support from Redapt, Serengeti Design, and Washington Cedar and Supply. David Jurca also receives support from Oakley, Bell Helmets, and Speed Secrets. |
New Castle, Indiana. – In his return to karting in 2008, Italian
Motors driver David Jurca, 23, Federal Way, Wash. won an exciting
second final at the Stars of Karting Race of the Americas event
in the headline ICC shifter category in his ItalKart/ Italian Motors
TM combination. He also finished second in the first final to come
away from the weekend with the best combined results of any ICC
shifter driver. 
“After
having just barely lost the win in the first final, the Italian
Motors team was determined to make some improvements and try to
take the win in the second final,” said David Jurca. “With
some help from Carlton’s dnf, and our own improvements in
the race, we were able to take the top spot in final two. I can’t
thank everyone involved in the team enough. They include my mechanic
John Knowles, team manager Michael Valiante, team owner Claudio
Valiante, technical director Scott Cowell, and engine tuner Dave
Carpentier. We really had a race winning package this weekend.”