- Text: Guillaume Alvarez
- Photos: Alex Vernardis / The RaceBox
If Thursday was about building speed and confidence in free practice sessions leading to qualifying, business took another turn yesterday for Jace with the opening heat races of the X30 Senior class taking place in the afternoon on the temporary circuit of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, home of the SuperNationals 23.
In the first of his three scheduled runnings, Jace kept his head cool in the opening laps against opposition not afraid to go wheel-to-wheel, even in the tightest parts of the 0.6 mile-long track. From 16th on the starting grid, he patiently drove his way up the field, passing a few rivals before being slowed down at half distance by a chain drop that would put a premature end to his efforts.
His second heat, run as the sun and luminosity started lowering over Las Vegas, would bring a more rewarding outcome. Taking again a good start, the young American quickly set the tone in the midfield, despite the more delicate grip conditions due to the drop of temperature, where he put a succession of well-placed overtaking moves that made him recover up to the ninth position. The race was then interrupted by the yellow flag during a few laps, which tightened the field back together and led to a tense run to the chequered flag where Jace did his best to keep some of his charging rivals at bay before eventually crossing the line in 13th place.
“We had a challenging start of the day at the warm-up, mainly because the chassis had the set-up from the night time before and track conditions had changed from cold and dark to hot and sunny. In the first heat, we were unlucky with the chain going off while fighting for positions. My second race was better, we were faster in the beginning before losing a bit of ground. All in all, we were able to make good progress from one heat to the other in both chassis and driving efficiency. It gives confidence for the last one,” Jace said at the end of a busy day.
Next stage of the program for the Ryan Perry Motorsport driver this Saturday at 2:25 pm (heat 3: C vs D), Las Vegas local time (GMT-8). Click here for the complete timetable and here for the live timing.
Follow Jace’s daily progress in the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals 23 on The RaceBox, Facebook, and Instagram.
You may also like:
