“Jetpak” Jak Crawford, the speedy ten-year-old Texan and Energy Corse racing pilot, wrapped up his brief year and a half long Rotax Micro Max karting career with his biggest win yet at the 2015 Cold Stone United States Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals. With over a dozen national level victories including Florida Winter Tour wins, the sweep of the 2014 Rotax Challenge of the Americas, and now the 2015 US Grand Nationals Championship, Jak will now focus his Rotaxian efforts solely in the Mini Max category.
The 2015 Rotax US crown in Micro Max was not without obstacles. Engine parity is still an issue in the Rotax Micro Max category and Jak rolled into Kershaw, South Carolina underpowered for the weekend. Thanks to the engine talents from Falcone GP, a motor was “frankensteined” at the track and good enough to let the driver keep him in the hunt and near the front of the field for qualifying and the heat races.
When Sunday rolled around the Prefinal event was a near disaster with failing engine parts due to no fault of the engine builder. The team tried to correct the problems and gambled without benefit of being able to fully test the motor during the break due to MAXspeed Entertainment’s quiet pit rule.
The effort succeeded and was just enough to keep Jak up front with a crafty, near-flawless drive. Jetpak hardly missed a mark on the track allowing him to lead 11 of 16 laps. The last lap pass for the win was a classic outside-inside cross-over move in turn five and it worked to perfection when the leader blocked hard to the inside on entry. It was a team effort with Jak’s racing skills and the corner-hugging Energy chassis saving the weekend and winning the crown.
Not yet mentioned was the fact that Jak did double duty at the Grand National event by racing in the Mini Max class as well. Jak struggled all week with his full size Tony Kart chassis and a first heat DNF result when another racer earned a ten second penalty by driving over the top of the Texan’s kart in turn one. Yet on Sunday Jetpak managed to hold on to the underperforming chassis long enough to claim another trophy with a third place podium finish, this time in Rotax Mini Max.
Already, in just a few months Jetpak has found national level success in Rotax Mini Max racing including narrowly missing the 2015 Challenge of America’s championship crown by one point. Because of his point’s lead at the current Rotax US Open events, the young driver is the 2015 Team USA Mini Max representative who will travel with the National Team to Portugal in November 2015.
Jak would like to thank OMP, Energy Corse, Palmetto MDR, Nash Motorsportz, Rolison Performance Group, Precision Works Racing Engines, and Chris Hatfield for all their help and support. An extra special thank you to Falcone GP for their hard work trackside with the Rotax Micro Max engine platform.
For more information on ‘Jetpak’ Jak, or to place sponsorship or calendar inquiries, please contact Nikki Crawford at nikocraw@gmail.com. Also, be sure to like ‘Jetpak’ Jak Crawford on his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jetpakjakcrawford.
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