News and Photos from the 2002 Karting Racing Season

DREW COMPETES IN ROUND TWO OF THE COUPE DU QUEBEC

Round two of the Coupe du Quebec took place on Sunday,May 26th,at Karting Chateau Richer,20 miles northeast of Quebec City,Canada.The first practice and the qualifying took place under very wet track conditions...it poured.

In the qualifying Drew placed eighth out of ten racers.

In the 12 lap Pre-finale Drew placed seventh out of ten...a good result for Drew's first-ever competition on the challenging 1.4 kilometer track.

In the 18 lap Finale Drew started in the seventh position and paced the field quite well for the most of the race.Upon the eighteenth circuit Drew finalized in the tenth slot out of the ten racers.Unofficially,Drew was about fifteen seconds back from the leader at the end of the race. A good finish for a first outing at a track with many nuances.

As always,more experience and more seat time will continue to be the progression for the career of a young American racer named Drew.

  
 

DREW COMPETES IN ROUND ONE OF THE COUPE DU QUEBEC

On Sunday,May 12,Drew returned to SRA Karting for Round One of the Coupe du Quebec.In the qualifying Drew placed in the 12th position out of 12 competitors.

In the 10 lap Pre-final Drew started in the 12th slot and at the end of the event Drew finished in the 9th position.

In the Finale Drew started 9th on the grid and was running along quite well when,on the third lap,the kart suddenly slowed for no apparent reason.Drew coasted to a stop and exited the track to wait out the finish of the race.Upon examination by Drew and the corner workers of the Federation-Auto Quebec the reason for the kart power loss...the spark plug wire pulled out of the spark plug boot.Oh well.

The plug wire will now be machine-wired to prevent such another occurence.

The good news and there is always good news...Drew continues to progress at each event.Seat time and the racing experience will be the measure of Drew's performance to the future.

The future looks bright for l'Americain Drew Sprague.
Photos by Sébastien Blin

DREW COMPETES IN ROUND ONE OF THE COUPE DU MONTREAL

On Friday,May 3rd,Drew traveled to St. Hilaire,Quebec,Canada for an afternoon
practice session at SH Karting. Rain showers prevailed until 2 P.M. and then it was on to the track for a session of 20 laps.St. Hilaire is a very technical track and one can never run enough laps to prepare for a race.The first session went well and then the rain showers came again.

At 4 P.M. the track was clear and the second 20 lap session took place.Drew was visibly quicker during the second effort and the afternoon practice was good preparation for race day.

Race day,Saturday,was perfect skies and much warmer.The first practice was 15 more minutes of track time.

In qualifying Drew ran a fastest lap of 46.7 seconds placing him in the third starting position in a field of three ICA competitors.It seems that not every
competitor in the ICA class was as prepared for the season opener as we were. In the Pre-Finale Drew finished in the number three position behind the expert drivers Olivier Bonnet and Eric Lessard,both longtime SH competitors.

In the Finale all was well until the green flag dropped.As Drew approached the flagger he was noticably being sprayed with racing fuel from his own tank,As he reached to tighten the cap and at the same instant entering Turn One he braked hard,locked up the rear tires and slid to a stop.End of race.

The answer to the question?The fuel cap was overtightened and thereby allowing the seal on the cap to blow by with a full fuel load.Unfortunate...but a fact. The fast lap in qualifying was set by Michel Bonnet at 45.09 seconds to Drew's 46.7.

Considering that a year ago,as Drew was in the JICA class at that time,Drew ran a 56 second qualifying time in a field that ran at 50 second intervals.In other words,six seconds off the pace.

In his first 2002 competition in the ICA class Drew ran within 1.5 seconds of the best...Drew has vastly improved from a year ago and it is fair to say that he will continue to improve as he commits to reel in his first podium finish.

Our thanks to several people who made this event special...Dominic Labrecque of PSL Karting, Clement and all the staff at SH Karting,Robert Foteas for always watching over Drew,Michel Boisclair of SRA Karting for his kind words
to Drew,all the staff of Federation-Auto Quebec, and,without question,Sylvain Verville for the great preparation and hard work in engineering the kart and coaching Drew.

We are very proud to be competing with the chassis of Dino Chiesa and the power of Iame Parilla...together we are better!

SYLVAIN VERVILLE CONTINUES AS DRIVER COACH FOR 2002

Jeff Sprague,Team Manager and owner of Fast Forward Racing was glad to have Sylvain Verville,Three-time Canadian National Karting Champion in Formula A, guiding Drew as a Driver coach and as engineer for the kart for the second year.

"In 2001 Sylvain was instrumental in so many ways in building Drew into a better driver.His expertise as a driver coach and as an engineer for the race setup was invaluable.It is truly a pleasure to have Sylvain on board at each event during the 2002 season,said Jeff Sprague".

Drew added,"I am grateful for all that Sylvain has given to me in my career.He has instilled great confidence in me as a driver and I know that each time that I race my Kart is correctly and safely prepared for competition".

NEW DC ONE KART IS FIRST
IN NORTH AMERICA

Dino Chiesa of Padova,Italy and the owner of Chiesa Corse SAS constructed Drew's new Kart to the 2002 Season, ...chassis 001 which was shipped in April from Italy.Drew was on track for the first time on Sunday,April 21 at SRA Karting in St. Roche de L"Achigan,Quebec,Canada.

At the wheel of the new machine for the first time and with the new Parilla power of the ICA class Drew had a day of new experiences.Above all,the Kart handled very well and the performance was unbelievable.Although the day was spent "seasoning" the two new engines so that no fast laps were in order it was apparent that the 2002 season will be a fast-paced year of competition.

"Dino Chiesa was a tremendous individual to Drew this past year when Drew tested with Dino at the track in Monselice,Italy.Both Drew and I wish to express our gratitude to Dino for all that he did for Drew in Italy and for all that he has done since last summer",said Jeff Sprague.

 Having the expertise of Dino Chiesa and the efforts of all of the staff at Chiesa Corse behind Drew is a tremendous advantage for Drew.Our thanks to Dino and company for your efforts.


 
 

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