It’s not often that a race team can experience a tough weekend like the one Northern Force Racing had on track at the MOPAR Nitro Jam Nationals and still walk away feeling like they were winners.  

 

Away from the race track the team had the honor of teaming up with Community Living London and its Access Summer Leisure Program. The partnership included display’s at both the elementary and secondary aged camps in the days leading up to the event, as well as a raffle that provided tickets and transportation to the race for one child and their family from each camp. “Going to the camps was definitely special, but having those kids come to the race and to be able to spend some time with them in such a stimulating environment was really amazing,” said driver Jory Elliott. “I can’t thank everyone enough at Community Living London, all of the media outlets that provided coverage, the event staff at the track and our sponsors, MOPAR, Clearshot Customs and Ohsweken Speedway, who made it possible for us to do all of this.”

On the track the team had a roller coaster weekend that just didn’t live up to the expectations they had going in. “We had some issues with the race car, I wasn’t able to find the groove with my driving and luck wasn’t on our side either,” said Elliott. Despite qualifying near the top of the charts both days, including an 8.48 second, 162 mile per hour run on Saturday, the team failed to make it out of the first round on either occasion. “My reaction time on Saturday morning wasn’t terrible, but my opponent’s was better and that’s just how it goes sometimes,” stated Elliott. In fact, Elliott collected two of his five round wins in 2012, en route to the event championship, with very similar reaction times to that of his first round reaction time on Saturday. “The worst part is, if I had had that same light on Sunday morning we would have won our first round race. But that’s racing and all we can do is learn from it and try to be better the next time we hit the track.”

Although the next outing for the team is only tentative at this time, they have penciled in the Canadian Street Car Nationals and an appearance with the CAN-AM Stock/Super Stock Series on August 25th at Toronto Motorsports Park as their next attempt at collecting their first win of 2013.