FONTANA, California — After having spent the last 9 months on full throttle without a weekend to rest, Luis Martinez Jr finally had a weekend to take a breather and relax. With temperatures in the Southern California region scorching past the 100-degree mark this weekend, a rest would have been warranted. However, the true hardcore racer that he is, if you give him the opportunity to race, he’ll take it, that is just what Luis Martinez Jr did this weekend at the IKF Grand National event held at Fontana, Ca.
"Considering it was a last minute decision, we had a really good weekend. "— Luis Martinez Jr
At the invitation of friend and go-karting mentor Mike Manning, Luis dusted off his go-karting suit and arrived to compete among the field of fierce competitors, many of whom had been racing all year long. It had been about 1 year since Martinez Jr competed in a major go-kart race, but Luis and go-karting go way back. Prior to his current successful NASCAR K&N Pro Series West career, Luis honed his race craft while in go-karts beginning at the age of 12. So while he had been absent from the sport for some time, it was like riding a bike all over again for the young 21 year old racer.
The 2-day event started on a positive note for Luis. If there were any questions on whether Luis could be competitive in a go-kart, all questions were soundly answered with a resounding yes. Competing in the KPV 4 Heavy division, Luis would show progress during the day’s practice sessions, placing himself 8th and 5th on the timesheets. Showing how quickly he adapted to the go-kart Luis would take his #77 entry to the top of the order and grab the pole position with a time of 52.825. He would follow that up by winning the heat race. The proceeding race had Luis leading by a comfortable margin however; a stuck throttle cable hampered him and relegated him to a 2nd place finish. While disappointed in not garnering the win, Martinez Jr was determined to return on Sunday and try again.
The next day Luis returned to the track and this time was entered in the Super Sportsman Heavy division. After placing 6th and 4th in the practice session he would go and place 4th in the division’s qualifying session with a time of 53.799. Luis’ fortune continued to improved as he would go on to finish 2nd in the heat race, missing first place by a 0.302 second margin. For the race Luis and John Wallace III battled it out for most of the race, but by the end it was Luis who would prevail with the prestigious win. Putting an exclamation point on what was considered a successful weekend.
Luis Martinez Jr – Driver – “Considering it was a last minute decision, we had a really good weekend. After receiving the invitation to race I went home on Wednesday and stayed up until 1:00 am building my kart and then went to the track the next morning at 6:00 am. There were a lot of people who helped me this weekend including Mike Manning and Jesus Vasquez from P1 Engines. It felt like an underdog victory because I had to do all of my own mechanic work, while some of the other drivers got to relax between races. But that just made this weekend more satisfying. This 3rd National win was a real breakthrough for me considering I've had many taken away in the past”
