Elliott Bachelart Daytona summary

Elliot Bachelart takes two podiums in first run at Daytona

(Indianapolis, IN) 6 January 2006--13-year old Elliot Bachelart of Indianapolis got his first experience at the famed Daytona International Speedway last weekend behind the wheel of four different classes of karts, and highlighted his debut with two visits to the podium after scoring fastest race lap in a field of over 40 karts.

The young charger is keen to get as much experience as possible as he continues to improve and show great speed, and running the four different classes (HPV Jr. Lite, HPV Jr. Heavy, Yamaha Jr. Super Can LIte, and Yamaha Jr. Super Can Heavy) helped him experience a wide variety of karts with different weights, horsepower, and handling characteristics.

After spending the opening day familiarizing himself with the track and each of the four classes, Bachelart got day two started with a strong fifth in qualifying with the HPV light, but after missing the minimum weight by two pounds, he was forced to start from the back of the field. The race showed that his qualifying performance was no fluke, as he moved up to take 11th in the race and carded the sixth fastest lap of the event.

Each class holds qualifying, a heat race, and a final. The top 21 qualifiers make it to the Final, with a consolation race providing a chance for those who did not qualify for the Final. The top five finishers in the consolation race make it to the final, but are forced to start fro the back of the pack.

Day three was the highlight of the week as Eliott qualified 6th in qualifying in the HPV Heavy class,finished 6th in the heat and gained a couple positions in the final to make it to the top 3 podium finish. Eliott also had the fastest lap of the race by .025 thousands of a second.

This podium finish was not the only highlight for Bachelart, as he won the Consolation A race in Yamaha Jr. SuperCan competition to make it into the Final. After starting the final race in 17th, Bachelart worked his way up to take fifth at the checkered flag on it's way to his second podium.

"Overall it was a very good weekend for me; two podiums and two top 15 finishes," said Bachelart. "We had a couple of problems that we will try not to do again but besides that I learned a lot and my coach AJ Codalata did as well. There are some things we are now improving on and we will try to do even better for the next race which is at Lowe's Motor Speedway on March 10-12th."

-sgm-