Updated on:
Tues. July 13,
2010
3:45 PM EST
12:45 PM PT
Pics of the Week
In racing there are many people who help out racers and I am no different.
Here is a list of who helps out the Yannazzo family team.
Crew
Tina
Yannazzo- My wife and companion without her I don’t go racing she has been
the family supporter for 26 years and continues to love the sport of racing.
Jimmy Patterson- Crew Chief-
Jimmy has been a longtime friend and has been the only reason I continue to
drive a car myself
Tony Patterson- Crew- Tony
is the son of Jimmy and has been a big help to me keeping me ready to go
while watching the girls races.
Tom Gemo who helps out at
home so I can make it to the race track.
Sponsors- A sponsor
doesn’t necessarily mean they give money but the following people help in one
way or the other. These people mean a lot to our team to allow us to be
able to race so far away from home.
Swimming Pool Perfections-
The main sponsor of the team. There are many people in this
organization that knowingly contribute through hard work that allow our
family to go weekly and race.
QRC -The factory for
all things Outlaw Go Kart racing. The entire staff at one time or
another has helped us out to keep us going or for all that matters keep us
part of the racing family
Grandpa George Motors-
George has built the engines from day one and will continue to provide the
reliable power this team needs to be successful.
Locked N Loaded Graphics-
Pete Johnston has done the entire graphic for the 08 season and the cars all
look great.
Yak Graphics- has in past
taken care of all of our logo needs and remains one of our businesses we can
count on.
Summit Auto Body in San
Carlos Ca has been painting the bodies for the past few years.
Cziska Family Racing- Fred
and Terry Cziska are a good friend of ours and has supported the family
racing efforts over the years.
Friends of the team
Al Weiss- A long time friend
of the family and moral support for me. Al is why we got into this
division of racing and where we will stay.
Tim Kaeding-
TK is always there for advice and support mostly for my kids who he loves
like they are his family.
Rawhide- Mike Gain is the
name but Rawhide if you’re his friend helps fab items I have no time for.
Mike is known to the kids as their uncle.
Jason (Lumpy) Zazada- Lumpy
runs the 4th car for Yannazzo Motorsports and represents well.
Lumpy is a good dad and bring his aspiring future driving son Alex along to
every race.
The Insider- July 13th-Winner,
winner chicken dinner was a worn out statement last Saturday
night! It was a very hot afternoon in ChicoCalifornia and
after having a 25pt lead evaporate to a 15 pt deficit it was
time to turn up our own heat on the situation.
Suffering from cracked ribs I would have to endure much pain
in getting in and out of the kart. The cracked ribs
were the result of a right rear beats left front crash
coming out of turn two just 2 weeks ago that destroyed my
kart.
Jimmy,
his son Tony and I worked hard over the 4th of
July
holiday to recover from that crash and recover we did.
With the help from QRC in getting us a frame and cage kit
pronto,
we put the new kart together not knowing where we would be
come Saturday night. We qualified 2nd fast
was not so good in the dash and would start in the 5th
row outside
in the main making it
interesting to say the least. On the start I would get
right into 3rd place challenging Ken Mahoney for
the top spot with Eric Pettinger on the outside of Ken.
After a couple of attempts at passing for the lead I was
finally able to get in under Ken,
(who was driving an awesome race) and take the lead from 1st
and also 2nd
place.
With only a handful of laps in the
books and leading,
the yellow would come out that would set up for a battle
royal. When the green flew Eric Pettinger would go
under me in turn one passing but blowing the corner allowing
me to get up under him for the lead once again.
However Eric being the
strong competitor would keep pace and run on my outside for
the next 5 laps.
I would work the bottom and inch by
inch I would finally gain the lead and go on to take the
checkered flag in a very rewarding win for this team.
This was the 1st time in a month that Team
Yannazzo had all the team karts on hand with Stephani and
Shannon on hand to represent the team in the Open
class and the Open Intermediate class as well.
Stephani looked good but would have trouble in her A
finishing up out of the top 10 and Shannon would have her
best night finishing up in the 7th
spot from 14th,
her best race ever and on doing it uncharacteristically on
the bottom.
RACE
TO THE CHAMPONSHIP
Last year nearing the end of the
Cycleland season in 2009 I met someone that would be pivotal
to Yannazzo Motorsports ability to make more speed, his name
is Peter Sheppard. Peter was a transplant from
California and moved to
North Carolina
where he still lives.
Peter has work here in California which keeps him here on and off.
Peter has a son Peter Sheppard that runs in the Open Intermediate class and has come
along very fast in these little machines.
When I met Peter I knew he was a
straight shooter right off the bat. On a day we were
testing Peter handed me an important piece to the puzzle and
gave me some information that led us to win the very next
week at Cycleland becoming someone I could rely on to get
the power I needed
to win and a good friend at the same time. At this
time Jimmy Patterson my crew chief and I agreed that if
we start off the 2010 race season
at Cycleland successfully we would see about taking on the long
Cycleland season in a fight for the 2010 Sportsman
Championship.
Over winter my buddy Peter purchased a
Late Model Truck for Peter Jr to run at Hickory Speedway in
No Carolina, I thought for sure we would lose his support
but he would stay true to assisting us in the quest for the
Championship even being instrumental in talking me into this
long journey. So it was agreed there that we would
keep the equipment safe from the winter
season at Red Bluff and concentrate on the summer season in
2010. With a new engine
set up and some new ideas we started the season off and was
successful right off the bat! With the support from my
teammates and driversStephani and
Shannon along with my wife Team H20 would take
the Sportsman
point lead until bad luck started to show its ugly head.
The 1st one was a crash
into a parked kart
off a dark turn 4.
That crash chipped my
elbow and badly
sprain in my wrist, the next week another crash into my left
elbow this time and then the big one. I was pushed
into the back straight away wall running off of turn 2 and
hit with violent results that cracked a rib and bruised me
up pretty bad and killed our kart. After many hours of
work over the 4th of July we came back and won
the main on July 10th.
This championship is going to be a
tough one with Rodney Lamar being every bit as tough on his
journey to the same goal I have. It will be very rewarding
in the end as I told Rodney no matter the result knowing how
competitive he is. There are still 7 races left on
this long season and anything can happen so for now its
still my
only goal to reach and
until this is over, its not over….More to come.
Yannazzo
Motorsports wants to thank the following people for their
hard work and dedication to our team that allows us to race
during the weekends. Cziska Family Racing, Jimmy and
Tony Patterson, Pete Johnstone at Locked & Loaded Graphics
for giving us the best looking karts out, not to mention for
winning us the best looking kart in the Sportsman Division.
We thank you so very much for being part of this team and
family.