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Craig Revelle – Finish Line Web Design                               

While most racers from the Northeast put the 2011 season to rest long ago, and are waiting out a long cold winter, Luke Whitteker has stretched his season right through to the end of the 2011 calendar year.  

The 18-year-old Iroquois youth’s involvement in the Race 101 program has opened plenty of doors of opportunity this year. Whitteker has made several trips to North Carolina to attend classes, plus weekly online seminars that were also part of the curriculum for Race 101.  One of the program was the opportunity to run laps at the famous Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, North Carolina.

Aside from the on track portion of the Race 101 program, and the wealth of knowledge that he learned over the course of the year, Whitteker has also enjoyed meeting new people, and making several connections that will last a lifetime with prominent people in the racing community. 

As a group, some of the Race 101 staff, and several of this year students attended the annual P.R.I. (Performance Racing Industry) Trade Show that was held in Orlando, Florida recently.   The objective of attending this show was to learn, and also to interact with other people from the racing community,

The P.R.I. Trade show hosts over 1000 racing related vendors, and takes in sellers from all over the United States, Canada and many other countries.  The opportunity to interact with people from other forms of racing at a large trade show such as this is phenomenal.

“The PRI show was well worth the time,” says Whitteker.  “I would recommend any racer that is looking to get a jump start for the upcoming season or learn more about new and up and coming products to check out similar expos. I made a lot of great new connections and learned a lot about products available to the dirt racing market”.

Whitteker also had other exciting events in November, as he was able to take to the track in the Race 101 house car at the famed Hickory Motor Speedway.  

This was the first time Luke ever raced a car on pavement, and posted very consistent lap times that were comparable to other students with pavement experience.  The Race 101 premiere driver will be chosen in January when the class returns to North Carolina for their graduation.

“We had an awesome practice session with Tony Blanchard from Race 101,” says Whitteker.  “Asphalt racing is a lot of fun. It is very comparable to the go-kart racing that we did earlier in my career, and we enjoyed a lot of success with that.”

Whitteker also attended the annual Parts Peddler trade show in Syracuse during the month of November.  The show is similar in nature to the P.R.I. Trade Show, only more scaled down, and typically more specific to the Northeast region.

Also the Whitteker Motorsports team participated in the annual Christmas Parade along the streets of Morrisburg.  The Whitteker team prepared a float that included the race car, as well as a Christmas tree, and several Christmas decorations.

“I’d like to thank everyone that helped put the float together and represent Whitteker Motorsports in Morrisburg’s annual Christmas parade,” says Whitteker.  “I hope every one appreciates the hard work that was put into the float as much as I do.”

[…]

The excitement and anticipation was high for Luke Whitteker and the Whitteker Motorsports team last weekend (July 21-22) as they traveled to Kenly, North Carolina for Luke’s pavement racing debut at Southern National Motorsports Park. 

Luke arrived in North Carolina on Wednesday, and spent the night settling in, and preparing for a busy weekend.  

On Thursday, he went to the Race 101 shop, to scale the car, and load it in the hauler, getting ready for a day of practice on Friday, leading up to Saturday night’s race.  

Luke had three sessions on the track on Friday, and was gaining more speed and getting more comfortable in the car each time.

“We made a few practice runs here so far, and the car feels good so far,” says Whitteker.  “Hopefully the rain will stay away, and we can have a good day here tomorrow for our debut in the Race 101 car”.

On Saturday, Whitteker was back at Southern National Motorsports Park for some more practice, and then the race later in the day.  

Like the previous day, the more laps he ran, the more comfortable he was inside the Race 101 car.  While he was focused on the task at hand, Whitteker also kept an eye on the weather that was threatening to play a factor in his debut.

“We were really starting to get some speed, and get comfortable in the car after the second practice session,” said Whitteker.  “We just need to make a few tweaks to the setup to get the car a little better.  Unfortunately, it looks like rain soon, so we will see what happens here in the next little bit”.

As forecasted, the skies opened up just before final practice, and the race had to be postponed.  

Whitteker will return to Southern National Motorsports Park on August 11th for another attempt.  He will also race on September 29th.

[…]

It took three games, but Friday night (February 22) the South Dundas Bantam B Rep Lions finished off the NGS Braves with a 2-0 victory and are now preparing to meet Alexandria in Upper Canada Minor Hockey second round playoff action.

The series kicks off tonight, Wednesday, February 27 in Alexandria. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Game two of the four-point series is set for Monday, March 4 at 8 p.m. in Morrisburg, and game three, if necessary, returns to Alexandria, Thursday, March 7.

The Lions got off to a good start against the NGS Braves with a 7-3 victory on home ice last Tuesday, February 19. Then on Wednesday night, they were on the snowy road to Maxville where they were hoping to wrap up the four point series, but the Braves battled back with a 5-2 win to force a third match.

That was played Friday night in Morrisburg, with the Lions claiming the game win, 2-0, and the series win, four points to two.

Friday night, Lions goaltender Christian Francis was unbeatable as the Lions went to work on the win.

It was late in the first period that Drew Minish goal got it rolling, unassisted.

From then on, the hometown fans were on the edge of their seats as the Lions worked to hold onto their slim advantage and try to add to it.

That didn’t happen until the end of the game when Matthew Woolsey shot the puck in the empty Braves net for the 2-0 win.

Assisting on the Woolsey goal were Josh Perry and Vincent Baron-Renaud.

In the series opener in Morrisburg on February 19, the Lions were forced to come from behind as they worked their way to the 7-3 victory.

The Braves went up 2-0 in the first period on a pair of goals by Owen Bourgeois.

Early into the second period, Riley Black put the Lions on the board with help from Ben Michels and Aaron Smith.

They collected another two goals in the second period while the Braves counted one, to make it 3-3 heading into the third period.

Aaron Smith (assisted by Callahan Bilmer) and Riley Black (assisted by Quinn Bennis and Smith) counted the Lions second period goals.

Then in the third, Francis shut down the Braves shooters while the Lions went to work for four unanswered tallies and the 7-3 win.

Drew Minish led the third period charge with three goals, and Koltin Merkley counted a single.

Riley Black assisted on two of the goals and single helpers were provided by Smith, Quinn Bennis, Elese St. Louis and Michels.

[…]