Jake Hagopian Motorsports

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10/?	Stay tuned we are still planning races for the rest of the season!!!

9/12	5th
8/31	1st
8/30	13th
8/15	DNF
8/9	7th
	More Results

Races	20
Starts	18
WIns	2
Top 3	1
Top 5	3
Top 10	6
DNF	3

Tough luck, but lots of fun...
August 5, 2008 - WRITTEN BY JAKE

Friday afternoon Steve Caunt and Terry Kershaw from Australia flew into Fresno for the weekend. We had a lot of good times together, at the track and away from it. Friday night I drove at Plaza. I qualified 12th out of 26 (11.54). Won my heat from the 2nd starting spot, securing my transfer to the A-Main. The track was fast and wayyyyy at the top. There wasnt much of a cushion, but lots of moisture right

next to the fence all the way around. I started 10th and quickly jumped into 8th behind Kiwi Alexander. We battled for 15 laps, and were never more than one car length from each other. About half way throught the race a mix up out of two put us into the back of KIwi and into a lap car ending our night with a bent up front end. The racing was so fast and so close there was no where to go. It was a disappointing showing for our Aussie friends because we were so fast, and getting ready to move up through the field..

Saturday, we woke up, swapped front ends, and threw Terry's seat in the car. We went down to Lemoore and had a blast. Terry loved having the oppurtunity to drive in the US and he had a great time. I was glad to return the favor that he graciously gave me back in January in the Oval Express Series.

Mark Hagopian, Steve Caunt, Terry Kershaw, Jake Hagopian - copyright Gus Reyes

For the rest of the weekend we gave Steve and Terry the tour of the Valley and had a BBQ for them. We all had a great time and hope we can do it again next year!


Plaza hot laps (Jake) - copyright Gus Reyes		Terry at Lemoore


Friday night tangle - copyright Gus Reyes		AUS #14 - Terry Kershaw

Finally! Win #1
July 19, 2008 - WRITTEN BY JAKE

It took us half of the season to do it but we finally got our first win of '08 at Plaza Park Raceway! It was a crazy night. We qualified 11th or so (maybe worse), had a right front tire go down on us in our heat but managed to get 3rd. Transfering to the main we were slated to start 11th in the 22 car field. On the intial green there was a wreck in the middle of turns one and two that we barely got through (had to bounce off of the wall to get around it all). The wreck took out six cars and moved us all the way to 5th. On the next complete restart there was a red flag, I was running fifth. A judgement call made by the officials DQ'd the top 4 cars for not stopping soon enough when the red came out, and because of that call it put us starting on the front row (like I stated it was a crazy night)...

The race finally got under way with Raio Morgan starting outside pole and our white, #14 Stallard Chassis on pole. We drag raced down the front straightaway into turn one, she went high with me going low. I slid up in front of her out of two and we made hard contact but kept going. From there it was smooth sailing. We led all 30 laps with a few cautions here and there. The car handled great thanks to my dad, Mark Hagopian, and Garrett Ishii. I was able to drive the car around the ruts and up above the cushion, It was great! We ended up winning by almost half a lap...

Our Stallard Chassis was phenomenal once again, our Cycle Tune built Yamaha r6 hauled the mail, and our new ARS shock package on the right rear made the car float through the ruts thanks to Maxwell Industries. Again I can't thank my dad and Garrett Ishii enough for making the car handle so well. Thanks to my family, girlfriend (Raquel), and friends for showing their support last night as well.

Can't forget the sponsors!

Hagopian Engineering, Stallard Chassis, Good Earth Farms, Efird Ag Ent, Visalia Window Co, JH Designs, Clevenger Mercantile, Minturn Nut Co, 281 Graphix, Cap's Coatings, Fire Service Plus, Top Gun Almond, C & F Irrigation, Caruthers Auto Supply, Greg Markarian Ag Ent, West Vic Sheds, Michelle Hagopian, Jim Perez Golf, D & M Mfg Co, Simpson, General Petroleum, Diverse Signs, Cycle Tune, Maxwell Industries...

Mark Hagopian (dad), Jake Hagopian, Martin Hagopian (grandpa)

Raquel (girlfriend) & Jake

Thunder from Downunder
July 14, 2008 - WRITTEN BY JAKE

It's official! The flights are booked and the Australians will be here Friday August 1st! Terry Kershaw and Steve Caunt will be visiting from New South Wales, Australia August 1st - 5th. During the holiday season Steve and his family were kind enough to host us throughout the Oval Express Series and Terry allowed me to race his car a couple nights as well. Now its our turn to hold up our end of the deal and show them the Valley. Since I drove Terry's car, I am allowing Terry to drive my car August 2nd at Lemoore Raceway. It should be a fun filled week!

3rd Place Finish at Plaza
June 14, 2008 - WRITTEN BY JAKE

We raced at Plaza Park this last Friday, June 13th. There were 25 cars in the Super 600 class and we finally qualified good. For a while I had fast time (11.43), and then Mitchell Faccinto broke that with an 11.33. By the end of qualifying we were 3rd quick, the best we have qualified at Plaza all year long...

This put us starting 4th in the second of four heats. We ended up 2nd and got out time back to transfer to the main. There was no invert for the top 8 in the main so we started 3rd. The track had a cushion about 4 car lengths from the bottom that got pretty evil towards the end of the race. We ended up finishing where we started which was great, becasue it was our first top 3 finish of the year. The top three were Faccinto (1st), Kiwi (2nd), Haopian (3rd).

Again, thank you to everyone that came out Friday night to support us. There were a lot of JH t-shirts out there which was pretty cool to see! Next race will be July 4th and 5th at Plaza, the Outlaw Nationals!!!

Plaza Park, Race #6
June 10, 2008 - WRITTEN BY JAKE

Friday, June 6th at Plaza Park Raceway was the 6th Points Race of the year. We entered the night 7th in points for the track championship,and around 28 cars were entered in the Super 600 class. We qualified near the rear of the field, and ended up getting a horrrible track. We qualified "20 something" and were going to the semi whether or not a good heat finish came that night...

An exciting 6th place finish at the checkers in the semi-main gave us a lucky birth to the 22 car main event. Starting dead last in the 30 lap main event, I worked the high-side the whole race. There was a cushion right at the fence all the way around and I used it. The race went nearly 20 laps without caution and we passed 12 cars during that caution free run. The car was handling great thanks to my dad (crew chiefand) and we ended up finishing 7th, getting another top 10 finish. Again our '08 Stallard Chassis was great and our Cycle Tune engine hauled the mail. Can't thank both of these companies for such great service and products. We will definitely be winning some races once my qualifying performances improve!

Thanks to our sponsors: Hagopian Engineering, Stallard Chassis, Good Earth Farms, Efird Ag Ent, Visalia Window Co, JH Designs, Clevenger Mercantile, Minturn Nut Co, 281 Graphix, Fire Service Plus, Top Gun Almond, C & F Irrigation, Caruthers Auto Supply, Greg Markarian Ag Ent, West Vic Sheds, Michelle Hagopian, D & M Mfg Co, Simpson, General Petroleum, Diverse Signs, Cycle Tune, Maxwell Industries...

Also, thank you to all of our family and friends who come out each weekend to the races to show their support!!!

Weekend Brings Two Top 10 Finishes
May 18, 2008 - WRITTEN BY JAKE

This past weeked we raced the two day, Pepsi Challenge at Plaza Park Raceway in Visalia, CA. Friday night got off to a bad start with a sub-par qualifying performance; 18th out of 35 cars in attendance. This put us in the B-main again, which we won conviencingly. This put us starting 17th in the 22 car main event. We battled hard the whole race and passed a lot of cars, ending up 9th....

Saturday produced the same qualifying result as the night previous (something I need to get better at). This sent us to the B-main again, starting 4th and winning on a last corner pass around the top. We started 17th again in the 22 car field. My dad, Mark saw a rubber down track coming and unhooked the car for the 30 lap main. This worked out great for us because most of the field was not prepared and we were up to 11th with 12 laps to go when a red flag came out. Everyone was able to work on their cars, adjusting to the rubber down track, making us lose our advantage. We ended up *7th, another top 10 finish...

We were definitely one of the fastest cars in the main event both Friday and Saturday. Our biggest problem is my qualifying performance early on in the night. When I can fix that, we will defintely be contending for wins every weekend...

To see the result break down click here.

Another Top 5....
May 11, 2008 - WRITTEN BY JAKE

Saturday night, May 10th we raced at Lemoore Raceway in the Multi class. There were about 20 cars in the Multi class, and again we qualified horrible: 12th. This put us starting 6th in the second heat of the night, and we came out with a 5th place finish in the ten lap heat race.

As the night went on the track got slicker and slicker. We were the last class to run, and we started 12th, sixth row outside of the 30 lap main event. We made some major set-up changes to our '08 Stallard Chassis that turned out to be the right combination for the shiny, slick track. As the race wore on, the track began to build heat a made for some good racing action. With 10 laps to go there was a yellow and we were running about 6th or 7th. However, there were about 3 to 4 lap cars in between us and the top 5. With seven to go I had got through the lap traffic and caught fifth and sixth place. We battled for a few laps and with two to go we passed fifth and sixth in turns three and four. From there, 3rd place was about a straight-away ahead and a top three finish wasn't going to be possible...

It was another good cap to frustrating night. We will be at Plaza Park Raceway, in Visalia, CA next Friday and Saturday for the two day Pepsi Challenge.

There will be a video on YouTube within the coming days of Saturday's main event....

Click here to see the results page for a breakdown of the nights starts and finisihes....

First Top 5 Finish of '08
May 4, 2008 - WRITTEN BY JAKE

This past Friday was the third race of the year at Plaza Park Raceway in Visalia, CA. What started off as a very ruff night, finished with a great result. For the past few weekends we have been plagued with fuel injection problems and they were still present when we began racing on Friday night. Over 35 cars were signed in, and we qualified 21st, still fighting fuel problems...

We started 6th in the fourth heat race, and finsihed 5th. This put me in the B-Main, starting outside the front row.We finally figured out our injection woes and won the semi, transfering to the Main.

I started 18th, in the 22 car field. The car handled great right from the start. The track was slick and shiny from the berm to the top, but there was a nice cushion all the way around the top. I worked my way through the field, and was running 10th with 19 laps to go in the 30 lap main when a red flag came out. My dad Mark, and our help for the night Garrett Ishii made some quick changes on the red to tighten me up. For the remainder of the race I slowly worked my way to the top 5 and was running fourth with 5 laps to go. I tried to make a last corner slide job on 3rd place coming to the checkers but couldn't make it work...

It turned out to be a great finish to a very frustrating night. This was the first night we actually got the car on its feet and rolling. Our new 2008 Stallard handles great, and definitely one of the best that Stallard Chassis has ever built...

Look for the video of the main event from Friday night on YouTube within the next couple days!!!

Click here to see results....