Homer Glen, Ill. – The first race weekend of the racing season is a lot like the first day of school, a time to shake off the rust from the winter and get back into the racing routine.
Of course, there are always a lot of “new kids”, and Colin Kaminsky might have been the “newest kid” in the paddock. The driver of the Kaminsky Racing No. 27 Slick Locks car had only spent two days in a Tatuus USF-17 car prior to heading to St. Pete for the first two rounds of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, but by the end of the weekend had proved he could fit in nicely.
After contact with the wall that damaged the left rear suspension in the first round of qualifying Friday morning, Kaminsky showed rapid improvement through the rest of the weekend, and posted race finishes of P16 and P14, respectively.
Kaminsky had only been in the car for 111 laps at the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires Chris Griffis test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway back in October and had no other time in the car over the winter, instead attending Providence Catholic High School and playing goalie on the school’s hockey team. With that in mind, expectations were set at a minimum: get laps and gain experience.
“We knew going into the weekend that there was going to be a bit of a learning curve, but I thought Colin handled himself nicely,” owner Bob Kaminsky said. “With no time in the car since last October, the way Colin got faster during the weekend and learned as much as he did is really impressive.”
Kaminsky started 19th in the first race and moved up three spots through attrition and had completed 24 laps before the end of the 30-minute timed race, turning a quick lap of 1 minute, 16.1296 seconds around St. Pete’s 1.8-mile, 14-turn course.
In Race 2, Kaminsky completed all 21 laps before the checkered flag fell and had a best lap of 1:16.6327. On a restart mid-race, Kaminsky trailed Chandler Horton and Ricky Donison down the front straight, and dove underneath both into the first turn to get past Donison and pick up a position.
“The two guys in front of me went into the corner really hard, so I knew they were going to go wide,” Kaminsky said. “I just dove underneath them and was able to make the pass.”
“I had a great weekend and learned a lot. I want to thank John Cummiskey Racing for preparing my car, my crew chief Mitch Davis, and my engineer Chris Weyer, who gave me tons of information that helped me get comfortable in the car. And of course I want to thank Kaminsky Racing and Slick Locks for their support.”
Kaminsky Racing looks to be back on track April 24-26 at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama for Rounds 3-4 of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda.