I’ll take the liberty of starting the topic, since I’ll be actually racing.
Gives me a good chance to share my very professional press release as well.
https://www.facebook.com/KORSASPORT/videos/1657195957989554/
Karting JUGGERNAUT Koyen Returns to Seat
Korsasport Karting Development, one of the country’s leading resources on kart driving and tuning, is pleased to confirm the return of TJ Koyen to national karting competition this weekend at the USPKS event at Road America in the KA100 Senior class.
The 2008 Manufacturers Cup National Champion is excited to get back to top-level competition.
“Yeah I’ve spent most of the last two years binging Dots pretzels with my ass on the couch, but I’m hoping the physical toll of raising a toddler is enough training to keep my head from falling off by Friday afternoon.”
Koyen’s most recent foray into official competition was the 2020 USPKS event at the same circuit, bringing home a 19th place finish and a DNF in the two finals.
“Last time I competed, I was pretty unprepared and the results showed that. It took me a few days to knock the rust off, so the speed wasn’t there until Sunday and then we had engine issues all day and barely completed a session.
This year, my extensive training regimen which consisted of a few practice days in the kart, about 12 total push-ups, and comprehensive testing of new beers should mean I will be fighting fit from the first session. Or at least once I sweat out some of the excess sodium from my body. I really have been eating a lot of these delicious seasoned Dots pretzels.”
In Koyen’s most recent full-time national season in 2018, he picked up back-to-back national wins in USPKS competition at GoPro Motorplex and ended the season as vice-champion in the KA100 Pro class.
“Have you guys tried the other flavors of Dots pretzels? I like Original best but Southwest is good too. The hint of jalapeño is a nice kick. Oh yeah, 2018 was a good year where I think we showed with the right package, I can still pull out the result every now and then. Now, even with the physical strength of a 13 year-old and the lack of proper sleep dulling my mental acuity, I think we can make something happen out there on the track. I just hope this constant stomach ache from eating almost exclusively Dots pretzels doesn’t hinder my performance.”
This event will likely serve as a continuation of the 31 year-old’s ‘soft’ retirement, as TJ and his wife Jacque are expecting their second child in October.
“Even my two year-old likes Dots pretzels, though he mostly just licks the tasty, dusty seasoning off of them and then throws the pretzel under some furniture.
But yeah there’s basically no way I’ll have time to race once this second kid gets here, so hopefully I don’t embarrass myself too badly and damage my two year-old’s opinion of me. I hope his long-term memory isn’t strong enough to hold onto ‘that time dad got his ass kicked by a bunch of 15 year-olds racing his tiny racecar in the woods for a plastic trophy.”
Koyen will be piloting the Korsasport #968 Exprit kart powered by Innovative engines with support from Franklin Motorsports. Long-time friend and fellow national champion Tommy Andersen will be spinning wrenches and yelling at TJ to go faster.
To follow along with the event and keep up with TJ’s fight to try and crack the top 15 or be involved in a incident to at least get on the video feed, you can view live video coverage on KartChaser’s YouTube channel and follow live updates via eKartingNews’ Facebook. Korsasport will also be sharing updates via our social media outlets.
And if Dots pretzels is looking for sponsorship opportunities, please reach out to Korsasport’s PR department at [email protected].
*I don’t have a good pic of my kart or me driving but here is a clip of Fletcher showing my strategy for the opening lap of the final.
Posted by Korsasport Karting Development on Monday, July 4, 2022
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