Busy weekend for Ali Jackson

This past few days have been busy for Northern Irishman Ali Jackson. After a 5 hour drive to Virginia from his Huntersville, NC base he got to know the tight confines of Langley Motor Speedway by driving one of CCR's K&N Pro Series test cars, then drove back to his base where he was for 24 hours before leaving on a 4 hour trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to take on his first Late Model encounter at the 0.538 mile Myrtle Beach Speedway.

The 22 year old will race at Langley this weekend, thus making his K&N "East" Series debut after starting his first K&N "west" division race 3 weeks ago in Las Vegas. Langley is a totally different animal however. The track is small and has a low grip factor, plus the East series has a number of development teams such as those ownned by Michael Waltrip, Joe Gibbs and other well established teams so the level of competition is stiff.

By gaining experience in the Late Model race Ali learned another type of NASCAR discipline and a new car to himself. The Late Model event was a test for Ali rather than a race. He has 20 minutes on track to learn the car and a new track, and that is really no time at all. However he persevered and rounded out the race in 18th place. Myrtle is synonomous for having tough grids of cars that race there week in, week out with guys that knwo the place and all of it's quirks, so in essence Ali put in a good effort.

He has time back at the race shop now to get settled into his new Penske built K&N Pro Series Dodge in readiness for this weekend's K&N encounter.

Posted now on our home page are video highlights of the K&N and Late Model tests.