Well, I didn't have the luck I had hoped to have this year. In making my first qualifying attempt, I hit the wall in turns 1 and 2 at around 109mph. Ouch! I walked away and it didn't hurt the sled to bad. After checking things over, I went back out and set the 5th fastest time of qualifying. We ran the new IQ race sled in the race, but again, fate was not on our side. We had a stud go through the heat exchanger and we cooked the motor. Unfortunately, that ended our day of racing. I guess we can now only hope that next year will be better.

Jim Kirts of Bad Frog Racing is still waiting his chance to make a run at the pole for the 40th Annual running of the Soo I-500. Jim has planned attempts for both Tuesday and Wednesday only to be foiled by Mother Nature. Tuesday brought pouring rains in the Soo and Wednesday was a Blizzard which forced the cancelation of qualifying on both days. Jim will again hope to make his run on Thursday. Bill Cryderman, the Bad Frog Crew Chief, says Jim and the sled are ready and very capable of setting on the pole, if not setting a new track record. Jim seems to be as focused as he can be and is ready to make his run. The track took a beating the last couple of days, but Jim and his teammates have helped the Soo crew to whip it back into shape.Good luck to Jim and the Bad Frog Team!

Lincoln Race 

In the first MIRA event of the season, Jim Kirts, Bad Frog racing owner and lead driver, had a pretty eventful day. Jim started off the day well, had a few rough spots in the middle and ended up the day on a good note. In the Pro Super Stock class, Jim finished 3rd in the first heat race. In the second heat race, Jim was battling for the lead and took a pretty good tumble down the back stretch. The sled was ok to go on racing the rest of the day and Jim only suffered a few bumps and bruises. Jim went on to finish 6th in the final. In the Pro Stock class, Jim finished 3rd in both heat races but could only pull out a 5th place finish in the final. In the Pro open class, Jim and his "old faithful" sled showed their stuff. Jim took 3rd in the heat race and then in the final, came from nearly last place passing all but 1 sled to finish 2nd place. The next race is the Soo I-500 where they will start qualifying on Monday. Jim has high hopes of setting his sled on the pole the first day. Good luck Jim!