In the midst of the 2011 holiday season, Raquel Martinez definitely made some noise in her Senior WKA Manufacturer’s Cup debut. After coming out of a successful Junior 2011 season as well as competing impressively in a handful of European KF2 events, and having just completed running in the ultra-competitive KF2 category just weeks before at the 2011 SKUSA Supernations—she was more than ready to make her presence known amongst WKA’s Senior alumns in Daytona.

Martinez definitely had her plate full in the season opener by competing in all three TAG categories as well as both Komet line-ups. On day one of competition Raquel was set to race in three classes, first up was TAG 1 where Raquel qualified in the 23^rd position. She decided to use the same package for Leopard and qualified with a more ideal 12^th place position. Last up was Komet Heavy and the California native continued her pattern of progress throughout the day, putting her kart in 7^th. Because of scheduling issues, day two, the racers would go straight into the final. In TAG 1’s final Martinez was able to fight through 6 positions to 17^th, but unfortunately crossed the scales a pound light. Next up in Leopard she was involved in a first turn incident and fell nearly to last position in the 37 kart field. The number 66 driver worked her way back up to 19^th while setting the second fastest lap of the race being beaten out by seasoned TopKart teammate Chris Wehrheim. Major changes were made before the Komet final, which proved successful because Martinez finished 4^th while turning the same quick times as the leaders.

The second day of competition would have a less hectic schedule with Martinez only racing in TAG 2 and Komet Heavy. TAG 2 proved to be difficult as she qualified in 17^th and finished 18^th in the prefinal. In the TAG 2 final, Martinez fell to another upset, this time getting tangled up in a mid-pack incident; however the driver managed to fight her way back up through the dense field, clocking in lap times consistent with those in the top 5, finishing 27^th. In Komet Lite, Martinez was determined to improve her results and the new Senior driver qualified in 4^th position and finished 3^rd in the prefinal—setting fastest race time as well. The Top Kart driver took the early lead in the final and led a majority of the race laps, and in one of the most exciting races of the weekend, Martinez clinched 3^rd for her second podium of the weekend.

“This was an up and down weekend for the team, but we had the speed all weekend which is important,” commented Martinez. “The Top Karts and P1 Engines were running strong all weekend. We will be testing before the second round, and I plan to challenge for podiums and wins in every class.”

Raquel’s main focus for 2012 will the WKA Manufacturer’s Cup, but she will also run in select races in California and Europe. To learn more about Raquel please visit www.raquelmartinez.com.  Raquel would also like to thank her sponsors King Taco, Pepsi, P1 Engines, Grand Products, Top Kart, RLV, Bridgestone, DWT, MLP Imaging, Troy Lee Designs, Bell Helmets, Graphix Plus and PKS Kart Supplies.