Cordeiro report; Season 3 - Susperstitions are just that! Third time wasn't a charm.

The past two seasons of Jetta TDI Cup have resulted in a rained-out weekend for New Jersey Motorsport Park. They had also concluded with somehow-someway, my car being put into the wall. We as racers have our own sort-of "racing religion". No green paint on cars, don't bring peanuts to the track, stepping on spiders makes it rain. These superstitions are interesting, how did they come to be? Third times a charm right? Well thankfully not! Otherwise I would have smoked the wall, again. That being said, I wouldn't have minded the rain, these Jetta's handle amazingly well in the rain and are very fun to pilot. Perhaps I should have stepped on a spider?

I felt pressured, pressured to stay off the wall. I wanted to break the "curse". Third times the charm, you know? I kept myself reserved. I found myself backpedaling. I knew that I was going slow in my sweet spot, but I was haunted by memories. I qualified 15th. About one second off pole position. Could have been worse, tight field. It was a decent comprimise. How so? I kept my mental stability in check, didn't hit the wall and improved myself from last year. Yeah, I had more in me this year but I didn't go balls to the wall in fear of it becoming more than a pun.

I took my third NJMP weekend in strides. In fact, we all did. We had a surprise fitness test. Each of us had to jog about four and a half miles and when we got back to the track we did about 45 minutes of strength and cardio training. Volkswagen is big on proper health and nutrition. This year, they have us on personalized physical training and nutritional schedules setup by Athletes Performance.

Anyhow,about the race. I was punked at the start. Everyone funneled into the inside lane going into turn one. Couldn't make a safe move. It was a very dicey first lap. A lot of shoving around and wild moves took place throughout the race. I had a near run in with a new guy, he had forced me off the track while I was making a pass. I overtook him on the outside of the corner, on the grass with nowhere else to go. He managed to fold in my mirror, it was that close. The pass stuck, great for TV. I brought my ViON, TrackMart, LevelTronic, Can-Alignment Motorsports, YNotSportShots, Inside Track News, Keizer Racing Wheels, and Malone Tuning Volkswagen - Jetta TDI to a 9th place finish. I must thank my supporters for their enormous help and encouragement throughout the season.