K&N’s Jeremy Templeman Wins the 2013 SCFTA Open Novice Championship
- 16 Dec 2013
"You're right to call it surviving the Novice class. It can be a little sketchy, with a lot of guys, most with little experience, trying to go fast and fight for a position. I went down hard in round 9 and had to have my wounds attended to by the EMT," Templeman affirmed. "I won the championship by being consistent and attending all but one race. I didn't dominate the class per se. I made the podium four times with one win, one second, and two third place finishes. It's definitely a good feeling to have secured the championship in my first year of racing flat track. However, I'm a humble person and I realize that I got lucky. I've got my work cut out for me in 2014."
In winning the Open Novice title Templeman raced 11 out of the 12 races of the SCFTA 2013 season. He only missed the first race because "I hadn't gotten the bike ready yet," he said. Our first story with Templeman came after he reached the podium for the first time with a solid 3rd place in round 4 back in June. After that he seemed to get the hang of it in a big way, and he in fact convincingly won the round 8 main event with a fastest lap time of 16.23 seconds.
"I got another 3rd place in round 9, even after crashing," he adds. "I was running in second and made an attempt at first. But I lost momentum avoiding contact, and that let third place come around me." "2014 is going to be interesting," Templeman continues. "To thwart novice sand baggers (50+ novice was full of sand baggers turning faster laps than 50+ amateur) the track owners are bumping the top 3 of each novice class up to amateur. So it looks like I'll be racing the Open Amateur class next year. I'm going to freshen up the top end on my bike. Make a few improvements. But mainly I need to improve my riding. I think racing with faster guys will result me in riding faster. But it'll probably take a few races before I start seeing progress."
When we last spoke, Templeman's oldest son, Zack, had just started his motorsport bonding sessions with dad, racing the 50cc beginner class on his CRF50F (with training wheels). "Zach definitely enjoyed his season of racing," said dad. "I didn't take him to the events during the summer though. In June I noticed that he lost motivation to gear up and get on the bike when it was warm. So he didn't race during July or August. He loves racing though. He's only three-and-a-half years old, so the concept of winning is apparently still beyond him. Even when he finishes last he comes off the track pumped up on his win. This is a good attitude and I'm glad that he's just there having fun. I see some track dad's, even in Zach's class, that take their kids' racing much too serious." Templeman insists he doesn't want to be that dad. He even refuses to take his own racing too seriously. "That spoils the fun," he says. "My goal for Zach next year is to have him off of the training wheels. My younger son Jacob is a few months shy of being two-years-old. I can see that he wants to race. Possibly even more than Zach does. Once he's big enough to touch the pegs and handlebars at the same time he'll be racing." "I definitely want to thank K&N for their support all season. I couldn't have raced without it, or the excellent products." |
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| Related K&N News Articles about Jeremy Templeman & Perris Raceway: K&N's Jeremy Templeman Notches First Podium Finish at Perris Raceway Flat Track Round 4; Acton Pre-teen Takes Podium at the Elite Kart Race for TORC Series at Perris Raceway |
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