Blok excited for the 2022 racing season
After
a 2 year hiatus as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic,
Beachburg's Nathan Blok will be back behind the wheel of a race car
again for 2022. The 27 year old has just signed for a full season in
the production class of the Super Production Challenge with the newly
formed Ottawa based Apex V2R racing team.
Driving
along side Suellio Almeida, Blok hopes to lead the team to a championship on their debut, and a
4th championship for himself personally.
"It's
very exciting to be back behind the wheel again, it's been a very
long time out of the car. But, I haven't been sitting idly for 3
years. I've been doing coaching and lots of sim racing during the
pandemic to keep my skills sharp.”
"I'm
competing in SPC for one reason; I want another championship to my
record. I'm not here for fun or to play games.
It
will be my first full season campaign in 10 years, and 6 years since
I won a championship. I have only competed in 4 full seasons since
my career began at age 15, and I have won championships in 3 of
them.”
“I have to thank all of my sponsors and partners (Woodys Motor Vehicle, ENOES, H&H Construction, Belder Tools, ARCO, TD Products, LAD’s Auto Recyclers and Sunsigns) for standing by my side & supporting me throughout the years. Now I just have to go and make it happen for all of them as well."
Nathan's first race in the SPC championship will take place at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park at the Victoria Day Speedfest on May 20-22.
1st and 2nd place finishes for Blok
RACE 1: The 40 minute Race 1 started late afternoon and ran under sunny conditions. At the drop of the green Blok #33 had an excellent start positioning his car on the inside of corner one. Holding the inside and going 3 abreast through corner one, Blok persevered and took over the 1st place position.
RACE 2: Mid afternoon on Saturday, the CTCC cars returned to the track for the second 40 minute of the weekend. The race saw Blok starting in 2nd, just missing the pole position by .038 seconds, based on the fastest lap from Race 1 . Similar to Race 1, at the start Blok passed Staikos #6 for the lead through corner 1, with Tom Kwok #55 pushing forward into 1st place in corner 3. As if it was deja vu, Blok again took back the lead going down the Andretti straight and then started to pull away.
The perfect weekend - Three 1st place finishes
RACE 1: The 25 minute Race 1 ran under sunny conditions. At the drop of the green Blok still getting familiar with the car added too much power creating wheel spin and allowing Fletcher to edge past him going into corner 1. Blok stayed right on his bumper through to the hairpin at Moss corner, until Fletcher took advantage of his 300+HP difference and pulled away on him down the straight stretch.
RACE 2: Early Sunday morning the GT Sprint/Challenge cars returned to a green track for Race 2 after a steady rain the night before. The race saw Blok starting on pole as the starting grid was based on Race 1 results. This time when the green flag flew, Blok was ready and easily took the lead opening up a gap by the hairpin at Corner 5. However by the end of the Andretti straight going into Corner 8 #111 Terry Fletcher and #601 Leigh Pettipas in his T1 800 HP Corvette were on Blok's bumper.
RACE 3: So with no power steering, Blok took up his pole position behind the pace car for the 20 minute race. The end of Lap 2 saw #125 Blok pulling away from top three T1 cars who were sporting a 300 HP plus advantage; #601 Leigh Pettipas, #01 Bart Slot and #111 Terry Fletcher.
By Lap 4 Fletcher had moved from 4th up to 2nd place and by Lap 7 had gained enough on Blok to make a pass on the inside of Corner 8 taking the lead from Blok. On Lap 8 Corner 5 saw Blok attempting to re-take the lead first on the outside of 5a and then on the inside of 5b but was unable to make it stick.
Fletcher and Blok sped bumper to bumper past the start/finish line overtaking a lap car on Corner 2. Blok moved to the inside of Corner 3 as Fletcher went wide and ran off the track. Making his way back on to the track Fletcher takes up the chase after Blok but unfortunately by Corner 8 of Lap 10 he went off the track again, this time hitting the wall and ending his race.
Blok continued on wrestling with the power steering until Lap 15 when he took the checkered flag 17.9 seconds ahead of 2nd place overall and 54 seconds ahead in class for his 3rd win of the weekend.
This made for a perfect weekend: 3 pole positions, 3 first place finishes and fastest lap of the weekend!
“I've driven many challenging races in my career, but Sunday's finale was easily the most physically challenging I have ever done. Terry (Fletcher) and I raced each other very hard and very clean all weekend and having the pressure behind me for the entire last race made my difficult task harder than it already was. I owe a big thanks to Blaise Csida and the BC Race Cars team. They gave me an excellent handling car, worked to fix the power steering pump right up until that last possible moment. I owe a big thank you to my sponsors who stepped at the last moment to ensure a successful weekend: Woodys MVR, Certified Labs, SunSign Graphics, Belder Tool, H&H Construction, McMillans Transmission, TD Products and auctionacar.ca.
Double Podium finish at CMP
Sunday came again with very humid weather and rain threatening on the horizon. With no new slick tires for Sunday available in Blok's budget, the best he could do was to qualify 7th out of 8th in class and 12th out of 18 overall. As luck would have it, one of Blok's local sponsor's “Woody's Motor Vehicle Repair” was in attendance and wanting Blok to have a fighting chance for the final race purchased him a new set of tires. This put Blok on a level playing field going into the final race on the 5.05 km long track.
Blok now set his sights on Wojceichowski, and by Corner 11 of Lap 5 makes the pass for the lead. Once Blok had secured a comforable lead he settled in to a rhythm for the rest of the race and brought home the 1st place trophy and the lead in the CTCC series.
To have yet another good weekend at home and to bring home a debut win and the lead in the championship for the team was a very fulfilling and successful accomplishment. There was a lot of drama in the background and even getting to race this weekend was a special opportunity and to come home with a 1st and 2nd place just makes everything that happened leading up to this event feel worthwhile.
A huge thanks to all my sponsors and everyone who put their support behind me and believed in me. I was honoured to do my job and deliver everyone the results that they wanted. “
Podium finish for Blok in CTCC Series
Top 5 Finish in IMSA Prototype Lites Debut
Blok geared up for IMSA Prototype Lites Season
Blok crowned 2015 F2000 Canada Champion
Blok solidifies Championship lead at Bay of Quinte
Bay of Quinte Grand Prix
Blok secures 2nd Victory in F2000 Championship
Blok started from pole position with Chase Pelletier challenging him for the lead going side-by-side into the first corner. As the two Britian West Motorsport team mates came out of corner 2 Blok was in front. Pelletier stayed right behind Blok in the early part of the race, but Blok gradually started to increase the gap When the checkered flag flew Blok had won the race with a 9.6 second lead. Shortly after, the heavens opened up and the torrential rain started causing the rest of the race day to end early.
Blok Victorious in First F2000 Canada Race
Taking place at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on May 2 & 3, 2015, this is the first time Blok has raced at this track near Toronto ON. He has only had one day of testing since he last sat in a USF2000 race car in May 2014 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and in July at the Toronto Indy where he finished 7th out of 24 drivers.
Blok started from his pole position with Chase Pelletier and Zach Robichon in hot pursuit. The three leaders were nose-to-tail by the end of the first lap with the pressure being applied to Blok. This trio battled amongst themselves with Pelletier eventually getting by for the lead.
Robichon took the advantage went to the inside of Corner 1 with Pelletier following, both having more momentum, dropping Blok down to 3rd place. The lead cars ran nose to tail for the rest of the race and there were no more laps left for Blok to recover the lead. All 3 cars crossed the finish line together, with only 0.5 seconds between 1st and 3rd place. Pelletier had fastest lap of the race with 1:21.246 with Blok clocking a 1:21.276 and Robichon a 1:21.382
Blok attends "Canada Day in the Bay"
taking part in the “Canada Day in the Bay” celebration at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 406.
2015 F2000 Championship
Garrison Petawawa Family Day and Fall Family
Top 10 at Toronto Indy
This was Blok’s first opportunity to race in Toronto and his second weekend driving in the very competitive USF2000 Series where the top 18 drivers in the 23-car field were separated by less than 2 seconds. Blok did manage to get one day of testing with his John Cummiskey Team at Toronto Motorsport Park in Cayuga ON prior to the Toronto Indy event. The weekend would consist of Rounds 8 and 9 of the 2014 USF2000 season.
Friday’s schedule brought two practice sessions and the qualifying heat. For the first practice, Blok familiarized himself to the challenging 1.755-Mile, 11-turn street circuit that is lined with unforgiving concrete walls. In the second practice, Blok increased his speed and was timed at just 1.3 seconds off the pace of the leader, placing him at 14th overall. The qualifying session took place late in the day and Blok was in the top 10 until the last 4-5 laps when the car developed an electrical problem. Although Blok improved his time by 0.7 of a second from practice, he ended up qualifying 15th on the grid for Saturday’s scheduled race.
Mother Nature became involved on Saturday bringing torrential rain to the city and forcing the cancellation of Saturday’s schedule for the Indy cars and the USF2000 Series. Now Blok faced the ordeal of racing in two final heats in one day on a track washed clean of all rubber laid down on Friday.
Sunday dawn bright and dry and the USF2000 took to the track for the Round 9 final just after noon. Qualifying positions were based on the 2nd fastest time from qualifying, putting Nathan Blok 16th on the grid. At the drop of the green flag, Blok moved to the outside and passed 3 cars by Corner 1 moving him to 13th position.
There was contact in corner 1 between No. 96 and 24, taking them out of the race and moving Blok into 11th place. Before the full course caution came out, Blok passed another car at the end of the straight to bring him to 10th place.
For the next 10 laps it was a steady battle for Blok as he would gain a position, then lose a position . Not giving up at the mid-point of the race, Blok took advantage of a 3-car incident on Lap 16 and jumped up the leaderboard to 7th place. After two more laps under caution, Blok made several passing attempts but was unable to make them stick during the final two laps. The checkered flag dropped with Blok in 7th place, his first top 10 finish in USF2000 and the best result ever for the John Cummiskey Racing Team.
“I reviewed the Race #1 video and data, and went out on the track for Race # 2 on a mission,” laughed Blok. “I made a huge advancement on corner 1 and by the end of lap 1 I had moved up 6 positions. My car developed under-steer about 1/2 way through the race, and I made a sway bar change, but it was too little, too late. A few more laps and a top 5 finish would have been in the cards.”
“I would like to thank all my sponsors for giving me the opportunity to participate this weekend.
And I would like to thank the team for overcoming some technical issues this weekend and providing me with an awesome car. I'm proud to be part of John Cummiskey Racing's first top 10 finish and am looking forward to a full season next year.”
USF2000 debute with John Cummiskey Racing at Indianapolis
Release prepared by Jim Leggett (jleggett@sympatico.ca)
2nd F1600 Championship for Blok
Cogeco TV Documentary - "The Need for Speed - The Nathan Blok Story"
Authorization for use granted January 2012