There were a lot of new factors for 16-year-old Jade Avedisian to juggle before she began her full-time campaign with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series in early March.
She was still entertaining press requests from her wildly prosperous trip to the Chili Bowl Nationals, working to lock down her race schedule for the year and transitioning to the renowned Keith Kunz Motorsports driver roster for dirt-track endeavors.
With more eyes on her than ever before, Avedisian wasn’t exempt from feeling pressure to perform once the 35-race midget season reared its head. Luckily, it didn’t take long for the California native to find success behind the wheel of her shiny No. 71 KKM ride. It took two races, to be exact.
On March 11, during the season-opening weekend at the Southern Illinois Center, Avedisian scored her third career Xtreme Outlaw victory on the second night of competition — notching her first win with KKM.
“It kind of set the bar of what we’re capable to do this year,” Avedisian said. “We’re capable to get a few wins, as long as I do my job, and run for a championship as well.”
With the pair of Illinois races under her belt, Avedisian already has two items on her to-do list, as far as improvements go. The first is overall race craft — which, no doubt, will come with more time on the track — while the second is refining the way she approaches the opening laps of races.
“My opening laps have never been fantastic,” Avedisian said with a laugh. Cleaning up mistakes, defending track position and making quick passes will be keys to improvement.
Despite the recognition of her weaknesses, the young talent also possesses a sense of conviction that there are more wins coming down the line with KKM.
Her comfortability with the team has grown exponentially since signing with it post-Chili Bowl — a fact that became painfully obvious to the remainder of the Xtreme Outlaw field a month ago.
Due to her fourth-place finish and win in two races at the Southern Illinois Center, Avedisian is poised as the championship leader as the series heads to Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Missouri this weekend. She leads by 30 points over Kyle Jones, also marking the first time in the history of midget racing that a woman has led the standings on a national tour.
Despite these accomplishments, the 16-year-old is down to business as usual, laser-focused on the task at hand. Her ultimate goal involves owning the points lead at season’s end.
“I think consistency wins championships,” Avedisian said. “Getting back out there, even if we run 12th or something, it’s better than DNF-ing. It’s a long season and there’s lots of learning to do.”
Last year, she finished 14th and 15th during the series stop at Federated Auto Parts Raceway, wheeling the No. 84 midget for Chad Boat Industries. As she rolls back to the track with KKM, Avedisian has higher expectations for herself.
“I think I’m so much better of a driver than I was last year,” Avedisian said. “Switching to a new team — they shine almost every weekend, basically — but they really shine at rough tracks. Like I said, as long as I do my job, we should have a chance to win every single race.”