09/05/11 - 8th Place at Seymour’s Summer Holiday Classic!
It was another up and down weekend for us (or down and up, however you look at it) this holiday weekend on the racetrack. With Friday night’s action at Luxemburg Speedway canceled due to rain showers, our plans changed and we headed up to Thunderhill Raceway on Saturday night.
I started outside pole for my heat race, and quickly took the lead over Keith Peterson on lap 1. The track was very heavy with the on and off rain showers that persisted throughout the early evening hours falling on the surface. We set the car up to dig as much into the track as it could, and it was paying off. I bounced through the ruts in turns 3 & 4 and lost some of my lead over Brad Lautenbach, and he was able to reel me in on lap 6. I went on to finish 2nd, giving me a 2nd row starting spot in the feature.
When the green flag dropped for our feature, I got the short end of the stick, as the outside polesitter did not get on the gas in the early going. I tried to make the pass to his outside, but couldn’t make the move quickly enough and watched 6 cars go past to my inside. By the time I actually got back into the racing groove, it would have taken a valiant effort to get back into the top 5, putting a lot of abuse on my equipment. I chose to head to the pits about 5 laps in, which might have saved me from being involved in a melee about 3 laps after I pulled in.
Mother Nature didn’t want to play nice on Sunday afternoon as well, as we made the trip to Seymour Speedway for the 3rd time this season. The show was paying extra money, and brought in a boatload of cars (158 at final count). We waited out the rain showers, and had to pack the racing surface back in for about an hour. The end result was a very fast track for all the heat races, and that carried into the features as well.
I drew a 12 out of the bucket, putting me on the pole for the 3rd heat race of 4. I got off to a shaky start, as I started too low in turn 4 in a patch of clay that was still slimy. I recovered from that early mishap to finish 3rd, transferring me to the feature.
My redraw chip put me on the outside pole for the feature, and it took us three tries to get a lap in. All three starts I took the lead on the outside groove, and pulled out to a nice lead in the early going. A caution bunched up the field, and I lost the lead on lap 9 to Eric Mahlik. I kept my car near the top groove throughout the race, but the track started to slick up just enough to make my car a little bit loose through the corners. One more restart put me on the inside, and I was able to secure an 8th place finish, which is my highest feature finish at the track.
We will be taking the upcoming weekend off from racing, and returning to action on September 16th & 17th for Luxemburg’s Fall Classic special. After that, we will finish out the 2011 season at Seymour on October 1st.
08/28/11 - Feature Bid Comes Up Short at Luxemburg
This past Friday night I was on my own at Luxemburg Speedway for the 2nd to last points night of the season. I started my heat race on the outside pole, and clearly the inside line was the place to be. The hotlaps from the late models had packed in a nice groove on the inside, making it very fast. I tried to get around race leader Chris Christensen, but was unable to find a way around him in the early going. A caution flag flew, and I was stuck on the outside once again, and fell back to a 6th place finish.
The top 3 in the semi-feature would make the show, and unfortunately my race featured 3 feature winners (Eric Arneson, Tyler Hackett and Eric Mahlik) making it that much more difficult to find my way to the front. I could tell I was lacking a little bit of bite, as my rear tires are probably past due for a change. I came away with a 6th place finish, putting an early end to my night.
Though I did not make the feature, it was another night of being able to load the car on the trailer without having to fix broken parts during the upcoming week. We will be back at Luxemburg next Friday night for the final points night of the season, and then our plans are to head out to Seymour Speedway on Sunday night for their final leg of the Summer Holiday Classic.
08/21/11 - 2 Heat Race Wins in a Row / 15th at Luxemburg & 9th at Thunderhill
This past weekend of racing featured both the highs and lows of racing once again. On Friday night at Luxemburg Speedway, I started on the inside of row 2 for my heat race, but was moved up to the front row after polesitter Jason Cornelius had lost a spring. On the restart, I was able to clear Jessi Ness into turn 1, and then set my sights on the high side of the track as I did the week prior.
I started to pull away, but a caution bunched the field back up. Jesse Brey tried to get by me on the inside, but my momentum on top was too much, and I went on to victory for the 2nd week in a row.
I would start the feature on the outside pole, and from the drop of the green I knew I was in trouble. My tires started to spin and I was battling a car that was tight on entry and loose on the throttle. I was hanging on as long as I could to a top 10 spot, but got caught in the middle and fell back to a 15th place finish. We can attribute that to a setup adjustment that was not successful.
On Saturday night we decided to head up to Thunderhill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay. Since I haven’t been there in a few weeks, I had to start at the rear of the field for the heat race. The track was sloppy and had a lot of bite, making it difficult to make a pass. I moved up 2 spots to finish 8th.
I would start 15th of 17 on the grid for the feature, and had a car that was working very well on the bottom. With the track conditions the way they were, it was hard to make a move because it was hard to hold a line around the track from the middle to the top of the track. I would have been happy to finish without incident, but Steve Georgenson spun in turn 2 and I smashed the right front of my car into him. He stayed in the throttle and jumped over my tire onto the side of my hood.
Luckily the caution flag flew, and I was able to go down pit lane to get a new wheel on the right front. With the impact, my car was massively toed out, making corner entry a real difficulty. I was able to get by a few cars after returning to the track, coming home with a 9th place finish on the night.
Next week we’ll be back at Luxemburg Speedway, and as it stands right now that will be our only night of racing next weekend.
In other news, my photo was selected to be in the 2012 product catalogs for QA1 Motorsports! I had received word on Monday that my photo was picked, and so were the photos of fellow WI drivers Nate Michonski and Kurt Moeller. Thank you to all who voted!
