WEEK 10-3rd

Week 10 took place on the 5/8's track where speeds are high and getting through the turn fast is key to straightaway speed more than ever. The crate motor cannot make up the difference for an ill handling car.

Practice.
We had a decent practice. The car was pretty stout all day, especially getting into the corner. I could hold the thing wide open for a long time. We made some changes to help the car get through the center and off the corner.

Qualify.
We had a marginal qualifying effort, 4th. I thought we'd be better, but the balance wasn't quite right and it got loose off of turn 2. Although we were on .2 seconds off fast time we knew we had to work on it a little more.

Trophy dash.
Started on the pole, but discovered a loose plug wire the moment the green flag dropped. Bummer. We were 3rd. My fault. The engine builder stopped by the pits and I wanted him to check the plug to make sure we were tuned well. It didn't go back together right.

Main.
Started on the pole again, but car was tight in turn 1 and surrendered the lead. Falling to second I realized I hadn't heard from my spotter about 3 laps in, which is abnormal. Well, his radio failed. I am rolling in 2nd without mirrors (they slow me down) and I have no
spotter. I surrendered 3rd.

We settled into 3rd, a crew member on the infield took over spotting, and the race sorted out.

A caution came out on lap 12. We thought we had spotter fixed, but not quite. On the restart I got hosed. One car made it three wide in turn one and I was in the middle. Without a spotter I was bouncing off cars; 11, 94, and 16. By the end of turn 1 and 2 I was sixth. Yeah.

It was time to put my head down and battle. I was a little aggresive moving to the front because the leaders got a big jump. I didn't have time to dilly dally in 6th. My car was not hurt and I needed to wheel it forward.

I picked off 5th and then 4th and then 3rd. I caught 2nd who was having the run of her year. Natalie was fast and although I caught her she was strong where I was strong. It took me too long to exploit her cars weakness because I was really tight from center off.

With 4 laps to go I got to her inside going into turn one, but couldn't close the deal. She was bad fast and finished 2nd, I was 3rd.

I was especially pleased with the team performance, both cars in the top three is a first for us.

I was super pleased with Natalie. She drove well and proved she can run up front. She will be strong the rest of the year provided she keeps her car healthy. Very good job Natalie.

My crew is great and made some sacrifices to get up front this weekend. We've got some work to do in the shop to catch the 00 car of Naima Lang, but we are up to the task.

Next race is July 25th. 125 laps for us on the big track. I also have the opportunity to run 175 laps with the ASA Tour. If there were a sponsor out there interested in climbing on board for this race weekend we could race 300 laps together. Leave me a comment on here if
your interested.

Sent from my iPhone