July 5th, Angola Speedway-WOMS
Results
Angola Speedway, Fremont, IN (3/8 mile paved)
Qualified: 5th, 14.52 sec
Heat: Started-4th, Finished-3rd
Feature: Started-4th, Finished-8th
Well, our first racing week-end of the season is now in the books, and everything went pretty
smoothly! Sure there were little mistakes made here and there. Like the driver forgetting to turn the
fuel on before the 2nd hot laps session or forgetting to take some measurements after coming in. Either
way, we had fun, brought everything back in one piece, and looking forward to the next race we can
make. It was a beautiful day for racing with temperatures in high 70's and bright sunshine. The car
was pretty racy even on old tires for the first hot laps session. It took some getting used to the
track again after not being there for a couple years. We then used the second session to scuff in the
new set of tires we would use the rest of the night. For qualifying, we made some minor adjustments
to tire pressures which brought the car in quicker, and put us as 5th fast of the 14 cars. I think
the best race of the night was our heat race. At the start, the third place starter, Phil Rutledge,
quickly made his way around the pole-sitter. I went to the high-side entering one, and was able to
get past the pole sitter as well. I wasn't quite able to get back the 2nd place starter though. We
fell in-line completing the first lap. On the 2nd lap the leader dropped his right-rear off the
back-strecth and ended up spinning in turn three even though I thought he had is saved. On the
restart, I was able to stay right on Phil's rear bumper. He was sliding the nose quite a bit coming
off the turns. I was able to go in a little higher, and come off beneath him, but didn't have quite
enough motor to pull-off the pass. We raced close and hard for about 3 or 4 laps until the 3rd place
car, Adam Kramer, was able to get nose inside me going into 1. Kramer was then able to grab the lead
from Phil going into the third turn. For the last few laps, we weren't able to run down the leader,
coming home third. We ended up starting 4th for the feature as well. The track and air was much
cooler, but we didn't make too many changes to the car. At the start, I was looking to let things
sort out at a little since the high-side wasn't the best place to be. Due the added fuel load, the
car was a little tight to begin with. Also, since we're a little down on horse-power the lead pack
was able to get away. Once I settled into a rythmn, the car handled great. We just didn't have
enough power to close the gap on the lead pack. A late caution with two laps to go closed things up
a bit, but I was wasn't able to pick-up any positions in those laps. We were pretty happy to get back
to the track and run well. The only casualty of the night was the canopy we set-up to shade the car.
One of the legs broke. Since that was the extent of our damages, I'm more than pleased. Our next
race probably won't be until August 9th in Mansfield. Hopefully the sprint-car will be finished well
before then, and I'll be able to get some practice laps in it prior to the race. I'm not sure if
anyone was able to make it to the race in Angola, but we really appreciate it if you did!
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