Heading into the week, we had plans for a 4 night race week with the Captain of the Creek special at 141 Speedway taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, with stops at Luxemburg Speedway on Friday and The Hill Raceway on Saturday.
At 141, a total of 61 sportmods checked in for the $5,000 to win special event. We drew a very tough group of cars for our heat races, but found ourselves taking the lead in round 1 from our 3rd place starting position. I held the lead until the white flag lap, as Colby Fett came around on the outside to take the win off of turn 4. In round 2 of our heats, I started in 8th and jumped up to 6th in the early laps. I got up to 5th and challenged briefly for the 4th spot, but fell back and ended up finishing 5th.
Our passing points total had us a few spot shy of the top 10, so we had to run another heat race on Thursday night with the top 2 finishes making the feature. I started on the pole with Cole Magnin on the outside. Magnin grabbed the lead and I fought for the last transfer spot with Jason Zdroik for the entirety of the race, getting the advantage on the final lap to put us into the big show.
Starting 19th in the feature, I had hopes that we could get close to the top 10 as we had 50 laps to play with. In the early stages of the race, everyone went to the bottom of the track and a few cars jumped out of line to try the outside. I jumped to the top groove and started to make headway along with Randy LeMieux Jr. We started picking off cars and found ourselves into the top 10 midway through the race. I got up to the 6th position with a few laps remaining, battling LeMieux for 5th before a caution flag flew. I ended up restarting on the bottom and got shuffled back a few spots, challenging at the end for 6th but settled for an 8th place finish.
Friday’s races at Luxemburg were rained out, so we had to wait until Saturday at The Hill to get back on the track. 19 sportmods checked in for the Troy Rass Memorial & Hall of Fame night at the track. After finishing 4th in my heat race to get my invert spot for the feature, we set up 11th on the starting grid with a $425 top prize on the line.
The opening start was waved off, and almost the entire field collided with each other after passing the flag stand resulting in a red flag. Several cars went down pit lane to repair damage and change flat tires, but we were fortunate enough to remain on the track with just a bent RF rim. We ended up restarting 7th after a few cars ahead of us had to go down pit lane, and got up into the top 3 about midway through the race. I got out to the high line to chase down Jeff Vlies for 2nd, and closed the gap on Cody Rass for the lead as the laps wound down. A late race caution bunched up the field, but I was unable to get a good run on Rass and settled for the runner up finish. It was a great points night for us yet again, as we extended our lead to 17 with only 1 night remaining at the track.
We’ll return to action this Friday night at Luxemburg Speedway and back at 141 Speedway for Championship Night on Saturday.
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