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Thunder in the Valley - Day 2

Day 2 of the Thunder in the Valley lived up to its name with thunderstorms in the area, threatening the evening’s event. Teams that showed up early were thankful for the clouds giving some heat relief, but prayed for everything to pass the track in order to get the race in as scheduled. The prayers were answered as the storms seemed to split the track and went around, with only a few sprinkles to keep the dust down in the pits.

Deja-vu from Day 1, the Flying Tee Golf sponsored #24 would start on the outside pole of Heat #2 to kick off the evening, along with 3 power hitters from the National series. Toyota engines are hard to compete with, especially when paired with seasoned crews. Hunter held his own for a little bit until he was overtaken by the faster cars. Being the faster of the non-Toyota cars, we finished in 5th and qualified us to start 8th in the B feature.

Having a better idea of the adjustments needed for the track conditions, the team was hopeful for a good chance to make the top 6 and transfer into the A feature. The race started with two grooves, top and bottom, with the top proving to be very treacherous with its man-made cushion (i.e. wall of dirt). Hunter found that thin line, but was saved by another car causing a yellow to get his spot back. Making it up to the transfer spot, he tried the lower line after the restart. This seemed to work for several laps until the moisture began to disappear from the bottom and the top became the fast way around the track. When the checkered flag dropped, we had fallen back to 10th (another deja-vu). However, as luck would have it this night, Hunter was able to use a provisional start into the A feature based upon those ahead of him in points were either broken or already in the A feature. Not wanting to pass up a chance to feel out the new car, the team opted to start at the tail of the 25 car field and gain some more seat time.

Adding fuel and changing tires was about all the time we had between feature races. Hunter teed off in the 24th spot and worked his way through the field as best he could over the next 25 laps and numerous cautions by being consistent and staying out of trouble. Sticking with the shortest way around the track, Hunter stayed low and preserved his tires to finish officially in 18th. He was directly behind the 15th place car, so not real sure how the scoring worked that way, but the team was happy to have had a good running weekend after all the bad luck that had fallen previously! A new battery held up all weekend and seems to have fixed our past issues (knocking on wood!)

I can’t thank our POWRi West promotor (Eric Fenton) enough, once again coming to our rescue when the team’s truck found a ditch on the way home from Texas. Eric offered up his pickup for us to haul our equipment to Missouri and make this show a success that it was. We definitely owe him a fun evening at the Flying Tee Golf facility for his support and devotion to all his series racers! Our next race will be in Oklahoma City’s I-44 Riverside Speedway on Saturday, July 28. Please come out and see us run in the red dirt once again.

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