June 13, 2015 – DOUBLE SK Feature Night – Feature 1: 6th, Feature 2: DNF (16th – Broken Torque Arm)
Category:Waterford Speedbowl
Heats:None – Lineup Set By Handicapping
Feature #1: Started 8th (of 23 cars), Finished 6th (Finishing Order: 13, 88, 72, 78, 47,51, 27, 36, 17, 21, 6, 59, 77, 43, 7, 98, 04, 66, 15, 01, 49, 4, 3)
Feature #2: Started 8th (of 23 cars), Finished 16th DNF (Broken Torque Arm) (Finishing Order: 88, 21, 27, 6, 7, 59, 78, 43, 77, 15, 49, 3, 66, 47, 4, 51, 36, 72, 13, 17, 04, 01, 98)
Comments:Partly cloudy but warm day and it should be cooler for the 2nd feature which will be run last tonight. The first feature is the first race of the day after outside introductions. Practice rounds and lap timeswere OK (1st run free, 2nd run too tight, 3rd run pretty good), but we made an error in not realizing there were no heat races. We didn’t scuff our new feature tires like we would have wanted to so it will be interesting to see if I can hit the stagger correctly. Starting lineup is as follows:
72 – 7
47 – 36
6 – 27
78 – 51
13 – 88
4 – 17
49 – 15
43 – 77
59 – 04
01 – 21
3 – 66
98
First feature was not very impressive. Rob got taken backwards on the outside by the 7 who started outside pole as the inside row was stacked up and no openings were there. We got bit by our starting on sticker tires as the stagger grew a lot more than expected. Caution came with just 7 laps to go and Rob restarted 10th. Rob got an opening to duck into on the front chute of the 1st lap and he made the best of the car he had – driving it hard into the turns dirt track style (sideways) and brought the car home in one piece with a 6th place finish. After the race was over my eyes popped when I saw how big our stagger was – made quick changes to the chassis and we’ll see if we can find the sweet spot for feature race #2. Starting lineup for race #2 tonight is as follows:
7 – 36
72 – 47
6 – 78
27 – 51
88 – 13
4 – 49
43 – 15
17 – 77
59 – 01
14 – 21
66 – 98
3
Second feature started out OK and the car was pretty good. First caution came with 28 laps to go and Rob restarted 5th. Before the next lap completed, the 13 of Christopher went airborne off the 72 and ended up hard in the turn 4 wall bringing out a red. The root cause of that wreck was the 78 getting into the 72 coming out of turn 2. Next caution came with 27 laps to go and Rob restarted 4th. The 78 was just not able to hold a lane and kept pinching Rob off going down the chutes. Under caution, I told the 78’s spotter to tell his driver to stop blocking and give us a lane. The next caution came with 23 laps to go and Rob restarted 4th again. With 22 laps to go Rob restarted 3rd. It was looking like we had a chance for another podium finish, but then Rob pulled down to the low groove with a problem then went to the infield on the back chute and a caution came out. We were done for the night when we found the Torque Arm (a part that controls the rear end pinion angle) broke in the car with about 21 laps to go. That’s our first DNF of the season and at least the car is really in one piece – just need to replace our torque arm.