Well it has finally arrived, opening night of the 2015 racing season. It seems like the off season went by in a flash and before we knew it the 2015 season was here. It felt like we never got to do all of the things we wanted to do before the season started, but we got all of the important things done. Saturday morning Connelly was nut and bolting the car and waxing it before we loaded it up and tied it down. We made the 1 hour and 47 minute trip to SSR without incident (always the best kind) got to the track got into our new pit location very close to the flag stand where I usually watch the race (trying to save the old sciatic nerve) got unloaded, went through tech and registration, checked air pressure, fueled it up and got on the track. He made about half a dozen laps to get some heat in the tires and "busted it" for about 5 laps. Connelly got some really good times and he said the car felt great, so much so that he said "I am done". Well he lied, because right before the track closed for practice he went to Mr. Joe and asked "do I have enough time for one more pass?" He got his pass and the car was still good--why wouldn't it be we hadn't changed it or done anything to it.
We had a very good field of 12 cars tonight. We had a group of cars down from Monroe as well as the usual local competitors. Tonight's lineup was Robbie Johnston #96, Chad Robinson #10, Treyce Capers #01, Conner Okrzesik #14, Dalon More #99, Devin Corry #18,
Connelly Dubuisson #32, Joseph McArdle #44jr., Brian McArdle #44, Ronny Freeland #9, Chris Freeland #91, Fred Laing #6, all in all a very strong and competitive field of cars which included several seasoned veterans as well as some up and coming newer drivers.
QUALIFYING:
In an attempt to get the racing program completed at a reasonable hour, qualifying was held before the drivers meeting--a great idea which saved at least 15 or 20 min. In qualifying Connellly laid down the lap of his life posting a time of 12.840 seconds for the quarter mile which calculates to 70.093 mph. I wasn't sure at the time as I couldn't remember what the old track record was, but I went up to Mr. Joe at the post qualifying tech inspection and told him I thought that we might have broken the track record. Obviously we qualified on the pole with Brian McArdle second and Robbie Johnston third. When we got home and I pulled up the records on the track website and found that Connelly had indeed broken the track record set by Hunter Lewis last season at 12.869
HEAT RACES:
Because we had 12 cars in competition there were 2 heat races of 6 cars each. Connelly#32 won his heat followed by the #96, #14, #10, #99, and #18. In the second heat race Brian McArdle #44 won his heat followed by the #9, #44jr., #91, #01, #6.
FEARURE RACE:
In the feature we had a two car invert--Connelly threw a 2 on the big dice which inverted two cars putting Brian on the pole with Connelly outside of him, the #96, #9, #14, #44jr. #10, #91, #99, #01, #18, and the #6 completed the starting lineup, in that order. A case of "yellow fever" broke out from the start. The #14 had a terminal mechanical issue on the first lap--red flag-- then a series of minor spins and mishaps ensued bringing our a number of cautions. It took 11 laps to complete 3 green flag laps. The drivers just fought through and a sense of normalcy finally prevailed. I don't know whether it was an opening night thing-- just being rusty, or the cold track. At the start of the feature the track temp was 52 degrees--probably a combination of both. It took Connelly a few laps but he finally got by Brian in the #44 for the lead. Some really good racing was taking place all around the track, they were two wide and in some cases three wide, really good stuff, some of which probably contributed to the cautions. Connelly won the feature race for his first sweep of the season. The top five finishers were Connelly in the #32, Joseph McArdle in his #44jr. (he beat his dad) Brian Mcardle #44, Ronny Freeland #9, and rounding out the top 5 was Chad Robinson in the #10.
It was a weekend made in heaven for Connelly and the #32 team, Broke the track record, sat on the pole, won his heat race and the feature race and was able to roll the car back on the trailer, which is the most important thing. Looking forward to next race already. Come on out to SSR and treat yourself to some really great racing on March 21.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment