Saturday Night May 2, 2015

Well here it is race night again and we are in line at the pit gate, about 10 minutes past opening time as we have a lot to do--break in a new set of right side tires.  We got unloaded, set up our pit area, got registered and went through tech and  were the first car in line to go onto the track.  As planned we were the first car on the track got one good heat cycle on the new tires, cooled  them down with water and got right back in line to go out again, got another good heat cycle on them then went to cool the engine down.  Got that accomplished got back in line to go out again but another car blew off an oil line and oiled down turns 3 and 4 and the whole front straightaway along with turn 1, what a mess.  It took a half hour to clean up but an oil down of that magnitude will impact the track for the rest of the night.  We went back out under a yellow/green light with about 7 other cars--go about half throttle and be careful, which everyone did and let that count for another heat cycle.  Finally got the last heat cycle in and got ready to qualify.

Cars available tonight were the #32 Connelly Dubuisson, #44 Brian McArdle, #44jr. Joseph McArdle, #10 Chad Robinson, #94 Brad West, #96 Robbie Johnston, #14 Connor Okrzesik, #114 Michael Beassley, #15 Dustin Harvison, #6 Fred Laing, #18 Devin Corry, #30 William Wilson, and #01 Treyce Capers; a very strong and respectable field of competitors.

QUALIFYING:  we had an early qualifying run and Connelly felt he had made a couple of mistakes which he did, and that we wouldn't have that good of a time, however with all of that we were still able to post a 12.974 which was good enough for the pole.  Other qualifiers were
 #44-13.058, #44jr-13.144,#10-13.155, #94-13.181, #96-13.289, #14-13.314, #114-13.396,
#15-13.462,#6- 13.518, #18-13.586,#30-13.797, #01-13.923.  I feel the oil down of the track contributed to the slower times--we usually have at least 2 or 3 cars in the 12 second bracket.  Even so the first 5 cars were within 2 tenths of a second of each other, good competitive field.

HEAT RACE: In our heat Connelly started on the pole due to our qualifying run, Joseph McArdle in the #44jr. started 2nd. with #94 of Brad West third, #14 Conner Okrzesik fourth, #15 Dustin Harvison fifth, #18 Devin Corry sixth, and #01 Treyce Capers.
Connelly got a good start from the pole and was able to lead all of the laps to win the heat race, Joseph McArdle finished second with #14 Conner Okrzesik rounding out the top three.

FEATURE RACE:  Connelly rolled the big dice after the heat and rolled a 6 meaning that the cars scheduled to start in positions 1 through 6 would invert, the car scheduled to start 6th would now start first and the car scheduled to start on  the pole--Connelly--would now start 6th, a  tough starting spot-back in traffic and on the outside.  It would be tough to get to the bottom and then get to the front.  I told Connelly in our pre race talk just be patient, drive your race and above all else have fun.
He got a good start and was able to  get to the bottom after turn 2 got to 4th by end of lap 1, then to third and by turn 3 of lap 3 and was passing the #10 for second.  Connelly was clearly under the #10, but they got together #10 left front wheel contacted our right rear tire and the #10 lost his entire LF wheel, it rolled down the entire front straightaway and across  the infield.  Connelly's RR fender was knocked loose and was flapping like a beach towel in the breeze.  The race went into a red flag situation, all cars stopped.  We had to rip the remains of the fender off the car so he might be able to continue racing.  The #10 didn't fair as well as he had to be taken off on the roll-back.  I went down to check on the car (he stopped at the entrance to the pits) the RR wheel was bent in slightly but it  was holding air, Connelly wanted me to change it, we had another RR but it was an older tire and wouldn't match up with the brand new RF on the car, so I opted to stay pat, "better devil you know" Connelly was so mad he needed help getting belted back in.  Mr. Joe who was running the pit  gate told him, "son chill, - chill you  got a fast car just go out there and drive it".  Connelly would have to start last 12 out of 12 because we had worked on the car which automatically sends you to the rear.   As the red flag was replaced by the yellow the cars started rolling Connelly waited until  they were well into turn three and he got on the backstretch and blasted it to see if it would handle, it seemed to be alright. At the restart he passed two  cars before lap was completed, another caution-complete restart, back to last.  Another restart still last, passed two in lap 1 got another in lap 2 and another in lap 3, gradually worked our way up to 6th when another caution came out.  We took the choose which put us in 4th place but on the outside.  He got a good restart got to third in one lap then passed Joseph for second and began to chase down Brian who had the lead.  He got right to Brian's rear bumper when another caution came out, two cars took the choose so we now had Brian in front of us with two cars to our outside.  After the restart Connelly was able to get by Brian for the lead, then Brian pulled a great "crossover move" which he is famous for and got by Connelly, who then returned the favor with a "crossover move" of his own, only to be followed by another one by Brian and another one by Connelly.  It was fantastic to watch it was like a ballet on wheels.  Another caution came out with 2 laps to go, Connelly was able to hang on to the lead for the final two laps to win the race.  From last to first in 16 laps, it  was truly on of the best races that Connelly has ever driven, I know it was one of the most entertaining and the fans got their money's worth. The top five finishing order were 1st Connelly Dubuisson #32, second Brian McArdle #44, third Joseph McArdle #44jr., fourth Robbie Johnston #96, fifth Conner Okrzesik #14. 

I looked at the video of the incident with the #10 a number of times and I don't think there was anything intentional on either drivers part--as Richard Petty used to say "just one of those racing things" With all of that, we now need to go through the car with a fine tooth comb to make sure nothing is bent, need to replace a fender and be ready for the 16 of May oh by the way Connelly has final exams for his senior year of high school all next week.  We will be ready I hope, looking forward to the 16 of May.