6/16/2013
Joshua Hodges
HMS Update - ASCS Speedweek @ KSP and Devil's Bowl
Our racing weekend is over after two night of ASCS National Tour action at Kennedale Speedway Park on Friday and Devil’s Bowl Speedway on Saturday. The first night I started on 2nd in the 6th heat and the track was really narrow. All night long the outside line could not get a jump and I had no such luck either, falling to 2nd on the start. I fell in right behind the leader and was all over for the first half of the race before I finally was able to pull alongside for the last 4 laps. Unfortunately, I was not able to get by even though I had the fastest car but that still put us starting 12th in the A Feature. The track got slick from top to bottom with a cushion right on the fence at both ends. Early on my car felt great and I was able to drive up to 7th in the opening few laps. There was then a caution and I struggled to get back going, sliding back a few spots. When yet another caution came about halfway through I lost more spots and it seemed to be a repeating theme. I slid all the way back to 13th but once I got rolling in a green flag run I picked up speed and wasn’t too far off the leaders. In the end I would finish 13th which was frustrating, falling back from a good start but we definitely learned a few things. The next night at Devil’s Bowl I did not draw as well and I started 5th in the 4th heat. The track was fast and one lane once again for the heat races and I fell into 5th on the start. I was terrible but we held on for 5th and that put us starting 4th in the first B feature, which transfers 3 cars. By that time, the track got a black streak in the middle with a bottom groove and a cushion up top. On the initial start I fell into 4th after narrowly missing the 3rd place car in turns 1 and 2. There was an early caution and we bunched back up. On this start, I was able to blast the car 4 wheels above the cushion and get around on the outside for the transfer spot into turn 1. From there I kind of settled in running the top line and I learned some things about the car to improve it. We finished 3rd and transferred but on the cool down lap, we blew the motor so we had some work to do. When we came in we swapped motors with the help of Mark Rosborough as well as Brandon and Scott from the PrintPlace Herrera Motorsports team among others who pitched in. It was a 20 minute motor change and that gave us a bit of time to make some changes to the racecar. We started 21st and by this time the cushion was just a groove and a half from the top edge of the track and the bottom was narrow. On the start I seemed to have trouble making the right decisions behind cars. They always seemed to move where I was at but once I got rolling I felt really fast. I had a straightaway to make up and I did so and passed several cars. I was lapped in the process of trying to get by cars but once I got through the mess and got the car settled the last 10-15 laps I pulled away from 3rd place and was not far off from the front two. I finished the race 14th and considering I wasn’t completely happy with how this spare motor ran, we had a good A feature. I can’t thank everyone who stepped up and helped us tonight changing the motor enough and I also got to thank the Horner’s for helping us out Friday night in Kennedale. There was a lot to learn from this weekend and now I imagine we’ll have to regroup a bit with the motor issues and such.
Submitted By: Jack Hodges