7/18/2014
Sprint Source
Taylor Ferns Returns to Attica Raceway Park & Fremont Speedway this Weekend
The weekly competition at Attica Raceway Park and Fremont Speedway has long been regarded as some of the toughest in the country for 410-winged sprint car racing. This challenge makes for a great canvas for young driver to hone their skills on a couple of tracks that are steeped in history. Taylor Ferns made her debut at each of the bullrings earlier this season and will return to each of the Northern Ohio ovals this weekend as she continues to cut her teeth in a 410-winged sprint car.
Ferns will open the weekend on Friday, July 18 at Attica Raceway Park aboard the Jimmy's Towing.Indy Race Parts Maxim. She will also hit the track on Saturday, July 19 at Fremont Speedway. Both races are part of the Fremont/Attica Sprint Title (F.A.S.T.).
“We struggled a bit at Attica [Raceway Park] and Fremont [Speedway] last time we visit both, so we are looking to improve on that,” said Ferns. “I am still learning in these 410-sprint cars and the more laps I get, the better. The main goal each night is to put it in the show and turn in a couple of good runs.”
The native of Shelby Township, Michigan, has made a pair of starts at Attica Raceway Park this season. She visited Attica Raceway Park for the first time on May 9, and led a number of laps in the main event, before a spin relegated her to a 13th-place finish. Earlier in the evening, Ferns ran third in her heat race. She made her second start at the high-banked one-third-mile on the Fourth of July, finishing 16th, after starting at the back of the main event.
“Attica is definitely one of the tougher tracks,” said Ferns. “If you can run good and win at Attica, you can win anywhere. If we can get rolling around there we should be in okay shape. We were fast there earlier this season and I messed up, but we rebounded the night after that to finish third at Butler [Speedway]. You have to find something positive when things go wrong and there is usually another race to make up for the last one.”
Ferns made her first trip to Fremont Speedway on July 5 for a F.A.S.T. event. She finished eighth in a heat race, which put her in the B-main. She would finish seventh in the “B,” coming up just a couple spots short of transferring to the A-Feature.
“Being a smaller track, Fremont [Speedway] is pretty narrow,” she explained. “Turn two slickens up and you can slide up pretty easily coming off that corner. It’s a technical type of track as is Attica [Raceway Park] and if we can get those intricacies down; we should be good at both tracks.”
Last weekend, the 18-year-old finished second with the Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association (OVSCA) in her debut at I-77 Motorsports Park in Ripley, West Virginia. She led a number of laps, after the lead duo were caught up in an incident. Ferns assumed the top spot and held it until there were five laps remaining, when eventual winner Chris Myers got around her. Ferns ended up finishing second at the three-eighths-mile. She opened the night by finishing second in the first heat race.
“We had a really good race car at I-77 [Raceway Park],” said Ferns. “As the race moved on, the track moved up and I should have moved up with it and that’s something I didn’t do. That’s how I got passed. Sometimes as a driver you draw a blank and it was my mistake. I learned from it and have been watching a lot of videos this week to get prepared to climb back in the car.”
Ferns also raced at Ohio Valley Speedway in Washington West Virginia, last weekend, finishing sixth, in another event sanctioned by the OVSCA. She qualified fourth-fastest and finished second in the second heat race.
The 2011 USAC D1 Midget Series champion has one win thus far in 2014 in a 410-winged sprint car, with that coming at Southern Ohio Speedway last month. She has picked six top-10 finishes. Ferns also set fast time with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, Ohio, earlier this month. During the Ohio Sprint Speedweek visit to Atomic on June 25, Ferns qualified sixth-fastest of the 62 entries and qualified for the six-car dash.
Ferns will continue to compete in winged 410-sprint race races for the remainder of the season, mainly in the Ohio and Michigan area. She has raced at 10 tracks thus far in 2014 in a sprint car in three states.
Article Credit: Ferns Racing PR