9/9/2015
Peck Shut Down By Broken Shock Mount
(Photo by TeeJay Crawford Photography)
GRANITY CITY, Ill. – Tri-City Speedway hasn’t been extremely kind to Monrovia, Ind. midget racer Justin Peck this season. After his last attempt there in July ended early with a water pump issue, Peck was sidelined for the rest of that weekend. The USAC Gold Crown Midget Nationals, paying $10,000 to the Saturday night main event winner, ended with a night of more trouble. A 14th-place finish on Friday was followed by heat race contact in which the No. 5x suffered a broken shock mount and brought his weekend to a close.
26 midget racers entered the pit area on Friday night, and three heat races were to come. Forgoing the usual qualifying procedure, a second set of qualifying heat races would follow the first heats. From sixth on the grid of heat three, Peck moved up one spot to finish fifth. However, his outside front row starting spot for his qualifying race ended with a sixth-place result.
Originally headed for the B-Main, that event was canned when enough teams scratched to allow all remaining cars to start the main event. For the 25-lap feature, Peck rolled off from 18th. The going was tough early on for the Dura Coat Products entry, but Peck began to move forward near the halfway point. He captured his final position of 14th on lap 20 and built a comfortable two-second advantage over his closest competitor in the final laps.
Saturday night, unfortunately was a short one for the Peck Motorsports team. An additional competitor signed in to push the car count to 27. With just two qualifying heats and main events on the order of events, Peck rolled off from fourth, and quickly moved up to second in the opening laps. Falling back to fourth again by lap six, the second- and third-running cars were battling torridly for second. When one car spun, Peck had nowhere to go and crashed into the spun machine. The contact was heavy enough to break a shock mount on the DRC Chassis No. 5x and force them out of action for the rest of the night.
Peck would like to thank Dura Coat Products, Factory Kahne, Simpson Race Products, Lucas Oil, Keizer Wheels, Hoosier Racing Tire, Saldana Racing Products, Pit Stop BBQ & Grill, Quick Change Products, and Spider Graphix, as well as his parents, Joe Devin, Carl Thomas, Rich Gabel, Jon Steed, Mike Gass, Zack Burks, and all of his fans for their continued support.
Peck is next scheduled to compete on September 11 at Jacksonville Speedway in Jacksonville, Ill., and on September 12 at Spoon River Speedway in Lewistown, Ill., both with the POWRi National Midget Series in the No. 5x midget entry.
Quick Results
September 4 – Granite City, IL – Midget – Heat: 5th (6); Qualifying Race: 6th (2) Feature: 14th (18)
2015 Stats
23 races, 16 features, 1 win, 3 top fives, 9 top tens, 7 DNFs
Social Media
Website: http://www.justinpeckracing.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/justin.racing.9
Twitter: http://twitter.com/justin_peck5
Instagram: http://instagram.com/justin_peck5
Article Credit: Redbeard Promotions
