Race Recap: 05/06 - Hickory Motor Speedway

Another solid weekend for us here at #Team30 with a P.3 finish at Hickory Motor Speedway!

After qualifying on the Pole and having to retire from the race early last week, we went into this weekend with a few freshly solved mechanical issues; both an exciting and worrisome prospect. On the one hand it’s natural to be excited to get back on track and compete, but on the other hand it’s hard not to worry that other mechanical issues will present themselves after opening the car up and working on it.

Fortunately the morning practice session proved that we had solved our issues under the hood, although our car setup was a bit of a mess. For most of the day it felt like we were chasing our tail trying to find some speed in practice. Thankfully Mark from Purpose Built Chassis came out and helped us get sorted before qualifying. In qualifying we were able to secure P.2, outside front row, which was a great starting position to be able to contend for the lead. With a couple small setup adjustments and a replaced plug wire, we were ready to race.

The Renegade class which raced before us ended up having a few racing incidents delaying our race while the track staff worked to get the racing surface safe. When we went out for our pace laps, that time sitting on pit road meant that the track was cold and without a whole lot of grip. Coming to the green flag we did not get the start that we wanted and dropped back from P.2 to P.4. The lead pack pulled away a little bit and we had to battle to hold position.

Fortunately we held off the group coming from behind us and were even able to catch back up with the leaders. Toward the end of the race we really started to find some speed and began closing the gap significantly. Before the checkered waved we snagged P.3 and brought the car home safe for another podium night.

While P.3 is not the position we wanted, it is still a great spot and great help to our points position for the Limited Late Model track championship.

Now it’s time to get back in the garage and see where else we can gain some ground before our next race!

Thank you for supporting grassroots racing! See you at the track!