Inside Line Promotions – COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (July 21, 2013) – Rhythm is an underrated aspect of racing and it’s something Tony Bruce Jr. is ready to recapture.
“Honestly I’d love to get back in the car today,” he said. “I think we lost our rhythm (last weekend) because we had a week off. More or less we just got out of rhythm and got out of touch with what’s going on. I need to refocus and get back at it this weekend.”
Taped for a delayed television broadcast by Lucas Oil Productions, Bruce Jr. placed 11th and 13th during the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour doubleheader at Cottage Grove Speedway, which snapped a streak of 10 straight top-10 results.
“It isn’t what we wanted,” he said. “At the same time it was kind of a mistake-filled weekend. Both nights I made some mistakes driving. We had some circumstances that didn’t really help our outcome. Unfortunately, we never really got going.”
After drawing the second-highest number during the pill draw on Friday, Bruce Jr. started last – seventh – in his eight-lap heat race. He maneuvered to place fifth, which earned him enough points to start on the pole of the 12-lap B Main.
However, Bruce Jr. quickly realized the right front shock mount came off on the opening lap around the quarter-mile track.
“I couldn’t actually put (the car) in the moisture in the race track,” he said. “The thing would start hopping once it touched the moisture. Unfortunately I didn’t get to run very hard, didn’t get to push the car very hard to see what we had for the A Main.”
Bruce Jr. held on for his second consolation victory of the season and earned a transfer to the feature, which he started 17th.
“At one time I think we were up to seventh,” he said. “I hit the hole in turn one on a restart and let a couple of cars go by me, missed the bottom in turn three and let a couple of cars go by me. I made a couple of mistakes.”
Bruce Jr. finished 11th to narrowly snap his string of consecutive top 10s.
On Saturday, he started on the inside of the third row during his heat race. After working to third place, Bruce Jr. spun off the track and was relegated to the rear with two laps remaining.
“I got into the wall going down the front straightaway,” he said. “It pulled the tires over and when it did I was already at the corner. I just missed the entry and got into the loose dirt and off the race track I went.”
Bruce Jr. restarted seventh and picked up three positions to place fourth. It earned him enough points to be the final driver to advance through the heats.
“The unfortunate thing was it got us into the show, but we were the last car in,” he said. “The way the race track played out in the main, it kinda got one lane on the bottom in (turns) one and two. In (turns) one and two you pretty much had to be on the bottom. If you got hung out getting in the top of (turn) one you’d get passed by three cars. We didn’t have a very good starting spot and a lot of that came from making that mistake in the heat race.”
After driving to 11th, Bruce Jr. finished 13th when a late gamble didn’t pay off.
“I lost two spots at the end,” he said. “I tried to go up through the middle of (turns) one and two to see if I could carry some momentum around. Unfortunately it didn’t work. I had to try something at the end and it just didn’t work out.”
Bruce Jr., who remains fifth in the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour championship standings, will compete on Friday and Saturday at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore.
QUICK RESULTS –
July 19 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Heat race: 5 (7); B Main: 1 (1); Feature: 11 (17).
July 20 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Heat race: 4 (5); Feature: 13 (16).
SEASON STATS –
34 races, 3 wins, 14 top fives, 23 top 10s, 32 top 15s, 34 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.tonybrucejr.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tonybrucejr
VIDEO –
Here is a link for RacinBoys’ footage of Bruce Jr.’s victory at Boyd Raceway on April 26: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Wx3nrOFTDyg
APPAREL –
Bruce Jr. has black and white t-shirts in adult sizes for sale at his race trailer at each of his races. For his schedule, visit http://www.TonyBruceJr.com/schedule.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Eagle Motorsports
Eagle Motorsports, formerly known as Eagle Chassis, has fabricated sprint car chassis since 1998. Eagle has been a part of winning three Knoxville Nationals. For more information, visit http://www.EagleMotorsports.com.
“Our team is honored to have such a great affiliation with Eagle Motorsports,” Bruce Jr. said. “The quality and craftsmanship is second to none in the industry. Top that with great customer service and that’s why we chose Eagle Motorsports in 2013.”
Bruce Jr. would also like to thank Lubbock Wrecker Service, The Oil Medics, Wheeler Metals, Briley Trucking, Hinchman Racewear, Smiley’s Racing Products, SWE, Maxwell Industries, FK Rod Ends, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Factory Kahne Shocks, DriverWebsites.com, RacinBoys.com, Wilwood, Schoenfield Headers, Hoosier Tires, HRP, Kaeding Performance, Schaeffer Oil, Fuel Safe, Bell Helmets, Four Seasons Radiator, Southern Trailer Works, KSE, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Weld Wheels, ISC Racers Tape and Pressure Tek for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations, media management and merchandising services for sprint car teams. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and your sponsors’ return on investment.
To meet the media relations needs of your team, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or sprintcarreporter@yahoo.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.insidelinepromotions.com.
- Tony Bruce on Jul 21, 2013
- Article Date: 7/21/2013 by Inside Line Promotions