Inside Line Promotions - CHICO, Calif. (Oct. 1, 2013) - Team Downforce driver J.J. Hickle had a great experience during his first time racing sprint cars in California.
Hickle, who hails from Quilcene, Wash., tackled the Silver Dollar Speedway for the 21st annual Fall Nationals last weekend.
"That was a good deal," he said. "We ran top 10 in the feature on the first night. It was hooked up and fast. The second night we were a tick off and missed the (heat race) invert by one. It was pretty hard to pass. All in all, I was pretty happy with our car and how competitive we were all weekend."
Hickle opened the doubleheader on Friday by qualifying 15th quickest. That put him on the pole of a 10-lap heat race, which he won to advance to the dash. He picked up a position in the dash to start the main event on the outside of the fourth row.
"We dropped back real early to 15th in the first two laps," he said. "I just got shuffled on the start. After that it was about hitting my marks on the bottom. It was right around the bottom. There was enough room where you could set a guy up and drive by him."
Hickle rallied to pick up a few positions throughout the remainder of the race and he placed ninth.
He returned to the quarter-mile bullring on Saturday for the finale. Hickle qualified 21st quickest - six hundredths of a second out of the heat race inversion - which put him behind the eight ball for the remainder of the night.
After advancing from fifth to fourth place in his heat race to lock into the feature, Hickle started 22nd in the main event.
"Once you qualify bad like that there's nothing you can do," he said. "The thing took rubber pretty much instantly. It was a matter of just get in line."
Hickle passed a trio of cars on the narrow track to end 19th.
"I was a lot happier with the first night than the second night," he said. "Every time we go anywhere I'm aiming to get a top 10. We were definitely competitive."
Hickle is planning to take the next couple of weekends off before returning to California for the 20th annual Trophy Cup at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare on Oct. 18-19.
QUICK RESULTS -
Sept. 27 - Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. - Qualifying: 15; Heat race: 1 (1); Dash: 8 (9); Feature: 9 (8).
Sept. 28 - Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. - Qualifying: 21; Heat race: 4 (5); Feature: 19 (22).
UP NEXT -
Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19, at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., for the 20th annual Trophy Cup
MEDIA LINKS -
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/DownforceInc
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Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/DownforceClothing
DOWNFORCE CLOTHING -
Downforce Clothing is an apparel company established and operated by sprint car driver Austen Wheatley. For information on apparel options, prices, clientele and more, visit http://www.DownforceClothing.com.
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.
- Admin Account on Oct 02, 2013
- Article Date: 10/2/2013 by Shawn Miller