Inside Line Promotions – PEORIA, Ariz. (Nov. 19, 2013) – The 46th edition of the Western World Championships wasn’t kind to Andrew Felker.
Felker overcame tough luck to record a pair of 15th-place results during the first two nights of the three-day Honda USAC National Dirt Midget Series event before scoring a top 10 during the finale at Canyon Speedway Park on Saturday.
“I was definitely disappointed with how the whole week turned out, but I was happy to survive the night,” he said. “It definitely was an up-and-down weekend. I struggled a lot when the track was wet early in the night and was good late. We just never had ourselves in the right position all weekend. I thought we had a lot faster car than the results showed all weekend.”
Felker began his inaugural visit to the prestigious event last Thursday by qualifying 17th quickest. That started him on the outside of the front row of a heat race, which he won to lock into the main event.
“I got the early jump in the heat race and kinda checked out from there,” he said.
After starting 17th during the feature, Felker maneuvered into the top 10 by the midpoint of the race and was up to seventh place when he spun out on Lap 18.
“There were a couple of guys working the top,” he said. “We kept trying the top in (turns) three and four and could hold our own. I ended up hanging it in the slick too long and spinning out.”
Felker restarted at the back and was caught up in an incident on Lap 20. After again restarting last, Felker rallied to capture a 15th-place result.
“Finishing seventh would have put us in a good position,” he said. “I definitely felt like we had a car capable of moving forward. We were on Bryan Clauson and he ended up third. I just made a mistake and turned it around.”
It didn’t get any easier on Friday, when Felker qualified 25th quickest.
“Friday night was definitely a struggle,” he said. “We qualified really bad. We were one car out of the invert. The track was still hooked up. It was hard to make up any ground in the heat race.”
Felker finished where he started – seventh – in the heat race, which sent him to the B Main. However, after being swept up in a pair of incidents during restarts at the beginning of the consolation, Felker flipped and tore up a rear end. He placed 15th in the B Main and had to use a provisional to start 23rd in the main event.
“I had worked our way inside the top 15 and just got hung the car out in the middle of the black,” he said. “I made contact with a car and spun out. I had to go to the back.”
Friday’s feature played out similar to Thursday. After the crash forced him to restart last, Felker was again swept up in an incident several laps later.
“A couple of cars got together,” he said. “I was on the outside. Both of them hit each other and I was already out there with no place to go.”
Felker restarted at the back and picked up several positions to post a 15th-place finish.
That lined him up fourth on Saturday during a heat race, which locked the top-three finishers into the main event. Felker gained a couple of positions to finish second and advance to the main event, which he started 14th.
“I basically stayed there the first half of the race and then started picking a few cars off,” he said. “I got up to ninth. Most of the guys where we were running with were committed to the bottom. I went to the top twice and got up to seventh, but both of those times had a yellow. On a restart I jumped the cushion and lost three spots and worked our way back up to 10th.”
Felker’s 10th-place result was his 34th top 10 of the season.
He will be back in action on Thursday, Nov. 28, for the 73rd annual Turkey Night Grand Prix at Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, Calif.
QUICK RESULTS –
Nov. 14 – Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, Ariz. – Qualifying: 17; Heat race: 1 (2); Feature: 15 (17).
Nov. 15 – Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, Ariz. – Qualifying: 25; Heat race: 7 (7); B Main: 15 (9); Feature: 15 (23).
Nov. 16 – Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, Ariz. – Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 10 (14).
SEASON STATS –
50 races, 1 win, 19 top fives, 34 top 10s, 44 top 15s, 48 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Thursday, Nov. 28, at Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, Calif., for the 73rd annual Turkey Night Grand Prix with the Honda USAC National Dirt Midget Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.AndrewFelkerRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrewFelker11a
VIDEO –
Here is a link to XSANTV’s in-car footage of Felker finishing second at Jacksonville Speedway in Jacksonville, Ill., on April 26: http://youtu.be/tSwLTs5L1Zk
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Momo’s Racing Engines
Located in Tulsa, Okla., Momo’s Racing Engines rebuilds micro sprint engines. For more information, visit http://www.MomosRacingEngines.com.
“I’ve been with Momo’s Racing Engines for 10 years,” Felker said. “I would definitely never run another micro without a Momo’s engine in it. I’d like to thank them for their support and help over the past 10 years with my career.”
Felker would also like to thank Auto Xpress, 66 Truck & Foreign Salvage, Fontana Automotive, MelMark Pipe & Supply, CSI Shocks, Schluckebier Farms, Pro Powder Coating, All-Pro Auto Interiors, Aggressive Graphics, KBR Performance, Weld Wheels, KMK Enterprises, Heath II, Wilwood, Maxim Racewear and Leading Edge Composites 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.
- Shawn Miller on Nov 19, 2013
- Article Date: 11/19/2013 by Inside Line Promotions