(Photo by Joe Orth Photos)
Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (April 28, 2014) – Cole Wood continues to show improvement at Knoxville Raceway, where he recorded his first career top-10 finish in the 410 class last Saturday.
Wood opened the night by qualifying 16th quickest around the famed half-mile oval, which earned him a spot in the heat race inversion.
“We were a little bit better than last weekend,” he said. “I messed up the first lap in turns one and two and the second lap in turns three and four. I think if we can get that figured out we can qualify even a couple of spots better this weekend.”
That started him on the pole of his heat race.
“I tried to run the bottom for a couple of laps and that didn’t work,” he said. “A couple of guys drove by me on the top so I went to the top. The heat race was our sore spot.”
Wood placed seventh in his heat, which relegated him to the B Main. He then led the distance of the consolation race to transfer to the main event. After starting on the inside of the 10th row for the 20-lap feature, Wood headed to the top of the track as soon as possible.
“I was really good on the top,” he said. “I could drive by a lot of guys and I slid a couple of guys.”
However, in the first couple of laps a chunk of mud went through the rock screen and knocked a line off from the wing valve to the slider. The wing then fell forward during a red flag in the opening laps and Wood battled with sporadic power steering for the remainder of the race.
“When it started off it was really intermittent,” he said. “Toward the end of the race it wasn’t coming back. I had no power steering and the wing slid all the way forward. It started raining in the feature so the track got really slick. I think it would have helped us a ton if I could pull the wing back.”
Regardless of the issue, Wood rallied from 19th to a 10th-place result.
He will kick off this weekend with a POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series race on Friday at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo., before returning to Knoxville Raceway on Saturday.
QUICK RESULTS –
April 26 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 16; Heat race: 7 (1); B Main: 1 (2); Feature: 10 (19).
SEASON STATS –
15 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 4 top 10s, 8 top 15s, 10 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo., with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series and Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.ColeWoodRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wood17w
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cole-Wood-Racing/246046125428603?fref=ts
APPAREL –
Wood has t-shirts and hats available at his trailer at every race. For a schedule of events, visit http://www.ColeWoodRacing.com.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – NorCal Boxer Rescue
NorCal Boxer Rescue provides a temporary shelter for boxers in need of rescue and adoption throughout Texas and California. For more information, visit http://www.NCBR.org.
“Everyone at CWR wants to give a shoutout to the people who work at NorCal Boxer Rescue,” Wood said. “They are doing a great thing for boxers in NorCal and Texas from saving them from shelters and abusive homes.”
Wood would also like to thank Elk Grove Ford, SpeedMart, Moss Racing Engines, Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center at Elk Grove Ford, Wion’s Body Shop, CSI Shocks, Prime Time Customs, Weld Wheels, Sparco and ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Apr 28, 2014
- Article Date: 4/28/2014 by Inside Line Promotions