(Bill W) July 6, 2009 – Brandon Wimmer turned his recent surge of momentum into a third place finish with the All Star Circuit of Champions at the K-C Raceway near Chillicothe, Ohio on Friday. The driver of the Rick Ferkel #0 also notched a sixth place finish in weekly action at the Fremont Speedway after All Star activities were washed out in Terre Haute, Indiana. This week’s plans include the Lou Blaney Memorial at Sharon Speedway and an All Star date in Hartford, Michigan.
The Fairmount, Indiana driver timed in third quick despite coming out late at the high-banked 3/8 mile K-C oval. “I’ve always run well at K-C,” says Brandon. “I was able to get a top ten there with the Outlaws when we were running with them. We were fast all night. We went out later, and were able to qualify better than anyone else around us.”
After running from sixth to third in the heat, and winning the dash, Brandon was set for the finale. “The heat went well, and so did the dash,” he says. “The high-banked tracks fit my driving style. Even when it is slick, I can get the car up on the banking and get around pretty good.”
The final preparations were made for the finale, as Brandon was set to start on the pole. After leading several laps, he would end up third at the checkers. “We made some changes to the car after the dash,” he says. “It showed. We were able to lead for a while, but that place is always really slick and we lost a little ground. It was good to get a top three finish out of it. We’ve been running well lately, and we’re working to keep that going.”
With Saturday racing scheduled for Terre Haute, the Rick Ferkel team waited at a crossroads. “We were sitting in Dayton at about one when they called the race in Terre Haute, so we headed for Fremont,” says Brandon. “We got there about 4:30, and we thrashed to change our Terre Haute setup back to a Fremont setup.”
After qualifying eighth in the field with many of the All Stars present, Brandon went from fifth to third in the heat, locking himself into Fremont’s main event. “We didn’t qualify the best, but we were really good in our heat,” he says. “With their format, they invert six and take four to the feature, and we were able to battle up to third from the third row. It’s harder to pass in the heats there.”
Brandon would start sixth and finish in the same spot in the feature. “The invert was eight for the feature, which would have put us on the front row, but five guys who qualified better didn’t make it through there heats, so we started sixth,” he says. “It was the usual Fremont, slick from top to bottom. We kind of held our spot out there. We weren’t bad, but we weren’t good. It was definitely a good weekend that will give us some momentum heading into this week. It gives us the consistency we need.”
This week includes Tuesday’s Lou Blaney Memorial at the Sharon Speedway near Hartford, Ohio, and then the All Stars visit Hartford Speedway in Hartford, Michigan on Friday. Saturday action looks like it may include Fremont again.
Brandon and Rick Ferkel would like to thank the following sponsors for all their help: Shorty’s Truck Repair, Smith’s Farm, Goodyear Tires, Griff’s Engines, Kear’s Speed Shop, Huggins Cams, BRODIX Heads, Barnes Oil Pumps, Prism Lubricants, Zeis Land Development, Butlerbuilt, Simpson, Winning With Wellness and WRT Web Designs.
- Bill Wright on Jul 08, 2009
- Article Date: 7/8/2009