(Photo by Ron Skinner Photos)
Inside Line Promotions – HIGHLANDS, Texas (Sept. 28, 2014) – Ray Allen Kulhanek survived a wild night at Battleground Speedway last Saturday.
Kulhanek opened the ASCS Gulf South Region season finale by advancing from fourth to second place in his heat race.
“I didn’t get a real good start,” he said. “I lost a little bit of ground. Everybody dove to the middle of the turn. I stuck it to the top and hoped I cleared them. I got to second and next to the leader a lap or two later.”
That earned him a spot in the feature redraw. Unfortunately, Kulhanek pulled the highest number – eight – during the random draw to line up on the outside of the fourth row for the main event.
“On the start I went four wheels above the cushion and got around three guys or so,” he said. “We got up to fifth and was battling between third and fourth. It was one lane around the cushion because it was actually raining while we were racing. Everybody was leaning on the cushion for grip. If you moved off of it it was like riding on ice. You couldn’t even attempt to make a slide job on anybody because you’d take them out, yourself out and a whole lot of guys behind you.”
Kulhanek was battling inside the top five when a piece of debris from the track smashed through his armguard.
“It busted the dash and the hood,” he said. “When it did it released all of that so the dash and the hood started lifting. It started making my throttle hang. When we took the green on a restart around Lap 9 or 10 the throttle hung on me going by the cone. I came up on the back of the car in front of me. I moved half a car length down to keep from running him over and as soon as I did my car snapped around. I ended up sliding down through the infield. A couple of cars got together and went flipping and a red came out.”
Kulhanek’s team was unable to fix the throttle issue during the short open red flag. Therefore he decided to race at only three-quarters throttle for the remainder of the race, which he ended with a fourth-place result.
It also marked a second-place finish in the ASCS Gulf South Region championship standings for Kulhanek, who had won the title each of the previous four seasons.
“I was disappointed with it,” he said. “It’s not an ideal season for myself and my team. It was horrible to be honest. It seemed like every time we’d have a night without bad luck on our side we’d roll pretty good, but that was few and far between.”
Kulhanek will return to competition on Oct. 17-18 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas, for the 41st annual Winter Nationals with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.
QUICK RESULTS –
Sept. 27 – Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas – Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 4 (8).
SEASON STATS –
25 races, 3 wins, 9 top fives, 18 top 10s, 20 top 15s, 23 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Oct. 17-18 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas, for the 41st annual Winter Nationals with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.RayAllenKulhanek.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dork.racing.9?fref=ts
APPAREL –
Kulhanek will have apparel available for sale at his race trailer throughout the season. For a list of his scheduled events, visit http://www.RayAllenKulhanek.com.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Texas Rotating Equipment
Based in Dayton, Texas, Texas Rotating Equipment is an industrial turbine services and repairs company for oil companies.
“Texas Rotating Equipment has partnered with us the past couple of years and it has really helped our team out,” Kulhanek said. “We appreciate their support and hope to represent them in Victory Lane a lot this season.”
Kulhanek would also like to thank Oilfield Equipment & Manufacturing, Miller’s RV Park, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, J&J Auto Racing, Smiley’s Racing Products, Engler Machine & Tool, Outlaw Wings, Hoosier Racing Tire Southwest, Penske Shocks, Don Ott Racing Engines, Snap Graphics, Frazier and Son Laser Cutting and Simpson Race Products for their 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 Sep 28, 2014
- Article Date: 9/28/2014 by Inside Line Promotions