(Image Credit: Kristy McDougal)
SAPULPA, Okla. (April 25, 2016) Using this past weekend to check changes made on the Lucas Oil Products No. 52, Blake Hahn picked up a pair of podium finishes against the American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Red River Region presented by Smiley’s Racing Products and Speedway Motors ASCS Warrior Region presented by Impact Signs, Awnings, and Wraps.
“We’ve been chasing the car all season. It’s hasn’t been bad, but at the same time, it hasn’t been good either. Almost like something in the geometry of the car was off, or we had it bound somewhere,” said Hahn. “We checked the car this past week and everything was square, so we started looking at how the car was reacting and made changes from there.”
Rolling into the Humboldt Speedway on Friday, April 22, Hahn was all smiles following Hot Laps.
“The car was great. It hadn’t felt that good all year so I knew we were going to be fast.”
Winning his Heat Race, the redraw put the CSR Garage/JR1 Chassis No. 52 fifth in the A-Feature lineup. Running to the front on the high side of the three-eighths mile oval, Hahn captured the lead from Kyle Bellm in slower traffic on Lap 14, but the lead was short lived as Blake spun in turn one the following lap. Able to recover and hold on to the runner-up spot, the No. 52 would suffer the same miscue a few laps later; this time falling to third where he would remain the rest of the race.
“The first spin, I drove the car in as hard as I had the past 10 laps, and it just got loose on me. I thought I was going to get run over, but luckily was able to recover and kept going. The second one, I thought I was going to run over a slower car and I just screwed up trying to whoa the car. I was thankful I didn’t crash anyone but I’ve never been so disappointed to finish third in all my life. I just felt like I let my whole team down because the car was absolutely perfect.”
Moving on to Springfield Raceway the following night, Hahn again started off his night with a Heat Race win.
“The track was already slick in the Heats so you had to be careful not to get in to hard, but overall the car was great. We didn’t have to change much on the car before the feature. The track crew reworked the surface during intermission so the track as a lot like it was in my Heat. Really, all we did was change the Left Rear,” said Hahn.
“On the start, we just stayed on the top to get to the lead. Once I started getting into traffic, I had to move around and when Carney got around me, the cars in front of me had been running the top, so I went low, well about that time so did they. After that, I did find some rubber but it was only on entry so coming off the corner, I had to wait on the car. A few times I got even with John, but I didn’t want to drive him dirty and risk crashing us both. Overall, I am really pleased with the whole weekend.”
Looking to this weekend, the Lucas Oil No. 52 will be in action with the Speedway Motors ASCS Warrior Region presented by Impact Signs, Awnings, and Wraps at the Callaway Speedway in Fulton, Mo. on Friday, April 29 and will return to Knoxville Raceway in Saturday, April 30.
To keep up on everything happening with Blake Hahn Racing, fans can follow the Oklahoma racer at http://www.blakehahnracing.com.
Season to Date:
Races: 15; A-Features: 13; Wins 1; Top 5 - 6; Top 10 - 9; Top 15 – 11; Top 20 – 13
Recent Results:
4/22/2016 – Humboldt Speedway (Humboldt, Kan.)
Heat 1st; A-Main 3rd
4/23/2016 – Springfield Raceway (Springfield, Mo.
Heat 1st; A-Main 2nd
Up Next:
4/29/2016 – Callaway Raceway (Fulton, Mo.) - ASCS Warrior
4/30/2016 – Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, IA) – Knoxville Weekly
Blake Hahn Online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Blake-Hahn-Racing-139549836107030/?fref=ts
Website: http://www.blakehahnracing.com
Instagram: BHAHN52
Sponsors:
Lucas Oil Products, CSR Garage, Speedway Vending, JR1, Wesmar, Triple X Race Co., Engler, Penske Shocks, Maxwell Industries, Best Graphics, Schoenfeld, and EFH.
- Bryan Hulbert on Apr 25, 2016
- Article Date: 4/25/2016