(Photo by Dirt Monkey Productions)
Inside Line Promotions – COOS BAY, Ore. (July 7, 2016) – Race car drivers often set very lofty goals in order to improve and Patrick Dills is no exception.
Dills set out to finish in the top 10 at each event during the Western Sprint Tour Speedweek Northwest while racing against some of the toughest 360ci sprint car competition in the West. While that goal has not been met due to poor pill draws and qualifying runs, he has made the A Main each night and gained valuable knowledge.
“Our pill draws have been horrible and then I’ve backed up in the heats and have had to start way back in the features,” he said. “The good news is we’ve made every feature so far and went forward in those.”
The long week of racing began last Saturday in the Extreme Sprints class at his home track of Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore., where he recorded a fourth-place finish.
The team changed to the 360ci engine and was eager for their Speedweek debut on Monday at Cottage Grove Speedway.
“We were third quickest out of 35 cars in hot laps,” he said. “I qualified seventh in my group and 14th overall and once again put myself in a bad feature starting spot through the heat race performance and finished 16th in the feature.”
At Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., on Tuesday another poor qualifying effort put Dills behind the rest of the night.
“We started on the pole of the heat and finished sixth and that put us in the B Main, where I finished fourth and transferred to the feature,” he said. “In the main event I started 21st and finished 17th.”
Putting the frustrating night behind him, Dills traveled to Coos Bay Speedway on Wednesday.
“Another bad pill draw and I qualified terrible,” he said. “I started second in the heat and finished fourth, which put us starting 17th in the A Main and I finished 11th. We found some speed in the feature.
“All week we’ve shown decent speed at times. When the leader gets to me and laps me I can hang with him. We just need to qualify better and get a better starting spot in the feature.”
Speedweek resumes Friday at Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka, Calif., and finishes Saturday at Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford, Ore. However, the team might skip the Speedweek finale and return to Cottage Grove Speedway for an Extreme Sprints race.
“I can’t thank my guys enough for all the hard work they’ve done this week,” Dills said.
QUICK RESULTS –
July 2 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Qualifying: 1; Dash: 3 (4); Feature: 4 (2).
July 4 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Qualifying: 14; Heat: 4 (2); Feature: 16 (15).
July 5 – Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore. – Qualifying: 22; Heat: 6 (1); B Main: 4 (-); Feature: 16 (21).
July 6 – Coos Bay Speedway in Coos Bay, Ore. – Qualifying: 14; Heat: 4 (2); Feature: 11 (17).
SEASON STATS –
14 races, 2 wins, 5 top fives, 8 top 10s, 10 top 15s, 13 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka, Calif., for the Western Sprint Tour Speedweek Northwest and Saturday is TBD
MEDIA LINKS –
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Patrick-Dills-Racing/236840896439816?ref=br_tf
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PatrickDills90
Website: http://www.PatrickDillsRacing.com
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Jerry Dills Trucking
“None of this would be possible without my dad,” Patrick Dills said. “He is always pushing me to do better and believes in me.”
Dills would also like to thank Jacob Daniels, Attorney at Law, BC Motorsports, Faye Stewart for U.S. Senate, Cedric Ross Hayden Oregon State Representative, Oregon Research Consultants, API, Bonnichsen Repair, Devine Continuous Gutters, M.D. Yearous Logging, Inc., Lynn Mulligan Trucking, Rocket Designs, Dirt Monkey Productions and Inside Line Promotions 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 by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jul 07, 2016
- Article Date: 7/7/2016 by Inside Line Promotions