Racing both the wing and non-wing programs at Badlands Motor Speedway’s Gold Cup kept Mark Dobmeier and the Jimco Racing/Polaris #13 team hopping all weekend. The result was a success, with the Grand Forks, North Dakota driver finishing third and fifth in the wing portions and 13th in the finale without the wing. This weekend is a big one, as the World of Outlaws visit Mark’s hometown River Cities Speedway Friday. The team will be back maintaining their point lead Saturday night at Badlands.
This was Mark’s first foray without a wing in the sprint car. “It was fun,” he says. “It was funny in a way, because we had no idea what to do as far as setup. A couple of the USAC guys were really nice to us and gave us some pointers here and there. It was just a whole different feel, and a whole different everything.”
The non-wing prelim was Saturday. “We got about two hot laps, and then we qualified,” says Mark. “We were 21st out of 36, so we were happy with that. We started sixth and moved up to fifth. We won the B from the front.”
That lined Mark up 21st for the feature. “We actually had a great car,” he says. “We passed a car here and there and slowly moved forward. We ended up 14th.”
In Sunday’s non-wing finale, he started inside row eight. “We were actually up to eighth at one point,” says the quick study. “I kind of got freight-trained at the end of that one and ended up 12th. It was fun to try it once and see what it’s like. We were really stabbing in the dark on the setup.”
In Friday’s prelim for the wing portion, things started well. “We went out late qualifying (20th) and ended up third quick,” says Mark. “We were able to win the heat from the pole and that put us starting third in the feature. We had a good race. We were decent, but we just didn’t have enough to win.”
His third place finish set Mark up well for Sunday’s finale. “We locked into the top ten, which is what we needed to do,” he says. “It was complete luck of the draw as far as where you started the Dash. We did our typical draw, and drew the inside of row four. We had a really good Dash car, and got up to fifth. That bumped us up a row as far as our starting spot for the feature.”
The focus was on the big winner’s share at that point. “We were excited and pumped up,” says Mark. “It was $50,000 to win and I thought we had a strong chance at it. When the green flag dropped, I went to take off and it wouldn’t. We think it was ignition issues. It sounded like a tractor. I was thinking, ‘This is the biggest race of the year, and we haven’t had equipment problems all year, other than a radius rod, and now something happens’. I could maintain our spot, but it didn’t have that extra we needed to move forward. We drove the wheels off of it, and did what we could.”
The fifth place finish was strong and put a cap on the weekend. “Overall, we were happy,” says Mark. “We finished all the races. Honestly, I didn’t expect to roll that wingless car home! We were able to put it in the trailer every night. We can’t complain, we were just a little frustrated about the big race. We have our best package ready to go for Friday night with the Outlaws, and we’re looking forward to it.”
- administrator on Aug 26, 2016
- Article Date: 8/25/2016