(Photo courtesy of ASCS Red River Region)
Inside Line Promotions – SAPULPA, Okla. (Nov. 8, 2016) – Brandon Hanks is a sprint car champion for the first time in his young career.
Hanks wrapped up the ASCS Red River Region championship last weekend during the Fall Fling at Creek County Speedway, where the doubleheader was co-sanctioned with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.
“I guess it hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “We put such a good year together. It’s pretty awesome. That’s been the goal all year long. I’m proud to call ourselves champions.”
While the ultimate goal was reached, the weekend was frustrating for Hanks and his team as they battled handling issues at the quarter-mile oval.
“I’ve been using the same 360 car all year,” he said. “We were doing really good and had fast cars. Ever since the race at Timberline Speedway (last month) things have fallen off. When the tracks start changing and getting slick the car has no forward drive, no side bit, no anything. We were changing shocks and bars. I felt like we changed everything but the numbers. At Creek County we finally shed some light on what our problem has been.”
It wasn’t without a few dramatic changes throughout the weekend, which began on Friday with Hanks advancing from sixth to fourth place in a heat race before he won a qualifier. That locked him into the eighth starting position for the main event.
“I was about ninth or 10th for about 12 laps,” he said. “I was able to hold my own on the top for a while. The longer the race went the worse I got. I couldn’t run the bottom.”
Hanks faded to a 20th-place result.
The trouble continued on Saturday as Hanks placed eighth in a heat race and was relegated to starting at the back of a B Main.
“The car was just awful,” he said. “(J-R1 Founder) Jerry Russell was at Creek County and saw what I had been talking about. He waved his magic wand before the B Main and it worked. We finally got the right help with some experience. We started figuring things out at the end of Saturday night. I think it was multiple problems that were adding up to a big problem. We kept finding out little by little as the night went on.”
Hanks rallied to finish sixth in the consolation race. That forced him to use a provisional to tag the back of the field in the main event. Hanks maneuvered from 24th into ninth place by the midpoint of the race before he ended 14th.
He is slated to wrap up his season this Friday and Saturday at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark., for the Flip Flop 50 with the USCS Series.
QUICK RESULTS –
Nov. 4 – Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, Okla. – Heat race: 4 (6); Qualifier: 1 (1); Feature: 20 (8).
Nov. 5 – Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, Okla. – Heat race: 8 (8); B Main: 6 (12); Feature: 14 (24).
SEASON STATS –
45 races, 4 wins, 12 top fives, 20 top 10s, 25 top 15s, 34 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark., for the Flip Flop 50 with the USCS Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.HanksMotorsports.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Brandon_K_Hanks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hanks-Motorsports/135263046488177
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Walls Paint and Body Shop
Walls Paint and Body Shop is an auto repair and paint business located in Covington, Tenn.
“They’ve been good friends of ours since I was a kid,” Hanks said. “I want to thank them for everything they have done and for making the cars look incredible every year.”
Hanks would also like to thank D&B Farms, Performance Powder Coating, R.E. Enterprises, Wesmar Racing Engines, Penske Racing Shocks, Acme Graphix, Hinchman Racewear, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems and J-R1 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 Nov 08, 2016
- Article Date: 11/8/2016 by Inside Line Promotions