(Image Credit: Ben Thrasher) – 26 Promotions – Peoria, AZ – (March 7th, 2017) – Racing has always been a big part of Clay Sprau’s life. Since 1974 his grandparents, Jerry and Millie Martin, have owned and raced Sprint Cars throughout the Midwest and West coast. As a teenager, he was given the opportunity to hot lap a sprint car and showed great potential. As Sprau grew up, racing had to take a backseat to everyday responsibilities, but, in 2013 Sprau earned the opportunity to compete in Nissan’s GT Academy where he would finish 6th. Now, after buying a Micro Sprint of his own in November, he is ready to tackle the Power 600 Series in Arizona.
Sprau’s rookie season got underway Saturday night at Canyon Speedway Park. Having the rookie designation and running for Rookie of the Year honors meant that Sprau would have to start at the tail end of his heat race.
“I started 7th and moved up to 5th in the first couple laps,” Sprau said. “Then I made a couple of mistakes and fell back to 7th. I was able to get back to 6th on the last lap.”
That result would force Sprau to run the “B” Main where he would start 5th and grab the last transfer spot about halfway through.
He’d start 20th in the 20 lap Feature.
“I went into the Feature with the mindset ‘Don’t make mistakes’” he said. “When the first caution came out (at about halfway) I was running 16th.”
Sprau would go on to finish 13th in his debut and pick up the Beaver Stripes Hard Charger Award.
“The car had a good base setup so we never really made any adjustments. I was focused on learning how to drive the car” he said. “I completed every lap, transferred from the B Main and earned the Hard Charger Award, which was pretty special for my first race.”
Sprau’s next race is March 11th at Canyon Speedway Park and will be the first time Sprau runs without the wings.
Results:
Heat: 7th -> 6th
“B” Main: 5th -> 4th
Feature: 20th -> 13th
Featured Partner: Millie Martin
Sprau wanted to take this opportunity to thank his grandma, Millie Martin, for all her support through all his racing achievements.
“She has always been there to support our racing,” said Sprau.
- Darren Ward on Mar 21, 2017
- Article Date: 3/7/2017 by 26 Promotions