(Image Credit: Ben Thrasher)
26 Promotions – Queen Creek, AZ – (July 6th, 2017) – Colton Hardy racked up the mileage last week traveling across northern California racing his Micro Sprint in the third annual California Speedweek before heading home for the ASCS Southwest Region’s Tribute to Steve Stroud.
“If I had to describe this year’s California Speedweek is a few words, ‘it was a learning curve’”, said Hardy. “At the start of the year we went away from what we knew worked alright, we were quick enough but not that stupid quick we want. We were happy with the speed the cars had but knew we could get them better so that’s what we strived to do this year. My dad, Jake and I knew this was going to be the real test of what we did with the competition level there is.”
Hardy’s week kicked off on Tuesday at Dixon Speedway for the first night of CA Speedweek. Entered in both the Non-Wing and Super 600 divisions, Hardy qualified thirteenth in Non-Wing lining him up on the outside of the front row for his heat. He would fall back to third before over driving the car and spinning out. His seventh-place finish in the heat meant he would have to transfer through the semi. Hardy started fifth in the semi and fell just short of the transfer spot.
In Super 600 action, Hardy qualified thirty-first placing him seventh to start his heat. He picked up one position in the heat to finish sixth and would again have to go through the semi to make the feature. Hardy worked his way through the field in the semi to grab the last transfer spot for the thirty-lap feature. Hardy started twenty-third in the feature and managed his way to a thirteenth-place finish to close out night one.
Delta Speedway hosted night two of CA Speedweek. Hardy qualified fifteenth in Non-Wing, he started and finished a close second in his heat. That locked him into the feature where he started fourteenth and ran as high as eighth before finishing in tenth.
Hardy struggled in the Super 600 division, qualifying thirty-fourth. Starting and finishing seventh in his heat, Hardy had to run a semi to try to transfer into the show. Hardy started tenth in the semi but was only able to get up to seventh, missing the transfer spot in the wing car.
Thursday offered an off day for the teams to head south to Visalia for Friday night’s races at Plaza Park Raceway.
Night three of CA Speedweek saw Hardy qualify thirtieth in Non-Wing, placing him eighth to start his heat. Hardy moved up to fourth quickly, but a fuel pick up issue caused him to have to pull into the infield. Hardy started ninth in the semi but was unable to move forward as cars raced side by side, finishing sixth.
Hardy qualified thirty-third in the Super 600 division. Started seventh in his heat and got stuck behind slower traffic to finish sixth. After starting seventh in the semi, Hardy was up to about fifth when the temperature gauge spiked. Hardy made the decision to save the motor and pull the car in ending his Speedweek.
“It sucks the performance we had. We know the cars were better than the results show, but sometimes that’s just racing. We have stuff to build off of for the future and we know we are going in the right direction with what we did,” said Hardy. “I can’t thank my dad, Jake, and Cameron enough. They are the behind the scene guys that don’t get noticed. They bust their butt making sure the cars are good and I just have the opportunity to drive them. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here doing half this stuff.”
For the second straight year, Hardy departed California Speedweek a day early to travel back to Arizona for an ASCS Southwest Region event. Hardy entered the Steve Stroud Tribute race Saturday night with a nineteen-point advantage in the series standings and looked to put the past week of Micro racing behind him.
Hardy started on the outside of the front row for his heat. He quickly took the lead and checked out from the field going on to win by over five seconds.
Locked into the feature redraw, Hardy drew the two to start the twenty-five-lap event on the outside of the front row.
Hardy quickly jumped out to the lead and stayed there, leading every lap on his way to his second ASCS Southwest Region win of the season and extending his points lead to sixty-one.
“It feels good to pick up another win right in the middle of the season. Hopefully, we can carry it on through the rest of the year,” he said. “I can’t thank Nate, AJ, Ted, Randy, and Aaron enough for getting the car ready while I was in California.”
Next up for Hardy is a two-day event in Las Cruces, New Mexico at Southern New Mexico Speedway with the ASCS Southwest Region on May 28th and 29th.
Colton Hardy would like to thank Diamond Mechanical, M & J Trophies, Mark’s Nuts & Bolts, Elite Technical Coatings, CSI Shocks, F.S.C, NAPA Auto & Truck Parts, Borrello Race Engines, A & C Remodeling, Engler Machine & Tools and Simpson Race Products for their continued support of the Sprint Car and he would like to thank A & C Remodeling, NPS Race Engines, Engler Machine and Tool, CSI Shocks, Schoenfeld Headers, Hyper Racing, Bandit Racing, M & J Trophies and Apparel, Mark’s Nuts and Bolts, Diamond Mechanical and Napa Auto Parts for their continued support of the Micro.
Dixon Results
Non-Wing
Qualifying: 13th, 11.891
Heat: 2nd -> 7th
B Main: 5th -> 5th
Super 600
Qualifying: 31st, 12.218
Heat: 7th -> 6th
B Main: 7th -> 3rd
Feature: 23rd -> 13th
Delta Results
Non-Wing
Qualifying: 15th, 10.908
Heat: 2nd -> 2nd
Feature: 14th -> 10th
Super 600
Qualifying: 34th, 11.130
Heat: 7th -> 7th
B Main: 10th -> 7th
Plaza Park Results
Non-Wing
Qualifying: 30th, No Time Available
Heat: 6th -> 9th
B Main: 9th -> 6th
Super 600
Qualifying: 33rd, 12.344
Heat: 7th -> 6th
B Main: 7th -> 12th
Arizona Speedway Results
Heat: 2nd -> 1st
Feature: 2nd -> 1st
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colton.hardy41
Twitter: https://twitter.com/colton_hardy41
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colton_hardy41/
Website: http://www.coltonhardy.com/
- Darren Ward on Jul 06, 2017
- Article Date: 7/6/2017 by 26 Promotions