[i By Bill Sullivan/Sullivan Images Media]
[b ELK GROVE, CA (5-19-10)] – Elk Grove's Billy Strange returned to action behind the wheel of his #28x winged sprint car at Placerville Speedway Saturday to continue his quest to qualify for the upcoming $5000 to win Mark Forni Classic in July at the foothill speedway. To be eligible to race this premier event a driver must race a total of six races at Placerville between the championship series and the visiting Civil War Series.
For Strange, a series of events kept him out of top contention in the fifth Red Hawk Casino championship but the second generation wheelman remained in competition to finish 14th when the checkered flag flew. With the finish, Strange is now just one race away from being eligible for the season's biggest event at the track he calls home.
In qualifying, Strange suffered a misfiring engine which affected his official lap time. His best lap in the preliminary event was 10:985, placing him 18th on the roster for the evening. In the heat race he finished in third place despite the continuing motor problem and the team went to work on the car for the feature event.
"We struggled with engine issue right at the start of qualifying Saturday," said Strange. "It was just perfect timing for something to go wrong. We went to work on it and got it running better for the main. It appears it was a fuel related problem and something like that is hard to diagnose in a quick manner."
In the feature event, Strange started deep in the field in the 17th position. At the waving of the green flag he began his careful quest towards the front of the field but suffered another set back early in the race. With less than 10 laps down, Strange brushed his left front tire with an infield tractor tire as he exited the fourth turn. The collision bent the drag link on the car along with a tie rod and made steering the car difficult for the remainder of the event.
"It was a handful after I made that little mistake," said Strange. "It wasn't a bad finish considering all the problems we had."
This Saturday night Strange returns to Placerville Speedway for his sixth overall event of the year at the track he calls home. After Saturday he will be locked in for the upcoming Forni race in July.
Strange Motorsports has a number of marketing partners that they are thankful for. Among their supporters are QWK Racing Components, ART Enterprises, Rex Hutchison Racing Engines, Kevin Sharrah Designs, Swepco Lubricants, Pronol Race Fuels, MotoWear International, America's Tire, High Country Painting and Amerikote.
To learn more about Billy Strange visit his official website at www.billystrangejr.com.
- Bill Sullivan on May 19, 2010
- Article Date: 5/19/2010