(Photo by Loud Pedal Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 17, 2018) – Caleb Helms is looking forward to a test session on Wednesday as his team will experiment with a handful of different setup options following a frustrating weekend in Central Pennsylvania.
Helms kicked off the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions competition last weekend on Friday at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg with a weird situation following his qualifying laps.
“A car was doing a u-turn in the pits at the scales and I drove around them to avoid an incident,” he said. “As I did that I stopped and was a car length or two past the scales. We backed right up, but they wouldn’t let me scale because technically I missed the scales.”
That forced Helms to start last in a heat race, in which he advanced from ninth to seventh place. He then maneuvered from 15th to 13th place in the B Main before using a provisional to start at the back of the A Main.
“It was a frustrating night, but we made some gains,” he said. “We were probably better than where we ended up. We got some good laps, but we’re still struggling to dial the car in and get me comfortable.”
Helms ended 21st in the main event and he said the struggles continued on Saturday at Port Royal Speedway.
“We lacked a bit in hot laps and we made some changes that got the car a lot better for qualifying,” he said. “I got done running my second lap and thought it was really good, but we were off.”
Helms timed in seventh quickest in his group, which lined him up seventh in a heat race. He placed sixth in a heat race and missed locking into the A Main by two positions. That relegated Helms to the 10th starting position in the B Main.
“We figured more out about the car and got it better for the B Main,” he said. “I passed a few cars early and I was ahead of Gerard McIntyre. I was trying to find where I needed to be on the track when he passed me and another car to get the final transfer position.”
Helms finished fifth in the race, which was one position shy of transferring into the A Main.
The All Star race at Bedford Speedway in Bedford, Pa., on Sunday rained out.
“We’re excited to test this week to try to get better in some of the areas we’ve been struggling with lately,” he said. “This team is working hard to improve.”
The Helms No. 17 is scheduled to return to action this Friday at Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio, for the Core & Main Spring Nationals and Saturday at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio, with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions. However, because of a family wedding on Saturday Cole Duncan will pilot the race car for Helms.
QUICK RESULTS –
April 13 – Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. – Qualifying: No Time; Heat race: 7 (9); B Main: 13 (15); Feature: 21 (25).
April 14 – Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Pa. – Qualifying: 7; Heat race: 6 (7); B Main: 5 (10).
SEASON STATS –
14 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 3 top 10s, 6 top 15s, 7 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio, for the Core & Main Spring Nationals and Saturday at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio, with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://HelmsRacing40.wix.com/HelmsRacing
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Caleb_Helms40
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Helms.Motorsports
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Ferguson
Ferguson sells quality plumbing supplies, HVAC products and building supplies to professional contractors and homeowners. For more information, visit http://www.Ferguson.com.
“We use the Ferguson water works division for our pipe materials, fittings, water line stuff, etc., with our family business,” Helms said. “We are very grateful for their support and look forward to a lot of success together.”
Helms would also like to thank Big Jerk Jerky, Helms Construction Inc., Leiber’s Garage and Helms and Sons Excavating 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 Apr 18, 2018
- Article Date: 4/17/2018 by Inside Line Promotions