(Photo by Rusty Pothier)
Inside Line Promotions – BELGRADE, Mont. (Sept. 12, 2018) – Cody Masse rallied to score his career-best 360ci winged sprint car feature finish during his season finale with the ASCS Frontier Region last Friday at Gallatin Speedway. His effort secured a runner-up finish in the championship standings as well as awarded him the region’s Rookie of the Year honor.
A charge from fifth to second place in his heat race got Masse off to a strong start.
“I got a good start on the bottom of the track in my heat race and made it to third,” he said. “I was able to later move to second, which is where I finished.
“I kind of surprised myself. I went into the heat thinking about my motor that’s been sitting for two weeks. I was hoping it would make it through the heat because we had to survive the heat race or else we wouldn’t get our feature points, which we needed to hold onto our position in the point standings. The next thing I knew we were running in second so it was kind of surprising.”
Masse’s heat race performance made him the high-point driver of the evening for just the second time in his career. He advanced into the feature redraw and pulled the No. 3 to line up on the inside of the second row for the A Main.
“I was able to draw the No. 3 for my starting position in the feature, which I was pretty happy with,” he said.
Masse’s good fortune appeared to end once the evening’s main event began.
“At the start of the race I rolled the bottom because the car was really good during the warm-up laps down there and I thought that would be the line to run,” he said. “But it turned out to be awful. I couldn’t hold the car on the bottom and it was sliding out on every corner. The next thing I knew I had fallen back from third to about eighth. It was almost a carbon copy of my last race at Belgrade, where I started up front and fell back.”
A decision to change his racing line proved timely for Masse.
“I finally decided to get off the bottom,” he said. “It felt like I was there forever, but it was probably only for about six or seven laps. I moved to the top, which was about perfect timing because it was just starting to take rubber. So I got lucky and was able to drive by most of the guys who had passed me earlier. I was back to sixth when we had our only caution with about six laps to go.
“When the race restarted, most of the guys in front of me went back to the bottom and I was able to wind it around some of them on the top in the rubber and got back to fourth, which is where I finished. I just need to get the start of the races right. When you put yourself in a hole, it’s tough to come back.”
QUICK RESULTS –
Sept. 7 – Gallatin Speedway in Belgrade, Mont. – Heat race: 2 (5); Feature: 4 (3).
SEASON STATS –
15 races, 0 wins, 2 top fives, 5 top 10s, 9 top 15s, 15 top 20s
MEDIA LINKS –
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cody_Masse
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Masse-Racing-244487932229555/
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – D.A. Building Systems
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"D.A. Building Systems Ltd. has been a longtime supporter of Masse Racing,” Masse said. “Their performance based, family-driven business values make them the perfect partner for our race team."
Masse would also like to thank DaVinci Signs, Beaches Pub and Grill, Canadian Tire Lethbridge South, RE/MAX-Gary Klassen, Dunlop Ford, Critical Hazard, Silver Automotive, Flaman Rentals, Royal Taxi, C.E.P. Automotive, Noble Powder Coating, Kustom Auto Body, AMSOIL and Kawneer Lethbridge 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 Sep 12, 2018
- Article Date: 9/12/2018 by Inside Line Promotions