(Image: Ben Thrasher)
26 Promotions – Peoria, AZ – (April 2, 2019) Colton Hardy once again showcased his talent Friday and Saturday in Peoria, Arizona as he picked up yet another sprint car win with the ASCS Desert Sprint Car Series, meanwhile sweeping the weekend in the Arizona Micro Sprints portion of the Sunset Showdown.
The festivities would begin Friday evening as Hardy would climb behind the wheel of the A&C Remodeling No. 41 Micro Sprint for some heat race action. He would move quickly in just six laps, marching his way from sixth to pick up the victory.
“I drew the 5th starting position for the main event,” said Hardy. “We kind of got shuffled back to sixth or seventh on the start and slowly worked our way through the field. We got to third by about lap 8 or 9 and I was working the top in (turns) three and four and started getting some runs at the leaders. It felt like we went third to first almost instantly after catching them. After that, I just ran my race and sealed the deal picking up the win.”
For Hardy, this was just the beginning of a remarkable weekend as he would also be aboard the Dave Burkhart-owned No. 22AZ ASCS Desert Sprint Car.
“We were okay to start off the night,” explained Hardy. “We had to fix some gremlins with the motor after the heat which is why we were only able to mount a sixth-to-fourth charge.”
With the top eight making the redraw, Hardy would roll off from the fifth position for the 25-lap feature. After polishing a few early mistakes, Hardy moved to the front of the field quickly, soon finding himself running second with just a handful of laps remaining. Hardy would soon run out of laps, however, and have to settle for a second-place finish.
“I had a few shots at the lead that I just didn’t take,” said Hardy. “We had a car capable of winning night one, but it just didn’t pan out that way.”
Saturday would bring confidence to Hardy and both of his teams, where action picked up right where it left off with Micro Sprints hitting the track once again for another set of six-lap heat races.
“We didn’t start off as well Saturday, going 3rd to 2nd in the heat with an ill-handling race car,” held Hardy. “I drew the pole for the feature and we had a pretty good car. It got free toward the end, but we were able to hold off some late-race charges from a couple of guys to hold on to sweep the Micro portion of the weekend.”
Hardy had one last chance to better his result from the night prior aboard the No. 22AZ for Dave Burkhart. The night would begin with a disappointing heat race, setting up some adversity for the young Arizona native.
“I started fifth in the heat and couldn’t go anywhere,” mentioned Hardy. “We started 10th in the main event and just slowly started picking cars off and got to second with maybe eight laps to go. I didn’t think we were going to get him and have a shot to race for the win, but he got held up on a lapper just enough where I was able to get a run and show him my nose.”
Similar to the night before, Hardy was quickly running low on lap count and the pressure was on as the white flag waved with Hardy on the leader’s bumper with a lapped car taking up the real estate at the top of turn one.
“I just prayed for the best and split the lapper in the middle of the corner and was maybe two car lengths back getting into (turn) three on the top and I just went for it. It all worked out somehow and I got a huge run coming out of four and edged him out at the checker by a front tire,” explained a very excited Colton Hardy.
The margin of victory was just 0.026 seconds over Joshua Shipley, making it one of the closest finishes that Canyon Speedway Park has ever seen.
Hardy was able to sum up the weekend with this. “Being able to leave with three wins and a second goes to show how hard everyone works. I can’t thank my Mom, Dad, Nate, Nikki, Randy, Blade, and everyone else for helping. I especially can’t thank Mr. Dave Burkhart enough for giving me the opportunity to drive his car. It was a weekend I sure won’t forget anytime soon.”
Colton Hardy will be back behind the wheel this Saturday, April 6th, at Arizona Speedway in the San Tan Ford ASCS Desert Sprint Car Series in Mike Waddle’s No. 25.
Colton Hardy would like to thank A & C Remodeling, NPS Race Engines, Hyper Racing, Engler Machine & Tools, Diamond Mechanical, CSI Shocks, Bandit Racing, TWS Electric, Asphalt Restoration, Advantage Glass & Storefront, JFR, Highline Clothing Co., Marks Nuts, Bolts, & Surplus, and ARC Powdercoat for their support.
Results
Micro Sprint - Friday
Heat: 6th -> 1st
Feature: 5th -> 1st
Micro Sprint – Saturday
Heat: 3rd -> 2nd
Feature: 1st -> 1st
Sprint Car – Friday
Heat: 6th -> 4th
Feature: 5th -> 2nd
Sprint Car – Saturday
Heat: 5th -> 5th
Feature: 10th -> 1st
Stats
Races: 12
Wins: 4
Top 5’s: 6
Top 10’s: 10
Driver 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/
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- Darren Ward on Apr 02, 2019
- Article Date: 4/2/2019 by 26 Promotions