First of all, apologies for slacking on the race reports...as you may know, I am also a full-time farmer in the Central Valley of California and this past May has been one of our most challenging on record. The good news is that we managed to get through it and we're back on track...so on to the Merced report!
Well, before the report, I need to thank my wife, Tamara, for keeping my team smiling all day with some fantastic food! And of course, a huge thank you to Todd Walters (crew chief), Dave Keyser (tires and "stuff") for working their butts off on Saturday. I'd like to thank Mark Ekberg for coming out and helping us with everything on Saturday....that was fantastic! Also, a big thank you to Travis Stark for making all of this possible, and to our great sponsors; Lucas Oil, KW Automotive, Spy Optics, TecSpec, Pit Posse, Ogio, Ryno Power, and GoPro!
After resolving he steering issues we had at the last Hanford race (that kept us out of the Main), it was good to head back up to Merced and get out on the track. It was cool and windy, but we were lucky enough to be one of the only places in California where it wasn't raining!
Hot laps went pretty well; the car and engine were working great and the track was in unbelievable condition considering it had been under water 5 days earlier. We went back out for qualifying and I am just missed my timing a little bit with us ending up 12th with a 13.119. Quick time was a 12.477 and everyone was again qualified within less than a second. We started 6th in our heat and made a little bit of progress gaining one spot to 5th, but missing 4th when I "might" have missed a restart.
For the Main, it was getting pretty cold and we threw the entire kitchen, sink and all, at the car. When we got on track, it was digging so well at the start that I may have blown up a nose wing on someone's rear bumper going into turn 1 at the start of the race. We were starting in 13th position, and after a caution on lap 2, I went to the work area to make sure there wasn't any serious damage; everything checked out and we got back on track. After the restart, I found some pretty good grip down at the very bottom of the track, and started moving through the field. I believe I was up to about 9th when I decided to try driving over the berm in turn 3/4 which didn't work out so well and pretty much ended up with me spun backwards and hung up on a pile of dirt... So back to the rear and another restart; a few other guys had started running on the bottom as well, and we starting to move back up. We had completed a pass with about 5 laps remaining when the 5 car of Mauro Simone got into the back straight wall and pretty much tore down the fence - thus ending the night a leaving us with another 10th place finish...which was a little disappointing, but we did learn a lot - just like every other race this season.
We'll be back in action on Saturday, June 1st at the Kings County Fair in Hanford, CA....be sure to come by after the races and say Hi!!
- Lance Jackson on May 30, 2019
- Article Date: 5/27/2019 by Lance Jackson