Double duty called for Geoff Ensign last Saturday night and the 21 year old wheelman had to adjust on the fly when the Hoosier Tire California 360 Civil War Sprint Car Series and the Joe Hunt Magneto Wingless Sprint Car Series converged on the race car blender that is Placerville Speedway last Saturday night. With rides in both divisions, and Ensign sitting second in Civil War points, The Human Highlight Reel’s night was never boring.
In the order it happened:
Driving Ted Finkenbinder’s Western Industrial X-Ray/Les Schwab Tires #3f Wingless Sprint Car, Ensign drove from 8th and last in his heat race to 2nd, the finish slotting him on the outside of the fourth row for the A Main Event, but the story was his starting spot: “I got there (pill draw) and said I had to draw two pills, one for each division. Someone told me I didn’t draw for the Wingless, so I just went back to the pits after drawing for the 83v. I looked at the lineups when they were posted, and I started last. I went to the official and asked why…You didn’t draw a pill.” Ensign explained with a laugh.
Driving Dave Vertullo’s Starr Property Management/North County Plastering #83v 360 Sprint Car, Ensign would qualify 15th of the 35 that qualified and he would finish 2nd after starting from the third position in his heat race featuring a loaded lineup. “Golobic was up in front of me and running the high side. I was going to follow them up there, but then you know you can’t pass anyone by going through them so I stayed on the bottom. Golobic and another car got together and there I was in second. Lucky I didn’t go up there because I’d have been part of it.“ As a result, Ensign found himself 13th on the starting grid for the Civil War Series A Main Event.
Things took a turn for the worse when Ensign switched back to Wingless mode for the A Main. “We had a good starting spot, but coming for the green it was just mayhem in front of me. Cars were everywhere. Since the cars were coming down the track, I bonzai’ed up to the top in hopes they wouldn’t be there when I got there but nothing changed and we got upside down. We broke a front and rear end, but the chassis is still good. We were going to be up front too.” Ensign said, still confident in his Wingless ride. He would officially finish 18th.
Ensign’s 13th starting position for the Civil War portion of the night didn’t reflect how he was feeling about the car. “We were fast all night. The car was just how I liked it going in to the A. I was looking forward to moving forward.” Ensign would stay on the bottom as the race wore on because “I never saw anyone’s nose on the top side and we were good down at the bottom so why move when I was catching people down there?” Ensign would make up five spots from his 13th starting position and end up 8th overall, and as an added bonus, end up on top of Civil War points in a three way tie with Steven Tiner and Sean Becker after two races. “My crew gave me a really fast car tonight. We are coming together even though we haven’t been around each other too much. Too bad we started back so far in the main. The team is only going to get better from here. Hopefully, I can get some tires and we can do it again on Friday night’s 410 deal at Chico." said Ensign.
When asked about his next race, Ensign answered with a question of his own…”Can I get some help with tires? I’ll be there Friday night at Chico for the 410 deal if someone can help me out."
To contact Geoff Ensign, search Geoff Ensign Motorsports or Geoff Ensign on Facebook or email him at geoffensign@rocketmail.com.
- Ron Lingron on May 03, 2011
- Article Date: 5/3/2011