| Considering how the day
went, a fifth place finish was a pretty good run. It could have been much worse. Practice
was limited to only two 30 minute sessions. The primary car had the motor go soft in the
first practice. The crew rolled out the back-up and got to work setting it up. Ben Rowe
set the pace in time trials with a 13.997. Spots 4 to 9 were from a 14.134 to a 14.184 -
with the #54 in 7th at a 14.167. The Dash went poorly when the rear tire bleeder values were swapped left to
right and the right rear wound up with barely any air. A 10th place finish was the result.
The starting from the fifth row in the feature put
Johnny in the wrong place at the wrong time when the 4th place car started a tangle on
lap13 and the #54 crashed into the mess and stove in the front end. A visit to the pits to
pound the hood down and apply a ton of tape left the #54 back in 18th on the restart.
Progress through the field saw Johnny in 7th on lap 31, 6th on lap 69, and into
5th on lap 76. But the #54 couldn't match the speed of the leading 4 cars, and
Johnny went a lap down on the 123rd circuit. A little extra drama came from a smoking car
that looked like it might be oiling down the track too.
In the points chase, Ben pulls some breathing room on the next three while Johnny
has Cassius Clark coming up fast, only 2 points out of third postion.
B. Rowe 2588 - M. Rowe 2566 - J. Clark 2554 - C. Clark 2552. |
