OPENING DAY 2009
So here we go again... Over the winter we didn't do a whole lot with the car other than
reconstruct the motor which had expired at the Harvest Classic last year, move a few
plumbing items around, and repaint (of course). As it was, we were down to the wire with
the painting, but we actually fired the motor the week before the race!!! (some sort of
record for the team). As if that wasn't enough, we were at Madera on Friday before the
race to shake down the chassis and make sure we had the leaks taken care of - yet
ANOTHER first for the beginning of the year!!! All of this is due in no small part to the
dedication of the team (Joe Todd, and Joel) as well as Dutcher Racing Engines - thanks
Pat! Anyway, testing went OK Friday, but we had one rather persistent leak that required
us to head back to the shop...well, there were tires to mount and decals to apply
anyway..:) The best news of the week was that we rolled the car back into the trailer
with new rubber and ready to go at a bit before 2AM, which is yet another record, and
almost embarrassing. Next thing we knew, it was off to Madera!
On to the race...
Well we got to the track and got set up and ready to fire the car. Expecting no problems
(Friday had been perfect), we pushed off, but nothing happened...not a pop, snort, or
anything...it appeared we had a bit of a fuel malfunction and reprimed everything, but it
wasn't enough - not so much as a whisper came from the new motor... After some
amount of gyration, we figured out it was likely the fuel pump and set about replacing the
offending unit with our spare. As we soon found out, the spare and the main-line part
were pretty much totally not alike, which required modification to the drive stub and the
pump shaft - Thanks again to Pat for the expertise and the #5 team for use of the tools!
After that bit of madness, we rolled up to the line for Practice #1.
Practice was fairly uneventful - we cruised in the first session just checking gauges and
looking for trouble with the motor. Everything was working pretty well and the motor felt
very strong - hooray!! In the second session we opened it up with all new rubber and
what a difference! We were running in 13.6's which posted us 4th fast in class following El
Senor Tuey, Kenny Kinchen, and El Guapo del Norte, Mr. Tatro... The chassis was pretty
good and the car was totally drivable.
We fooled around with the tires a little bit for qualifying, but that was about it. The car
was almost too neutral... Our first qualifying run of 2009 landed us at 4th fast with a
13.672. Good enough for the dash! Grandpa D was quick at 13.402, followed by KK with
a .485 and Tatro with a .504.
When we lined up for the dash, the track got it a little wrong and put me at off pole and
Tatro on pole - backwards from the way it should have been...Tuey pulled in with a
malfunction and after reviewing the start, I think I may have actually dozed off when the
green fell...anyway, Tatro and KK blew by and then KK made a move on Lance and thats
how we ended up.
In the Heat races they separated the 360's and 410's which landed us an outside pole
position with Willie Northamer (driving the Harvest Supply #15), on the inside. As soon
as we got pointed sort of towards turn 4 we blasted away and beat the 15 into turn 1 and
never looked back. Kinchen pulled up on the inside a few times, but after clobbering the
left side headers and adding another set of 'bead lock notches' to the same nerf as last
year, he went spinning off in the dirt at turn 4. When the race resumed, it was Lance and
Lance followed by, well, everyone else...lol. The remainder of the heat race was great
fun...Tatro was shoving his nose underneath, but there was nothing on the bottom and we
were able to keep our momentum for the last 4 or 5 laps and finally got another heat win
- YAY!...Not a bad day so far...even though we still had a bit of a heat problem to deal
with.
For the Main, we started outside pole again with Willie in the inside. The start was just a
little crazy (I'm not sure the car was ever really pointed down the front straight) and beat
Willie into 1... and then we were off. The car was flying until the yellow was out. The
beautiful 72 car of Lance T was facing the wrong way at the entry to turn one with all
manner of pieces scattered about and busted up. Lance was OK, but you'd really have to
see the car in order to appreciate the magnitude of the crash... As we rode around under
yellow, I thought we had the heating problem solved, but as soon as the green was out I
found out we just were not getting enough cooling. We dropped a couple of spots as I
tried to find some way to run that allowed the motor to cool just a bit... after 27 laps, I
decided it would be much wiser to live to fight another day, so we pulled in and called it
done. A few laps later, Troy Regier went into the turn one wall like a freight train and Jim
Birges went on the win the 410 part of the show, with Dave T winning the 360 class. The
good news is that I think we found the heating malfunction so everyone had better start to
take notice of the 18 car...
A gigantic thank you to Joel, Todd, and Joe for the hours and hours of work, and I think
we still may be onto something...LOL
Also, a big thank you to all the fans that braved the cold to come watch us play :)
Be sure and tell Madera Speedway who you're coming to watch! (Fan Survey)
Lance Jackson
So here we go again... Over the winter we didn't do a whole lot with the car other than
reconstruct the motor which had expired at the Harvest Classic last year, move a few
plumbing items around, and repaint (of course). As it was, we were down to the wire with
the painting, but we actually fired the motor the week before the race!!! (some sort of
record for the team). As if that wasn't enough, we were at Madera on Friday before the
race to shake down the chassis and make sure we had the leaks taken care of - yet
ANOTHER first for the beginning of the year!!! All of this is due in no small part to the
dedication of the team (Joe Todd, and Joel) as well as Dutcher Racing Engines - thanks
Pat! Anyway, testing went OK Friday, but we had one rather persistent leak that required
us to head back to the shop...well, there were tires to mount and decals to apply
anyway..:) The best news of the week was that we rolled the car back into the trailer
with new rubber and ready to go at a bit before 2AM, which is yet another record, and
almost embarrassing. Next thing we knew, it was off to Madera!
On to the race...
Well we got to the track and got set up and ready to fire the car. Expecting no problems
(Friday had been perfect), we pushed off, but nothing happened...not a pop, snort, or
anything...it appeared we had a bit of a fuel malfunction and reprimed everything, but it
wasn't enough - not so much as a whisper came from the new motor... After some
amount of gyration, we figured out it was likely the fuel pump and set about replacing the
offending unit with our spare. As we soon found out, the spare and the main-line part
were pretty much totally not alike, which required modification to the drive stub and the
pump shaft - Thanks again to Pat for the expertise and the #5 team for use of the tools!
After that bit of madness, we rolled up to the line for Practice #1.
Practice was fairly uneventful - we cruised in the first session just checking gauges and
looking for trouble with the motor. Everything was working pretty well and the motor felt
very strong - hooray!! In the second session we opened it up with all new rubber and
what a difference! We were running in 13.6's which posted us 4th fast in class following El
Senor Tuey, Kenny Kinchen, and El Guapo del Norte, Mr. Tatro... The chassis was pretty
good and the car was totally drivable.
We fooled around with the tires a little bit for qualifying, but that was about it. The car
was almost too neutral... Our first qualifying run of 2009 landed us at 4th fast with a
13.672. Good enough for the dash! Grandpa D was quick at 13.402, followed by KK with
a .485 and Tatro with a .504.
When we lined up for the dash, the track got it a little wrong and put me at off pole and
Tatro on pole - backwards from the way it should have been...Tuey pulled in with a
malfunction and after reviewing the start, I think I may have actually dozed off when the
green fell...anyway, Tatro and KK blew by and then KK made a move on Lance and thats
how we ended up.
In the Heat races they separated the 360's and 410's which landed us an outside pole
position with Willie Northamer (driving the Harvest Supply #15), on the inside. As soon
as we got pointed sort of towards turn 4 we blasted away and beat the 15 into turn 1 and
never looked back. Kinchen pulled up on the inside a few times, but after clobbering the
left side headers and adding another set of 'bead lock notches' to the same nerf as last
year, he went spinning off in the dirt at turn 4. When the race resumed, it was Lance and
Lance followed by, well, everyone else...lol. The remainder of the heat race was great
fun...Tatro was shoving his nose underneath, but there was nothing on the bottom and we
were able to keep our momentum for the last 4 or 5 laps and finally got another heat win
- YAY!...Not a bad day so far...even though we still had a bit of a heat problem to deal
with.
For the Main, we started outside pole again with Willie in the inside. The start was just a
little crazy (I'm not sure the car was ever really pointed down the front straight) and beat
Willie into 1... and then we were off. The car was flying until the yellow was out. The
beautiful 72 car of Lance T was facing the wrong way at the entry to turn one with all
manner of pieces scattered about and busted up. Lance was OK, but you'd really have to
see the car in order to appreciate the magnitude of the crash... As we rode around under
yellow, I thought we had the heating problem solved, but as soon as the green was out I
found out we just were not getting enough cooling. We dropped a couple of spots as I
tried to find some way to run that allowed the motor to cool just a bit... after 27 laps, I
decided it would be much wiser to live to fight another day, so we pulled in and called it
done. A few laps later, Troy Regier went into the turn one wall like a freight train and Jim
Birges went on the win the 410 part of the show, with Dave T winning the 360 class. The
good news is that I think we found the heating malfunction so everyone had better start to
take notice of the 18 car...
A gigantic thank you to Joel, Todd, and Joe for the hours and hours of work, and I think
we still may be onto something...LOL
Also, a big thank you to all the fans that braved the cold to come watch us play :)
Be sure and tell Madera Speedway who you're coming to watch! (Fan Survey)
Lance Jackson
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| OPENING DAY / SUPER SATURDAY #1 (APRIL 04, 2009) |
Lap Times and Results |
| T-SHIRTS!!!! Take a look at our artwork on the new LeftTurn Motorsports T-Shirts. Shirts are available at the races, or you can email us for alternate options. |