Stephen and I were able to get a good dinner in after the first day of racing and also we came back to the venue to take a look at the course till the hail started falling. Also we were surprisingly home much earlier then we usually are from races and were able to review all of our 1st day video as well as get a decent night of sleep.
Morning came much quicker then we thought and we were out the door in a blur with all of our personal belongings since we had to check out as well. It looked like it had rained all night so it looked like it was going to be a very interesting day since we love to race in the rain.
We wanted to make sure we got some food in our stomachs so that we wouldn't get hungry half way through our run group so we headed to a hearty breakfast then to the track.
Since the car was pretty much setup from the previous day, we check the adjustment of the REAR shock and went to go walk the course till then dragged us off the course and told us to get in the grid.
There was lots of buzz in the STS section of the grid, it was a close race and the weather was going to make it challenging. Over night it had pretty much poured all night with intermittent hail. but luckily the rain stopped and the ground was just wet, since the sun had not come out completely yet it dident start drying.
Both our first runs were in the complete wet and we put down respectable times but quite a bit behind Kevin McCormick. Our second runs the ground started to dry and we were re evaluating some line changes to keep the tires in the dry without sacrificing time. Stephens 2nd run was able to put him in the 1st place spot after 2nd runs. By the time our 3rd runs came the surfance had really dried up and it looked like it was going to be a one hit wonder day. UNfortunately Stephen caught and early cone and forced him to have to stand on his 2nd run time as his fastest. The times continued to drop as more cars went out and I was the second to the last car to go out right behind Kevin McCormick. By the time I reached the start lines I looked over and the grid had all eyes on us and it was nice to see a lot of my team mates there anxiously waiting to see how my run was going to be. So as the story was told to me Kevin came in with a blazing fast time and the announcer Kevin Dietz was calling it all over and then I came into the finish with a time 0.3 seconds faster and I went crazy when i heard him announce my name as 1st place, and in the background I could hear the cheering of the crowd as well. As I returned to the grid everyone was headed toward the car clapping and thumbs up. I jumped out of the car and ran to Stephen in excitement of my first 1st place finish at the SD National Tour.
For the rest of the day I was on cloud nine. I cant thank my co-driver Stephen Yeoh enough for all of his guidance and leadership though the last 2 seasons and cant wait to continue our journey of the "Road to Topeka" without you stephen I would still be braking too early, turning to hard and missing 8 out of 10 apex's.
A deep felt thanks also goes out to all of our sponsors new and old:
International Allstars
Lucas Oil Racing
Hyper16valvE
South Coast Performance
JLB Motorsports
Rally Innovations
Sighren Graphics
..and for all the people that have made this project happen over the last year we thank you, you know who you are...
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