Sideways at
Mosport
June 13th, 2009 -
Arnprior,
Ontario.
Round 1 of the
Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup found the team at Mosport Speedway for
the Grand Prix Kartways 100. The Schneiders Hot Rod #82
was unloaded and hit the track. The car was loose in
practice so the team opted for a alittle less stagger in the tires
and got ready for qualifying. Dave ran a 23.08 which was
1/100th faster than last years qualifying time. "The car
was crazy loose - we were sideways halfway down the front
straight, it turned really well, just too loose off the corner"
stated Dave. Dave qualified the car in 7th spot and with the
top 10 cars inverted he would start the car on the outside of row
2. "The story of my life is starting on the outside"
Dave laughed. "I'd give anything to get on the inside
line, it's so hard to run the outside and your kind of a sitting
duck out here".
When the checker
flag dropped the field of 18 cars roared into turn 1 and sure
enough the inside line started to move past the outside
groove. Dave fought hard on the outside and finally found a
hole on the low groove and slid into 9th spot. The car was
still loose and tail of the car slid out off each corner
especially loose off of turn 4. "The car was turning
really well, I just couldn't put the power down off the corner
without the tail sliding out." Dave fought his way
through the race narrowly missing numerous wrecks and fought his
way to finish 5th in the first race.
The team made
a few adjustments to try and tighten the car up for the second
race. Dave started on the outside of row 3 for the 2nd
race. "We went too far the other way" laughed Dave
"the car was too tight in the centre and just wouldn't turn -
we are running a new set up and it's very, very sensitive.
We ended up 7th and we're planning on doing a few tests in Ottawa
to try and figure out our adjustments and get a really solid baseline
for the year".
The teams
next race is at Peterborough Speedway on July 11th, Dave finished
2nd there last year and have high expectations for a great result.
