Last night after my race at Illiana my grandpa said, "All you can do is your best."  That has been a very important thought for me the way my last couple races have gone.   

 

The nine Focus cars and six Kenyons ran together once again last night at the track in northern Indiana.  The Focus cars have about 60 hp more than the K-cars.  I qualified sixth fastest overall at a 16.259 (second fastest Kenyon) which would put me on the pole for the feature, but I'll get to that later. 

 

I started second in the eight-lap heat race and about three laps in I got a great run off turn two and passed for the lead.  I stayed in front the rest of the way for the victory. 

 

So from my pole position starting spot in the feature I led the first couple laps before getting passed by a couple of the faster Focus cars and settled into third.   About 15 laps into the race I was still running third overall, and leading the Kenyon class, when something happened to my car.  It was like a switch was flipped and my engine just bogged down.  I pressed on the gas but the car didn't want to go.  It was like it had slipped out of gear or something but it was still in gear.  Then suddenly, the car just took off again.  Unfortunately though, four or five Focus cars had zoomed by me and the second place Kenyon car (84) was right behind me. 

 

Just short of the halfway point in the race, a red flag came out because of an accident.  When we got the green flag I led the next couple of laps and then got passed by the 84 and he took off.  I just didn't have the speed to stay with him on the straightaway but with about 10 laps to go another yellow came out and on the restart I got up beside the 84 on the outside and ran around the top for a lap and then tried to pull the crossover to pass on the inside, but as I was doing so I clipped the curb and spun around.  It was a gamble I had to take but it didn't pay off and now there were only 5 laps to go in the race and I was restarting last.  I told myself to forget about what happened and try to make up as many spots as I could.  I did just that and passed two cars right off the restart and then going through turn four coming to the checkered I passed three cars and wound up third.  If I would have had another half a lap I could have passed the second place Kenyon and been runner- up, but third is better than last.

 

The way I came back showed me how much better I've gotten since my first year of Kenyon racing.  If that had happened my first year, or maybe even last year,  I probably would have let the accident get into my head and I wouldn't have been focused enough to come back through the field.  But I know that every spot counts and there's nothing you can do about what happened so you just have to focus forward, and that's what I did.

 

Incredibly there are only three races left in the 2009 season.  My next race is Saturday August 15th at Grundy County Speedway in Illinois.  It's another flat track which haven't been our strength this season but I am determined to change that come next Saturday.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

-Dillon

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