With no Late Model race this weekend it was just Kris and Dustin carrying the Jake Keaton Racing torch this week. Jake had originally planned to run in the Hobby Stock division in his red Nova but was unable to repair the brakes in time for raceday. It was a beautiful day at Ona Raceway with temperatures in the low 80s until racetime where got a little chilly for some of us.
Kris went out for the first practice on some brand new tires and just took the session and tried to work them in but he could still tell that the car was gonna be a handful. Kris said the car was loose in, tight in the middle, then loose off so we made a few changes and sent him out for the second practice where he was much faster and consistent but part of that was due to the tires finally coming in. Kris complained of the car being tight from the center off now so we sat down and looked over our notes to decide what our final changes were going to be before the feature event. For the feature event Kris started in the 6th position and going into turn 1 the leader spun up the race track and stopped right in Kris's path. Kris hit the wall with a pretty good impact and at first we thought he had torn the whole wheel assembly off but somehow everything stayed intact and he continued the race. He started on the tail and took it easy for a few laps and fell back some but then once he got comfortable he began to catch the field. He caught the tail of the pack and stayed there but just couldn't pass anyone. He wound up finishing 7th but the car looked good and fast the entire night.
Dustin ran the two practice sessions and found the car to be loose but fast. Dustin started on the tail since he won last week and slowly moved his way up through the field all night. He avoided the lap 1 crash and kept at it until he made it up to the 3rd position where he just couldn't get around to 2nd place car Ike Coleman. Dustin tried many times to pass Ike but it only ended in disarray. Despite the 3rd place finish Dustin was really happy with how fast the car was and is looking very much forward to next week.
Finish: 3rd