2006_07_08_MotorMileSpeeedway

The Crew Today was: Jake Keaton, Jason Garrett, Rick Keaton, Deborah Keaton, Tom Jackson, Adrienne Jackson

Feature Event

Late Model Stock Car

Jake Keaton

Start: 2nd

Finish: DNF

It was a sunny but cool day at Motor Mile Speedway as Jake prepared to take on another chassis setup on race day. Practice started out terrible with Jake being extremely loose getting into the corner which is a problem we have had all year. We had done a lot of work to the brake system the previous week but nothing we did seemed to help the problem. The team inspected the brake system while Jason and Jake talked about what to do to the car if anything at all. Some adjustments and brake system changes were made but the 2nd practice session was a repeat of the first with Jake being one of the slowest in the field.

When qualifying came around noone knew if the changes we made would help the brakes. Jake and Jason decided on some final adjustments for qualifying and Jake went out to see what he had and to also test out the brakes. Jake got the car warm and took the green flag. Turns 1 and 2 looked good as the car didn't jump sideways we he hit the brakes. Going into 3 and 4 the car got a little loose but Jake held and made it back around to clock in at a 16.172 time which was good enough for the outside pole in the 30 car field. On the 2nd lap the car became extremely loose going into the turn once again and the crew knew they still had problems.

Everyone was excited about the front row qualifying position but knew that they only had one more chance to fix the braking issue. When the green flag flew Jake had to drive down into turn 1 not knowing whether or not the brakes would be the same or work properly luckily for him and the entire team everything seemed ok and Jake now just had to try and fight his way to the bottom of the race track and settle in for the 100 lap race. Jake battled for 2nd place with eventual race winner Jason Lawrence for lap after lap for about 5 laps until Lawrence got a nose ahead and forced Jake up the track some out of turn 4. Jake got in the loose stuff and the back end stepped out and slapped the wall. Jake held onto the car and to 3rd place but the rear end housing was bent making the car extremely loose everywhere. He stayed in the race and slowly fell back as he dirt tracked his way around the .416 mile asphalt oval. Around lap 40 Allison Duncan spun right in front of Jake causing Jake to lose control and he tried to stop and avoid hitting her. Jake restarted in the tale and made it through a few cars until at about lap 50 when something in the rear of the car broke. This sent Jake into the turn 2 wall hard causing major damage to the front and rear of the chassis. This ended Jakes night. Next race is on July 22nd once again at Motor Mile where Jake shoots for another good qualifying run and finish.