Spotter Bytes
SPOTTER BYTES
By Wayne “Muffy” Wildermuth
Friday came again and again it was time to go to the Stafford Motor Speedway for another week of racing action. Along with the Late Models and the SKs, this week was the added race for the Valenti Modified Racing Series (MRS). So with 30+ cars that showed up for the MRS race, we knew qualifying would be crucial in order to make the show. We started 7th in the heat race and knew it was going to be tough to get into one of the top 6 spots in order to qualify for the 80 lap main event. There are so many good cars in the series that every heat race can be a struggle to qualify if they are sending cars home that don’t qualify. The pressure was on. So I had a little talk with David Schneider, the driver of the #19 and laid out a plan to race our way into the event. You know the deal though, no matter how you plan it, it never works out that way. Well, in this case it worked out fine as we raced our way to a 3rd place finish in the heat and qualified for the show. Pressure was off now.
The Late Models and SKs didn’t have qualifying heats, they were starting by points and a handicapping system based off points earned through this season’s finishes. So that meant all we were doing was practice and feature racing. The #32 Late Model of driver Kevin Gambacorta was decent in first practice, but had an issue in the 2nd round of practice so he pulled it off the track. When it came feature time we could only wait and see what we had for a car. Well, we were starting 6th (I think) on the outside row again as we have just about every race this season. We fell back quite a few spots at the start of the race as usual and had to race our way back to the front of the field. We got to 2nd place and chased down the leader from about a ¼ straightaway back and were within striking distance when the checkered flag fell. I wonder what would have happened with a few more laps, was the leader slowing up and saving his car or was he running as hard as he could? We ended up finishing 2nd again for like the 4th time this season. I guess we will come back and try again next week.
The SK practice was eventful also as our driver of the #94, Tyler Hines was going to be late getting to the track and was going to miss practice. I knew my last years SK driver Chase Dowling was there running the MRS race, so I asked him to take her out for a spin. He did and turned some decent laps. He too said when he first went out, the brakes sort of locked up on him (same report Tyler has been giving), but aside from being just a tad off, it was pretty good. Tyler made it in time for the feature though. We started up near the front (I think 5th, my memory is bad) and right after the green flew, we went right to the back of the field. I guess we had brake issues again. We rode around the back mostly only passing a car or two before it was over. We ended up finishing 14th. I think its time to change the calipers or something and finally put this brake issue to bed. We will see what next week brings.
The MRS race was next. We started 16th (again, I think) and slowly moved our way forward. We had a real good car and David was doing a great job behind the wheel. The race started with Dylan Kopec taking the lead, but he later fell back to about 5th and when we were passing him on the outside, I guess he got loose or something on the front stretch while racing hard for the spot and made contact with us, putting us in the wall. 
Our left front suffered some damage from when he hit us and we dropped off the pace dramatically. We had all we could do to keep from getting run over by the other cars, as they were at full song going into turn one while we were limping into the turn trying to get out of the way. Everyone made it around us, but as they did, some crashed into each other, bringing out the yellow. This allowed us enough time to make it to pit road and make repairs to the car good enough to finish the race. We ended up finishing a disappointing 12th. We had passed the car that finished 3rd once already in the race, so I think we had a top 3 car. We will have to try again at our next event. Another good run for the team, but the finish doesn’t show it. Story of our season, but we will keep trying. Someday we will get the finishes that we have been working so hard for. Maybe on October 11th at Lee USA Speedway, which is the next MRS race.