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8-5-2000
Seven proves to be lucky for Rip Michels!
Rip Michels upped the bar to seven wins on the season this past weekend.
After his first racing loss of the season on July 22nd, Rip rebounded very nicely to
capture his record seventh win of the season! With his seventh win, Rip extended his
points lead in the Grand American Modified division to it's biggest margin of the entire
season. After having a disastrous start to the 2000 season, the #12 Card Service/Ladco
Racing, Rip and his crew have all bounced back to put themselves on top of their division.
Rip and crew have one general goal in mind which is to stake claim on the illustrious
Grand American Modified championship. With temperatures well into the 90's, the bright red
#12 rolled into Irwindale Speedway Saturday afternoon with one accomplishment in
mind........7 wins! All throughout practice the Ladco Racing Chevrolet was flawless making
it's way to the fast qualifying session. In qualifying it was Rip who once again captured
fast time with an amazing 18.39 second lap around the 1/2 mile track. As fast time always
does, Rip started on the outside of the back row for the 6 lap trophy dash. For the first
couple laps in the dash, Rip found himself trapped behind a pack of cars and unable to
pass. At the 4 lap mark, Rip made a move and raced up toward the front but simply ran out
of time finishing third. Luck of the draw put the Cardservice/Ladco Racing Grand American
Modified on the outside of row 2 for the main event. Coming by for the green the front two
cars got together causing a restart and since those two cars caused the restart, they were
forced to start from the back. This incident moved all the drivers up a row giving Rip the
outside pole position. At the restart, Rip capitalized from the front row taking the early
lead and never looking back. A few caution flags bunched up the field but with flawless
restarts Rip established himself out front each and every time. Michels lead from start to
finish taking an unprecedented 7 out of 9 main events thus far on the season. "I
can't believe it! It's amazing how good my car works," exclaimed Rip after the main
event last Saturday night. "I could put it anywhere on the track and it would
stick!" With 7 wins on the season, a track record and a commanding points lead, Rip
Michels is well on his way to the prestigious Grand American Modified Championship!
Source: Jimmy Babcock
Posted: 8/5/00 |
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