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Fresh off their top ten run at Phoenix International Raceway, Rip
Michels and his Stock Building Supply/Ladco Racing/ Victory Circle
Chevrolet racing team were looking forward to returning to Mesa
Marin Raceway. Rip scored his first top ten of the season at the
track back in March. Mesa Marin has always been a good track for
Rip. He also won his first Track Championship there in 1997.
The car was fast in both practice sessions and the team was
confident that they would qualify in the top ten. Rip qualified
fifth with a time of 28.606 and due to the ten-car invert, started
sixth.
The plan for this race was to get in a nice safe zone for the first
hundred laps of the event. Rips, and eventual winner David
Gillian, were running ninth and tenth for most of the first
hundred laps. With fifty to go, Rip made his charge to the front.
Unfortunately, the car was a little too loose, and rather than
push a bad situation, Rip settled into the seventh spot.
With a couple of laps to go the yellow flag was brought out setting
up a green, white, checkered finish. There were only nine cars on
the lead lap with Rip in eighth. When the race went back to green,
there was a multi car wreck on the backstretch. Rip was under the
23 car trying to avoid hitting him and got hit in the left rear
quarter panel causing the car to spin backwards into the inside
retaining wall. The hit was so hard that the car spun 180 degrees
in the air.
Rip was able to get the car to pit road and the team did what they
could to get him back. Rip finished in seventh position as the
last car on the lead lap and was the AutoZone Rookie of the race
for the 8th time this season.
“Normally we would be satisfied with our seventh place finish,”
said Rip. “But our car sustained heavy damage in the wreck. We got
lucky that it happened with only two laps to go. Otherwise we
would have had a DNF.”
“The car was brought back to the shop on Sunday and the guys got it
ready to be delivered to Victory Circle on Monday morning,” said
John (Cowboy) Schuetze, Car Chief. “It’s the team’s effort like
this that has made us so successful in the past and continues to
help us succeed here on the tour,” said Cowboy.
This Sunday Rip and the team will be heading to Tucson Raceway Park
for their 13th race of the season.
For more information about Rip Michels and his sponsors, please visit
www.ripmichels.com
Source by: LRM Sports Marketing, Inc. |
