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After the eight hour
drive to Anderson, Ca, the team arrived at Shasta Raceway Park on
Friday morning,. to participate in the 5 hour open test session
that all the teams would participate in to fine tune their cars
for Saturdays “NARI Records 125 presented by BECCA.” The team
struggled most of the test session, although the car posted the
third fastest lap in Friday's session. The car was only stable for
about 5 laps. After throwing major changes at the car, it still
developed a severe push in the middle of the corners. With the
test session coming to a close, the team felt that they had
changed everything they could but with no good results. They
decided to have a meeting at dinner to decide the next plan of
attack.
The team was treated to an awesome barbeque and concert, courtesy
of the track. It was there at the barbeque that the team decided
to scrap the current set up that was in the car. Saturday morning,
the team changed everything on the car including, shocks, springs,
and sway bars. At the first practice the team felt like they went
in the right direction. The car was more stable for Rip to drive.
The car posted the 8th fastest time in qualifying, and due to the
invert, which was eight, Rip would start on the pole.
At the drop of the green flag, Rip took the lead and for the next
42 laps, the Stock Building Supply Chevrolet showed the rest of
the field around the 3/8 mile track. Unfortunately, the car was
not as good as they hoped it would be. The car again developed a
push in the middle of the corner, which kept Rip from hold the car
on the bottom of the track. Rip backed up the 6th position where
he would finish the race.
"We are a little disappointed in our finish, we thought we had a
better car than what we had," said Rip. "It seems that our short
track program is struggling. On those track that are 3/8 or
smaller we have not had what we feel is a very competitive car,
although we have had good finishes, we can make the car much
better."
Rip currently sits 5th in the point just 20 points out of the lead.
The teams next race will be June 3, 2006 at Colorado National
Speedway. |
