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TerribleTim68
Member
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Posted: Tuesday Jun 17th, 2008 05:47 AM |
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L.L.M.R.S. Revisits Port Angeles and Willie!
Port Angeles, Wa. June 14, 2008
CRUNCH.......Now there's an interesting word... It is the fitting word for the Saturday night show at Port Angeles Speedway for the LLMRS series. Crunch, as in crunch time to work on the cars; crunch, a sound two or more cars make when they touch; but, the worst CRUNCH of all is the GAS crunch that is in many ways hurting the pocket books of many local racers.
The LLMRS series suffered a bit missing all of the racers from Oregon. Many of them with financial woes, (that darn Gas crunch factor) wounded cars, (there's that $ issue) and travel time alone is rough. Very much missed and hoping to see this great group of guys at the Roseburg race on July 5th. If you have never been to P.A., you really are missing out on some fun times. And, with a pit boss like Willie, who knows his stuff, it just gets better. With only six cars making the field, it turned into quite the show for the fans that were there.
Fast time for the night was set by #40 Dylan Caldwell, with a 15.568. Following him was the #10 of John Boyatt with a 15.769 and #68 of Tim McDougald with a 15.799.
The trophy dash had a new face for the series on this night; #06 Tim Christy from Victoria B.C., with 20 years of racing under his belt. On the pole was Christy, then McDougald, followed by Boyatt and Caldwell. When the green flag dropped Christy took the lead and never looked back, even though the 4-pack remained tight. Caldwell pulled off on the white flag lap, with the finishing order of Christy, McDougald and Boyatt.
Let’s bring on the heat race. Ten laps of "Let's see what we got" racing. Starting on the pole was #08 Jeff "Jack-Leroy" Mullins, #06 Tim Christy, #68 Tim McDougald, #10 John Boyatt, #40 Dylan Caldwell, and another new face to the series, #88 Craig Pfander. When the green flagged dropped there was no stopping these guys! Christy took charge in an instant, with Mullins tucking in behind his rear bumper in a hurry. Nose to tail the six pack went around. Lap two had McDougald pulling into the pits with mechanical problems, which then allowed Boyatt to take the number three spot. Lap four had Boyatt literally sideways down the front stretch as he tried to make up ground on Mullins and Christy. On lap seven, Boyatt went to the inside of Mullins on the front stretch to take second away. All the while, smoothly and consistently Caldwell was coming through the traffic to make one heck of a bold move coming out of turns three and four on the last lap, inside of Mullins to rob him of a third place finish. It definitely had the fans standing up and paying attention. With the checkers waving it was Christy who took first, following him was Boyatt, Caldwell, Mullins, Pfander, and McDougald.
As night began to fall so did the temps. Makes for interesting adjustments to the cars and their set-ups. And after one exciting heat race, the main was sure to please the crowd again. The six-pack set out on to the track again, with 50 laps ahead of them, young guns and experience ready to battle. #08 Jeff Mullins was again to be the pole sitter and leader to the green. Mullins a rookie, had the 20 years of experience sitting right next to him #06 of Tim Christy.
When the green flew, it was tight, tight, tight, as you would think it was their last 5 laps remaining. By lap two, yes, lap two, it had these cars three wide going into turn one! McDougald inside, Mullins in the middle, and Boyatt on the outside, all battling to keep or get a second place position. As the door handles were ever so close the outcome had McDougald taking over second place with Mullins tucking in behind him. Boyatt who had the roughest groove pulled back and settled into fourth position, but, only for the time being. That time being was only two laps later as Boyatt took the third place spot.
Christy was out front, but he had company coming and coming fast, as McDougald was closing in and bringing four more eager cars with him. As the lap counter clicked to lap ten, the crowd found themselves on their feet as Caldwell was coming out of turn four on the outside of Boyatt and the two cars made contact ( there's that "crunch" sound ) and both were sideways and either one could have easily smacked the front stretch wall; but somehow they avoided it. Both received damage to their cars, and a red flag was dropped. Caldwell managed to limp his car back to the pits as did Boyatt. With repairs done and both cars being able to return, everyone knew it would be a show. Big hats off to the pit crews on both these teams to get them out on the track again. (Here is that "crunch-time")
Green again, and McDougald had his eye on Christy. McDougald had always been "cursed" out of a win at Port Angeles, and he was ready. By lap fourteen, McDougald was knocking on the back bumper of Christy to let him know he was hungry; all the while the #88 of Pfander was letting the two leaders know he too wanted to play. Eleven laps of high low, touching and twitching finally had McDougald get his car around Christy in turn two. Call it hunger, adrenaline, and compassion.....these two brought short track racing to the fans in style. And in the mist of this battle #88 of Pfander surrendered to mechanical problems, bringing a fast moving sixteen year old Caldwell and eager Boyatt up to Christy's back door again.
Lap 28 had Boyatt make his move around Christy, bringing Caldwell in his shadow. Lap 32 had to be one of the most awesome jobs of correcting a car and saving it as Caldwell got sideways in turn three, playing with some dirt and had it straightened out by turn four. Now down to ten laps, it was an all out position grabbing, position saving race. Caldwell went to the outside of Boyatt wanting to take second place. Boyatt was trying to catch McDougald, when something went wrong with his car. Boyatt came extremely close for the second time to hitting the front stretch wall. Saving it, he headed into the pits for the night in a real heartbreaker for the #10 team.
With seven laps remaining, Caldwell knew he had his work cut out to chase down McDougald, who dropped a cylinder in his engine. If that weren't enough excitement, the #08 of Mullins found himself out of shape on the front stretch narrowly missing the wall and McDougald and Caldwell coming hard out of turn four, and able to miss him. Lap 45, 46, 47 ,48, McDougald was about to break the curse, and when the white and soon to follow checkers waved #68 Tim McDougald brought his 2008 Toyota Camry to the victory lane.
The finishing order for the night was: #68 McDougald, #40 Caldwell, #08 Mullins, #06 Christy, #10 Boyatt, and #88 Pfander.
The LLMRS series is a class act, and thanks the series sponsors:
- Five Star Race Car Bodies
- Joe's Racing Products
- SRCC Synthetic Lubricants
- Portland Business Graphics.
____________________
Terrible Tim
HayWire Racing
Tacoma, Washington
Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Chevys. . .
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