September 9, 2009
The 2009 racing season has come to an end… The #36 MCL Team had a wild ride this past week…
Thursday night was Fan Appreciation night at WIR and we had close to 40 Late Models on hand to end the season with a bang… Free Beer, corn and ice cream in the pits after the races and a DJ cranking out some tunes… A good time was had by all…
We qualified well with a 19.7 lap time putting us solid in the show, one last time… If you remember back a week we were in a heated point battle with #18 Robb Vanderloop… we entered the evening 14 points back… we gained 2 points in qualifying beating them by 2 spots… Onto the heat race… we battled HARD with the #18 car and couldn't complete the pass cleanly… we finished 1 spot behind them in the 4th position… losing 1 point…
Onto the feature where all positions are at least 2 points or better… we charged hard from the 13th starting spot, dodged a few wrecks and found ourself up to 5th when the yellows flew once again… This time, lady luck shined on us… The #18 had hit the wall and was out of the race… we raced hard the remainder of the race, but fell back to the 8th spot at the checkers…
We were on pins and needles as the points were tallied… WE MADE IT!!!!! We passed him by 2 points… Our FIRST TOP 5 in FRRC Points!!!! I've attached them below… I've also attached the RWB Points… Top 5's in BOTH series… WOW!!! What a year!!!
So with a smile on our faces we ventured North to the Norway Speedway for our 3rd ASA Series race ever… We had high hopes being a track we were comfortable on… Practice went well… we were on old tires and were making times fast enough to qualify in by time… but then the motor changed pitch and sounded nasty… I shut it down and the MCL Pit Crew went to work… they found that a header pipe for our exhaust system had actually sheared off and was hanging in the cluster… they had to pull off the header (which is VERY hot at this point) and with a little help from long time friend #23 Bruce White (welder by trade) we got the pipe fixed and back on the car in less than 20 minutes!!!
Qualifying went fairly well… we were a bit tight, but that didn't stop us from making the show by time!!! Very exciting to be 3 for 3 in ASA action… The heat race was a nightmare… we went the wrong way with some shock adjustments and we quickly faded from the front to the back…
So we made more changes and we were VERY good in the beginning of the feature… hot laps we had a solid feeling car and to start the race everyone was bunched up, but we were climbing up the back of the competition just waiting for a opening… well some cars in front us us tangled and spun bunching up the field on lap 5 of the 100 lap race… we took a hit to the front right tire damaging some suspension, forcing us to get a tow truck and retire for the evening. It was very disappointing as we thought we had a solid top 10 car… Frustrating way to end the season.
BUT… It was a GREAT season overall… Highs and Lows no doubt, but 2009 was another step in the right direction and we gained 5 spots in both series point standings!!! All of us at Tom Gee Motorsports want to thank all our family, friends and sponsors for being such devoted fans throughout the year!!!
Hope to see everyone over the Fall and Winter…. Otherwise we will be in touch once 2010 kicks off in spring!!!
#36 Tom Gee Jr.
MCL Racing Team |