1 down, ? to go

I got my first race of the season in this past Saturday at the Black Rock Speedway. The Empire Super Sprints were there for their season opener as well as the 358 Modifieds, NYMM, and CNYMS.

It was nice to be greeted by sprint car hot laps right when we arrived at the track. My friend Steve who went with me had never seen sprints before. Needless to say, he thought they were awesome. Chuck Hebing had a close call in hotlaps when he spun backwards past a stopped car. Somehow though, none of the cars got too messed up in hotlaps even with a few spins. In the modified heats, I told Steve to keep an eye on Steve Paine #7x. He didn't walk all over the field in the heats by any means, but he definitely picked his way through traffic like the seasoned veteran he is to land himself in a redraw spot. The ESS heats and Dash saw Justin Barger #32 win going away. It didn't look like anybody had anything for him this night.
In the CNYMS feature, the best thing to watch was a plain black car which started tail on the field. He picked through traffic all the way to 4th by the end. In the modifieds, I knew from the heats that Steve Paine had a fast car. Just as methodically as in the heats, he picked his way through traffic. Once he took the lead the race was over for everyone else; the 7x lapped all the way up to 9th place by the end of the 30 lap $3000 to win event. While it was something to see, Paine passing all of those cars, I still kept my attention mid pack. Ron Cartwright in the #2B is usually pretty fast, but had been having car problems in the heats. Starting tail, he managed to work his way all the way up to I think 8th by race end. Up next was the ESS feature. Barger started outside pole. He led most of the race, but I had my eye on the Cobra. The 45c started eleventh, but could only manage a 4th place finish on this night. The last lap of the race saw the leaders, Justin Barger #32 and Bryan Howland #51 in heavy traffic. Coming out of turn 4 for the final time, Howland got a great run and nearly beat Barger to the line!

Anyway, Saturday's racing at Black Rock was a great way to start the season. And except for terrible food lines, the night went very smoothly. The whole program was complete in just over 3 hours. Next up, I'm hoping to catch the features at Stateline Speedway's season opener after I race r/c at the grand opening trophy race at Bad Butch Racing in Jamestown, NY.