Rock Springs- First Race weekend of 2009

Friday night
We had a great trip out and are thrilled that the rig is completly self-contained. We now have a refrigerator, which allows us to bring all sorts of great healthy food. It felt good to get back into the rhythm of racing. Hank, Pat and April soon stepped back into their crew shoes and acted as if winter was never there. What a great team!

Justin pulled outside pole of the third heat. Whoa, let’s start this off with a bang, eh? He soon fell into the racing flow but this year is letting the others know he will not be pushed around. A few times, he was checked up and pushed right back, not to be taken lightly this season. He took 5th in his heat, which made us believe that he was going to be in the B main so we began setting up the car for a stickier track. We soon found out that we were in the A main because one of the guys in our heat jumped the start. So we scrambled to put the car back together and struggled through the main event with a very loose car. Justin finished 16th out of 30 drivers which is pretty darn good for having one of the worst set ups he’s ever driven.

Saturday Night
We stayed the night at the track and woke up to a gorgeous morning but dark clouds soon turned things very cold with windy, rainy weather. After waiting around for several cold hours, they finally decided to get the racing going. Justin again pulled outside pole, 1st heat. Again his car was hooked up for his heat and he took 4th for his qualifying position. Good stuff considering last season we were always stuck in B events.

One of our sponsors invested in a GoPro onboard camera, which we put on the car for this event. We got some great footage of the race!

This first video shows him avoiding a wreck on the very first lap. Whoa! There was also a red flag, which allowed Hank and April on the track so you can see April waving at the camera.
Click here for the first video.

This video shows what it looks like from Justin’s view when you accidentally spin out. Just as he was gaining some ground, he overcompensated and sent himself into a 360. You can see the other drivers avoiding him, the walls and then hear the crowd going crazy. He was able to pull it off, jump back in and only lost a few positions. They loved it but Pat and April about had a heart attack! He would have finished in the top ten but the 360 got him a 13th place finish.

Click here for the 360 video.

A great start for Shadow Racing Team's 2009!