SAMSULA, FL – The Hooker Brothers #38 was 10th quick in the first practice at New Smyrna Speedway. And despite picking up the pace for the second session, they dropped to 13th as the field picked up the pace a little more. With the car in good shape early in the day, the crew went into town where they joined up with brother Randy and his golf buddies at Manny’s Pizza for a good feed of pasta.
Kirk lined up 14th in the 35 lap feature and the crew were a little worried about the left side weight should the car have to go through tech at the end of the race, due to Kirk’s healthy appetite displayed at the restaurant. After just 4 laps, the caution came out and Kirk had made his way up to 11th.
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The driver reported that the car was good and that he was getting a good run on the high side, however he did not feel that he could run much higher without quickly running out of track. With four of the top eight cars hailing from different parts of Canada, the field took the green for the restart.
Unfortunately the #75 missed a shift and backed the lane up behind him, including Kirk who had the rear of the car lifted off the ground by the car behind him. Kirk was able to keep the wheels pointed forward and was good to go forward when the car landed back on the track.
Despite running with the front pack in 10th as they passed the halfway mark, Kirk reported that the car felt loose coming off the corners and he thought the rear end may have moved due to the contact on the previous restart. Kirk pressed on through the final laps and with a great run and the encouragement of his spotter, he ran multiple laps side by side with the #37 before making the pass on the final lap to finish 9th.
The crew checked the rear of the car for alignment and when finding nothing out of the ordinary, loaded the car and headed back to the condo at the relatively late hour.
From Ken Spira
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