SAUBLE BEACH, ON- Super Late Model freshman Kelly Balson took down a 6th place finish in his first career OSCAAR start at Sauble Speedway, recovering from late-race contact to work his way back through the field.
“We definitely could have done without being spun”, offered Balson, “that part wasn’t exactly in the pre-race gameplan”
The former Ltd. Late Model titlist was running with the top-5 when contact with another competitor sent his London Recreational Racing No. B10 spinning.
“It was one of those situations where we were all tightly grouped and battling for position, and its best just to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. We were racing pretty hard and I had gotten up into him a few times before, and I’m sure he probably wasn’t happy about that”, explained Balson. “After we spin, we actually had a plug wire fall off which really hampered us. It was a shame, but we were recovered from it as best we could”
‘The Crowd Pleaser’ drove back through the field, appearing ready to reinsert himself into the top-5 before running out of laps.
“For our first time here with this car, it’s tough to be mad with 6th. I feel as though, under the right circumstances, we very likely would have had a top-3 car, but in the grand scheme of things 6th is still a good afternoon. We had quite a few ludicrously talented drivers in our rearview mirror, so that’s always nice”
Post-race, Balson was quick to admit that the team was guessing on setup coming into the event, but were pleasantly surprised with their performance.
“We really didn’t know what to go with. We came here with something very similar to our Sunset setup, and just tightened it up a bit through practice and qualifying. The first year on the tour has been all about adapting, and that’s exactly what we did today”
Balson will return to action with the OSCAAR Super Late Model Tour on August 2nd, when the tour rolls into his hometrack of Peterborough Speedway for Round 7.
“I’ve been looking forward to our first race at Peterborough since we bought this car, I can’t wait to bring it home”, smiled Balson.
‘The Crowd Pleaser’s 2014 season is powered by London Recreational Racing, Cochrane Automotive, Shelley Taxidermy, BARKER and Dan McHattie Racecars.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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