OWEN SOUND, ON- Former Autumn Colours Classic champion and multi-time Sauble Speedway feature winner Smokin’ Joe Adams will make the trip to Sunset Speedway on June 19th to take part in the 50-lap Super Stock portion of the lauded Garry Reynolds Memorial.
For Adams, the event will provide the perfect backdrop for his family-run team to attempt their first Sunset feature win in their freshly built No. 00.
“Sunset is a really tough place to walk into and try to take a win away from the locals,” explains Adams. “You have to be on you’re A-Game, that’s for sure. Because guys like Cayden [Lapcevich], [Lane] Zardo and [Randy] Rusnell have their programs down to a science. The top guys at Sunset are some of the best in Ontario”
“We’ve had some great runs at Sunset in our old chassis, and lately we’ve been doing all that we can to find a way to make our old setup translate over to our new car”
Smokin’ Joe will look to utilize a blend of previous setups and fresh innovations in an attempt to infiltrate Sunset’s perennially competitive top-5.
“We’re coming with a bit of a new setup this week,” notes the well-liked veteran. “It’s going to be a mix of old and new. We weren’t terrible when we were at Sunset in May, but there was definitely a lot of room for improvement. We don’t take many nights off in the shop – and we’ve been working extra hard to put a strong package together for this event”
“This is a big event. It seems like every long-distance race at Sunset is a big event. We’ve won an MRE Pro Series race in the past at Sunset, but it would mean even more to our team to add our name to the Reynolds Memorial history books. It’s always a pleasure to race against the level of competition that comes out for these kind of races – and to be able to honor someone that gave as much of their life to the sport as Garry did makes it even better”
When asked what the best course of action will be for Friday’s 50-lap A Main, Adams admits he’s not entirely sure what to prepare for.
“I’m not positive what the best strategy is going to be,” shrugs the Owen Sound, ON native with a laugh. “Usually, when you have 50 laps, you would think the best course of action would be to hang back and let the race come to you. But, the last few times we’ve been down to Sunset, the features have had long green flag runs that have sort of disproved that strategy”
“We’ll just do all that we can to dial the car in during practice and qualifying – and hope that we can end up with a good starting spot in the feature and go from there.”
Details for Friday’s event, including gate times and ticket prices, can be found at www.SunsetSpeedway.ca.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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