HILLSDALE, ON- Fresh off of a head-turning 6th place performance at Sunset Speedway’s ‘Velocity 250’ event on September 28th, Thayne Hallyburton is more motivated than ever to get to Peterborough Speedway’s crown jewel Autumn Colours Classic weekend on October 10th, 11th and 12th.
“I couldn’t have asked for a much better pick-me-up than the Velocity,” explains a still smiling Hallyburton.
“This season has been hard on our entire team. I don’t think there’s any secret about that,” continues ‘The Hillsdale Hurricane’. “You’re always going to have mechanical gremlins any time you debut a brand new car, but the fact that we hadn’t been able to shake them off is what was starting to drain us.”
After a pair of encouraging outings at Sunset Speedway’s Canadian Ltd. Late Model Championship on September 18th and Barrie Speedway’s rain-shortened Garry Reynolds Memorial on September 20th, Hallyburton turned to up-and-coming chassis specialist Kyle Baker in preparation for the Velocity weekend.
“I really can’t say enough about how attentive Kyle’s been this season”, says Hallyburton. “He’s got a lot of irons in the fire, and he still has consistently found the time to dedicate to our car to make sure we work through our troubles.”
“We were headed in the right direction for a couple weeks, and Kyle took the car and threw everything but the kitchen sink at it for the Velocity”, continues the well-spoken rising star. “It woke us right up. The car worked as well as it has all year.”
Hallyburton’s No. 14 Transaxle Heavy Truck & Trailer Parts Chevrolet ran up front for the entirety of the 75-lap affair, notching a 6th place finish against the top competition in the province.
“Could you ask for a better field than what we had at the Velocity?” asks Hallyburton. “This is the deep end of the pool. To be able to perform the way we did, against this level of competition, is incredibly uplifting”
With the team’s confidence restored, the Hallyburton Brothers Racing team will begin to prepare their cars for Thayne and younger brother Travis to travel to Peterborough with in just under a week.
“We’re going through every inch of these cars, making sure they’re ready,” explains Hallyburton. “The lights don’t get any brighter than this. Peterborough is the show that every driver in the province wants to win.”
“I know that we have it in us to perform well at ‘the Classic’. That’s what made the last couple months so frustrating, because we’re better than we’ve been performing. We’ve lost a good chunk of our season to mechanical issues, but taking home some hardware from Peterborough would be a great way to make up for lost time.”
Thayne Hallyburton’s 2014 campaign would not be possible without the support and assistance of Transaxle Heavy Truck Parts, Hillsdale Service Centre and Thompson Enterprises.
To learn more about Thayne – and younger brother Travis – visit the team’s new Hallyburton Brothers Racing page on Facebook and follow ‘The Hillsdale Hurricane’ on Twitter @THallyburton.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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