KINCARDINE, ON- Mini Stock veteran Kevin Bridge has confirmed he will be in the field on Sunday, May 17th when Sunset Speedway plays hosts to the inaugural ‘Spring Velocity’.
The two-day weekend will feature a full card of racing for the Graham Landscape Limited Mini Stocks and will pit Bridge against top talent from across Ontario.
“As soon as the schedules were released back in March, I knew that the Spring Velocity was an event I had to be a part of,” smiles Bridge. “We’re going to spend most of the season focusing on our brand new Thunder Car program, but these Mini Stocks are way too much fun to drive for me to completely forget them”
Which is why, less than 24-hours after making his Thunder Car debut at Sauble Speedway, Bridge will make the near 3-hour haul to Sunset to line up alongside a bevy of accomplished competitors.
“Racing at Sunset is not like racing at any other track. The layout itself is a lot different and so is the competition. You have to be up on the wheel every single lap if you want to try and move through the field,” explains Bridge.
“The very best of the best seem to come out for events at Sunset – and I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better field at an invitational anywhere in the province this summer”
With a short schedule planned for his Mini Stock this season, Bridge notes that it will be important to get an understanding of the car’s handling sooner rather than later.
“We plan on racing this car 7 times this season – 4 times at Sunset and another 3 at Sauble. So, it’s important for us to figure it out in a hurry. We made some changes to it over the winter that I think should make it even better than it was in 2014”
Though Bridge has never competed at Sunset more than three times in a single season, the veteran is a former race winner at the Innisfil, ON facility and is more than ready to try his hand in Sunday’s 35-lap event.
“We’ve won at Sunset with this car before, and that gives us a lot of confidence entering the Spring Velocity,” says Bridge. “We’ll take a look at our notes and see what we can do to try and mimic that night, but I think a lot of our setup will be dictated by how the car feels in practice”
“The speedway has changed a lot since we won there in 2013 and the field is a lot different now, as well. We’ll see how the car feels in the first practice session and go from there”
With a busy schedule ahead of his family-run Bridge Racing team, the Kincardine-based wheelman admits that a strong performance could make a significant difference on his 2015 season.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s in the Thunder Car or the Mini Stock – I would like to knock down a strong run right off the bat. A win in either one of our cars would give us a huge shot in the arm. It’s a long season, and if you can start things out on a high note it makes things a lot easier.”
Sunset Speedway’s Spring Velocity will feature 7 divisions racing across two days this Saturday, May 16th and Sunday, May 17th. Details, including gate times and ticket prices, can be found at www.SunsetSpeedway.ca.
Kevin Bridge’s 2015 season is made possible thanks to the support of LiUNA, Huronview Insurance, Spira Fire Protection, DK Daniel Kelly Custom Woodworking, Castrol, Saugeen Shores Transmission, ImageWraps.ca, EPIC Racewear, Bridgehaven Angus, Gilcrest Speed & Custom, Walt Fabrication, NGK Spark Plugs, DEI and Permatex.
Fans can stay up to date on Kevin’s progress through his rookie season at the official Kevin Bridge Racing page on Facebook or by following on Twitter @BridgeRacing.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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