COLBORNE, Ont. – August 8, 2017 – After a couple of weeks off, Michel Beyore returned to Brockville Ontario Speedway last Saturday night to continue his rookie season of DIRTcar Sportsman Modified racing. The Colborne, Ont. resident drove to 14th-place finish, but most importantly continued on to improve his setup on the slick surfaces.
The night started with a sixth-place qualifying effort in his heat group. It was only Beyore’s third time trial race in his Sportsman Modified.
“When you pull up on the track and they say go, you better be ready to go,” Beyore said of the time trial session. “The first time I did it, I looked like a duck out of water, but you get used to it. We usually drop the air pressure is the tires and let the car come into it, but for time trials it has to be there right away. The tires don’t build any heat, but the only way you learn is to screw it up.”
In the Heat Race, Beyore raced from sixth to a fifth-place finish on what was still a tacky track full of grip. That limited the amount of passing once the field was spread out. Come Feature time, the track was considerably more slick. Beyore worked his way as high as the 11th position before eventually slipping back to 14th.
“We were better in the heat than we were in the Feature,” Beyore said. “The car was actually good in the heat, but everybody got spread out and stayed the same. In the Feature, it slicked off. We’re getting better in the slick, but we’re not there yet.”
Slick surface improvement has been Beyore’s biggest focus for improvement this season. He has become increasingly faster and more comfortable as the season wears on and feels his program is trending in the right direction.
“The car’s been better every time we’ve gone out, so we’re doing something right,” Beyore said. “When it’s tacky, the car’s got lots of grip and it’s really good. It can slick off a bit and it’s not too bad, but when it’s slicks right off top to bottom, then I have trouble. We’ve changed our setup a little bit, but I don’t want to move too fast in case we go too far. We’re sneaking up on it.”
Beyore knows it’s a tall task to battle his way up the standings against the talented weekly field at Brockville and a number of veteran drivers in Ontario, especially as a bi-weekly competitor. However, the chase is part of the fun.
“We’re not running the way everybody else runs,” Beyore said. “We’re doing something different. We’re at the deep end of the pool all on our own. We’re having fun though, so that’s the main thing.”
Beyore will take two weeks off from competition to enjoy a family vacation before returning to action at the end of August. Stay tuned to www.beyoreracing.ca and following Michel Beyore on Facebook and Twitter for the latest team information.
SEASON STATS
Michel Beyore – 7 Starts: 0 Wins, 0 Top-5s, 2 Top-10s
BEYORE’S PARTNERS
Michel Beyore is proud to partner with the following dedicated marketing partners for the 2017 race season: Metals Plus, Millennium Crane, and Hoy’s Garage.
MICHEL BEYORE MEDIA
Website: beyoreracing.ca
Facebook: facebook.com/BeyoreRacing
Twitter: @54buck
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