PETERBOROUGH, ON- Eager to follow-up a top-10 finish in Round 1 of the Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup tour at Sauble Speedway, Mike Nelson and team are prepared to invade Flamboro Speedway on June 28th for Round 2.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back to Flamboro”, smiles the former Mini Stock division standout. “It’s always been one of my better speedways. The track itself reminds me a lot of Peterborough – long straightaways and tight corners”
“Strategy is going to come into play pretty quickly in Round 2”, explains Nelson. “Because the track is so tight and so small, you typically find yourself hitting lapped traffic awfully early. If this Saturday is anything like the last race we had at Flamboro, the leaders will have to negotiate slower traffic as early as lap-30. If we’re going to be working traffic that early, it’s going to be paramount to be patient and keep our head on straight”
The Peterborough, ON driver hopes to play more of a factor in Round 2 of the tour than he did at Sauble on June 7th.
“I really wasn’t happy with our performance at Sauble”, admits Nelson. “I felt as though I left a lot out there. We had a better car than what we were able to show. I wasn’t aggressive enough at the beginning of the race, and we lost some track position that kind of put us in a hole”
“Flamboro doesn’t tend to have the long green flag runs that Sauble does, so the idea is to attack right from the get-go, and then utilize the mid-race restarts to pick up some valuable spots”
After missing almost the entirety of the 2013 season due to a broken arm, the Joey McColm-protégé has his eye on a run at the 2014 Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup championship, but is aware that a shortened season leaves little room for error.
“Our season is one of the shortest in Ontario, which puts an immense amount of pressure on any driver looking to contend for the championship”, explains Nelson. “This second race is do or die for our team, because you can really only afford to have one mediocre outing. A top-10 at Sauble was decent, but if we want to play a factor in the championship, we have to start knocking down some top-5s immediately”
Gate times and ticket prices for this Saturday, June 28th’s event at Flamboro Speedway can be found at www.FlamboroSpeedway.net
Mike Nelson’s 2014 efforts are fueled by EXTRA 90.5 FM Peterborough Sports Talk Radio, R&J Machine, Peterborough Roofing, Love’s Tires, Dohjo Muay Thai, NAPA Auto Parts of Bridgenorth, Custom Signs & Graphics and The Canadian Breast Cancer Society.
Fans can follow Mike on Twitter @NelsonRacing85.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
Discussion about this post