ASHTON, ON- Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup championship hopeful Mike Nelson weathered an up-and-down afternoon in his first career series start at Capital City Speedway, battling back from an mid-race incident to register a 7th place finish.
After qualifying 11th, Nelson wasted little time carving his way through the pack, infiltrating the top-5 by lap-30 before contact with another competitor sent the R&J Machine No. 85 Dodge sailing into the turn-1 wall.
“I’m not entirely sure what happened there, but I know it altered the outcome of our race”, offered a dejected Nelson.
“We had a guy come up on us, hoping to pass, and just flat out drive into us. I don’t know if he lost his brakes or miscalculated his corner entry, but it ended with us backwards in the wall with a tonne of damage to fix”
The Peterborough, ON driver battled back from the incident, driving his wounded racecar from the tail end of the field to inside of the top-10 at the checkered flag.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow because I know we had a top-5 car today”, explained Nelson.
“My guys work so hard on this car, and to have all that effort undone because of someone else’s issues 50-laps from the finish is terrible. I’m happy we were able to salvage 7th, but this team deserved a lot more today”
When asked about the damage to the rear of the car, Nelson made it clear the laundry list of repairs would be completed before the LOSC series returns to action for Round 4 at Flamboro Speedway on July 19th.
“Everything behind the rear wheels is bent to the left about 2 inches”, said Nelson, “so, we have a bit of work to do”
“We’ll be back, though. This won’t keep us down. We’ll get back in the shop, put this car back together again and find a way to make it even faster”
Mike Nelson’s 2014 campaign would not be possible without the support of 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.
Follow Mike and the team on Twitter @NelsonRacing85 and visit Mike Nelson Racing on Facebook for behind the scenes photos as they work to repair their ride before Round 4 of the Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
Discussion about this post