@FowlMoodRacing •@Brighton Spdwy •BRIGHTON, Ont. – May 24, 2016 – Phil Potts and the Fowl Mood Racing team returned to action with a successful Victoria Day long weekend and earned a pair of top-five finishes during a busy tripleheader.
The weekend started with a Saturday date at the team’s home track Brighton Speedway. Potts turned in a fifth-place finish on a very slick racetrack against a tough group of competitors.
“We over adjusted on the car. We know exactly what we did wrong. We were trying something and it didn’t go the way we figured it would, but it’s real early in the season,” said Potts, who was confined to the bottom groove of the racetrack. “I was running strictly on the bottom. I couldn’t make the top work. There was still all kinds of bite on the bottom.”
The team then travelled west on Sunday to Humberstone Speedway in Port Colborne, Ont. for the first of two races with the RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series. After a third-place finish in their qualifying heat, Potts wasted little time making his presence felt at the front of the field and grabbed hold of a top-five position.
“We were fast in the feature on the bottom again. I could stop straight coming in the corners and the guys ahead of me were flaring in the corners,” Potts said. “I don’t know if I had anything (eventual race winner) John (Waters), but I was definitely a top-three car that night.”
The good run was spoiled midway through the race when Dennis Lunger Jr. made contact with the Vanderlaan Building Products/Brighton Recycling/Indewey Excavating No.29 and flattened the left rear tire. After getting stuck in the pit area, Potts was relegated to an 18th-place finish that was not indicative of the car’s speed.
The Fowl Mood team, however, regrouped and made the necessary repairs to prepare for Monday’s RUSH race at Merrittville Speedway. Potts entered the night having finished second at Merrittville in the 2015 edition of the event.
Potts earned a spot in the dash after winning his heat and started third for the main event. When the checkers waved after 30 laps, Potts duplicated his success from one year earlier and used a late race restart to take second.
“I got lucky. I was a third-place car. I couldn’t pick-up the throttle as fast as (Bryce) Davis or (John) Waters could,” Potts said, adding he enjoyed the battle at the front with the two New York drivers. “You had to be smart and get in to the corner good so you could get off good. They could roll the middle, but I couldn’t.”
Three consecutive races on slick racetracks will help bolster Potts’ notebook for his championship chase at Brighton, where his focus remains most intent.
“It’s a feather in our cap. Every lap you can do on a slick track to convert your brain on how to drive that was is 100% good for you,” Potts said.
“I want to concentrate on home. We want to win a championship at home and I find if you’re brain gets going in too many different places, you get too excited and you lose focus on what you really want to do. I do not want to lose focus on Brighton,” he added.
Stay up-to-date with the Fowl Mood Racing team as they return home to Brighton Speedway this weekend by ‘Liking’ their page on Facebook at facebook.com/FowlMoodRaceTeam and on Twitter by following @FowlMoodRacing.
The Fowl Mood Race Team’s 2016 season is supported by several dedicated corporate sponsors, including Vanderlaan Building Products, Brighton Recycling, Indewey Excavating and Crow Design.
Prepared By Clayton Johns Media/ claytonjohns@hotmail.com
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