INNISFIL, ON- After a long off-season, Flyin’ Ryan Kimball returned to active competition at Sunset Speedway’s Spring Derby 100 on May 4th.
The 100-lap contest was not without it’s challenges for the Norwood, ON veteran, as he was forced to overcome early contact and an ill-handling racecar to notch his first top-10 of the season.
“I don’t think anything about today was easy on us”, chuckled Kimball post-race. “We were tight in and loose off right from the first lap, and ended up in someone else’s mess which mangled the front end less than 20 laps in”
Despite the adversity, Kimball hit his stride at lap-40, and began picking off positions in a march to the top-10.
“We struggled on the short runs”, admitted the former Velocity 250 champion. “We hit a spate of cautions where we were losing spots left and right on the restarts. Once the race settled into a groove, I was able to jump to the outside and start knocking down positions”
The dying stages of the event saw Kimball dodge a number of melees, and continue to work his line on the top groove of the racetrack, muscling his McColl Racing Enterprises chassis to a 7th place finish.
“We couldn’t be happier with the result after the afternoon we had”, confirmed Kimball. “My arms are a little sore from fighting this thing all day, but otherwise I’m a happy guy”
“We weren’t able to schedule any practice time before this afternoon. So we came in here blind, against guys that have had alot more laps under them this season. But any time you can walk outta Sunset with a top-10, after racing against this type of roster, it’s a good day”
“This is one of the best tracks in the province. It’s one of my favourites. It’s 3 hours from home, but we’ll make the trip time and again this summer to be here”
Ryan Kimball’s 2014 efforts are made possible thanks to Janzen Racing and the Landing Strip Gentleman’s Club of Toronto.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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