INNISFIL, ON- Despite suffering heavy front end damage in a lap-10 collision, Tommy Robb came home with a 10th place finish in Round 11 of the OSCAAR Modified Tour at Sunset Speedway on August 23rd.
The Durham, ON driver struggled with a handling condition through qualifying, but a number of adjustments made prior to the feature event appeared to put Robb on a path towards the front.
“We absolutely battled with this car in the heat races, nothing seemed to be working”, explained Robb post-race. “The guys and I all put our heads together, and we threw the kitchen sink at the car just before the feature, and it really felt like it was working”
“The car was responding a lot better in the first 10-laps than it was in the feature”, continued Robb. “It felt like we were on our way to the front, until we ended up in the wall”
‘Relentless’ found himself in Sunset’s turn-3 wall after a collision with another competitor whilst battling just inside the top-10.
“We were battling all the way down the back straightaway, and just touched heading into turn-3”, said Robb. “Once that happened, it upset the car and turned us up towards the wall. At that point, I was just along for the ride”
Suffering heavy damage, Robb had his ride towed to pit road, where his Sturrock Construction-backed team inspected their ride to see if it was possible to continue.
“As soon as I smacked the wall, I thought the frame would be damaged for sure”, said Robb. “Fortunately, all we ended up suffering was a flat tire, some body and tin damage and a pair of wrecked nerf bars”
Robb would exit his ride and aid his team in repairing the damage – still under caution – before returning the No. 88R to the speedway in time to make the restart.
“The fact that we bounced back from that wreck without missing a lap was fantastic”, smiled Robb. “As soon as I hopped back in the car and fired it up, I could hear the fans cheering over the sound of the engine. That was pretty cool. Highlight of the night, by far”
The former Late Model regular would rebound to a top-10 finish – his 9th of the season – to remain within the top-5 in the OSCAAR Modified Tour point standings.
“Our goal at the beginning of the season was to finish within the top-5”, said Robb. “I’m happy that, throughout all of the adversity, we’re still within striking distance of our goal”
Robb will not compete with the tour again until Round 12 of the tour at Sunset Speedway on September 27th & 28th.
“A month off is sounding pretty good right now”, smiled Robb. “We’re going to take the time to give the car a pretty thorough once-over before we bring it back out again. We’re coming off of 6 straight weeks of racing, so this break definitely comes at the right time”
“I’m not going to let bad luck define our season. We’re better than this, and we can do better than this. The next time our fans see us, we’ll be well-rested and ready to reinvent our season”
Tommy Robb’s 2014 program is made possible thanks to First General Services of Hanover and Kitchener, Sturrock Construction, Roymar Construction, Revolution Race Products and the support of Tommy’s Mother and Father.
Fans can keep up with Tommy and his team on Twitter @Relentless88R.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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