|
|
|
|
|
(Bill W) July 26, 2010 – A pair of wins highlighted the week for Brian Brown and the FVP #21 racing team. A dominating win at the Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa on Wednesday, was followed by another victory in the 360 class at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday. The Grain Valley, Missouri driver finished fourth in the 410 feature on Saturday, and extended his point lead in that class as well. This week finds Brain in Lucas Oil ASCS National Series action at the LA Raceway in LaMonte, Missouri on Friday, and back at the Knoxville Raceway with the 410 on Saturday.
Brian’s win at the big 1/2-mile banked oval in Denison was his third in seven tries there. “We’ve had some success at Denison, and the guys on the crew made the FVP car a pleasure to drive,” he says. “In hot laps, we were fast. It was just a good night from beginning to end. We were able to lead every lap we run, and those nights don’t come around too often. The fastest car doesn’t always win.”
On the first lap of the feature, Brian was able to shoot by the front row starters, and pull away. Despite a pair of cautions, he was able to break out each time and score the win. “I was a little bit concerned starting fourth, because Clint (Garner) was on the front with Lee Grosz, and they are always good,” he says. “Bronson (Maeschen) was up there too, and won that race last year. I was able to get the lead down the backstretch. We had a few cautions, but we were in good shape on the restarts.”
It was obvious that off the track, Brian’s mind was preoccupied on Wednesday. “It’s been a rough week for the sprint car community with Wayne (Johnson) getting hurt, and Travis (Rilat) and Tyson (Perez) getting burned,” he says. “Wednesday was rough for me (Tyson passed away), as Tyson and I were really good friends. I was thinking about those guys and their friends and family.”
The plan was for double duty at Knoxville on Saturday. “I was second guessing myself a little during the day, and wondering if we should be doing this,” says Brian, who went into the night with a whopping one point lead in the 410 point standings. “We’re in a tight point battle in the 410, and sometimes you spread yourself too thin. We need to keep our eye on the ultimate goal and that’s the championship.”
After scoring fifth quick, and a heat race win with the 360, Brian would start third for the main event. He took the lead from Chad Humston and cruised to the win. “The feature went pretty smooth, and it was good to be back on the Hoosiers (tires) at Knoxville,” he says. “Our goal was not necessarily to win with the 360. Whether we won, ran fifth or ran tenth, we just wanted to get some new laps in with our new Maxim with Wesmar power. We really wanted to see how we stacked up against some of the best 360 racers in the country. Obviously, we were pleased with where we were at.”
The test against the strong Knoxville regulars went well, and Brian is looking forward to the big races ahead. “Our 360 program is really stellar right now, and it’s a good time for it,” he says. “The big money races are coming up. We’ve won four in a row with the 360, so we definitely have some momentum heading in.”
Meanwhile, on the 410 side, Brian timed in fourth quick, and made it through his heat unscathed (3rd). He would line up outside row two for the main event. “We had a good battle there with Dusty Zomer for a couple of laps,” he says. “Once we were in third, we were running with Mark (Dobmeier) and Terry (McCarl). There was a yellow with about six laps to go, and I was confident that I could win the thing.”
Brian’s bid to advance came up short and he would checker fourth. “Terry put a big slider on Dobmeier (for the lead) and they got bottled up,” he says. “I was able to get a good run going, and tried a slider at Dobmeier. I knew if I followed through, it would end in tears, so I got out of it. I lost my momentum and Tim Kaeding was able to get by us.”
This Friday, the event at LA Raceway should be a big one with $6,000 on the line to the winner. “I’m excited to run LaMonte,” says Brian. ‘It’s only 35 miles from home. (Promoter) Mike White has brought in the National tour, and that is nothing small. Hopefully, the crowd will reward him and they can bring them back. We really want to protect our own ground there, and that would give us a lot of steam heading into August.”
Friday will be busy for other reasons, as Brian will start the day with an appearance in Minnesota for FVP. “We have a great event up in Eagan, Minnesota on Friday,” he explains. “We’ll have the FVP show car up there for the 65th Anniversary at Factory Motor Parts. It’ll be great to show the car and talk about the sport to folks that maybe don’t get exposure to the sport. We’ll be there from 11-2, and I’ll be able to fly back to race at LaMonte.”
|
