Brian Brown – Mary Lee Standridge Memorial Win!
(Bill W) July 30, 2012 – A heavy bullring hasn’t always suited Brian Brown’s style, but he got a big win last Friday night at the Mary Lee Standridge Memorial held at the Jacksonville Speedway in Jacksonville, Illinois. The win paid the Grain Valley, Missouri driver $3,000 and he followed that up with a pair of second place finishes at Knoxville Raceway where he will return for this week’s 360 Nationals.
Brian went from fifth to third in the heat at Jacksonville. “With the passing points format, you just have to go for it in the heats,” he says. “The track was pretty rough at that point. We were definitely happy to put ourselves in position by getting in the Dash.”
The Dash saw a back-up to fourth from a starting spot outside row one. “We tightened our car up, thinking the track was going to slick off more than it did,” says Brian. “We wanted to see how far we could go, and we went too far and we ended up running fourth.”
Starting outside row two, the main event had a rocky start. “We went back to the drawing board,” says Brian. “The first couple laps of the A, we were content to run the bottom. Off turn two on the second lap, we got together with Jimmy (Bridgeman). Coming up off the bottom, you don’t have any mirrors, and I felt someone get into my right rear tire. You always hate to be a part of something like that.”
The restart saw Brian move into second and eventually chase down Danny Smith for the win. “We were able to get going on the green, and slid by Robbie (Standridge) for second,” he says. “At that point, we were chasing Danny down. The closer we got to him, the tighter we got. I kept plugging away and trying to get my timing down. We were able to get a good run (lap 20) and sneak by and get a win.”
Brian was proud to win such a prestigious event. “I was probably happier to win there, than I had been at Knoxville the week before,” he says. “We had been good there before, we just haven’t had the finishes. Going forward, knowing we’ve won on a bullring is a good sign of where our team is. To win the Mary Lee Standridge Memorial was really special. She meant so much to racing in central Illinois. That was a huge accomplishment for us.”
Brian competed in both the 410 class and 360 class at Knoxville on Saturday. He would set quick time with a stout 410 class. “It’s always good to qualify well,” he says. “That’s due to our Charlie Garrett engine. I feel like we have the best engine builder in the country to go with our Maxim chassis. It takes all that to set quick time.”
He would finish sixth in his heat, but caught a break when a competitor was DQed. Otherwise, he would have gone to the B! “It seemed like wherever I went, (Terry) McCarl was there,” says Brian. “His car was wider than ours. He did a good job to hold us off there. That put us in the B until we learned (Kyle) Larson had a problem at the scales. He is my buddy and may get an extra Christmas present from us this year.”
Brian started outside row three in the 20-lap feature. “We were able to get to third pretty quickly, and then get by Bronson (Maeschen),” he says. “We started chasing down Terry. I thought we were as good or better. We got to traffic and I thought we had something before the yellow came out. Our motor just wasn’t taking off the way it needed to be to be in contention in that race.”
He was unable to get by McCarl and checkered second. “We just gave up too much ground on the starts, and when we would run him down, there seemed to be another yellow,” says Brian. “I thought I may sneak by on the last lap, but it didn’t work out. Finishing second with that field of cars is a good thing.”
The 360 class went well too. “The main reason we wanted to run the 360 was to qualify,” says Brian. “We were able to time fifth, and we found some things that picked up the program there.”
After running third in his heat, Brian lined up fourth for the feature. He would again finish second. “I didn’t get the best start,” he says. “I think I was fifth or sixth off of turn two. Matt (Moro) did a good job to get going and get to the front. I gave it all we had, we just got beat by a better car. If you are going to lose, it’s good to lose to a so-called teammate with Casey’s General Stores. He does a good job and he is a good guy.”
Thursday will mark Brian’s qualifying night for the 360 Nationals. “This time of the year is what we’ve been preparing for a long time,” he says. “We’re just looking for a good solid run to put ourselves in position for Saturday. If we do that, I think we have the team, the car and the motor to get it done.”
Category: Brian Brown, Driver Updates, News
