Column By: KATELYN & CHRIS HILE / RPW – SYRACUSE, NY – This past weekend the Hile Motorsports team was back home at the highbanks of Fulton Speedway. To say we were excited to be home was an understatement as I can assure you work Friday seemed to drag out extra slow for the both of us!
Friday night was a night for us to relax and eye-out what we could expect track conditions to be the following night. Fulton’s track crew really worked wonders as conditions were smooth and dry-slick providing for exciting racing all weekend long.
We got to try something a little different Friday night as it was Sam Reakes Snap-on Tools night and with Sam racing in the Empire Super Sprints show his Snap-on truck seat was vacant and needed a driver to pace the field. We even got to watch from the infield! A truly incredible experience seeing the cars fly by, you track photographers are nuts!!
Saturday started off more like a fall day as temperatures made the event feel more like the Outlaw 200 without the sail panels. It is crazy how we can go from one extreme to another in a few hours here in Central New York. Knowing the Super DIRTcar Series lined up by time trials the draw was a little less stressful than normal, but the hot laps and time trial rotations that followed quickly made the entire Hile Motorsports Team very busy!
They say when you start of behind the eight-ball it can be hard to catch up and boy did that play true Saturday. Over the winter Chris and Katelyn worked hard to improve on their set-ups from last season, but with no real practice at Fulton one minor set-up changed proved to not be the hot ticket Saturday. As a result the Lightning Management 5H and 1911 Established ® Hard Cider both had to start deep in their qualifying heat.
Chris was able to drive the 5H up through the qualifying field and secured a spot in the 100 lap main event, just shy of a re-draw position. Unfortunately Katelyn and the 25H weren’t as lucky as she found her way to the last chance showdown where a few mistakes kept her from qualifying.
Chris and the 5H machine seemed to be holding steady at 15th but ultimately retired from the race early when he became part of lapped traffic with 10 to go.
Both the 5H and 25H showed speed throughout the night setting up a solid foundation for the season ahead.
Looking forward both Chris and the Lightning Management 5H and Katelyn and the 1911 Established ® Hard Cider 25H are ready to get their regular season underway this weekend at both the Brewerton and Fulton Speedways.
As an extra incentive to stop by the Brewerton Speedway this Friday Katelyn and the 1911 Established ® Hard Cider team will be hosting a hard cider tasting and raffling off prizes in the grandstand area.
As always stay up to date with the Hile Motorsports latest happenings at www.HileMotorpsorts.com.