HFRL: The Hurricane Makes the Last Stop at Lowes
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- Hurricane Force Racing League
Hurricane Force Racing League held it�s last race of the season. The top 5 in points were separated by only 26 pts. Jim Russell, Steve Tanner, Rick Clark, John Wilcko, and David Stickney were the top five, in that order. John Wilcko, did not make the race, so it ended up being a battle of four. This would prove to be an intense race!
The trucks, drivers, and teams rolled into �Center of Nascar Racing�, at Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. A few guys were fast right off the truck and would prove to be the �guys to beat�. Another surprise was the addition to the field, of the long time team mate in the STXRacing� stable, Mike Hill.
It was a pleasantly warm evening with temps at 65 degrees with no wind. #40 Bob Brewer brought home the Bud Pole award with a blazing speed of 180.608 Mph and #98 David Stickney sat on the outside with a speed of 178.701 Mph.
The race progressed nicely from the drop of the green flag. There were many battles throughout the field, drivers were slicing and dicing through the field very cautious of their surroundings. Up front it was #40 Bob Brewer showing the pace, with #98 David Stickney, and #25 Steve Tanner a close 2nd and 3rd. After many laps under green, some cars started drop off, and others started moving up, including #18 Jim Russell. The first round of pit stops came under green flag conditions, and it was #30 Shawn Anthony to enter the pits first. The #2 Rick Clark showed that his car was set up for the long runs and was the final car to make the pit stop under green, but had trouble getting in, spinning right before entering, which put him a couple of laps down.
After the field spread out, the first caution came out on lap 87, with an altercation between #30 Shawn Anthony and #18 Jim Russell. �We were in the middle of our 2nd fuel run I was coming out of corner 2 I saw a car blending into the racing groove after exiting the pits. I saw a shinny object go flying out the driver�s side window of the #30 car as I was getting closer to him down the backstretch. The #30 car was drifting to the outside of the track ever so slightly. As I was just about to pass him on the outside I noticed he was still coming, we got together and caused the 1st caution of the day. As we took the restart after the 1st caution, my car got real loose and got together with the #86 car with give them both heavy damage (sorry Jerry). The guys tried to fix the #18 car after that but to no avail. Our day was done� Jim said.
Later Shawn would apologize �Sorry Jim, I swear when I looked in my rear view mirror, there was no one there, again sorry�.
HFRL officials were given a smashed can of Busch Light at the end of the race which was found on the backstretch. They confronted the driver of the #30 car after the race and he said "it was not a beer can, it is part of his sheet metal from his car with his sponsor�s logo on it." HFRL Officials were not able to confirm this as the #30 car was too demolished after the race to identify were that piece came from.
#17 John McCLaren had a pretty good run going there, running in the top 5 most of the night but was plagued by bad luck and a few mistakes. We caught up with John in a post race interview. "Well racing at Lowes was a perfect ending for a great season of racing for the number 17 BUDWEISER car. We qualified well and had a great stable car that could last an entire tank of fuel and still have tires left. We stayed up front until a warp put us a lap down. My team kept their cool and we worked our way back onto the lead lap (Thanks to teammate Steve Tanner). We finished a respectable 4th. We may have had something for the leaders but a few mistakes at the end of the race hurt our chances. (I hit apron a couple of times causing me to spin out). We also got involved in an accident early in the race causing damage to the front and rear of the car. It did not seem to slow us down much but at Lowes every little bit counts. As far as the racing went it was very clean the whole race and everyone seemed to keep there cool. I am hoping next season starts out as well as this season ended. If it does we are going to have one hell of a battle for the championship."
#48 Chad Hitchcock, another rookie sensation, led some laps at different times during the few cautions and restarts and would eventually finish 3rd. He had this to say after the race, "Boy that was the best league race I have been apart of first 87 some laps caution free that was awesome. But I'll have to say I had nothing for top 2. Thanks for letting me be a part of this league�. The early leader, #40 Bob Brewer had a problem when he had to check up to prevent from getting into #11 Mike Hill, and turned it around, thus ruining his chances at winning the race. In his first race with HFRL, #11 Mike Hill had a very strong car finishing 6th, 3 laps down after getting caught up in some earlier incidents. #86 Jerry Davenport finished a strong 5th, 2 laps down. Jerry was pretty stout late in the race, where he was able to run with the leaders for some laps.
The last part of the race was a battle between #98 David Stickney, and #25 Steve Tanner. After the last caution, Dave jumped out to a good lead, but was quickly reeled in by Steve. Catching was one thing, but passing proved to be much harder, �Dave was leading the way, on the last lap I tried to get by him in turns 3/4 but just didn�t have horse power......� Steve was quoted saying. The leaders caught several of the lap cars barely making it by, but #98 David Stickney took home the win at Lowes Motor Speedway, his home town.
�Man, this is great! I can�t say enough about the team, this one is for them" said Stickney after the event. "The GameSpy Ford was awesome all night. We had a little problem with the steering wheel, but I adjusted and it all worked out. Steve did a hell of a job tonight, man he is tough. I couldn�t shake him. I didn�t want to lose another one to him in the last few laps, as I did in California. Luckily I hung on. Congrats on the Championship Steve! This has been a great season with HFRL, and it�s looking better for the second season. Look for the #98 Ford to be sporting new colors next season�.
Afterwards we caught up with the newly crowned champion and he had this to say, �The whole season1 was a blast. I have met great new friends here at HFRL. The guy�s race hard and clean. I�ll never forget the 1st race at Daytona I was racing for the win on the last lap and I got to close to Mr. Davenport and I bumped him in the door and I shot up to the turn 4 wall HARD!!! LOL, sorry Mr. Davenport. I felt real bad. The first race win as at Las Vegas WOW that was a awesome race between Jim Russell and myself 3laps to go nose to tale I tried everything to get around him he washed up a little and I got under him .that was a tight ass race, pretty much through out the season I ran pretty good and that�s because the drivers here at HFRL are awesome drivers. Everyone of these guys here at HFRL are winners and I mean that and I would like to thank all of you for the fun ass racing and to Jim Russell for the hard ass work he has done on the web site...top notch Bro, and everyone else that made this happen.....oh, and for next season good luck to all the Drivers in HFRL (were going to miss you Jim in season2) Thanks......."
HFRL season #2 starts next Wednesday at Dover! We are still looking for some drivers so that we can get a good 20-25 driver field every week. Please contact David Stickney, if you are interested.