THE GROVE WEEK 2
DD and team rig are the first through the gates. DD pulls pill # 24. Not bad, Team 48 feels they should be able to take advantage of passing points in the heat race. After the rig is parked and the car is unloaded, DD heads to the drivers meeting. Meanwhile, the team checks the car over. The track is now open for heat in the motors. DD takes his Gary Kauffman owned #48 Sprinter to the track. Time for hot laps and DD looks great, then disaster strikes. Just as the checkered flag flew, DD developed motor troubles. With the help of a push truck, DD pilots his sprinter back to the hauler. With little time, DD tells the crew to change motors. While the team changed the motor, DD missed his heat race and was hoping to complete the change in time for the consi. With the motor change complete, DD takes his car on the track during yellows in the 358 late model heat to get some heat in the motor. Time for the consi and DD and car are ready. DD is scheduled to start 11th with only 4 to qualify. Three cars fail to report out helping DD move up to start 8th. Drop of the green and DD looks to make his move. With 2 laps in DD spins his #48 Sprinter in turn two. Yellow comes out and DD gets a shove from a push truck to rejoin the field. Green flag with DD looking to make his move to the front. Eight laps of ten are now completed and DD is running 6th. Aaron Ott lays his sprinter over in turn 2 while running 5th to bring out the red flag. This puts DD in 5th for the restart, only needing to gain one more spot to qualify. On the restart, DD shoots low in turn 1, putting a slider on Chris Meleason only to have Meleason cross over and back in front of DD. Pulling to a two car-length lead, they get the white flag. Meleason still with a two car-length lead down the backstretch into turn 3. That’s when DD throws his Sandoe’s Fruit Market sponsored sprinter to the bottom driving in as hard as he could sliding in front of Meleason coming off of turn 4. Down the front-stretch to the checkered DD holds off Meleason to transfer to the feature. Not many drivers could pull off a move like that!!!! As DD pulls into the pits, the crew is pumped and so is DD. Adrenalin is pumping, but Team 48 knows that they still need to prepare for the feature. DD will start 24th for the feature. At the start of the feature, DD starts his pursuit to the front of the pack. However, DD loops his sprinter in turn 2. Doing a 360 in front of the leaders, DD keeps his composure and tucks in line behind 5th place running Darren Pittman. As the laps wind down, DD stays right with the leaders. Eventually, he passes Pittman and a few other lap cars, to finish a hard fought 17th. This was certainly not the night the team had hoped for, but given the circumstances of the evening we’ll take it. With a little luck, maybe next week will be DD’s week.
lincoln WEEK 2
DD and team pull through the gate only for DD to pull his number for the night, #36. DD focuses himself for the night ahead. In warm-ups, the GKR #48 Sprinter looks good. Team 48 find out they will be starting 3rd in heat 2. DD looks sharp in the heat. Trying to hold off a charging Brian Monteith, DD holds on to a 4th place finish. The top 4 qualifiers from each heat would redraw for their starting positions in the feature. DD, with hopes of a good number pulls #4. There was no consi, due to 25 410′s in the pits and John Rudisill’s #4 scratching for the night. The field is lining up for the feature. DD takes the outside of row 2 beside Cory Haas. Green flag flies and two laps are recorded before Doug Eash and Cory Haas bump wheels down the backstretch, sending Cory to the inside guardrail and laying the car on its side, then returning to all 4 wheels. After the red flag is lifted, the field gets lined back up, with DD still in 4th. Over the next three or so laps the caution comes out numerous times for Fred Rahmer, Doug Eash, Bill Dietrich and Tim Glatfelter. Through all the cautions, DD remains in the top 5. As green flag laps run down, DD drops to 7th continuing to battle for 6th with Mark Smith. White flag waves and as leader Brian Leppo is ready to get the checkered, the red flag comes out for a flipping Tim Glatfelter in turn 1. Now prepared for a one lap shootout, the field takes the green for the final time. Charging hard into turn 3, DD throws the #48 to the bottom. The car slides up the track, sending DD sideways exiting turn 4. Collecting the car DD crosses with a 12th place finish.
