PETERSEN MEDIA- Taking part in the John Padjen Classic Silver Cup in Chico, CA over the weekend, Willie Croft kicked his season off with a fourth-place finish on Friday night before Saturday night came to a close with him finishing 14th.
“It was great to get back to racing, and I have to thank my guys for all of their hard work,” Willie Croft said. “Friday night things went really well, and on Saturday we were just as fast but restarts in the feature killed us, and there were quite a few of them.”
45 cars checked in for Friday night’s opener, and Croft would take care of business early as he timed in second fastest in his qualifying group aboard the Holey Smokes BBQ/Rudeen/Amerikote backed No. 29 machine.
With the bottom lane being grease from a rain shower that saturated the area prior to the drivers meeting, Croft took advantage of starting outside and surged into the early lead.
Picking up the win, the Colfax, CA driver earned a spot in the redraw where he would end up pulling the four pill and lining up in the second row to start the 30-lap feature event.
On a very fast racing surface from rain earlier in the afternoon, Croft would find himself battling with the likes of Andy Forsberg, Justin Sanders, and Ryan Robinson as they all jockeyed for position within the Top-Five.
With passing tough on this night, even through traffic, Croft would cap a strong opening night off with a fourth-place finish.
Returning to action for the finale on Saturday night, Croft would get off to another quick start as he timed his immaculately prepared Willie Croft Racing entry in fastest in his qualifying group.
Just as it was on Friday night, the inside lane was not the place to be to start the heat and it would bite Croft a little as he fell back to second when his heat went green. Hanging on to finish second, Croft would earn a spot in the Dash where he would finish eight after pulling the nine.
Gridding the field from the outside of the fourth row for the 35-lap feature event, Croft would work his way forward as he cracked the Top-5 on the 14th lap. Running well inside the Top-5, a lap 24 restart would not work out in his favor as he would slip back to 11th.
An onslaught of late cautions would breed restarts and they would continue to hinder Croft as he lost a couple of more positions and fell back to 14th, where he would finish.
“We had good speed, just needed things to go our way more on Saturday night,” Croft said. “Happy with the weekend, and looking forward to Placerville in a couple of weeks before kicking off our King of the West season.”
Willie Croft Racing would like to thank Holey Smokes BBQ, Rudeen, Amerikote, SCI, Brown and Miller, FK Rod Ends, Factory Kahne, Schoenfeld, Team Simpson, Stilo, Smith Precision Products, Kaeding Performance, AL Drivelines, XYZ, Vortex Wings, DoTerra and GUTS for their support.
BY THE NUMBERS: Races-2, Wins-0, Top 5’s-1, Top 10’s-1.
ON TAP: Willie Croft will sit this weekend out before returning to action on March 19th in Placerville, CA.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Willie Croft Racing by visiting www.williecroftracing.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @WillieCroft29.
PETERSEN MEDIA: Petersen Media is a PR company that can handle your public relations, marketing, and any other media needs. Petersen Media utilizes multiple tactics to help you reach your intended audience, to boost awareness.
For more information contact Sales@petersenmediainc.com, 916-342-3424, visit www.petersenmediainc.com, www.facebook.com/PetersenMedia or follow @Petersen_Media on twitter.
###