PETERSEN MEDIA- Competing aboard both a winged an non winged sprint car over the weekend, Richard Vander Weerd had a tough weekend in both cars, but was able to fight his way to a sixth place finish on Saturday night.
“Friday night I was relearning how to drive a winged car and we definitely struggled, and on Saturday night in the non wing car we had issues in our heat that put us at the rear of the feature, and on a pretty tricky track we were able to work our way up to sixth,” Vander Weerd said.
Checking in at the Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, CA on Friday night, Vander Weerd would make his first winged start of the season. Laying down what he thought was a good lap in time trials, Vander Weerd would end up 17th quickest.
Starting at the back of his heat race, Vander Weerd would show a little rust aboard his Vander Weerd Construction/Stonegate Development/Battery Worx No. 10 machine as he would finish in the seventh position.
Lining up deep in the field for the feature event, Vander Weerd would spend the early portions of the main getting a feel for his mount, but would unfortunately go a lap down. When a late yellow flew the double file restart would force him to the back of the pack, and Vander Weerd would be pleased with how he felt on the restart.
Able to make some headway, Vander Weerd would work his way up to the eighth place car on the lead lap as he made some good laps. The final lap of the race would see the Visalia, CA driver get into the cushion to hard and get into the tires off of turn four which would bring his night to an end just shy of the checkered flag.
Heading to the Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday night to battle with the USAC/CRA Series, Vander Weerd would get off to a great start as he timed in second fastest in qualifying time trials.
Heat race action saw Vander Weerd battle for the second spot, but he would lose a power steering line and be forced into the infield which put him at the tail of the field for the feature event.
On a very technical track that offered drivers a little bit of everything, Vander Weerd was smooth as he attacked the daunting Thunderbowl. With passing cars challenging for most, Vander Weerd worked his way up to finish in the sixth spot at the finish.
“Saturday night we had a really good car, but we got stuck starting in the back for the feature,” Vander Weerd added. “It’s the typical story, but I really feel like we are battling for a podium if we start at the front of the race, that’s how good my car felt.”
Richard and his Vander Weerd Racing team would like to thank Vander Weerd Construction, Stonegate Development, Battery Worx, Mid-Valley Pipe, Basic Industries, Factory Kahne Shocks, Steve Watt Enterprises, FK Rod Ends, PXP Racewear and K&N for their support in 2016.
2016 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-10, Wins-1, Top 5’s-5, Top 10’s-7.
ON TAP: Richard will travel to the Ventura Raceway this Saturday night to pilot Mike Sala’s midget in the USAC Western States midget event.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Vander Weerd Racing by ‘Liking’ them on facebook at www.facebook.com/VanderWeerdRacing.
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