It was a long day on April the 8th when Stabley MotorSports traveled from Jersey Shore, Pa. to Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Va. for the season opener of the Northeast Region Super MiniCup Series. The trip began at 5:15 AM; arrival at Old Dominion was at 10:15 AM.
We spent the first hour applying the decals for our new friend and sponsor Josh Rebuck of Rebuck Racesites. You can visit our new web site designed and maintained by Josh by going to http://minicupracing.com
The first round of practice laps began at 12:00 with 15 Super MiniCups taking the green. All seemed to be going well with my Race Car Graphics / Rebuck Racesites Monte Carlo. About lap 12, I noticed the #25 Lance snack foods sponsored car heading towards the wall in turn one at full speed. I passed under him just as his car hit the wall, bounced off and headed down the banking. Next time by, under yellow, I noticed the young driver climbing from his car on the apron, what a relief!
Seems that the welds on the supports that hold his steering box in place had failed. The driver was ok, and the team went right to work to prepare the car for qualifying and the feature. They would miss the 2nd and 3rd rounds of practice.
We also skipped the 2nd round of practice so we could make a few changes to the car. Our Crew Chief, (Ken Stabley Sr.) went right to work. The 3rd round of practice proved that the changes that were made were good ones. It was beginning to warm up and the track seemed to be coming to us.
Qualifying laps were run one car at a time with my Race Car Graphics / Rebuck Racesites Monte Carlo qualifying 6th out of 13. The #25 that had hit the wall earlier finally made it out to run, but missed the qualifying and had to jump on the rear of the field.
It was about 3:30 PM when the Green Flag waived for the start of the Super MiniCup feature. All drivers seemed to hold their line real well as we entered the 1st turn. On lap 5 of the 25-lap feature, the yellow flag was out as I came to the line. A car was on its roof in the grass at start of turn 3. As I drove by the scene, the driver was already climbing out the driver's side window. Another sigh of relief! I came back to the line and the Red Flag was out. After a few minutes the yellow was back out, and we were on our way to the restart.
Drivers scrambled for position now with much more intensity as the field spread out. As you know this article is called from the driver's seat so I really don't have much else to tell you, other than the finish order. As a driver we only get to see what is in front of us or what happens as we pass cars.
David Miller driving the #94 Shen Valley Sportswear Monte Carlo, claimed his first victory at ODS, followed across the line by the #22 of Pete Neimeier Grabbing 3rd was the #34 driven by Ken Stabley in the Race Car Graphics / Rebuck Racesites Monte Carlo.
A complete list of the results and points will be posted soon at http://minicupracing.com
We arrived home at 11:20 PM
Ken Stabley Jr.
Stabley MotorSports
Pa. Avenger Dealer
1-570-398-3533
Minicupracing.com
