It was great to be back at Angell Park Speedway on Aug. 11, for Backpack Night (an unofficial title). Eric and Faith put together six backpacks filled with school supplies that were given to kids at the races.
On the track Eric continued to struggle in qualifying, finishing second to last of the 25 cars that took time. The team of Justin, Logan and Kaden, found an issue with a fuel line which was easily remedied and Eric was ready for the heat.
They only ran three heats (no Madison Extinguisher Service Non-Qualifier race) so Eric still had a chance to make the Lyco Manufacturing A-Main without having to go through the High Performance Lubricants B-Main. The silver lining to his poor qualifying run was he started on the pole for Auto Meter Heat-1.
In the heat race Eric got the jump on the field and led the first couple of laps running on the bottom. Eventually veterans Lamont Critchett and Kyle Stark powered around him on the top. Eric ended up with a solid third-place finish.
The qualifying run put him behind all the others who qualified for the A-Main via the heats, but ahead of those who had to run the B-Main. In the A, Eric started 15th. He avoided contact as the field bunched up coming to the green. Several cars were damaged in the mess of a start and one who started well behind him, was done for the night.
Once they got going and the race progressed Eric got as high as tenth place. He was making some ground on the bottom, but then it went away a bit. He ended up 12th. The race saw the last 19 laps go green to checkers and he was not in danger of getting lapped. The car was in one piece and ran well.
It as a good point night where he now finds himself in 11th, just 16 points behind Trey Weishoff for 10th.
The team was happy to see Daniel Robinson get the win for car owner Bill Ecker who was celebrating his 77th birthday. Bill gave Eric his first chance to race a midget back in 2022 in the #57. Bill said more than once after the race, "People just don't realize how hard it is to win here."
Next Sunday, August 18 will be the next big race (they all seem like big races at APS) when Eric will bring the midget back to Angell Park for Cornfest Night. We hope to see you there! If you want us to save you a seat, as it should be a huge crowd please let us know and we'll put down a blanket for you!
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Photo credit: Crew Chief Justin Hoium
Article by: Dad