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2010 season to make upgrades for a championship run!!!! If your interested, email me for further information.......reasonable packages available.
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After a three week break and a disappointing 11th place in our last race on August 1st., expectations were at a high as a strong run was needed to help move ever so closer to the top 3 in the final points standings. When we showed up at the track Saturday, track conditions were already less than favorable as it was already extremely dry and wasn't holding much if any moisture. With track conditions like this, it is very hard to get any traction out of the tires as all the tires want to do is spin. Seeing how the track was and figuring that it wasn't going to be getting any better throughout the night, we immediately made an adjustment before qualifying. It was a good thing that we made the adjustment because I was actually able to get some grip during my qualifying. When I went out to qualify, I just about spun out not once but twice all before taking the green flag to make my qualifying attempt. As I entered the track, I accelerated way too hard and kicked the car completely sideways. Then, as I was coming around turn 4 and hit the gas to make my qualifying lap, the just about did the same thing and at this point on the track, was not a good place to do it as it can take your momentum away from getting a good solid qualifying lap in. Once I got the car straighten out, I hit the gas and preceded to make my qualifying lap. When I was done with my lap, I felt that it was slow and would be lucky to make it into the A main. Since the score board wasn't working no one knew what lap times we were all turning nor who qualified where. So I really had no idea where I qualified. As the track was writing down the line ups for the trophy dash for the pure stocks, I first saw a 3 being wrote down for the 4th quickest but it ended up being the # 33, and then they wrote down 3rd quick, then 2nd quick, and then they wrote another 3 down and I was starting to wonder just where I had qualified but when they finished writing down the complete number and it was # 32.......I was SHOCKED! I had just set my very first ever Fast Time for the pure stocks. Never in a million years would I have thought that my lap was quick enough to get fast time, but it was. I turned fast time at a 17:421 lap. The track did away with the heat races for the night but in doing so, gave us hot laps. Because I had just made the trophy dash, I opted not to participate in the hot lap sessions. I've been around that track long enough that I know what we were facing all night and going out for hot laps was just another chance of wasting a good car. I lined up for the trophy dash and then we pulled out onto the track and I was ready. We took the green and within the first lap, I went from fourth to second. As we entered turn 1 to start lap number 2, I made a huge mistake that I should have known better to do. The leader was running the middle line entering turn 1 and since I had just got second place coming off the last corner, I felt real racy and decided that I was going to try and pass the leader on the high outside entering turn 1. Under normal track conditions, this move probably would have stuck and been ok but not today. Since the track was dry and dusty, I found out just how bad the 3rd groove was with loose dust. As I stuck my nose on the outside entering the corner, all of a sudden the back end of the car came around on me and I was away sliding the car completely sideways trying to not only keep it out of the wall but also from sliding down the track as the 4th car was starting to enter the corner. Once he passed me, I took my foot off the brakes and got the car going straight again. I ended up getting lucky and managed a 3rd place finish picking up a crucial 2 points in the championship. Now it was time for our 37 lap T & G Thriller main event. Since I was fast time for the night, I had to start in the 12th position as the top 12 qualifiers are locked into the A main but with a full invert. Starting that far back and with track conditions as we had, it was going to be extremely tough to do much but I was ready for the challenge. As the race started, I was fast but was also taking my time and trying to make smart moves. As the race wore on, I found myself steadily moving towards the front. For probably a good 10 laps or so I had a great side by side battle for 5th with the 4th place points car (and the significances of this is that Im currently 5th, 37 points behind him for 4th) but he finally got the position on the track from me, however he had some very difficult times battling for 4th on the track which actually allowed me to drive right back back both cars giving me the 4th place position in the race. As the race continued, a lot of the cars were getting really loose and hard to drive but not mine. My car was just where it needed to be for handling as I kept motoring around the remaining cars. I made my up to 3rd place and was closing in on the 1st and 2nd place cars. We ended up having a late race caution which was good in the aspect that it put me right on the back bumper of 2nd place. However, it always seems to take me a couple laps after a restart to get my rhythm going again. Unfortunately, I only had a couple of laps left in the race. When we took the final green flag, little did we know that the race was soon to be over. We completed the restart lap only to receive the white flag and then we received the checkered! Because we only had two green flag laps left after the final restart, I was only able to hold off 4th place and was unable to do anything with 2nd place so I got an impressive and HARD earned 3rd place in the race. Starting the night, I was sitting 5th in points 37 points behind 4th and 47 points behind 3rd, but since I was fast time and started 12th in the main, I was able to pick up a crucial 18 passing points, 2 points for the trophy dash, and my normal 90 points for 3rd. Everyone ahead of me in points finished behind me. But they also weren't eligible to receive any passing points as 4th place in points transferred from the B main and 3rd place in points finished worse than he started. Unofficially, I should now only be 11 points out of 4th and 21 points out of 3rd. With 4 races left to go in our season, 3rd place is realistically the highest place in points that I can finish which considering that this is still only my second season driving, is an outstanding season. So here is the breakdown for Saturday night’s races: · Qualified – 1st - FAST TIME · Trophy Dash – 3rd · A – Main – 3rd My next race will be September 5th and 6th 2009 as we have a double header weekend at Sunset Speedway and I hope that it will be great night's of racing. The race on the 6th is our Pure Stock 100 lap race. Thank you again to all my sponsors:
McCutcheon Fence Co.
Darrel's Economy Mufflers
Summerhalder's Racing Collectibles
Van Raden Industries
Christopher Bean Coffee
Fastlane Graphics
Speshl Stitches
Airgas
Discount Race Car Parts
Thanks again,
Robert Summerhalder #32 Sunset Speedway Pure Stocks |
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After a three week break again, we had a beutiful race day. We went out and posted the eighth quickest qualifying time and was locked into the A - Main for the first time this year. The heat race was a tough race as I had to come from the back of the pack. It was fast and hard racing through out the race and I was able to work my way up to 5th place. The main was lookin pretty good as the ever changing track conditions were changing to my car's set up. I started 3rd in the main and fell back a couple of spots as the car right in front of me got a flat tire and held me up for a bit. Once I was able to clear him, I got back into my rhythom and was working my back up to the front. I managed to get up to fifth place when a car spun in the middle of the low line in turns 3 & 4. I happen to have been running that same lower line and I didnt see the caution nor the other car sitting there until I was already committed. So, I anchored the brakes and was slowing down, however, it wasnt quick enough so in an attempt not to hit him, I chose to go high around him at the last second. Well, that was a problem because at the same time I chose to go high, the car that was running a little higher line behind me chose to go around me so we clipped front ends with one another ripping my front bumper off of the right front corner of the car. The team tried several times to get it securely fastend but was unsuccessful so I ended up not finishing my very first race. In the 16 races Ive raced so far in my career, I had not had a DNF until this accident happend. I was not the happiest person as not only did I suffer my first DNF, but I also felt that I had the car to beat and I coulda won my first ever A main. Guess I will have to try again the next race.
Breakdown of weekend: Qualifying - 8th Heat Race - 5th A-Main - 14th (DNF - Accident Lap 8) As always, thank you to my sponsors for they're continued support as it is much appreciated.
52nd Ave. Hardware & Building Supply
McCutcheon Fence Co.
Darrel's Economy Mufflers
Summerhalder's Racing Collectibles
Van Raden Industries
Christopher Bean Coffee
Fastlane Graphics
Speshl Stitches
Airgas
Discount Race Car Parts
Sincerely, Robert Summerhalder # 32 Sunset Speedway Pure Stocks
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After a DNF last week and a week's worth of repairs, high hopes were up again for this weekend's race. The track was perfect almost all night. I went out and posted the 13th quickest qualifying time just missing the A-main. I lined up on the outside of the front row in the heat race which I love when I start the race that far up. When we took the green flag, I launched up off the corner grabbing the lead and never looked back as I lead the heat race from flag to flag picking up my second heat race win of the year. The B-main was a little bit of a different story. Because I was the quickest non A-main qualifyers and the track lines the cars up in a full inverted manor, I had to start the b-main from the dead last position. I raced my way up to 4th by lap thirteen of our fifteen lap race. At lap 13, I was passed for the final transfer spot. I finished the race in fifth place failing to transfer to the A-main. Or so I thought. For the first time, the track said that if anyone that was in the A main could not make line up, then the next person in line from the finishing order of the B main would then transfer to the A. Well, this in fact was the case. Two cars could not make line up so I was put into the A main. I started 15th and ended up finishing 12th, one lap down to the leaders.
Our next race is this next weekend ( June 13th at Sunset Speedway in Banks, OR )
Breakdown of weekend: Qualifying - 13th Heat Race - 1st
B-Main - 5th A-Main - 12th As always, thank you to my sponsors for they're continued support as it is much appreciated.
52nd Ave. Hardware & Building Supply
McCutcheon Fence Co.
Darrel's Economy Mufflers
Summerhalder's Racing Collectibles
Van Raden Industries
Christopher Bean Coffee
Fastlane Graphics
Speshl Stitches
Airgas
Discount Race Car Parts
Sincerely, Robert Summerhalder # 32 Sunset Speedway Pure Stocks
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After a three week break and last weeks rain out, mother nature allowed us the opportunity to get our scheduled race day in. After the major disappointment of the season opener back on April 18th, my hopes were high for a decent night of racing. Well, unfortunately, those high hopes were destroyed in qualifying. We had twenty cars post qualifying times and out of those twenty cars, I managed a fastest 20.049 lap time which placed me 19th out of the 20 car field. With this poor qualifying time, I once again was forced to race in the B-main and attempt to finish in one of the four transfer spots. When our heat race line ups were posted, the hopes that were destroyed after qualifying were starting to come back as I lined up outside of the front row which meant I get to set the pace on the start. When we rolled out onto the track for our heat race, I got a feeling in my stomach that this was going to be a great race for me and it was. As we came around the 3 and 4 turns, I hit the gas, green flag waving in the air and I was already in the lead. I lead the 7 lap heat race from flag to flag never challenged as we crossed the start finish line ending the race, I won by a 2.701 second margin over second place. With winning the heat race in such a dominating performance, my confidence in my ability was back in full force. Now it was time for the B-main. Though I wanted to dominate that race too, I knew that all I had to do was to finish in the top four and I move on to the A-main. The start of the B-main was just the same as the heat race. I jumped out to a pretty good lead right from the get go only to have my lead disappear with a caution. After the restart second place came up and challenged me for the lead briefly as I let him go and did not put up much of a fight as I knew I didn't want to battle hard and end up not transferring so I didn't battle him and just let him go. Even though the B main was supposed to be a 15 lap race, we ended up racing 25 laps and finishing with a 2nd place. Now it was time for the A-main. I started 14th. With the track becoming what is refereed to as "Dry slick", my car came to life and was a rocket ship. When I crossed the line completing lap 1, I was racing in 15th position. By the time we came back around to complete lap 2, I was all the way up into 10th position where I stayed for a few laps. With some hard racing I wound up finishing 7th. Also, we ended up only getting to race for 13 laps instead of the scheduled 30 laps. With the way my car was handling and running, I could only imagine how much further forward I could have finished. But in any case, I finished a solid 7th place reestablishing my confidence. Also, with this solid 7th place finish, I should have moved into the top 10 in points hopefully beginning my march towards the top of the points sheet so I can battle for the championship. We are off this weekend and again on the 23rd but we will be in action on the 30th with a new attitude car. We will be changing a few things in the car so hopefully it will give me what I need to get to the front and stay there but only time and luck will tell. Breakdown of weekend: Qualifying - 19th out of 20 Heat Race - 1st B-Main - 2nd A-Main - 7th As always, thank you to my sponsors for they're continued support as it is much appreciated.
52nd Ave. Hardware & Building Supply
McCutcheon Fence Co.
Darrel's Economy Mufflers
Summerhalder's Racing Collectibles
Van Raden Industries
Christopher Bean Coffee
Fastlane Graphics
Speshl Stitches
Airgas
Discount Race Car Parts
Sincerely, Robert Summerhalder # 32 Sunset Speedway Pure Stocks
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I ended up having a poor qualifying time and ending up 15th out of 20 cars. In the driver's meeting, they told us just to be watching the light and flagger for the green and then go.....well that screwed me in the heat race. Everyone in front of me didn't get going when the green came out and everyone behind me jumped all around me so I was kind of stuck for a couple of laps but I managed to move up a spot or two by the time it was over. Then I had to run the B-main......that's were it went to hell. I was running 7th when I came off of two and saw a potential opening developing so I dove to the inside and right after I headed to the inside I got tagged a good one right at the back side of the driver's door spinning me to the infield. I was able to get it refired and continue. Within a couple of laps of my incident, the car that hit me hit another coming off of four sticking that one into the front stretch wall.....not to say.....the car that hit me was black flagged and done for the night. I ended up finishing fourth just making it into the A. The A main went well for the most part except for spinning in turn 3 and then coming back out only to get the move over flag a couple of laps later for the leaders so I ended up finishing 14th. But, all-in-all, I was still able to load the car up in one piece with just a little body damage.....It just wasn't what I was expecting nor anticipating to have.....I was anticipating a solid top 5/10 finish.....maybe next race. We are off this coming weekend so we will be back on track and hoping for better results on May 2nd. Thank you again for all of your support,
Robert Summerhalder #32 Sunset Speedway Pure Stocks
SPECIAL THANKS to my sponsors: Summerhalder's Racing Collectibles, 52nd Ave. Hardware & Building Supply, McCutcheon Fence, Christopher Bean Coffee, Darrel's Economy Muffler, Van Raden Industries, Fastlane Graphics, Speshl Stitches, and Airgas
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We had our first and only pre-season practice day this past weekend at SunsetSpeedwayPark. All I can tell you is that I really needed it especially since I hadn’t been in the racecar since last September when we had our season finally. My first practice session that I went out for, you could tell that it had been a while since I had been in the car. I was slower than I should have been and the car looked visibly terrible. But, none the less, I improved every session there after. The second session I went out for was by far my best session. The car handled great. I was getting on the gas in the center of the corners. I was driving it into the corners smoother. The car was fast!!!! We ended up getting about 10 laps this session which I was glad that we did. Then later, we went out for what ended up being our third and final practice session that we participated in. The first part of the session was just as good as the second session. The car was fast and I was smooth. Unfortunately, about half way through the session, we developed a carburetion issue so I wasn’t able to get on the gas as soon as I usually do when exiting the corners. The basics of the problem were that the carburetor was flooding itself out when accelerating up off of the corners. So we will be addressing this issue and fixing it before this coming weekend’s season opener. This coming weekend is our season opener. Since the end of last season until now, the track had decided to start the racing events for the first part of the year earlier than usual. The new start times are: (Starting April 18th thru June 13th) Grandstands open at 1:30, Hot Laps at 12:30, Qualifying at 2:00, and Racing at 3:30. On the card for this weekend’s season opener is: Late Models, Modifieds, Street Stocks, PURE STOCKS, Woman’s, and Tracers. It’s going to be a fun and exciting year as both myself and my T & A Motorsports teammate try to win races and the season end points Championship. Thank you again for your continued support, Robert
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The #32 Summerhalder's Racing Collectibles, 52nd Ave. Hardware & Building Supply, McCutcheon Fence, Christopher Bean Coffee, Darrel's Economy Muffler, Van Raden Industries, Fastlane Graphics, Speshl Stitches Camaro Pure Stock is set to hit the track for the 2009 Season!
The season is upon us and weather permitting, we will be at the track tomorrow for the open practice. This practice day is definitely needed track time to re-familiarize myself with the car and with the reconfigured track. The track added more banking to it in the corners. It has been around 6 months since the last time I was on the track so I am really looking forward to it. The points season is scheduled to start next weekend ( April 18th ) again weather permitting.
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We had a great time at the Portland Roadster Show this year. We met a lot of people. Gave out alot of sponsor stuff along with signing autographs for the kids. The car was featured in a full page color ad for Summerhalder's Racing Collectibles which by the way, the ad looked SWEET! The car was also shown in the DVD of the show. Some of the people that we met, we actually met last year there and for those people, the majority of them just could not believe that the car still looked as nice as it did espectially with having a full season raced on it.
Yeah this show was alot of fun this year! I cannot wait until next years show.
Thanks again to all my sponsors for their support as we gear up to hit the track next month!
Robert
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We are getting the car prepared to head over to the Oregon Convention Center next Wednesday as it will be on display at the 53rd Annual Portland Roadster Show. This show will be great exposure for not only me, but for all the 2009 sponsors that I currently have. We are expecting well over 20,000 people to see the car and trophies that I earned last year. Every year, I look forward to this show as I get to meet and talk to alot of people in just a 3 day period. If your in the area, come on down to the show and stop by the booth! Again, the car will be at the Portland Roaster Show at the Oregon Convention Center - March 6th (2pm - 10pm) , 7th ( 10am - 10pm ), and 8th ( 10am - 7pm ).
Thanks!
Robert
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