Its Miller Time – PMP
Saturday July 23rd at Pueblo Motorsports Park. The forecast was for hot weather and they were right. Matthew took the car out for morning practice to shake it down after the damage from the last race. The car ran great and put down the fastest lap of the run group. The water temps also looked to be in check which was a relief as the past few races the temps were higher than we wanted. Looks like the cooling system flush was a success. Qualifying also went well and Matthew put the 73 Spec 7 on pole.
As we were waiting for the race we noticed some dark clouds rolling in. We hoped it would give us some shade and relief from the heat. As we were in grid about to go out on track the storm reached us. The thunder and lightning started and the word from turn one was they were getting pounded with rain. A wet track is one thing but with the lightning the call was made to postpone the race and get the workers under cover where they would be safer. This was a good call as the storm lasted longer than expected and brought with it hail and high winds. It did cool it down nicely though.
After the storm subsided the track was inspected. The track had pools of standing water in some places and rivers running across in other places. With it being late in the day and track conditions being so poor the decision was made to postpone the race until Sunday morning.
Sunday July 24th. Our group was to be the first on track. Matthew went out and a trail of dust cam out from his car as he went around the track for the first lap. The track was mostly dry but slippery in spots where there was still some dirt on track from the previous days storm. Matthew came around the corner with Clay Turner on his left, both of them anticipating the green flag. The flag dropped and it was a drag race to turn 1. Matthew was able to pull a fender on Clay going into turn 1 and being on the inside he had the advantage. In the next few laps Matthew was able to gain a healthy gap and maintained it until the end of the race, bringing home 1st place.
With the schedule change practice was eliminated and we were combined with the small boar group. Qualifying went well and Matthew was able to get poll for the Spec 7 group again.
In the second race we were combined with the other small boar group. As the green flag dropped Matthew got a great start. He started to pull a gap on the rest of the Spec 7s for the first few laps. Clay was not going to let Matthew get away this race and was able to catch back up in short order. The temperature was hot, the sweat was flying, and Clay was glued to Matthew’s bumper. Matthew pushed the car harder and so did Clay. On the 12th lap Matthew bobbled through turn 8 and Clay put the hammer down, executing a beautiful pass into turn 9. The pass slowed Matthew down just enough that he had to go down to 2nd gear to pull out of the corner. Matthew came around turn 10 as fast as he could and was able to start gaining back on Clay. Matthew had a good run but not quite enough to pass Clay back before turn 1.
The next few corners were critical as Clay had been carrying more speed through 2 and 3. Matthew was able to maintain the gap all the way to turn 8 where he was slightly faster. Matthew used this speed and went deeper into 9 than he had all race. He came out of 9 with a good head of steam and carried this through 10 where he started to gain on Clay fast. This time he was able to get around before turn 1 and make it stick. The next time by the 1 lap board was displayed and Matthew was able to maintain the lead until the end.
