McKay Rebounds For 12th On Night Two at the World Series

Collins, Foran, Crooks find trouble in Super Late Model division

After a rough and tumble opening day of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing for Quispamsis, New Brunswick’s Sarah McKay, the 2014 Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour Rookie of the Year put the past behind her with a solid run on Saturday evening at New Smyrna Speedway.

On Friday night, McKay was swept up in a wreck with less than ten laps to go in the PPG Coatings Pro Late Model class when a driver behind her could not get on the brakes quick enough. The car ended up riding up over the front end of her #32 A.E. McKay Builders/Pub’s Drive Thru Bottle Exchange Chevrolet SS, ending her night before the checkered flag in the 35-lap event. The incident in the feature was following an incident in practice, which saw her spinning around backward into the wall after contact with another race car.

The speeds at the high banked, 1/2-mile track are much greater than anything than McKay has experienced at home.

“It’s hard to wrap your head around how fast you enter the corner,” said McKay of the New Smyrna Speedway. “You have to drive in so deep and hope it doesn’t slide around on you and it sticks. It’s kinda like a bigger Antigonish (Riverside International Speedway) with tighter corners. Basically, you drive up on the corner and it almost feels like you’re in the wall. It’s nerve wracking, but we’re getting used to it.”

After the team worked to repair the front and rear of the car of the mostly cosmetic damage sustained Friday, the team was on it Saturday and, with limited practice, provided Sarah a car she drove to a 12th place finish. McKay was the first to qualify after only making one run in practice after the fire aboard Jordan Ives’s Super Late Model washed out the final of two Pro Late Model practices. Qualifying on sticker tires, McKay put the #32 car 17th on the board of 21 in qualfying. McKay found a groove early in the race and while she fell to 19th at one point in the feature, she began to establish a rhythm and with coaching from crew chief Geoff Armstrong on the radio, she began to pick off other drivers and move to the front of the field.

McKay entered the final restart of the race with seven to go in 15th place and made quick moves to put herself up into 12th at the finish. With another lap or two, she was looking at 11th place as she was under Ontario’s Steve Laking for the spot as the checkered flag flew.

“That last restart was one of the craziest I’ve been a part of,” said McKay of the Lap 28 green flag. “There were a couple cars in front of me that spun the tires and didn’t get going. We’re happy with 12th and we’ll move on to Tuesday night.”

In the Super Late Model division, Placentia, Newfoundland’s Josh Collins found trouble early as a Lap Three incident in Turn Three saw Collins back it into the wreck which started around the front with Night One winner Harrison Burton getting sideways. The incident collected five cars and saw the Universal Enviromental Services car shortened up in the back end. After the team repaired the car under caution, Collins charged hard to finish 11th in the 35-lap race to cap off Night Two of the World Series.

Collins finished 18th on Night One after an early spin while being three-wide on the outside gave Collins a bit of rear end cosmetic damage to his car.

Just in front of Collins in the running order on Saturday was Zane Smith. Smith, a Legends car graduate from California, is driving a car prepared by Gary Crooks of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and crewed by DJ Casey of Prospect Road, Nova Scotia. Smith and the #77 set fast time in the qualifying session but their time was disallowed due to a post qualifying technical infraction. Of note, the top time from qualifying on Saturday that stood was Quebec’s Martin LaTulippe. LaTulippe started 10th from the inversion and ran there most of the night before limping to pit road late in the race.

Starting from the rear of the field, Smith drove to the front to finish tenth, but not without a little bit of contact with Denver Foran. Foran and Smith came together in the second half of the race, sending the #00 for a spin. Foran had worked his way up into the top five in the early laps, but his car faded in the second half of the race. Foran ended up 16th of the 29 cars that started the race, one spot back from where he finished Friday night’s show. Friday night, Foran had radio issues which saw him not have communication with his crew for the first five laps of the race. Under the red flag on Lap Two of the race, Foran and his crew repaired the issue and Foran would go on to finish 15th.

Foran described the scene as chaotic. “At one point, I had my radio harness in my hand going around the track,” said Foran as they tried to diagnose the problem. “I’m not sure if you’ve ever driven a car you have to shift and wants to pull as hard to the left as a stock car does with one hand, it’s wild. With no radio, we decided to wing it on the first few laps without a spotter (with not a lot of time under yellow to repair the issue), and the wreck happened right in front of me. It’s something you don’t want to do on a big track like this!”

The PPG Coatings Pro Late Models and Super Late Model divisions are back on the track Tuesday night through to Saturday to close off the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. You can follow the progress of our Atlantic Canadian talents by visiting our Facebook and Twitter feeds. You can also keep up with Sarah McKay Racing as they continue their first foray at the World Series by following them on Facebook and Twitter.

A scary fire following an accident in Turn Three burnt Jordan Ives’s car to a crisp Saturday afternoon. Jordan, who can be seen walking with the car down pit road, was quick to get out of the burning car and was okay following the wreck.