Ryan Smith’s plans to race five times in five days got rained on when last Friday’s race at Big Diamond Speedway was washed out. The team then towed to a race Wednesday night this week at Berlin Raceway to start a four night swing taking them to Susquehanna and Hamlin Speedway.
“It’s a long week but we got four out of five in, ” said the future Penn State engineering student. We got all top-ten finishes but one. It’s been an up and down week. ”
Wednesday night at Grandview Speedway, he ran a dirt midget race with “a bunch of guys from USAC. ” After starting thirteenth with a tight race car, he finished tenth.
The next night, the student towed to Big Diamond Speedway for another dirt midget race. He started ninth in his heat and finished fifth but then a switch broke, sending him to the Consolation heat where he started eighteenth and “had twelve laps to get to eighth and qualify through the Consi. ” He finished eighth and transferred to the feature where he started 26th. Smith “had the outside line figured out” and in just 20 laps moved up to finish seventh.
Friday night, again at Big Diamond, he qualified through the heat race but a rainstorm just before the feature put an end to the night’s races.
Saturday’s race in a microsprint was the disappointment for the week, as the “motor started to lay down and then gave up with two laps to go so we finished eleventh. ”
In a Wednesday, June 13 race at Berlin Raceway in Michigan, he “started really tight. We had a lot of fuel on board, ” for the 150 lap feature. A caution on lap 50 allowed the team to stop for adjustments but the track’s quick caution laps put Smith two laps down on the restart. In spite of that, he had one of the fastest cars on the track and was running sixth in line, behind Bobby East at the checker, but still two laps down in eleventh place. “We learned a lot last night about the car, ” he commented.
Smith’s racing calendar includes the Thursday, June 14 race at Susquehanna in the dirt midget race and possibly a tow to Knoxville, Iowa for the Midge Nationals. “We’re fifth in [ARDC] and the top rookie in points right now, ” said Smith. “Our plans for Knoxville are still undecided. We’ll know in the next week if we’ll do it or not, ” he added. The Knoxville Midget Nationals are a non-points race, so “it’s zero or hero. We’ll go for points. ”
Smith is being helped in his career by training from Future Stars in Racing Academy. The Academy helps prepare young drivers for success outside the car in public speaking; sponsor presentations; working with the media and behavior on and off the track. Future Stars in Racing is the exclusive driver development partner with the ASA Late Model Series. Marketing partners include Safety-Kleen, Awesome Racewear, Jeff Gordon Racing School and Sunbelt Web Solutions. The Academy features a staff with decades of experience in all aspects of motorsports.
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