Tim Wilkerson has picked a fine time to hit his stride and get hot. One week after picking up his first win of the year in Seattle, he replicated the feat about 1,000 miles to the south, in the beautiful wine country of Sonoma, and he managed to pull it off by taking out the same bad hombre in the final round, Tony Pedregon.
This was a race made up of two great days and one bad one for the Levi, Ray & Shoup team, with the latter being a Saturday during which Wilk smoked the tires twice. The twin transgressions didn’t hurt him a bit, though, as his 4.129 from Friday night held on for the No. 4 spot on the grid, and in the end the LRS driver felt the two tire smokers actually helped him, in terms of knowing what not to do on Sunday.
“I think we made four great laps today because we had those two bad Saturday laps in our pocket,” Wilkerson said. “We got a little aggressive, went over the line, and learned a few lessons there. You know, not all the lessons you learn come from success. We failed on Saturday, but it made us a better race team on Sunday and it took us back to the Winner’s Circle.”
Wilkerson’s day began with the challenge of taking on Jeff Arend, who scares just about anyone who lines up against him these days. Arend is far too good of a driver, with far too good of a car, to be winless on the season, but somehow that is the case, and at some point, one unlucky competitor is going to be the footnote on Arend’s record, as the first person to lose to him this year. Wilkerson staved off that potential eventuality, running a great 4.176 to beat Arend’s game 4.266.
“That’s a good car with a good crew and Jeff is a great driver, and having to race them is like facing a good hitter who happens to be on a hitless streak,” Wilkerson said. “You know they just going to have to win one soon, but I didn’t want it to be today. To tell you the truth, that 4.17 was a heck of a good lap.”
With five consecutive round wins in his pocket, Wilkerson went back to the line about an hour later to face teammate Bob Tasca, who ran strong all weekend and had run a 4.22 in his first-round win. The downside was having to race your teammate. The good side was guaranteeing that a Shelby Mustang would be in the semifinal.
In the end, this one was a thriller and settled by a micron. It was Wilk away first, with four thousandths of an edge at the lights. At the stripe, the LRS car still had the edge, with a 4.234 to Tasca’s 4.236. Total margin of victory: 6-thousandths of a second.
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