Brea Lopez races with tenacity and so much more as she learns more and more about her race car and the new division she is racing with this year in each outing on the raceway. The former Washington State open wheel driving sensation came from the back of the pack twice during the running of the Limited Late Model feature event last Saturday evening at the South Sound Speedway to finish sixth in the 50-lap sweepstakes for the Late Model racers.
The run was only the second this season for Lopez and with it showing considerable improvement over her initial outing at the speedway a few weeks ago.
Lopez began the event from 9th starting position. Waiting for the field to thin out a bit due in part to her inexperience in competing in this new division, Lopez moved up some positions after the first fifteen laps or so and was turned around by another competitor. Sensing no harm to the race car, Lopez restarted from the rear and after a few more laps of green flag racing the caution was displayed for more activity on the racetrack. Lopez was caught up in the action as she brought her race car to a stop to avoid the melee. Restarting from the back for the second time, Lopez was cautious and paced her way through the field this time and ended up completing some good passes finished in sixth place with her second outing at South Sound. Ron Wolf won the event with fast timer Tom Sweatman in for the runnerup slot. Jeremy Richardson was third and Dave Eirman was fourth in the final finish. Steve Woods completed the top five with Brea Lopez directly behind him for sixth and Scott Johnson completing the top seven finishers. Sweatman clocked a fast time in qualifying with a time of 13.843 seconds on the fast 3/8 mile racetrack.
With the finish Lopez has moved into the top ten in points even though it is still early in the 2009 racing season. Lopez and team will have the next week off in the revolving schedule of the South Sound Speedway format. Lopez will be back in action on May 2nd at South Sound Speedway and encourages all of her friends in racing to stop by and say hello. With an extra week to prepare the racer, Lopez is raring to go and confident of improved performances and results with each new outing.
Brea’s Grandfather, West Coast racing legend Dan Press, continues to work his magic with the race car as he is accustomed to working on this type of racing equipment. The team is utilizing a Victory Circle race chassis and the racer has been fitted it with a GM Crate motor for competition with the Limited Late Model division at the South Sound Speedway located in Rochester, Washington. The track will be a familiar and a good starting point for Lopez as she has always enjoyed great success while running her Midget on the fastest 3/8 mile raceway on the West Coast. While Lopez has cast her hat into the ring for a run at the Rookie of the Year award, she would like nothing better than to win a few races in her rookie season with the Late Model division.
