You have to start someplace
Donny and the LMI team did not fare as well as hoped in Friday night’s opener for the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway. After a promising day of practice on Thursday, there was a noticeable drop in performance the following day. Still, the end result wasn’t all bad and hopes for improvement sent the team out of the pit area with an air of optimism.
After some quick lap times the previous day, Donny could do no better than fifth fastest in Friday afternoon time trials. He drew the seventh starting position for the 25-lap main event. On the initial start he fell one notch to eighth and remained there for much of the race while Ted Christopher and Eric Beers battled for the lead. Caution for a minor spin by Steve Whitt closed the field up with 22 laps complete. On the restart there was contact between Donny and Bo Gunning that triggered a wild melee on the backstretch. Eliminated in the incident were Gunning, Buck Catalano and Kevin Goodale. The ensuing restart saw Charlie Pasteryak the loser in a bumping contest in turn three and Donny gained two positions. He held that to the checkered flag as Christopher beat Beers, John Blewett, George Kent and Jeff Malave.
“The car just wasn’t as good as it was yesterday,” explained Donny. “We were too tight all day. We have to try some different things than what we’ve been doing and I’m sure we’ll figure it out. We also are fighting a bit of a brake problem. We’re close; we just need to work on it a little more. There was a jam-up on a restart late in the race and we picked up a couple of spots, which helped. We gained a couple of positions we probably shouldn’t have and finished sixth. It was the first night, we finished just out of the top-five and stayed out of trouble, so it wasn’t a disaster. We’ll just go from there.”
Better, but still room for improvement
On night #2 in the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway Donny was able to improve on his opening night performance, finishing fourth. It was a step in the right direction but the team hopes to continue to progress toward Victory Lane.
In qualifying Donny was the first car out on the track and could only manage a fast lap of 17.964 seconds behind J.R. Bertuccio’s fast lap at 17.630 seconds. He missed the redraw and was lined up in the 11th starting spot for the night’s 25-lap feature.
Under a full moon the feature got off to a rough start with three separate first-lap incidents. Once it finally began Donny was in seventh when disaster nearly struck on lap two as Bertuccio and John Blewett crashed right in front of him. Fortunately he was able to make it through unscathed.
After that he settled into a comfortable pace and swapped positions from fifth to seventh behind leader Charlie Pasteryak. On the final lap he did another masterful job of steering through a tough spot as George Kent and George Bock tangled right in front of him on the backstretch. He slipped by unharmed and gained a couple of spots to finish fourth behind Pasteryak, Eric Beers and Ted Christopher.
“The guys made a lot of changes and we had a better car tonight,” related Donny. “Unfortunately the stagger closed up in the feature and we were really tight. We got lucky to miss a couple of wrecks and picked up a couple of spots right at the end to finish fourth. We’ll take it. We need to figure out what we’re doing wrong pretty soon because we’re running out of nights and we can’t keep relying on luck. But the guys are working hard and doing a good job so I think we’ll figure it out. Once we do I think we’ll be very competitive.”
The first one is always sweetest
Sunday night was a memorable night for Donny and the team in the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway. He steered the car from the pole position to win his first-ever feature win at New Smyrna. Not only was it a win, but also boosted him to third in points in pursuit of the Series championship.
In qualifying Donny posted the third fastest lap at 17.580 second, just four-hundredths of a second off Charlie Pasteryak’s quick time. He then drew the lucky pole starting position. With both previous features won in a flag-to-flag performance, Donny was determined to extend the streak.
He jumped into the early lead with Eric Beers in hot pursuit. Caution was out on lap four for a minor spin. From that point the race deteriorated into a string of unsuccessful restarts, just increasing the tension for the leader. Finally the race went to a single file restart with Beers still looking for an opening. The crucial moment came on lap eight as the leaders slowed for an expected caution that never came. Donny got back on the throttle in time to hold the lead but Beers lost two positions as J.R. Bertuccio moved to second followed by George Kent.
Donny was getting into a good rhythm and began to pull away by several car lengths. A caution with five laps remaining closed up the field but he wasn’t going to denied on this night. He took the checkered flag by a comfortable margin over Bertuccio, Beers, Kent and Christopher. Billy Anderson won the night’s SK Bonus with his 13th place finish.
