Heartbreak at Port Royal Covered by Successful Pave The Clay

Tuesday - August - 2017

Hello everyone. AJ Flick here. Thank you for reading! When I cannot get a professional release made, I will give everyone a personal write-up myself. Enjoy the stressful weekend at Port Royal and Pittsburgh International Race Complex for our annual Pave the Clay charity event, through my perspective!

 

Featured Image by Barber Photography!

 

After our rainout Friday at Lernerville, we loaded up to race at Port Royal on Saturday. Finally pulled a good pill draw. Car was running very well. Finished 3rd in the heat race and redrew to start 3rd in the feature. Green flag flew and we were pretty bad. Car didn’t want to get left and drive. It rolled over way to hard in the apex. The leaders drove off and I was getting passed by numerous Posse members. I let my frustration get the best of me. Instead of settling into lane and finishing top 8, i tried to get more out of the car than was possible. I went to the top to pound the cushion but the bite wasn’t there. It was mainly loose dirt and as soon as my RR hit it, I was sucked in. At least we didn’t flip but it did ruin my RF tire. My crew got me back out but we were still so bad that I never gained a position and finished next to last. The crew had my back through the whole event but I was so demoralized after the mistake. Just have to convince myself to rub it off and be ready next week.

Fortunately, I didnt have much time to ponder it. After getting home from Port, we got just a few hours of rest before we had to be up to head out to Pitt Race to run our 4th Annual Pave The Clay Invitational benefiting the Steve King Foundation and Injured Racecar Drivers. We arrived at the facility at 10am, set up til noon, and raced until 4pm. The event honestly has never gone more smooth. The weather was fantastic and the participants listened to all instructions given. We easily packed 8 hours of racing into the 4 hour rental limit. When it was all said and done, we raised over $5000 to benefit injured racers! I take a lot of pride in this event and I am beyond happy to see it become so successful.

The weekend started off rough but the success from Sunday sure helped gain some confidence back. Lot to do on the car this week but we are ready for another 2 race weekend. Got some decent money on the line the area so I am excited to try and build on our progress.