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Results of the 2002 Racing Season
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4th in the overall 2002 Championship Points at WIR-FRRC Final Points |
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4th in the overall 2002 RED, WHITE & BLUE Championship Final Points at WIR |
SEPTEMBER 2002 Results |
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| 9/14/02 - WIR | 9/14/02 - Races Rained Out | ||||||
AUGUST 2002 Results |
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| 8/29/02 - WIR |
Qualifying -- 7th (19.856) Fast Heat -- 7th "A" Feature -- 8th |
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| 8/22/02 - WIR | 8/22/02 - Thursday - FRRC Race
at WIR Qualifying -- 4th (19.844) Dash -- 3rd "A" Feature -- 7th |
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| 8/17/02 - WIR BLUE Race |
7/20/02 - Saturday - BLUE Race
at WIR Qualified 8th -- (19.740) 1st 50 Lap "A" Feature Event -- 18th 2nd 50 Lap "A" Feature Event -- WINNER In the first 50 lap event was supposed to start on the inside of the 3rd row, but after the warm up laps Mike was sent into the pits because the rear end was leaking fluid. The crew was able to get the car fixed prior to race restarting, but Mike had to now start in 22nd position. |
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| 8/15/02 - WIR | 8/15/02 - Thursday - FRRC Race
at WIR Qualifying -- 12th (20.000) Round III of the Triple Crown Series ** No Dash or Heats - No Role of Die for Starting Position** "A" Feature -- 9th In the feature Mike was able to get as high as 5th place and tried passing for 4th on the outside, he almostphad the spot when the car pushed out of two - with that Mike ended up losing two positions. He was now in 7th and was battling for position again. Then with 28 laps into the race Mike went real deep into three and the backend started to wheel hop and came around on him. This time Mike caused the caution. With this he had to start in the back - position 22. Another two cautions came out and by lap 35 / 15 laps remaining in the race, Mike had climbed back up to 15th position. On the final restart of the race Mike was picking off cars one-by-one towards the front. He had gained 6 more positions by the time the checkered flag came out. Mike finished 9th in the feature. |
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| 8/9/02 - Norway | 8/9/02 - Friday - Norway, MI Qualifying -- 12th (15.043) Fast Heat -- 6th "A" Feature -- DNF In the feature, the car was fast - was in 2nd place contending for the lead when a caution came out. On the restart, Mike started on the outside of the 2nd row and coming to the green flag he spun coming out of corner four and got together with a car on the inside lane - the car shot into the flag stand sustaining considerable damage. The night ended early. |
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| 8/8/02 - WIR | 8/8/02 - Thursday - FRRC Race at
WIR Qualifying -- 10th (20.079) Fast Heat -- 4th "A" Feature -- 13th In the feature, Mike started on the pole because of the role of the die. On the 2nd lap, coming out of turn four, the car behind him got into Mike's rear quarter panel spinning him around into the wall - damaging the entire left side of the car as well as the back end of the car. The crew was able to fix the car enough for Mike to finish the race - he finished 13th. |
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| 8/1/02 - WIR | 8/1/02 - Thursday - FRRC Race at
WIR Qualifying -- 9th (19.822) Fast Heat -- 2nd "A" Feature -- 12th In the fast heat Mike was lined up on the inside of the 3rd row. Upon coming around to the green flag the car in front of him slowed off the pace and went into the pits, he was able to capitalize on that and gain a few positions. By lap 4 Mike was in 2nd place and closing up the gap on the leader. On the last lap Mike had position and went to pass going into turn three, but the leader cut down blocking him from doing so - Mike crossed the line in 2nd. In the "A" Feature event, Mike had a great starting position. The race looked promising. When the green flag came out he ran side-by-side through corners one and two, going down the back stretch Mike gained a slight lead and maintained that advantage out of four. The inside car slipped coming out of four and lost control, Mike was not involved, but many other cars were involved in a devestating accident. The race was red flagged for a period of time. When the race resumed, Mike was on the pole. He ran side-by-side with the outside car for approximately two laps, the car was very loose coming off both corners trying to hold it down low. Coming off of turn two on the third lap Mike could not hang on to the loose car any longer, the back end slipped around causing him to go into the infield narrowly missing the guard rail, no caution came out. When he gained control of the car again and was able to get back onto the track, he was in 15th position. Now came the task of trying to work his way back towards the front. Halfway into the race the caution came out for oil on the track. Mike took the opportunity to pit so that the crew could make a minor adjustment to the car. He only lost a few positions when he did that. Upon the race resuming, Mike was able to eventually pass those cars back plus a few more. He crossed the finish line in 12th position. |
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JULY 2002 Results |
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| 7/25/02 - WIR | 7/25/02 - Thursday - FRRC Race
at WIR Race Cancelled due to rain We made the trip to the track, paid and were on our way to the infield pit area when the rain came. The rain let up a few times, but never completely stopped. In fact, it rained so hard some areas of the pit were flooded. Approximately three hours later the races were cancelled. |
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| 7/20/02 - WIR WHITE RACE |
7/20/02 - Saturday - WHITE Race
at WIR Qualified 12th -- (20.089) 1st 50 Lap "A" Feature Event -- WINNER (1st) 2nd 50 Lap "A" Feature Event -- 11th In qualifying, Mike didn't have as good of a time as initially expected. But, because of the order we were scheduled to come out that hurt us - we were the fourth car to qualify. The track was extremely slick in turns 3 & 4 because of a mid am car blowing his engine and dropping a considerable amount of oil through those corners. Because of this Mike had to be extremely cautious through those corners in order to keep the car underneath him. Needless to say, we were getting worried that the time Mike had was not going to be good enough to make the show - but it was. The track was a factor for many that were early qualifiers - it did get faster as qualifying went on. We were glad to have made the feature! For the 1st 50 Lap Feature, Mike started in the 2nd row on the inside. It was sprinkling when they started the race and got worse, so with only four laps in the books the race was cautioned. Mike was in 2nd place at this time. The race resumed 16 minutes later. Mike was in 2nd and was all over the leader trying to pass him for the lead. Then coming out of turn 2 Mike stuck his nose under the leader and was able to make it stick, they drag raced down the back stretch. By the time Mike came out of turn 4 he had the lead. Once in the lead he quickly pulled out a 10-15 car lead over the 2nd place car. His car looked untouchable in this race. Throughout the majority of the race, whomever got into 2nd was not gaining any ground on Mike - he kept pulling away and stretching that lead, at one time he was close to a straight-a-way lead. With less than 10 laps to go Mike was approaching some slow cars. With 2-3 laps remaining in the race he had just passed one of the cars, putting him a lap down and was right behind a bunch of at least six more cars. The 2nd place car had closed up the gap because of the slow cars, but not enough laps remained and Mike obtained the WIN!!! We were all very excited. This was Mike's first "A" Feature Win ever on this track. He was close quite a few times - but to obtain the win was a wonderful feeling! The sponsors, crew and everyone that helps out on the car each week deserve a lot of the credit as well. Without them Mike would not be racing here today - Thanks!! Also, a special thanks to the co-owners of this team Steve & Joanne, Six Crew Racing. For the 2nd 50 Lap Feature Mike started 18th. Again, rain was a factor in even getting this race started. The promoters came close to cancelling the event, but it finally cleared up. When the race went green - the outside was not where anyone wanted to be - it was falling back fast. With that Mike was taken back to 22nd place and had to work his way back up. It was a long, hard faught battle. But, Mike managed to work his way back up to an 11th place finish in the race. |
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| 7/18/02 - WIR | 7/18/02 - Thursday - FRRC Race
at WIR Qualified 7th -- (19.809) Fast Heat -- 3rd "A" Feature Event - 9th In the feature a caution came out with only 2 laps into the books, Mike was in 11th at the time. When the race resumed Mike worked his way up to 8th and had his sights set on 7th when another caution came out with 9 laps remaining. When the race resumed for the last time, Mike was able to pass for 7th, but then two cars behind him were able to make a clean pass also with less than 5 laps remaining in the event. Mike finished 9th. Mike and the crew have some work ahead of them prior to Saturday's race, they noticed some problems with the motor which have to be fixed before they can race again. |
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| 7/12/02 - WIR | 7/12/02 - Friday
- Norway Speedway, MI |
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| 7/11/02 - WIR | 7/11/02 -
Thursday - FRRC Race at WIR |
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| 7/4/02 - WIR | 7/4/02 - Thursday - FRRC Race at
WIR Qualified 12th -- (19.910) Fast Heat -- 1st (WINNER) 50 Lap Special "A" Feature Event - 12th In the 8 lap fast heat Mike had a good start, he ran side-by-side for only a short period of time and then was able to obtain the lead. For the next 5 laps another car was right on his rear bumper trying to make a move to pass, then on the final two laps Mike was able to get a little distance and come home with the win. In the feature, Mike started on the inside of the 2nd row. When the race started Mike fell in line in 4th place, within a few laps he was contending with the 3rd place car and they raced side-by-side for 12 laps or so. Mike finally obtained 3rd and pulled away from him. Mike was running in 3rd and was running the same speed as the leader, but the 4th place car was coming on strong, he was able to pass Mike on Lap 27. Mike was able to stay in 4th for a few more laps, but the car was going away - he slipped back a few more positions and when the caution came out on Lap 37 Mike was in 7th. When the race restarted, the car was not handling well at all, he slipped in corners 1 and 2, with that it allowed a string of cars to get by him. When the checkered flag came out, Mike finished 12th. |
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JUNE 2002 Results |
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| 6/27/02 - WIR | 6/27/02 - Thursday - FRRC Race
at WIR Qualified 12th -- (19.901) Fast Heat -- 8th (dnf) "A" Feature Event - 21st (dnf) The night started out bad and got worse. Mike had a good 1st lap for qualifying, one of the fastest first laps posted for the evening. The backend slipped around enough in turns 1 & 2 to lose the much needed momentum on his 2nd lap of qualifying. The second lap was a little slower than the first - ended up 12th fastest in qualifying. At the end of the warm-up laps in the Fast Heat the yellow came out to slow the cars down - Mike did not see the yellow and he was very close to the car in front of him which slowed down real fast - Mike jumped on the brakes and turned the wheel to avoid hitting the car in front of him - with that the car shot into the outside wall and sustained damage beyond repair to continue in racing competition for the night. For the feature, the crew got the car fixed enough so that Mike could make one lap to obtain feature points. |
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| 6/20/02 - WIR | 6/20/02 - Thursday - FRRC Race
at WIR Round I of the Triple Crown Series ** No Dash or Heats - No Role of Die for Starting Position** Qualified 4th -- (19.909) 50 Lap "A" Feature Event - 5th In the 50 lap "A" Feature Mike started in the 6th row on the outside. When the race started, we could see the outside lane was dropping back fast - within two laps there was a small opening going into turn 3 in the inside lane which Mike was able to drop down into. The first caution came out with only 12 laps in. Mike was in 10th. The race resumed and within five laps, a car in front of Mike had went very high out of turn four brushing up against the wall, he was so high and slowed down a little that Mike went for position, but suddenly he came back down into the outside lane - Mike jumped on the breaks to avoid hitting him and causing a big pileup. We lost a few positions because of this. Shortly afterwards Mike himself went high out of turn two hit the wall and rode it for several feet (he ruined a rim but air stayed in the tire and etc. - lost a lot of positions - down to 17th). Once he figured out that the tire was not flat and all looked fine visually on the car - it was time to work back towards the front. The 2nd caution came out with only 20 laps to go in the 50 Lap race. By this time Mike was in 12th - gained a few positions. The final laps of the race were exciting and when the Checkered Flag Dropped, Mike had obtained a 5th place finish. Minor body damage that needs to be fixed, some bracing. |
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| 6/15/02 - WIR RED RACE |
RED Race at WIR Qualified 4th -- (19.734) out of 43 cars 1st 50 Lap "A" Feature Event - 11th 2nd 50 Lap "A" Feature Event - 7th In the 1st 50 lap event Mike started on the outside of the 3rd row. The green flag dropped and rather than going forward a car that started on the pole drifted into Mike's lane and brought Mike all the way back to 18th position before there was an opening to get down into the inside lane. This all happened within five laps or so. By midway through the race Mike had climbed back up to 13th place. The last 25 laps Mike was able to gain an additional two positions to finish 11th. In the 2nd 50 lap feature - the field was inverted as to how the lead lap finishers finished in the 1st 50. Mike started on the outside of the 3rd row - with the same two cars in front of him. The green flag dropped and Mike sliced through traffic taking over 2nd place within two laps. It was an exciting battle between Mike and the leader - they were running one-two for approximately 20 laps or so, but Mike's car was not coming off of the corners real good and he could not make the move to pass him, eventually the car faded even more and six other cars were able to pass Mike before the end of the feature event. Mike finished 7th in the 2nd 50 lap feature. 7th was better than 24th in the 2nd 50 Lap Feature. During the 1st 50 lap event a rotor broke on the front right near the end of the race and had to be replaced before the next 50. They were ableto find a rotor and the crew did a good job in replacing it before the 2nd feature. |
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| 6/13/02 - WIR | Rained Out Mike had already scuffed in the new tires and waiting in line to qualify when the rain came. The radar showed a very small window and then more rain to follow - so races were cancelled. |
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| 6/7/02 - Norway | Qualified 4th -- (14.940) Dash - 2nd "A" Feature DNF - Credited with around a 17th place finish In the 50 Lap "A" Feature Mike started 13th. He was on the inside of the 7th row. The car worked good through the corners - just a slight push coming out of the corners. Mike mentioned that this was the best feeling car that he drove on this track in a long time. So, we were excited about the feature. In the feature Mike was advancing quite well through the field, then their was a spin directly in front of him and some contact was made, enough to buckle the hood and bend the hood support. This was approximately mid-way through the race. Then, with 17 laps to go Mike was in 4th place. An outside car had lost control down the back stretch and was drifting back, but going into corner three this other car decided to cut down, the problem with this is Mike was right their and had position. When the contact was made it spun Mike into the infield - Mike did a great job saving the car and took the grass going into turn 3 and got back out on the track coming out of turn 4 not making any contact with any other cars. No wrecks were behind, the race would've been fine, but the flagman decided to throw the yellow. We were sent to the back - the guy that caused it maintained his position. With only 17 laps to go in the race and now at the tail end of the pack, it didn't give us any hopes of winning, but some hope on getting a fairly good finish because the car was working good. The race resumed and we had passed two cars in 1 1/2 laps and then disaster stuck - an accident (2-3 car pileup) directly in front of Mike and their was no where for him to go - he cut down as hard and as fast as he could towards the infield, but it was too late and we were collected in the accident. Mike sustained heavy damage to the right front (rim was wrapped around the front suspension) and damage was also done to the entire right side of the car. On the photos page are some pictures of the car after the accident in the pits. The crew already took off the bent rim and put a different rim on. Also, their are some photos of kids getting the wrecked body parts signed by Mike - and with the entire side wrecked, there was a lot of pieces to go around. |
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| 6/6/02 - WIR | Qualified 10th -- (19.918) Fast Heat - 5th "A" Feature 3rd For qualifying, Mike had a fast first lap - 19.999 and his 2nd lap was looking real good until the last corner. Coming out of turn of four heading for the checkered flag the car broke loose and he was spinning the tires for a while until the car hooked up and went again. Because of this he lost some valuable time, probably as much as 2-3 tenths off of his time. In the fast heat Mike started on the outside of the 3rd row and was running side-by-side for quite a few laps, by mid way through the race he was in 5th and no place to go the cars in front of him were still side-by-side and were that way for the remainder of the race. In the feature, the roll of the die was a 1 - with 9 plus the roll of the die making 10 - the top 10 invert for the feature. Putting Mike on the pole. We were excited, because he had a fast car. But, the start of the feature did not go as planned - the outside car had more momentum going through corners 1&2 than we had and took the early lead with another car following him. Mike settled into 3rd and that is where he ran for the remainder of the race. From lap 2 through the end, Mike was running just as fast as the leader, not gaining or losing ground. A few car got close to contend with us, but then faded back. We took 3rd in the feature event. There was 24 cars that started this feature event. |
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MAY 2002 Results |
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| 5/30/02 - WIR | Qualified 6th -- (19.989) Dash - 1st "A" Feature 13th The track was slower, only six cars timed into the 19s - Mike being the last car that did so. For the dash, Mike took an early lead and won by 10+ car lengths! In the feature, Mike started on the outside of the 3rd row and was running on the outside for aproximately 9 laps then came together with an inside car which threw the setup of the car off and the car did not handle real well through the corners at all. Corners 1&2 were worse than 3&4. Anyway with this the last 20 laps or so were rough ones. The car was a handful and with 8 laps remaining in the race Mike lost a few more positions finishing 13th. |
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| 5/23/02 - WIR | Qualified 1st -- time ??? Dash - 5th "A" Feature 7th out of a 22 car field Actually time trials were rained out so the club went by fastest yearly average - Mike happened to hold the fastest average of the three nights, so was awarded fast qualifier honors. In the dash Mike got a flat tire with one lap to go, he ran over some debris that came off one of the front cars. A top 10 and in one piece for the feature. |
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| 5/16/02 - WIR | Qualified 2nd - (19.695) Dash - 4th "A" Feature 9th Another good qualifying run - we were the first car to go out and qualify. We were able to hold onto fast time until the 12th car came out and made his run. The feature had two cautions - just prior to the first caution Mike was advancing quite well through traffic - in fact he passed one of the cars on the lap that the caution occurred. So, for the lineup, the car that Mike passed was able to get his spot back. Mike was in 11th at the time with 12 laps remaining in the race. After the caution we were able to pass him again anyway. Within two laps Mike was able to get up to 9th - the 2nd caution came out. With 9 laps remaining in the race there was a lot of action in front of Mike, but he was unable to gain any additional positions and finished 9th in the feature. A top 10 and in one piece for the night! |
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| 5/9/02 - WIR | Qualified 4th - (19.751) Dash - 2nd "A" Feature 5th Timing into the dash and coming home with another top five finish in the feature for the 2nd straight week felt good. |
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| 5/2/02 - WIR | FAST TIME!!! (19.585) Dash - 3rd "A" Feature 5th This was a great start - we were excited to set fast time for the FRRC season opener. This is the 2nd time we set fast time at that track. Also, obtaining a 5th place finish in the 30 lap feature - we started 13th in that race. |
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APRIL 2002 Results |
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| 4/21/02 - Plover | Canceled Due to SNOW (Golden Sands Speedway, Plover, WI) | ||||||
