4/7/2014
Corey Hoover
Corey Hoover gets heat race win and 3rd place in the main at Ventura!
After a weekend off, the California Lightning Sprints returned to action on April 5th at the famous Ventura Speedway. The track is located only steps from the ocean which makes it one the most scenic tracks on the west coast.
Corey was looking for a good finish after some contact ended a good run at the previous race. The day started off with some great news for the 15 year old from Corona, California as the series decided to remove his rookie limtations after only 3 races. This meant that Corey would no longer have to start in the back in the the heat races & features.
The action got off to a good start as our teammate Jeff Dyer set fast time with a blazing lap of 12.032. Corey had a good lap and ended up securing the 7th starting spot out of the 16 cars that attempted to qualify. This would give Corey the 4th starting spot in Heat 1 against a stacked field including Dyer, Hilberg, Michnowicz, and Bissett. As the green flag dropped, fellow rookie Cori Andrews jumped into the lead as the other cars shuffled. Corey passed the polesitter in the first corner and began chasing down Andrews. After 4 laps Corey was able to get by Andrews on the inside with veteran Dan Hilberg on his tail. As the laps would down Hilberg would attempt to pass on the inside but Corey was able to hold him off to secure his first heat race win in the series and also set the second fastest lap of the race with a 12.078!
With his heat race win, Corey would line up 3rd behind polesitter Stephen Limon for the 20 lap main event. As they went green Corey stayed on Limon's bumper and moved his way into 2nd place, but a flip in turn 1 by teammate Jeff Dyer (driver was ok) send the field back for a restart. On the restart Corey would battle with veteran Dale Gamer through turn 2 and finally clear him through turns 3 & 4. Limon was able to get a nice lead which he held for a couple of laps until they approached lapped traffic on the tight 1/3 mile track. Corey was able to get to Limon's bumper but now had to deal with past champion Bobby Michnowicz who had come from mid pack to the front. The top three cars sliced and diced through lapped traffic for the last 10 laps and at the checkers it was Limon, Michnowicz, and Hoover on the box. This was Corey's best finish and put him on the podium after just 4 races in the series!
It was a great weekend and we couldn't have done it with out help from our friends at Security Race Products, Plumbing Dynamics, Amsoil Oil Twins, Rosson Racing, RCM Design, Coast Powder Coating, Action Gas, and Chris Kenner Racing.
Submitted By: Corey Hoover
