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Kulhanek’s Short Track Nationals Run Cut Short by Cut Tire

(Photo by Ron Skinner Photos)

Inside Line Promotions – LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Oct. 18, 2017) – A cut tire halted Ray Allen Kulhanek’s A Main run Saturday night at the 30th annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires at I-30 Speedway.

“It’s a tough show to make,” he said. “You gotta have a little luck and put together a solid weekend with the bunch of tough drivers and cars that are there. I’m really proud of our team and all of their hard work. Just making the show is an achievement. This is the fourth or fifth time we’ve done that.”

Kulhanek’s weekend began with a subpar performance by his standards on Thursday to open the ASCS Mid-South Region tripleheader.

“It was awful,” he said. “We won the heat from the pole. Then we went backwards in the qualifier and again in the B Main. I just wasn’t very good. It wasn’t the race track that I remember, definitely not the same. We just had to chalk up Thursday night as a loss and we went back to the drawing board on Friday.”

A new plan brought better results on Friday.

“We came in with a new game plan on Friday,” he said. “We started last in the heat and finished fifth and then went from eighth to fourth in the qualifier. Both of those races were pretty stacked so just to move forward in them was an accomplishment.

“We threw something else at the car for the A Main, where we started 11th. We were pretty decent for about the first eight to 10 laps. But once the track fell off it fell off pretty fast and we just started dropping back through the field. We learned not to do that again.”

Kulhanek, who finished 14th, and his crew drew from their experiences on Thursday and Friday to determine the setup for the car on Saturday.

“We decided on Saturday that we would start from where we were with the car at the start on Friday and kind of fine tune it from there,” he said. “We started ninth in the qualifier and we knew we had to be aggressive to qualify for the A. We had a pretty good car and finished third.”

That locked Kulhanek into the 11th starting position for the 40-lap main event.

“We moved up a spot or two,” he said. “Then a couple of cars got together in front of me in turns one and two. I saw the complete bottom side of one of the cars and figured he was going over, so I rolled out of the throttle. A couple of cars got by me, but I was sure there was going to be a yellow or red. I didn’t hammer back down, which was dumb for me to do because I lost some spots when it stayed green.

“Then there was a yellow when a guy cut a right rear tire. My car had started to get tight so I wiggled it around and I could feel my right rear tire going down. I went to the work area and we got it changed. But as soon as they dropped the jack the caution light went off and that ended our night. It was a frustrating way to end the weekend. They said there were about five other guys who cut tires so there must’ve been something on the track.”

Kulhanek was credited with a 17th-place result.

“We dug ourselves into a hole on Thursday night and worked our way out of it with solid runs the rest of the weekend to make the A Main so it was frustrating to finish with a DNF,” he said.

Kulhanek will return to action this weekend at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas, for the 44th annual Winter Nationals with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.

QUICK RESULTS –

Oct. 12 – I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark. – Heat race: 1 (1); Qualifier: 4 (3); B Main: 5 (1).

Oct. 13 – I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark. – Heat race: 5 (8); Qualifier: 4 (8); Feature: 14 (11).

Oct. 14 – I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark. – Qualifier: 3 (9); Feature: 17 (11).

SEASON STATS –

20 races, 6 wins, 12 top fives, 14 top 10s, 17 top 15s, 19 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Friday and Saturday at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas, for the 44th annual Winter Nationals with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.RayAllenKulhanek.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kulhanek_Ray

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RayAllenKulhanek/?fref=ts

APPAREL –

Kulhanek will have apparel available for sale at his race trailer throughout the season. For a list of his scheduled events, visit http://www.RayAllenKulhanek.com.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Miller’s RV Park

Located in Grangerland, Texas, Miller’s RV Park is a large space for travelers to park motorhomes for short visits or long stays.

“It’s just a nice country setting for people to relax,” Kulhanek said. “The RV park is actually where we have the race shop so it’s cool to meet people from all over the country.”

Kulhanek would also like to thank Texas Rotating Equipment, Alcon Construction, GoPro, J&J Auto Racing, Big Bass Tour, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Smiley’s Racing Products, Engler Machine & Tool, Outlaw Wings, Hoosier Racing Tire Southwest, C4 Graphics, Simpson Race Products and Marvin and Peggy Pearson for their support.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.

To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.

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