9/27/2018
Inside Line Promotions
Baxter Displays Speed During Mark Hagopian Memorial
Inside Line Promotions – VISALIA, Calif. (Sept. 27, 2018) – Blaine Baxter enjoyed running competitive laps and gaining experience against a stout field last weekend during the two-day Mark Hagopian Memorial at Keller Auto Raceway at Plaza Park.
“I thought the weekend was awesome,” the 10-year-old restricted micro sprint driver said. “We didn’t quite finish where we wanted to each night, but I had a lot of fun and a great time.”
The weekend appeared to begin well for Baxter on Friday when he drew the No. 1 pill for qualifying. Unfortunately, it proved to be one of the rare times that qualifying early wasn’t an advantage.
“The track was about the heaviest I’ve ever seen it,” said Dustin Baxter, Blaine’s father. “So that was the one time we drew a low number and it was no good. But we still timed 15th quick. The heat race was lightning quick with no passing and we finished fifth.”
What began as a solid run for Blaine Baxter in the feature resulted in a DNF.
“Blaine was rolling pretty well in the main event about five or six laps in when the car bicycled pretty hard on the right side,” Dustin Baxter said. “When it came down, the car just shut off. We discovered the next morning that it had ripped a ground wire off of the motor.”
Blaine Baxter clicked off a solid qualifying lap the following night and was fifth quickest among the talented field. He finished fourth in a heat race to earn the fifth starting spot in the night’s main event.
“He made a few mistakes running the cushion and slipped back to 14th,” Dustin Baxter said. “He had to work really hard to maintain that spot and finish there on a difficult track and against some really tough competition. I think he did really well holding his own.
“All in all, it was a good learning weekend. We’re getting the speed coming a little more each week. We’re qualifying better, which is huge. Once we qualify well consistently, then we set ourselves up for a good night.”
The team experimented the previous weekend at Delta Speedway.
“We ran a new motor and tried racing without the power steering to try to give Blaine a better feel for the race track,” Dustin Baxter said.
The driver appeared to respond well to the new feel by winning his heat race.
“It worked all right in qualifying and his heat race,” Dustin Baxter said. “But he was wore out in the main event (finishing 16th). Most of the guys who are in their late teens and early 20s run power steering for that reason. He did pretty well – just faded a bit when he got tired. So we put it back in for last weekend.”
The team will take this weekend off before competing with the King of California Micro Sprint Series on Oct. 5 at Dixon Speedway in Dixon, Calif., and Oct. 6 at Delta Speedway in Stockton, Calif.
QUICK RESULTS –
Sept. 15 – Delta Speedway in Stockton, Calif. – Qualifying: 13; Heat race: 1 (-); Feature: 16 (-).
Sept. 21 – Keller Auto Raceway at Plaza Park in Visalia, Calif. – Qualifying: 15; Heat race: 5 (-); Feature: DNF (-).
Sept. 22 – Keller Auto Raceway at Plaza Park in Visalia, Calif. – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 4 (-); Feature: 14 (5).
SEASON STATS –
33 races, 0 wins, 2 top fives, 6 top 10s, 15 top 15s, 20 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Oct. 5 at Dixon Speedway in Dixon, Calif., and Oct. 6 at Delta Speedway in Stockton, Calif., with the King of California Micro Sprint Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://blainebaxterracing.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blainebaxter25
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlaineBaxterRacing/
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“We’d like to welcome Energycoil to our team this week,” Dustin Baxter said. “We’re excited to be working with Val Dick, who has a lot of knowledge. We’ve started using his products and our motor seems to run fantastic.”
Blaine Baxter Racing would also like to thank Westside Mechanical, Les Schwab Tire Center, Dirt Co Media House, FK Shocks, Shell Shock, Dustin Davis Demolition, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Blackbeard, Arai Helmets, Simpson Fire Suits, D1 Chassis, Wraps N Motion, Keizer Aluminum Wheels and Low Voltage Security for their continued 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.
Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller
