Trips Four: Smith and Team Notch Three Straight Fourth Place Finishes

From CL Motorsports

HOLMESVILLE, Ohio. – September, 3 2012 – As he climbed out of his #19 CL Motorsports/DDNi/CJB Motorsports/Spectro Oils KPC after 30 laps at NAPA Wayne County Speedway, Stevie Smith sighed and shook his head.

“I would say we probably had a second place car,” said Smith. “I don’t say things like that much but I really felt as if our car was that good. We’ve just been stuck in fourth position.”

After the Checkers: Trips Four
Ride along with Smith at NAPA Wayne County Speedway

Smith was referring to the string of three straight fourth place finishes for the driver and his CL Motorsports team. The Holmesville, Ohio based organization began the Labor Day weekend with a trip to Sarver, Pa and Lernerville Speedway on Friday, August 31. Smith set quicktime on the night and started the feature in the fifth position.

“We backed up a bit in the dash at Lernerville,” said Smith. “Our stagger changed and the handling wasn’t as good. We went back to our original setup and started the feature. The car felt solid and had some speed. We just couldn’t get up near the front.”

The following night, Smith and the #19 team took to Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park for the 1/3rd mile tracks season finale. A rain delay, one lap qualifying and a mistake in time trials put the Pennsylvania native in a deep hole early in the night.

“I screwed up in turn four of our qualifying lap and that hurt us,” said Smith, who ended up 17th in time trials. “We spent the rest of our night digging out of that hole. It just goes to show you how crucial qualifying is at these events. We started the feature in 19th and began picking up postions. A few accidents and mechanical misfortunes helped us through. I thought we were going to get a shot at second as we closed in on Cap Henry and Danny Holtgraver but as soon as we got to the two of them, a yellow came out. I was extremely proud of Brian, Sparky, Ron, John and Kyle for all of their hard work. We should have had a terrible night but salvaged a top-5 out of it.”

After putting on arguably his best driving performance of the 2012 season, Smith closed out the Labor Day weekend at NAPA Wayne County Speedway near Orrville, Ohio. Smith timed in sixth overall and began the 30-lap feature in the sixth position.

“The last time we were at Wayne County, it was extremely rough and bumpy,” commented Smith who now has 23 top-5’s on the season. “The Labor Day weekend race was much better and I had a lot of fun. We certainly got a lot better towards the end of the race and I found our racecars best line around the top of the track. It was good night but we really to get over the hump and win another race. We’ll head out to Pennsylvania for the Tuscarora 50 and try to get win number three out there.”

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LERERVILLE SPEEDWAY BOX SCORE:

Time Trial Heat Finish A-main Start A-main Finish

1st 5th 5th 4th

ATTICA RACEWAY PARK BOX SCORE:

Time Trial Heat Finish A-main Start A-main Finish

17th 1st 19th 4th

NAPA WAYNE COUNTY SPEEDWAY BOX SCORE:

Time Trial Heat Finish A-main Start A-main Finish

6th 4st 6th 4th
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