PETERSEN MEDIA
A week removed from his second win of the season, Justyn Cox and his Van Dyke Motorsports team headed to Oregon to take on the ASCS Northwest region in a pair of events of the weekend, and the Clarksburg, CA driver tallied fifth and six place finishes.
Friday night saw Cox and his team in action at the Willamette Speedway in scenic Lebanon, OR.
A high pill draw saw Cox start his heat race in the seventh spot, but advancing three positions and finish fourth helped Cox transfer into the feature event, where he just missed out on the redraw, and started the feature in the ninth spot.
When the green flag dropped on the main event, Cox got off to a strong start as he had worked up to the fifth spot in the first 10-laps.
Once in fifth, Cox hooked up in an entertaining battle with JJ Hickle and Reece Goetz as they slugged it out for positions fourth-sixth for 15 laps.
Trying to make a late race move of Goetz, Cox lost the fifth spot and slipped back to the sixth spot at the stripe.
“Friday night was a very fun race,” he said. “We had a strong machine, and we got up into the top five fast, and then raced with Reece Goetz and JJ Hickle for the last 20-laps and it was a blast.”
Heading to the Cottage Grove Speedway on Saturday night, Cox found himself on the front row of his heat, and made quick work of Garren Linder to grab the lead, and he never looked back, as he took the win, and earned a spot in the re-draw for the feature event.
Pulling the one ,Cox lined up on the front row of the feature event, but when the green came on, Cox did not get off to the start he had hoped for and slipped back to the third spot.
Racing on the bottom of the speedway, the leaders quickly got into lapped traffic, and Cox got bottled up behind slower cars and slipped back to the fourth spot.
In the fourth spot, Cox finally moved to the top of the track when he got a break in traffic, and looked to get back up inside the top-three.
With just three laps remaining, and running the fourth spot, Cox looked to get up to the third spot, but a lapped forced him to take evasive action, and he got into a hole, and lost the fourth spot, and settled for fifth.
“I hate going backwards, but it happens,” Cox said. “We had a good car, but the driver made some mistakes that cost us a few spots. I stuck with the bottom too long at the start of the race, and that really put us back. I will learn from this and move on to the next one.”
Justyn and his Van Dyke Motorsports team would like to thank Lucas Oil, K&N Products, JRI Shocks, Rodgers Racing Engines, K1 Safety Gear, JRD Endeavors, Sacramento Theatrical Lighting, and College Cyclery for their support during the 2013 season.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Races-21, Wins-2, Top 5’s-8, Top 10’s-12
ON TAP: Cox and the Van Dyke Motorsports team will be in action on Friday night at the Silver Dollar Speedway!
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