Inside Line Promotions
HIGHLANDS, Texas (April 9, 2014) – Channin Tankersley showed a ton of speed during the ASCS Gulf South Region doubleheader last weekend at Battleground Speedway.
Unfortunately for the Cooper Motorsports driver, luck was the missing variable.
Tankersley kicked off the weekend last Friday by charging from sixth to a third-place finish during his heat race, which earned him enough points to advance to the feature redraw. He then pulled the No. 5 to start on the inside of the third row for the main event.
“I had a problem with the car and couldn’t get it started,” he said. “We had to push a second time and of course you have to go to the back when you do that. We checked everything over and it was fine. We backed it down and then it fired right up. It puzzled me.”
Tankersley lost his starting position and was forced to begin the race from last place. However, he didn’t stay there long and quickly worked into the top 10. By the time the checkered flag had waved, Tankersley had maneuvered to sixth place.
“We charged through there,” he said. “The racing was right on the bottom the whole way. There wasn’t much passing. We just had a pretty good car. We probably could have did better than that. We just ran out of laps.”
The team returned to Battleground Speedway for Saturday’s finale.
After starting fifth in his heat race, Tankersley quickly powered to the lead and was about to sail to the victory when a mechanical problem appeared in the closing laps.
“Saturday night we were flying,” he said. “In the heat race we were four-tenths of a second quicker than everybody. I was leading the thing on Lap 2 and put a straightaway on them. Coming to the white flag we had a driveline problem so I pulled off.”
Tankersley was unable to finish the heat race, which relegated him to start 17th in the main event.
“We got a good start again and got up to about eighth right away,” he said. “I got into turn three on Lap 3 or 4 and the right rear wheel center broke. I just smoked the wall. I hit at well over 100 miles per hour. It junked the motor, junked the car. It knocked the breath out of me. I couldn’t walk.”
Tankersley was credited with a 20th-place result after the wild crash.
He is scheduled to take this weekend off before returning to action with the ASCS Gulf South Region on April 18 at Heart O’Texas Speedway in Waco, Texas, and on April 19 at Gator Motorplex in Willis, Texas.
QUICK RESULTS –
April 4 – Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas – Heat race: 3 (6); Feature: 6 (5).
April 5 – Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas – Heat race: DNF (5); Feature: 20 (17).
UP NEXT –
April 18 at Heart O’Texas Speedway in Waco, Texas, and April 19 at Gator Motorplex in Willis, Texas, with the ASCS Gulf South Region
MEDIA LINKS –
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TankRacing
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Challenger Drilling
Based in Tomball, Texas, Challenger Drilling specializes in providing quality Horizontal Directional Drilling services to a variety of markets, including Oil and Gas Transmission, Cathodic Protection, Water and Sewer. For more information, visit http://www.ChallengerDrilling.
“Jeff with Challenger Drilling has been helping me since 2012 and has been a great asset to our team,” Tankersley said.
Tankersley would also like to thank Cooper Motorsports, Custom Vinyl Designs, Accu-Fab, Griffith Truck & Equipment and Day Motorsports 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 and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com
ASCS/ILP PARTNERSHIP –
The American Sprint Car Series and Inside Line Promotions have partnered for an exclusive driver program throughout the 2014 season. ILP is offering free press releases for a month for one driver within the ASCS 360 regions.
ASCS Gulf South Region competitor Channin Tankersley has been selected as the driver awarded with free press releases for the month of April. At the end of April, one driver from the ASCS Warrior Region will be selected for free press releases during the month of May.