From Charles Krall, Mudclodbob Photo
Tulsa, OK. – Bobby East survived a frustrating start to his evening but recovered to claim the checkered flag in a qualifying race before moving on to a fifth-place finish in Tuesday night’s 25-lap qualifying feature for the 2010 Chili Bowl Midget Nationals at Tulsa Expo Raceway.
East finished a disappointing fifth in the sixth of the eight heat races which forced him into a qualifying race to make the A-main. East and the Klatt Enterprises No. 4 Ford Racing/ClubSport/Beast Chassis Esslinger/Ford-powered Beast made short work of the field in the fourth qualifier, guaranteeing him a starting position in the feature.
Once in the main event, East stayed out of trouble and near the front of the 24-car field, crossing the line in fifth position at the end.
“It was a frustrating start to the night, but we recovered at the end and won our qualifier and had a solid race in the feature,” East said. “We have a really good spot for Saturday. We’ll start third in our B-main, and with the competition being what it is that’s an excellent place to be. We’re going to head to the track the rest of the week to see what happens and see what we can learn. The track always tends to change from race to race, night to night. With all the racing there this week we need all the info we can get to help get us into victory lane on Saturday night. We’re pretty happy with how the car ran on Tuesday and we think we have a great shot on Saturday.”
Sixty-three cars participated in Tuesday night’s program, the opening night of the 24th Annual Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. As of Monday night, there has been a record 265 entries from 28 states, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.