Exciting Night at Citrus County
Team Brings Home 4th, 5th and 11th Place Finishes
Date: April 17, 2010
Series: Checkered Flag Sprint Series
Location: Citrus County Speedway in Inverness, FL
Start/ Finish (Keith): 8th/4th (Running, completed 30 of 30 laps)
Start/ Finish (Amanda): 7th/11th (Engine, completed 22 of 30 laps)
Start/ Finish (Mickey): 6th/5th (Running, completed 30 of 30 laps)
Winner: Gary Gimmler
This weekend the KJ Motorsports Team continued their asphalt season by competing in a Checkered Flag Sprint Series sanctioned race at Citrus County Speedway in Inverness, FL.
The day at Citrus County was, according to many people, was one of the hottest days for racing in Florida in a long while. It was a little overcast, but that only played into the muggy and humid feeling that made the temperature feel that much more brutal.
A total of 18 cars showed up for the Checkered Flag Sprint Series event. The 18 cars were broken up into 3 heat races. Keith was in the second heat and started 4th. Keith’s car, after running pretty well in practice, had a push in the heat race. Keith was able to make a pass to move up to the 3rd position, but that is where he finished the heat.
Amanda was in the third heat. Prior to rolling out for the heat, the team noticed that a screw was stuck in the left rear tire. It had pierced the tire, but the pressure was holding steady. Time was short so the decision was made to turn the screw in flush with the tread surface and let her run the heat race. Amanda started the heat from the third position and felt the car was excellent in the first half of the heat race. But apparently, the screw had worked its way out during the heat and car was getting loose. Amanda finished the heat race in 2nd. By the time she returned to the pits, she only had 5 lbs of air pressure in the tire and the stagger had changed dramatically.
Mickey was in the first heat and started 2nd. Mickey’s car was a little loose, but he was able to take the lead early in the heat. He was able to hold onto the lead in the 8-lap heat race and take the win.
Between the heat and the feature, the KJ Motorsports crew worked on all three cars to get them ready for the feature. Keith’s car needed a cross-weight adjustment, stagger change, panhard bar adjustment, sway bar adjustment and a wheel offset change. With Amanda’s car, since she was good in the first part of the heat race (before the screw fell out) they made no other changes, but to plug the tire. Mickey’s car was a little loose and needed a slight stagger change. The changes were made and cars were rolled out to start the feature.
All 18 cars made it out for the 30 lap feature race. As the cars were scheduled to take the green flag, Ric Voisey and Robbie Hackett made up the front row. Keith lined up in the 8th starting position, Amanda started 7th and Mickey started in the 6th position. Early in the race, the outside line was held up and this stalled Keith and Mickey’s progress in the early laps. This allowed Mark and Gary Gimmler to get by Keith and Mickey before they could get into the lower line. But the field spread out, soon enough, and by lap 5, Amanda was 3rd, Keith was 4th and Mickey was closing in on a top 5 position. A caution came out on lap 8, Keith was clipped by a car coming through the infield and both cars spun. Keith and the other car were sent to the rear of the field for the restart. The race restarted and Mickey and Amanda were still battling in the top 5 and Keith was picking his way forward.
On lap 18, another caution came out. Keith was making his way around a lap car in turns 1 and 2. The lap car unexpectedly pushed up the track, higher than it had in previously laps, and Keith ran over his tire and ended up launching into the air and both cars spun to a stop. Keith was undamaged and again restarted the race from the tail of the field. The race was restarted and the action was not calming down at all. On lap 22, Amanda’s radiator cap blew off began dumping fluid down on the race track. Keith could not avoid the fluid and spun but was also hit by one of the other cars in the field. This impact only bent the left nerf bar so Keith was able to continue. Amanda was not able to get the car fixed and rejoin the field, so her night was done. Mickey was still running in the 3rd position
On the restart, Keith was determined to make something out of this frustrating night. Mickey was finding his tires were slowly giving up. In the final laps of the race, Keith was able to make his moves on the field and race to rear bumper of Mickey in the 19T. With 2 laps to go, Keith was able to get around Mickey and set his sights on the 3rd place runner. Mickey had no real threat from the rear, so was able to hold his position to the checkered flag. As the checkered flag flew Keith was close to Jimmy Alvis Jr., but did not have the time to make the pass for position.
In the final standings, Gary Gimmler won the event followed by Mark Gimmler, Jimmy Alvis Jr, Keith Butler and Mickey Kempgens finished 5th. Amanda Ferguson finished in 11th.
The next event for the KJ Motorsports team is at the Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, GA on May 8th, for a United Speed Contest Sanction (USCS) race.
Media Kits, Head shots and Car Shots are all available on request. Please Email Jenn at KJMotorsports@aol.com
KJ Motorsports race schedule please visit our web site at KeithButler.Homestead.com.