March 21, 2012 – A racing deal put Kerry Madsen on his lid last Friday night at the Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California. Instead of getting right back out on the track Saturday, rain intervened. The St. Mary’s, New South Wales, Australia native will have to wait until this weekend, when the World of Outlaws invade the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California for the Mini-Gold Cup.
On a rainy weekend, things were sped along on Friday at Tulare. “Getting one night in could have been a good deal,” says Kerry. “It was looking like we may lose both. We had Bob Gavranich, our owner, and Des Johnstone from Earthex there, so at least they saw one night of racing after their trip from Australia.”
Tulare is typically wet on night one with the WoO, and Friday was no different. “The car is running good,” says Kerry. “We just didn’t have a lot of luck. There was a lot of water on the track in their preparation. The track wasn’t going to come in quick, and we were one of the first to qualify. The track was so greasy, we were at a disadvantage. For where we went out, our time was actually decent (14th quick).”
Kerry finished where he started in the heat (5th), and started 14th in the main event. “It was just so heavy, and there wasn’t much passing,” he says of the heat. “It was the same in the feature. We were running around there, and trying to maximize whatever we could get. We were going through around four tear-offs a lap.”
Late in the race, he flipped after contact from another car. “We got ran into on the restart with ten to go, and got put on my lid,” says Kerry. “It was just one of those racing deals you have on a one-lane track with the double-file restart. It was unfortunate and disappointing that we DNFed.”
It was disappointing, especially with Gavranich in attendance, but there was a good side. “The good thing is I didn’t have to make the phone call back to Bob to explain the situation,” says Kerry. “I would have been pleading 100% innocence, so at least he was there to see it for himself! It was generally just a racing deal. We were in the wrong place at the right time.”
Kerry feels good about the Keneric Racing #29 team heading into Chico. “We do have good car speed right now,” he says. “We’re looking forward to this weekend and getting to Chico. It’s a unique track anyway. After that, it will be Merced and Calistoga, which are quite unusual as well. We’d like to get some good finishes there, and once we get out of California, we should be ready to go.”
The quarter-mile bullring in Chico is always a challenge. “We don’t go there enough to be locked into anything (setup-wise),” says Kerry. “We only go there once or twice a year, so it’s just like any other track to a traveling team.”
Follow Kerry Madsen on his Website and on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter!
Follow Kerry Madsen at his website located at www.KenericRacing.com! Also keep up with him on Facebook and Twitter (which also can be accessed at the website) at the following links…
Facebook link = http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Official-Fan-Page-for-Kerry-Madsen/101145169933686
Twitter link = http://twitter.com/#!/kmr29