PETERSEN MEDIA
– Just one week after sweeping the Can-Am Challenge, Shane Stewart returned to the states with the Scott McClaren owned No.21 machine, and simply had a bad weekend.
“It’s the beauty of our sport,” said Stewart. “You can be a hero one weekend, and the very next time out you can easily be the goat.”
The team headed to the ultra competitive Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.
The night got off to a rough start for Stewart he lost the handle early in heat race action, and spun to a stop forcing him to drop back to the 10th spot on the restart.
At the stripe, Stewart grabbed a ninth place finish, and was forced to run the B, where he lined up in the 8th spot.
Stewart continued to fight his car, as he simply struggled in the B. Stewart would fail to miss the feature as he scored an eighth place finish.
“We just struggled all night at ‘The Grove’ and flat got our tails kicked,” said the Bixby, OK native.
Saturday night saw the team head to the Orange Country Fair Speedway in New York and take on the World of Outlaws.
“We had a pretty good car all night,” said Stewart. “Unfortunately late in the feature we were another car that ultimately lost a tire.”
Timing in ninth quickest, Stewart lined up on the front row of the third heat race, where he would hang on to the second spot and transfer to the dash.
A ninth place finish in the dash lined Stewart and his SST Shocks/Don Ott/A.R.T. machine up in the fifth row for the 25-lap feature.
When the race got underway, Stewart held strong in the top ten as he battled with some of the top teams in the world.
Late in the feature Stewart was comfortably in the sixth spot, when that came to an end on the 23rd lap when he lost a right rear tire, thus ending his night.
Stewart’s flat was one of 21 flat tires through the duration of the night.
“We had a great car and were going to get a solid top-ten, maybe even a top-five against the Outlaws, but unfortunately we had a tire issue pretty late which is fruturating.”
Shane and his Scott McClaren team would like to thank A.R.T., SST Shocks, Don Ott, and OMP Safety Equipment for their support this year.
ON TAP: Shane will now climb back aboard the 3G Racing machine for three races against the NRA starting the 25th in Lima, OH followed by a Saturday stop in Waynesfield before capping off the tripleheader Sunday at the famed Eldora Speedway.