PETERSEN MEDIA
Taking advantage of Logan Forler’s departure from the Harley Van Dyke 5h, Kyle Hirst kept his 2012 season alive as he teamed up with the California car owner and scored two top-ten finishes against the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.
Friday night, KH took to the El Paso Speedway as he joined 45 other cars on the big 3/8 mile facility.
Starting on the outside front row of his heat, Hirst got a huge jump on fellow front row starter, Matt Covington, and proceeded to pick up the important win, and earn a spot in the night’s redraw.
Pulling a three, Hirst put the potent Van Dyke 5h in the second row of the 30-lap feature. With everyone riding around the cushion on the hooked up speedway, KH fell back to the fourth spot, as he worked on third running Kraig Kinser.
Staying committed to the high-side, Hirst would ultimately hold on to the fourth spot, in his first start in the 5h in several years.
Saturday night they continued on with the Lucas Oil ASCS National series as they invaded the Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces, NM. Battling a very heavy and wet track early, Hirst would advance to the third spot from his fifth starting spot in his heat, just narrowly missing out on the redraw.
Starting in the 11th spot for the Saturday night feature, the track surface had slicked off, and allowed for some very racy action, as drivers could use both the top and bottom of the speedway.
Getting acclimated to the track surface early, Hirst slowly gained positions, as he would score a seventh place finish to close out his weekend.
“I have to thank Harley Van Dyke for giving me a shot to race a few more times this year,” Hirst said. “We had a great car both nights, and hopefully we can grab a win in Arizona this weekend.”
ON TAP: Hirst and the 5h team will now head to the Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, AZ for the Western World Finals this weekend.