PETERSEN MEDIA
– Returning to action with the World Series Sprint Car Series, Kyle Hirst and his Ruhs Motorsports team put together a nice weekend at the Sydney Speedway, that saw them record two sixth place finishes.
In a season that has seen its fair share of bad luck for the HighRace Towing No.99 team, the weekend was a welcome change for the team.
“It was nice to have a weekend with no major issues,” Hirst said. “We were able to focus on racing, and that was huge for us in posting a couple of nice finishes.”
With action at the Sydney Speedway getting underway on Friday night, KH timed in sixth fastest of the 52 entrants, putting him in the ninth starting spot of the third heat race.
Scoring a fifth place finish, Hirst transferred to the feature event where he lined up his Kistler powered Maxim in the third row. The start of the race saw the Sacramento, CA driver slip back to the seventh spot, but he came right back up to the sixth spot as he worked on Brooke Tatnell and then Roddy Bellbowen.
Searching the slick speedway for grip, Hirst was unable to crack the top five as he closed the first night out in the sixth spot.
Coming back to the same track on Saturday night, Hirst was in the third and seventh heat races and he scored fifth and first place finishes, putting him in the feature event.
Lining up again in the third row, Hirst wasn’t able to get moving forward, as he settled into the sixth position.
“We didn’t have any bad luck over the weekend, but we couldn’t seem to get moving forward,” he said.
Working the bottom of the Sydney Speedway, Hirst was careful to hit his marks and keep his position, as passing was tough on the slicked off racing surface. Though he challenged for fifth late in the race, KH held onto to sixth spot.
“Overall it was a nice weekend of racing for us, and I can’t thank the Ruhs family enough for this opportunity. We have one more race together, and hopefully we can get a win for them.”
2013 BY THE NUMBERS- Starts-7, Wins-0, Top 5’s-2, Top 10’s-5.
ON TAP: KH will now move his seat into the Michael Cunningham No.10 machine for the week as he will be in action on the 23rd for the President’s Cup, the 25th for the Kings Challenge, before running in the Grand Annual Classic this weekend.
Hirst’s Down Under Tour Schedule-
Feb
World Series round 8 2nd Speedway city Adelaide
Cunnigham 74 Schedule
January
Presidents Cup 23rd Avalon, Victoria
Kings Challenge 25th Mt. Gambier, South Aust.
Grand Challenge 26th Warrnambool, Victoria
Grand Challenge 27th Warrnambool, Victoria