From Peterson Media
Making the switch from the Ruhs Brothers No.99 to the Michael Cunningham A.R.T. for the week, Kyle Hirst turned in an impressive week during the biggest of the season in Australia.
Kicking off on Wednesday night in Avalon for the President’s Cup, Hirst adapted well to Cunningham’s new A.R.T. as he timed in fourth quickest with the 55 entrants assembled.
Scoring third and sixth place finishes during heat race action, KH had earned enough points to transfer into the feature where he rolled off from the ninth position.
With familiar wrench, Rod Tiner, spinning wrenches for him, Hirst was able to get moving towards the middle of the feature, as he worked from the 10th spot up to the sixth spot at the stripe, as he helps promote A.R.T. chassis in Australia.
“It was a great first night for all of us,” Hirst said. “Michael Cunningham is a new dealer of A.R.T. Chassis in AU, and Rod Tiner is no stranger to working on them, and we got off to a great start.”
Heading to the Borderline Speedway for the King Challenge on Friday night, Hirst again was quick early as he qualified 11th fastest.
Getting through heat race action, the Sacramento, CA driver rolled off for the feature event in the 11th spot. On what was an extremely slick track with the scorching temperatures out, the racing was anti-climactic, as single file racing ensued, and Hirst had trouble getting spots, but did make it up a couple of spots to ninth.
“We had a great first couple of night heading into The Classic, so I had confidence heading into the Australians biggest race of the year,” he explained.
With 100 cars in the pits for qualifying night at The Classic, Hirst was eighth fastest, starting his weekend of on an excellent note.
With two heat races scheduled, the American pilot tallied second a fifth place finishes, narrowly sneaking him into the opening night feature where he started in the 13th spot.
The feature, however didn’t go Hirst’s way as he simply struggled. The Californian tried everything he could to find grip, but was unsuccessful and ended the night in the 14th spot.
Heading into the finale, Hirst sat 13th in points, and hoped a pair of solid heat finishes would lock him into the feature.
The first heat saw high point guys in the front of the field, and Hirst scored a second place finish. With points being inverted in the second group of heats, KH scored a sixth place finish, putting him 16th in points and in the feature event.
The 40-lap feature was action packed, and as the track continued to slick off, and move up, and on the 14th lap, Hirst got into the backstretch wall, and caused damage to his entry, and his Classic was over.
“It was a fun week with Cunningham and Tiner, and we had a great car,” He said. “It’s a bummer we hit the wall, but there are more races to come.”
2013 BY THE NUMBERS- Starts-11, Wins-0, Top 5’s-2, Top 10’s-7.
ON TAP: Hirst has just one more race left on his schedule in Australia, as he returns to the Ruhs 99 this Saturday night for a WSS race at Speedway City.
Hirst’s Down Under Tour Schedule-
Feb
World Series round 8 2nd Speedway city Adelaide