From Peterson Media
Getting back on familiar soil, Kyle Hirst and his Roth Motorsports team had a much better weekend, although, bad luck did still seem to find them on Saturday night.
“We were much better this weekend,” Hirst said. “It was nice being on some familiar turf, and we got better all weekend long in my opinion.”
Action at the Thunderbowl Speedway kicked off Friday night with the driver known as KH, timing in 18th quickest, just missing out on the heat race inversion.
In his heat race, Hirst made a couple of big moves aboard his Roth Enterprises/Mobil1/Weld Wheels machine and charged from this third row starting spot to grab the fourth spot, and transfer into the feature event.
Lining up 17th in the feature event, Hirst fought through the tricky turns one and tow, to close out the opening night with a 12th place finish.
“These guys are tough,” he said. “It is a much better night than we had last week, and that is a good thing he said. Our team is awesome, and they are working on a car to get us closer to the front.”
Saturday night, Hirst got off to a much better start as he timed in 11th quick, making the heat race inversion where he started on the front row.
After a two lap preview of what looks to be a season long battle with Jonathan Allard in KWS action, Hirst took the lead away from Allard, and went on to win the heat, and earn a spot in his first Dash of the season.
A ninth place finish in the Dash, put the Brown and Miller/Astro Titanium/3H Cattle machine in the fifth row for the feature event, on what was a rubber down, single file track.
Unfortuatnely on the third lap, Jac Haudenschild spun out his machine, and collected Hirst, sending him to the back.
Getting in line on the rubber, KH maintained position in the back of the field, until he blew a tire on the 33rd lap, and ended up in the 20th position.
“We had a great starting spot, and were in position for most likely a top-10 finish with how the track was, but unfortunately we got collected with Haud, and ended up blowing a tire late. It’s one of those things, but we will move on to next weekend and try again.”
Kyle and his Roth Motorsports team would like to thank Roth Enterprises, Mobil1, Weld Wheels, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Astro Titanium, 3H Cattle, Kaeding Performance, and Kent Performance Center for their support in 2013.
2013 ROTH MOTORSPORTS BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-5, Wins-0, Top 5’s-0, Top-10’s-0.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-17, Wins-0, Top 5’s-3, Top 10’s-8.
ON TAP: Hirst will be in action this coming weekend at the Stockton 99 Speedway on Friday night, before heading to Chico, CA on Saturday.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Hirst through his 2013 season by following him on Twitter @Kylehirstracing.