From Bob Gangwer
Mobile, AL — (March 24, 2013) — They say that champions are made by never giving up and always finding a way to overcome adversity. Reigning TruFuel Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series (MSRXSS)
Champion JoJo Helberg of Rohnert Park, CA overcame a rainout and early morning adversity to lead all 30 laps and take the $3,000 pay day in the Royal Oak Southern Shootout at Mobile International Speedway Sunday afternoon.
Helberg, who had to switch to a backup car after blowing an engine just prior to time trials, endured multiple restarts in what turned out to be an uncharacteristically length race, but won in commanding fashion over Brian Gerster and Brian Olson.
“I’m going to have to use the money for the win tonight to pay for the repairs to the primary engine,” Helberg said. “I just want to thank Royal Oak Charcoal, TruFuel, Mobile International Speedway and all these great fans for the support because we couldn’t do it without any of them.”
Bringing the ADTS 7H home for the win wasn’t as easy as it may have seemed to his competitors. Helberg stated, “The wind picked up and it made it a little bit iffy getting into turn three as it picked up a big push and then it was pretty shaky down the front stretch.”
Brian Gerster, whom had set fast time earlier in the day, was the only real threat to Helberg’s victory. “When Gerster challenged me that one time on the restart I realized I had to do my starts a little bit different,” he began. “He was able to get a big run on me and that’s usually what I get to do with my big Mopar engine, but we had the small engine in and I really had to keep my momentum going so I could get up off the corners, especially on the restarts.”
Gerster, pilot of the RAM Engineering 50m machine, knew that he had to go after Helberg on the restarts, one in particular on lap 23 that was his best shot to get by the likable champion. “I was just trying to get down underneath him on that one restart there when he left the bottom open, try to get in some clean air and let him know I was there,” he explained. Gerster went on to say, “But you’re not going to mess with him too much because he’s such a good driver, sometimes though, if you get somebody out of the groove they wanna be in, who knows maybe they make a mistake and you take advantage. I had plenty of restarts to take advantage, but that was really the only shot I had at him.”
Defending race winner Brian Olson came home third in the IndyRacing Experience, Edwards Transmission machine, while Jacob Wilson took the WBR ‘Sprint Cars & Tiki Bars’ car to fourth and Aaron Pierce overcame an early race spin to charge from the back in the Sam Pierce Cheverolet ride to finish fifth. Heats were won by Troy DeCaire, Aaron Pierce and Jimmy Kite, while Jacob Wilson claimed the 10 lap B-Main. Jerry Caryer and Shane Butler were added to the feature field as promoters options.
The heroes of the TruFuel Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Series will now head back to the shop to prepare for their next event, the Xtreme Speed Challenge, on the famed high banks of Winchester Speedway. The Must See Racing Supermodified Series will join the sprints in this double bill on May 19 and will kick off a week long extravaganza of open wheel racing.
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