PETERSEN MEDIA
After a rough couple of races with his new Tri-C Motorsports team, Willie Croft put together a strong performance on Friday night and grabbed his first podium of the year as he scored a third place finish of the season at the Silver Dollar Speedway.
“In our first handful of races the car just did not feel right under me, and we were struggling,” he said. “Last weekend in Stockton and Chico we got it better, but it was still not right, but on Friday, pieces started falling into place and we were good.”
With 19 cars on hand, Croft went out mid pack for qualifications and wound up timing in with the fourth fastest lap aboard his Tri-C Machine/JRI Shocks/NAAKE backed entry, keeping him in the heat inversion, and more importantly the feature event inversion.
Starting fifth in his heat, Croft got a great start, and a huge run going into turn one, saw him grab the third spot, as he chased down Brad Bumgarner, and Bud Walberg on the ultra fast track.
He would finish third, and transfer to the feature event, where the six pill was pulled, and he would line up for the 25-lap feature in the second row.
“The track was fast during the whole night, and heading into the feature event we could tell it was going to be the same way, so we made some adjustments and hoped we could make some moves,” he said.
When the green flag waved, Mason Moore, who started next to Croft, got the jump for the third spot heading into the first turn, but Croft muscled his way by for the third spot coming out of two, and set his sights on Roger Crockett and Sean Becker.
With the leaders working the bottom, it got dicey in lapped, traffic, but Croft was able to keep his nose clean, and keep the lead duo in his sights.
Unfortunately, Croft would run out of time, and would finish in the third spot.
“It would have been nicer if the track was a little bit more racy, but I cannot complain,” he said. “This was by far our best night out in the early season, and it’s nice to get a top three finish for Clyde Lamar and this Tri-C Motorsports team.”
The Tri-C Motorsports team would like to thank Tri-C Machine, JRI Shocks, NAAKE Suspension, Holey Smokes BBQ, The Christian Stover Foundation, ButlerBuilt, Arai, Brown and Miller, Sander Engineering, FK Rod Ends, Hinchman Indy, Schoenfeld, K&N, Smith Precision Products, A.R.T., Kaeding Performance, Dan Olson Products, Vortex Wings, AIC Powdercoating, and GUTS for their support in 2013.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Races-9, Wins-0, Top 5’s-1, Top 10’s-3.
ON TAP: Croft at the Tri-C team will now decide on where they will be on Friday night before he jumps in the Dale Miller No. 4SA machine at Placerville on Saturday night.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Willie Croft Racing by visiting www.williecroftracing.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @wcroft29.