PETERSEN MEDIA
Saturday night, Willie Croft and his Tri-C Motorsports team bolted in their 360ci engine and took part in the Placerville Speedway season opener, and Croft made a couple of great late race moves to score his second consecutive third place finish.
“We were fast all night, and at the end of the race, I could really put my car anywhere, and we were good,” he said.
A sixth fastest qualifying lap for the Tri-C Machine/JRI Shocks/NAAKE backed entry, put Croft in the third row of a stacked heat race, on a narrow track.
Battling with Sean Becker, and Kyle Larson, Croft was unable to get to the fourth spot, and was forced into the night’s B main.
“We were in a heat with some tough guys, and there was Kyle Larson, Sean Becker, and myself all battling for the final transfer spot, and we weren’t able to take it,” he explained.
Starting on the pole of the B, Croft got the jump in his Holey Smokes BBQ/Christian Stover Foundation/ButlerBuilt machine, and never looked back, as he cruised to the win, and transferred to the feature event, where he would start fifth with the 0 inversion pill being pulled.
Navigating around the super slick track in fifth for the duration of the race, Croft battled with Justin Sanders, as the duo chased after Rico Abreu and Andy Forsberg.
On the 19th lap, Abreu brought out the caution, and Croft moved into the fourth spot, with just six laps to go.
The ensuing restart saw the Arai/Brown and Miller/Sander Engineering machine find something in the middle of the track and he had a great drive on third running Andy Forsberg.
Grabbing the third spot on lap 22, Croft had a huge run going on Sanders for second, but was not able to make the pass, and finished in the third spot.
“Our car has been really strong the last two weeks, and it’s been a blast getting back up front, and battling,” he said. “I can’t thank Clyde and the entire Lamar family for their continued support, and hopefully we can get them a win very soon.”
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-10, Wins-0, Top 5’s-2, Top 10’s-4.
ON TAP: Croft at the Tri-C team will return to the Placerville Speedway on Saturday night.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Willie Croft Racing by visiting www.williecroftracing.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @wcroft29.