PETERSEN MEDIA
– Continuing to flex his muscle in California, Willie Croft put on a charge from 13th to fifth Friday night in Chico, CA before mechanical gremlins knocked him out of a top-five run Saturday at the Placerville Speedway.
“We seem to get stronger and stronger every week, and building confidence as a driver makes the biggest difference in performance,” Croft said.
Looking to pick up his fourth consecutive win, Croft and his Tri-C Motorsports team returned to the Silver Dollar Speedway on Friday night for weekly point show.
Qualifying hampered Croft, as they opted to try a few new things on this night, and he wound up 15th fastest when time trials were concluded.
Starting on the front row of his heat, Croft won the drag race against Mason Moore, and went on to pick up the win aboard his Tri-C Machine/JRI Shocks/NAAKE backed entry, putting him in the feature, though he would start deep.
Lining up 15th in the feature, Croft was strong off the get-go, as he quickly charged his way forward inside the top-10.
In a race that only saw one caution, Croft was able to take advantage of the restart, to get around Todd Wanless to work up to the seventh spot, where he battled with Kevin Sharrah for four laps to take over the sixth spot.
With just five laps remaining in the feature, Croft hooked up in a battle with Rico Abreu.
Getting under Abreu, Croft took over fifth, and chased after Michael Tarter but simply ran out of laps, and took the fifth.
“It’s great to know we are capable of starting towards the rear, and moving up, especially on a locked down track like that,” Croft said. “My guys worked hard, and gave me a great car, we just had a little set back in time trials.”
Saturday night, Croft looked to back up his opening night King of the West victory at the Placerville Speedway.
A third quick effort in time trials set Croft up great for the night ahead.
Getting to the lead in is heat race, Croft looked just as strong as he did a week ago, until trouble arose on the third lap, and he came to a stop.
A broken U-joint was the culprit, and Croft was forced to the LCQ, which he won, and started the feature event in the ninth spot.
When the race got going after a string of red and yellow flags marred the first four, Croft worked his way forward, and got to the fourth spot, when he again had issues on the 24th lap, and was done for the night.
“We broke a U-Joint in our heat, and I think it did some damage to our power steering pump and fuel pump, and they both went south in the feature. We were awesome again, and I’m looking forward to Chico next weekend. I would love nothing more than to win the Bradway for this 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-15, Wins-3, Top 5’s-6, Top 10’s-8.
ON TAP: Croft and his team will be at the Silver Dollar Speedway for a weekly show on Friday, before the 23rd Annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial at the same track on Saturday night.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Willie Croft Racing by visiting www.williecroftracing.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @wcroft29.