PETERSEN MEDIA
With his 2013 season getting off to a less than stellar start, Steven Tiner put together quite the weekend as he scored a fourth place finish on Friday before scoring a second place finish with the Rebel Cup Series on Saturday night.
Running the Western Metal No. 37T machine on Friday night at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Ca, Tiner opened the night up by timing in fifth fastest.
Scoring a third place finish in his heat race, Tiner lined up fifth in the 30-lap feature event.
Tiner had a strong car early in the night, as he wasted no time working his way up to the second spot, early in the feature, as he shadowed young Carson Macedo.
On a very racy track, Tiner fell back to third spot, at the halfway point, but in heavy traffic, he was able to sneak back up to the second spot, as he hounded Macedo, looking for an opening.
On a late restart, Tiner got out of the grove in turns one and two, and allowed Bud Kaeding to get past him for the second spot, and the Visalia, CA driver chased after Kaeding as he now sat in the third spot.
Looking to close out his night on the podium, Tiner bicycled with just a couple laps remaining, and wound up finishing his night off in the fourth spot.
“Friday night we had a great car, I just made a couple of mistakes, that cost us a top two, or three finish,” he said. “I think we had a car good enough to win, but I will certainly take the top five.”
Saturday night, Tiner returned to the cockpit of his STR No.94 machine and took on the Rebel Cup Series at the Kings Speedway in Hanford, CA.
Kicking off the night, Tiner timed his BR Motorsports/King Racing Products/Wright Process Systems machine in fourth kick, before finishing fourth in his heat.
Starting on the pole for the feature, Tiner lost the drag race into turns one and two, and settled into second behind Tommy Tarlton.
Poking his nose under Tarlton on a pair of occasions, Tiner was unable to make a pass for the lead.
On the fast track, Tiner and Bud Kaeding again battled for position, and Tiner slipped back to the third spot as he battled Kaeding in traffic.
Tiner returned the favor to Kaeding, as he used slower cars to his advantage, and took over the second spot for good, as he chased after Tarlton, but to no avail, and wound up finishing second.
“The STR car was fast all night on Saturday,” he said. “The track was a little on the fast side, so we weren’t able to race with Tommy, but we rolled both cars into the trailer this week, and we will look forward to racing in West Memphis, AR this weekend.”
Stever and his Steven Tiner Racing team would like to thank BR Motorsports, King Racing Products, Elma Lanes, Larry Davis Farms, Wright Process Systems, Harvest Supply, Powder Coat-It, SRP, Wilwood, FSR, Dan Olson Race Prodcuts, Sander Engineering, Sweet Manufacturing, Good Ridge, Schoenfeld, Western Metal Company, and Roseville Precision for their support in 2013.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Races-6, Wins-0, Top 5’s-3, Top 10’s-3
ON TAP: Tiner will now head to West Memphis, AR to pilot the Wade Oliver, Hooker Hood replica, machine in the Hooker Hook Memorial at the Riverside International Speedway on Saturday night.