PETERSEN MEDIA
– With the King of the West schedule opening up, Willie Croft and his Tri-C Motorsports team were in action at the Placerville Speedway taking on the Civil War Series, and the veteran driver overcame a poor qualifying effort to score a 10th place finish.
With 35 cars in the pit area, Croft’s night did not get off to the start he had hoped as he timed the Tri-C Machine/JRI Shocks/NAAKE Suspension backed entry in 21st quickest.
“We just were not good in qualifying,” he said. “Our engine was a little off, and it really put us behind the eight ball all night.”
Starting on the front row of his heat, Croft went on to take the win, and put his machine in the feature, but he lined up deep, as he rolled off in the eighth row for the feature event.
In a race that was marred by cautions, Croft kept his nose clean in what was a wild feature event.
With the field glued to the cushion all the way around the track, Croft steadily worked forward, as he got inside the top-ten late in the feature event.
Battling with Greg DeCaires and DJ Netto over the final makers, Croft would end his night with a 10th place finish.
“It was an interesting night for sure,” said Croft. “Being that far back there was some guys who made some interesting decisions, and I was happy to escape the feature in one piece. After qualifying, the guys really got to work to get us better, and they did, and hopefully wen can bounce back and have a good weekend next week at Chico, and then back up here.”
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-24, Wins-4, Top 5’s-11, Top 10’s-15.
ON TAP: Croft will now head to the Silver Dollar Speedway on Friday night for the David Tarter Memorial, before returning 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.