PETERSEN MEDIA
Hitting the Silver Dollar Speedway for the 60th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions, Willie Croft jumpstarted his week by driving his way to a sixth place finish with the Civil War Series.
Leading the way in time trials, Croft timed his Tri-C Machine/JRI Shocks/NAAKE Suspension entry with quick time.
Starting sixth in his heat, the outside line did not take off, and Croft found himself on the outside of the feature looking in, forced to run through the B main event.
Lining up on the pole of the B, Croft won the race going away, sending him to the feature event, where he lined up right behind the inversion, and in the sixth row.
Getting off to a slow start, Croft hung around the top-10 until be came alive in the later stages of the feature.
Maneuvering through the patches of rubber that had been laid down, Croft was able to carve his way to a sixth place finish.
“We had a really good car in the feature, and really got going towards the end of the feature,” he said. “There was rubber being laid down in spots, and we were able to use it to our advantage and grab some spots.”
Returning to action on Friday night against the World of Outlaws, Croft timed his Holey Smokes BBQ/Christian Stover Foundation/ButlerBuilt entry in 24th fastest, putting him in the fourth heat, but mechanical issues knocked him out of the race, putting him in the B.
Lining up eighth in the B main, Croft had a very strong start to the race, and found himself battling with Kyle Hirst for the fourth and final transfer spot.
As the duo exchanged the spot several times, Croft got too hard into the cushion on the last lap, and slipped back into the eighth spot, and his night was done.
Back in action on Saturday night, Croft went out early in time-trials, and the track wasn’t in the greatest shape, and he wound up 32nd quickest.
Lining up seventh in his heat race, Croft was able to work his way up into a transfer position as he fended off Kyle Hirst for a few laps, but Hirst was able to sneak under Croft, and he was forced into the B main.
In the B, Croft started in the sixth row, and over the first few laps, he had worked himself up towards the transfer spot, but during the caution, he disovered he had an issue, and pulled off the speedway, ending his Gold Cup.
“The World of Outlaw portion of Gold Cup was a little disappointing,” he said. “At the end of the day, we weren’t in the feature where we needed to be, and that makes it tough. I have to thank the Lamar’s for letting us get out here and compete.”
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-44, Wins-5, Top 5’s-18, Top 10’s-26.
ON TAP: Croft will now be in action this Saturday night with the King of the West Series at the Reno Tahoe Fernley Raceway in Fernley, NV.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Willie Croft Racing by visiting www.williecroftracing.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @wcroft29.