PETERSEN MEDIA
Competing in a trio of 360ci events over the last week, Kyle Hirst secured a third place finish to kick it off at the Placerville Speedway before some tough luck hampered him in Chico, CA last weekend.
“We had some good racecars, but luck didn’t seem to go our way,” Hirst said. “I have to thank the entire team for coming up and letting us race three nights, but I wish we could have had some better finishes.”
Taking on the Civil War Series at the Placerville Speedway on Wednesday night, Kyle and his Roth Enterprises/HR Livestock Transportation/3H Cattle entry timed in third quickest putting him sixth in his heat.
Scoring fourth place finish in his heat, Hirst made the transfer to the 30-lap A-Main, and the eight-car inversion lined him up in the eighth spot.
The initial start saw the Sacramento, CA driver jump into the fifth spot, as the race went yellow after one lap complete.
Getting to the fourth spot, Hirst chased after Steven Tiner for third, and was able to get around him on the ninth lap as he now chased after his teammate, Tim Kaeding.
With Kaeding getting to the lead, Hirst now worked on Justyn Cox for the second spot, as he tried everything he could.
Get up next to Cox a couple of times, Hirst was unable to grab the second spot, and settled for third.
Heading to the Silver Dollar Speedway on Friday for the two-night Fall Nationals, Hirst kicked the weekend off by timing in 18th fastest of the 46 cars checked in.
Starting fifth in his heat, the 25-year-old was able to race his way to a third place finish, and transfer into the Feature Event but he found himself lining up in the eighth row.
Hirst’s bad luck began on the first lap of the feature as he was involved in an opening lap wreck, and was forced to the back of the pack.
With a little nose-wing damage from the wreck, Hirst was still able to get moving forward until the nose-wing finally gave out.
Fighting his car, Hirst lost a lap right before a yellow flag came out, and went to the tail end, as he thought it reverted back a lap.
Though he crossed the stripe 11th, he was scored a lap down and was credited with a 15th place finish.
Saturday night gave drivers an extremely slick surface from the beginning of the night, but Hirst was able to still time in 13th fastest.
Starting on the front row of his heat, Hirst managed a second place finish after getting turned around on the start, good enough to qualify him for the Dash.
Scoring a sixth place finish in the Dash, Hirst lined up for the feature event on the outside of the third row, with rubber already being laid down on the bottom of the track.
Getting in line in the seventh, Hirst made sure to hit his marks, and save his tires for 30-laps, as passing was a very tough, and nearly impossible task.
“It was a rough weekend at Chico,” he said. “Things just didn’t seem to go our way, but I have to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth for letting us race on a KWS off weekend, and have some fun.”
Kyle and his Roth Motorsports team would like to thank Roth Enterprises, HR Livestock Transportation, 3H Cattle, Mobil1, FK Rod Ends, Weld Wheels, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Kent Performance, Kaeding Performance, and Astro Titanium for their support in 2013.
2013 ROTH MOTORSPORTS BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-47, Wins-5, Top 5’s-22, Top-10’s-34
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-66, Wins-7, Top 5’s-29, Top 10’s-47
ON TAP: Hirst and the Roth Enterprise team will return to action on October 12th at the King’s Speedway in Hanford, CA for the Cotton Classic.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected to Kyle by following him on Twitter, @kylehirstracing, or by visiting www.rothmotorsports83.com.