PETERSEN MEDIA
With the USAC National Tour invading his home track, the Perris Auto Speedway for the Oval Nationals, Matt Mitchell hoped to turn in a strong performance, but on Saturday night, the Yorba Linda, CA driver struggled at times and ended up finishing in the 18th spot.
“The weekend in general was decent,” Mitchell said. “We ran well in the 360 on Thursday night, and were pretty average with the 410 on Friday and Saturday.”
Kicking his Oval Nationals off on Thursday night during the ‘360 Nationals’, Mitchell turned in quite the performance aboard his Matt Mitchell Racing No. 37 machine.
Timing in 17th fastest, Mitchell went on to pick up the win in his heat race, transferring him to the feature event, where he lined his A.R.T./MPD Racing/Caliagua No. 37 up in the 12th spot.
Mitchell would have his elbows up in the feature event, as he had his machine dialed in.
Working up inside the top-10 in the first 11 laps, Mitchell got better as the race clicked off laps.
With just five to go, Mitchell worked into the top three as he chased after Mike Spencer and Bryan Clauson.
Taking the white flag in the third spot, Mitchell took advantage of Bryan Clauson getting up into the wall, and took the second spot, where he would finish.
Hoping to take the momentum into the 410 Oval Nationals, Mitchell timed in 13th quickest on Friday night against the 53 cars checked in.
Scoring a second place finish in his heat, the Yorba Linda, CA driver lined up 12th in the feature event.
Though he didn’t put the same charge on as he did on Thursday night, Mitchell would fight up to an eighth place finish at the stripe.
Back in action for the finale on Saturday night, Mitchell seemed to fight a tight racecar all night, as he timed in 17th fastest.
With only the top-two finishers transferring from heat races, Mitchell’s fifth place effort did not get the job done, and he was forced into one of the twin B main events.
Running second in his B, Mitchell earned the transfer into the feature, but they still continued to work on his machine, as it was still on the ‘tighter’ side.
Lining up 17th for the 40-lap finale, Mitchell continued to struggle as he couldn’t seem to get his machine moving forward.
Trying different lines to try to free his car up on his own, Mitchell simply couldn’t get moving forward, and closed his night with an 18th place finish.
“Saturday night was sort of a struggle,” Mitchell said. “We just had a really tight car all night, that made it tough to drive, and get moving forward. I was happy to make the feature, but wish we could have been better.”
Matt Mitchell Racing would like to thank, A.R.T. Enterprises, MPD Racing, Parker Performance Engines, Caliagua, Bell Helmets, and Hedman Hedders for their support in 2013.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Races-37, Wins-3, Top 5’s-8, Top 10’s-20
ON TAP: Mitchell’s sprint car season is over, but has hopes of running the annual Turkey Night Grand Prix on Thanksgiving.