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ACACIA RIDGE, Queensland, Australia (Jan. 29, 2014) – Andrew Felker was both fast and unlucky as he opened his three-week trip to Australia last weekend.
Driving for CJR Motorsport at the World POWRi Midget Championship at Archerfield Speedway, Felker set quick time during qualifying last Friday.
“In qualifying we were the fifth car out and the track was pretty dry slick and went away quickly, so the draw definitely helped us there,” he said. “The quick time set us up really well with points with the heats and feature the first night all paying quite a bit less.”
Felker advanced from 10th to place seventh in his first heat race and he then charged from ninth to third place in his second heat before the bad luck appeared. Going into the final lap, Felker slowed dramatically and was unable to finish.
“In the second heat race the car came out of gear and we did a quick check over things in the rear end after the DNF and went back out for the third heat,” he said. “We were just a lap in and it came out of gear again. We then figured out that the rear end had stripped out and didn’t have time to change it out before the B Main.”
Felker, who was scheduled to start on the pole of the B Main, was unable to finish the night.
The team returned to the track the following day for the finale and Felker maneuvered from sixth place to finish third. That put him 14th in overall points and locked him into the feature.
“The first half of the race was pretty much follow the leader around the bottom until some grip got thrown across the track from everyone running on the bottom,” he said. “At that point we got going good out in the middle and started to pick off cars quickly, but ran out of laps. Our fastest lap of the race was Lap 37 so we really needed a 50-lapper rather than a 40.”
Felker ended with an eighth-place result.
“The first weekend didn’t go as planned, but I felt like the car had a lot of speed and could have been up front if it wasn’t for the rear end failure,” he said.
Felker will return to action on Friday and Saturday at Lismore Speedway in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, for the World POWRi Midget Championship.
QUICK RESULTS –
Jan. 24 – Archerfield Speedway in Acacia Ridge, Queensland, Australia – Qualifying: 1; Heat race #1: 7 (10); Heat race #2: DNF (9); Heat race #3: DNF (6); B Main: DNS (1).
Jan. 25 – Archerfield Speedway in Acacia Ridge, Queensland, Australia – Heat race: 3 (6); Feature: 8 (14).
SEASON STATS –
4 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 2 top 10s, 2 top 15s, 2 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Lismore Speedway in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, for the World POWRi Midget Championship
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.AndrewFelkerRacing.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Auto Xpress
Located in Joplin, Mo., Auto Xpress is an oil and tire shop that specializes in being a preventative maintenance headquarter. For more information, visit http://www.AutoXpressJoplin.
“Auto Xpress offers a very reliable and efficient service,” Felker said. “They are also partners of the race cars and have supported our racing for most of my career now.”
Felker would also like to thank 66 Truck & Foreign Salvage, MelMark Pipe & Supply, Fontana Automotive, CSI Shocks, Momo’s Racing Engines, Engler Machine & Tool, Inc., Schluckebier Farms, Pro Powder Coating, All-Pro Auto Interiors, Aggressive Graphics, KBR Performance, Weld Wheels, KMK Enterprises, Heath II, Wilwood, Maxim Racewear and Leading Edge Composites for their continued support.