From Inside Line Promotions
Somerton, AZ — (March 3, 2014) — The season-opening weekend didn’t go as planned for Cole Wood.
“I had a lot higher expectations than what we ended with,” he said. “We were really fast both nights, but we had to start far back in the features because of mistakes I made in the heat races.”
Wood opened the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour doubleheader at Cocopah Speedway on Friday by finishing sixth in his heat race.
“The whole time I was trying a bunch of different lines,” he said. “I tried the top more often than I should have.”
That relegated Wood to a B Main, which he placed fifth in to miss a transfer by two positions. The team elected to use a provisional to start 23 rd in the feature on Night 1 of the Cocopah Cup Challenge.
“That place is so fast and everybody is so equal,” he said. “I think we were able to get a couple of spots early in the race and then everybody spread out.”
Wood ended with a 21st-place result.
The team returned to the 3/8-mile track on Saturday and following a three-hour rain delay, Wood dropped from the pole position to third place in his heat race.
“I started in the slick,” he said. “Once I moved back to the bottom we were fast enough. I ran the fastest lap in that heat race.”
He then started on the outside of the front row in a B Main and after losing a couple of positions, Wood charged forward to score a third-place result and earn a transfer to the main event.
After starting 22nd, Wood powered toward the top 15 during the 30-lap main event. However, as several cars mixed it up battling between 15 th and 20th, Wood was caught in a tough position.
“We were really fast,” he said. “We passed a couple of cars on the start and were able to get around some people in the first couple of laps. Right after I got lapped by Christopher Bell the yellow came out and that hurt our chances of picking up a few more positions.”
Wood finished with a 19th-place result.
He is scheduled to compete with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series on Wednesday and Thursday at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas and Saturday at Tucson International Raceway in Tucson, Ariz.
Fans can watch Wood and the World of Outlaws action at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas via live Pay-Per-View on Wednesday and Thursday. For more information, visit http://www.DIRTVision.com.