PETERSEN MEDIA
– Though the result sheet says fifth, Willie Croft made it known that he will be a force to be reckoned with, as he ran the last half of the feature event with a flat right-rear tire, and slipped back to fifth at the finish line.
Setting the tone for his 2014 King of the West season early, Croft led the way in time-trials, setting him up nicely for the rest of the night aboard his Holey Smokes BBQ/Christian Stover Foundation/ButlerBuilt backed entry.
Fighting from fourth to second in heat race action, Croft qualified for the Dash by way of his qualifying time, and found himself with the four-pill putting him in the second row of the shootout.
Hoping to gain a row for the feature, Croft would hold strong in the fourth spot, putting him in the second row of the feature event.
When the race got underway, Croft was able to work his way into the second spot, by way of a battle with Kyle Hirst, though cautions slowed the early flow of the race.
The first extended green flag run of the race came following a lap-six restart, and Croft got everything he could out of his machine, as he ran the tip-top of the speedway gently bumping the wall, and using it as his cushion repeatedly.
With race leader, Tommy Tarlton, using the low side of the speedway, Croft had speed up top, and really challenged for the lead, until the complexion of the race nearly changed on the 18th lap.
With a car flipping in front of him, Croft was forced to get on the brakes hard, and as he did so he looped his Brown and Miller/FK Rod Ends/Hinchman supported No. 29, but stood on the throttle, and kept it fired as he drove away from the wreck, and kept his second spot.
The ensuing restart saw another red, and this time, the crowd sat as they saw Croft’s right-rear go flat under the stoppage, and they wondered what he would do.
While idling around the speedway, Croft did all he could to build heat in his right-rear that was completely flat, and opted to stay on the track.
The restart saw Croft get into turn one, and his flat tire caused him to bicycle, but he kept his foot in it, and slipped back to third, but the next corner saw him slide Hirst back for the second spot.
Doing a remarkable job with the flat tire, Croft slowly lost spots in the waning laps, but in the end crossed the stripe in the fifth spot, and had a bittersweet taste in his mouth following the fifth place finish.
“We had an awesome car, and really think we would have ran top three if we didn’t have the tire go down,” Croft said. “It was a blast racing Tarlton during that first green flag run we had, and I just hate that we had some bad luck. I didn’t want to pull in and lose all that track position without trying it out, and somehow it held for all those laps, we were able to escape with a fifth place finish.”
Willie Croft Racing would like to thank Holey Smokes BBQ, The Christian Stover
Foundation, ButlerBuilt , Brown and Miller, FK Rod Ends, Hinchman Indy, Schoenfeld, K&N, Smith Precision Products, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Shark Racing Engines, A.R.T., M.R.O. Industrial Supply, Redline Oil, Kaeding Performance, PaPa’s Beef Jerky, Dan Olson Products, Vortex Wings, AIC Powdercoating, and GUTS for their support in 2014.
2014 BY THE NUMBERS: Races-4, Wins-0, Top 5’s-2, Top 10’s-2.
ON TAP: Croft will be in action for round two of KWS action as the series takes over Placerville Speedway on Saturday night.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Willie Croft Racing by visiting www.williecroftracing.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @wcroft29.
PETERSEN MEDIA: Petersen Media is a promotional agency that can handle your public relations, marketing, and any other media needs. Petersen Media utilizes multiple tactics to help you reach your intended audience, to boost awareness.
For more information contact Sales@petersenmediainc.com, 916-342-3424, visit www.petersenmediainc.com, www.facebook.com/PetersenMedia or follow @Petersen_Media on twitter.