By Bill W
April 29, 2014 – Things were going well for Carson McCarl Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway…until the redraw. Turning in a solid performance, throughout the night, the Altoona, Iowa driver tangled with a lapped car and got upside down while running seventh and moving forward in the feature. This weekend, the Mastell Brothers Trailer Service #27 will be in action with the UMSS Series at St. Croix Valley Raceway in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.
Carson timed in seventh quick on Saturday night in the 25-car 360 field. A redraw for the top eight qualifiers making it through the heat races was in place. “We qualified pretty well,” he says. “We were strong enough to make the redraw. All we had to do was make the top six in the heat to do that.”
Despite not feeling comfortable in the heat, Carson checkered fifth. “The car wasn’t working the way I like it,” he says. “I kind of got a bad start. (Ryan) Roberts took the air off my wings heading into one. That upset the car a bit and a couple guys got by me. I couldn’t find my groove for a couple of laps. We finished fifth, so it all worked out.”
The feature redraw did not, as Carson drew the eight and would start outside row four. “We changed wings for the feature, and it was a lot better,” he says. “We had a good jump. I was right there with (Justin) Henderson and (Jamie) Ball, and they were getting caught up in the lapped cars. I thought I was going to get them both.”
Hopes for a top five were dashed on the front straight. “A lapped car got a little bit sideways down the frontstretch, and I got into him,” says Carson. “Off she went. At that point, my car was really starting to work well. I was able to drive it straight, and I was able to come off turn two better than I have all year.”
Fortunately, the damage was not as severe as the team thought at the time. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was originally,” says Carson. “Structurally, the car is good. We obviously lost some bolt on parts and the wings, but other than that, we’re o.k.”
Carson is looking forward to running in his car owner’s neck of the woods this weekend. “Our plans are to go to St. Croix Valley on Friday with UMSS,” he says. “My car owners (Mastell) own that track. If everything goes well, we may go to Cedar Lake with UMSS on Saturday, or come back to Knoxville.”
Carson would like to thank Mastell Brothers Trailer Service, Inc., Deanfield Farms (Gary and Sally Dean), Berryhill Racing, Vortex, Rossie Feed & Grain, Hoosier, DeBerg Concrete, HRP, Engler Machine, Phil and Vivian, Rider Racing Engines, Justice Brothers-Gillund Enterprises, Country Builders Construction, CM Rock, Bayaire Industries, Hinchman Racewear, Schoenfeld Headers, BMRS, Crow Safety, Butlerbuilt, KSE, Aurora Rod Ends, Chris Spaulding – Attorney at Law, Bell and Jocko’s for all their help!
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