Getting one final weekend of racing in to close out the 2016 season, Cory Eliason and the Van Dyke Motorsports team made the trip to Yuma, AZ to take on the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.
“It wasn’t the kind of weekend we wanted to end the season on, but we had a good car and it has us looking forward to 2017,” Eliason said.
With things getting started on Friday night, Eliason would line the Van Dyke Motorsports machine up in the fourth row of his heat race. Able to pick up valuable passing points, the Kingsburg, CA driver would work his way up to finish in the fourth spot.
Lining up on the front row of his qualifier, Eliason did all he could do as he picked up the win and moved into the 25-lap feature event where he would line up in the fifth spot.
Going wheel-to-wheel with some of the best drivers in the country, Eliason would battle inside the Top-10 during the duration of the feature event. Running just outside the Top-Five, Eliason’s header would break and he would lose some power in the race’s closing laps.
Doing what he could not to lose too much track position, Eliason would still manage to finish in the Top-10 as he slipped back to the 10th spot.
Lining up on the pole of his Saturday night heat race, Eliason would finish in the second spot before a third place finish in his qualifier. Sitting 12th in points after heats and qualifiers, Eliason would transfer directly into the feature event though would grid the field from the 16th starting position.
When the green flag flew on the feature event, Eliason was able to get off to a nice start on a very racy Cocopah Speedway. Eliason’s good start would soon go south as something in his suspension would fail and his machine would be tough to maneuver.
Losing those initial spots he gained, Eliason would make the best of his tough situation as he took the checkered flag with a 16th place finish.
“Our results really don’t tell the entire story of our weekend,” Eliason said. “We had a really good racecar, but things just did not go our way. 2016 was an amazing year for my personally and I really owe it to Harley Van Dyke for taking a chance on me when I got overlooked so many times. It was a fun season, and I am already looking forward to seeing what 2017 has in store.”
The Van Dyke Motorsports team would like to thank Lucas Oil, Hansen Machine, NAAKE Suspension, Maxim Chassis, and Moyle Racing Engines for their support during the year.