Saturday at Hunterstown the weather was almost perfect, just a little on the cool side, but after this winter no one was complaining. During Warm-ups the guys must have impressed someone. A local Reporter from Gettysburg came around and was taking a ton of pictures. He seemed very interested in the UAS. If anyone sees one of His articles, I would really like to read it.
1st Heat lineup
#6 Tom Voeltz (Showed a lot of improvement towards the end of last year)
#18 Peter Zellers ( Local racer with a little Yammie that had a lot of heart)
#94 Johnny Eckard (Home track Yamaha racer who got a ride with a Sudam, can He handle it??)
#45 Andy Pritt (Nice Guy but has a bad luck streak that just wouldn't stop last year)
#63 Ben Taft (From New York, no need to say any more)
#51A Steve Windle Jr. ( been working on a new engine for almost a year, ran good on the bench)
#69 Tucker Dietz (running a Modified Animal, I think, looked good in warm-ups)
#2 George Knockey (another local having some issues with his carbs, looked good in warm-ups)
#7 Josh Hughes (very competitive driver but had some issues and scratched before warm-ups)
First start of the season and it was a good one. Tommy took off and was running a good clean line. Tucker was moving his kart up a position on every lap. Pete was running up there with the big engines but slipped and spun. Yellow came out just in time to help save Tom from getting passed by Johnny. Restart has Ben and Johnny putting a lot of pressure on Tom. Not quite sure how it happened but Johnny went high and was looking good down the front stretch until he came to turn one and there is at least 2 or 3 karts under him. He never backed off and it looked like it was gonna hold, but it didn't and he hit hard, very hard. During the yellow Tommy developed clutch trouble and pulled off after Johnny. Green drops and Ben leads the pack with Tucker all over the rear of Steve's kart, with Andy right there with them and the little Yammie close behind. Next yellow is because Andy got lose and hit the wall exiting turn 4. Few laps later, Ben brings out the Checkered. Finished Order was 63,51,69,18,45,6,94 and 2 DNS, Ask Mr. Ben about that DNS!
HEAT #2 INVERTED START
Tucker takes the pack to the green with Ben all over him and Johnny on him. Steve falls back to fourth as the first 3 karts are fighting for 1st and pull far away from everyone else. George and Andy drop out leaving Tom and Pete fighting not to be last. I think Ben was glad that Tucker was back there working on Johnny. He was able to sneak away from them the last to laps and took another Checkered. Finished Order was 63,94,69,51,6,18,2,45
Feature Line up - 63,51,69,94,18,6,45,2
Ben took off with the green and never looked back. Johnny, Tucker, and Andy were right on him but keeping each other busy. Steve went way wrong on a carb adjustment and went straight to the rear. The little Yammie was running his butt off trying to keep up with the big motors and the pressure got to be a little too much. Pete looped it two times fairly fast. He knew that if He brings out the yellow one more time He will be Black Flagged. It slowed him down a little. Andy broke again and pulled off, the streak continues. Ben's neck lasted just long enough to hold off Johnny who had his nose way in there more than once. I know Ben was happy to see that Checkered! Johnny got 2nd with the fastest lap of 9.845. Tucker brought that little Animal in for 3rd and Tommy got a 4th. Stevie, Pete, Andy, and George brought up the back of the pack. This group of racers ran a very clean and fast set of races and except for Ben, I hope to see them all again!lol There is a picture of Ben in the Winner Circle on the UAS facebook page. Good Job Ben and everyone else.
