Amati Racing Winter Dirt Games Wrap Up
The 2014 AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car season is underway after this past weekend’s Winter Dirt Games at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala Florida. The Amati Racing crew was on hand to start their first full season with the National Sprint cars with driver Shane (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)rum in the seat. Wednesday night began the festivities with the teams taking part in practice sessions throughout the night to work on their cars and acclimate themselves to their 2014 rides. (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)rum in the Marion Underground Construction, Shane Wade Enterprises, J&J Auto Racing, Dynotech Racing Engines, Infinity Shocks, Weld Racing, Goodridge number 66 would progress up the speed charts throughout the night ending the night in the top 10 speed wise heading into Thursday night’s opener.
Thursday night would not go as smooth as Wednesdays practice, (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)rum would qualify a disappointing 20th fast. A tumultuous heat race would follow ending up in the 5th finishing position just missing the transfer to the A main. He would start fifth in the B main hoping to find his way into the night’s main event. “It was just kind of hard to figure out what the car was going do, we really struggled to find something that was comfortable to start the night Thursday. The guys were really busting their humps trying to make this J&J chassis work for me, it was pretty frustrating,” (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)rum would say. In the B Main Shane would put his best foot forward and find a way into the big show transferring with a 5th place finish in a race that transferred 6. He would push off from the 20th starting position for the 30 lap A Main. “We were definitely relieved to put it in the show Thursday night, as much as we struggled we really got kind of lucky,” car owner Shane Wade would say later, “we know Shane can wheel the thing, and we know we have the crew and equipment to get the job done, just every once in a while you have a night like this. Where no matter what you do, it just does not seem to make enough progress. ” Come feature time, the Amati Racing 66 did exactly what it needed to do, and finished all the laps to get (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)rum some learning time in his first USAC National Sprint Car feature and give the guys a good baseline to go off of.
After Friday night’s racing action was cancelled due to rain and severe weather in the Ocala area, the action would pick back up Saturday night. The night would be one that the Amati Racing crew can build on most assuredly. Shane (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)rum would go out and impress many in qualifying ripping off a 14.410 second lap to end up 5th fastest of all in just his second National Sprint Car event. Though his heat finish would not be enough to lock into the A main, he would go on to finish 2nd in the B main, to transfer to the 8th starting position come feature time. “Qualifying that well really put us in a position that we could have some wiggle room the rest of the night, the heat didn’t go exactly as planned, but we managed to put it in the A (Main) and have a pretty good starting spot, so I wasn’t all that worried,” (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)rum would spout at the end of the night. As the main began, Shane would look strong in the red Marion Underground Construction, Shane Wade Enterprises, J&J Auto Racing, Dynotech Racing Engines, Infinity Shocks, Weld Racing, Goodridge, Amati Racing number 66. He moved quickly into the top 5 and settled in to click off some laps running as high as 4th before an incident with Dave Darland in the Philips Racing number 71P would send Shane to the rear of the field. Shane would work his way back to a 14th finishing position at nights end.
“The feature was kind of frustrating, we were super-fast, and Shane did an incredible job working his way up there early, we got into the top 5 and then Dave got into us, and Shane did a phenomenal job just to keep the car in one piece, let alone fight back up through the field as far as he did. Overall we did not get the results we were hoping for, but I would not call it a failure of a race weekend. Shane learned a lot, got better and faster every time he hit the race track, and that is all we can hope for. We’re giving 150 percent here for Marion Underground Construction, Shane Wade Enterprises, J&J Auto Racing, Dynotech Racing Engines, Infinity Shocks, Weld Racing, and Goodridge, we kind of showed a flash of our potential tonight with the run we had going. Nothing but good things are coming for this race team,” owner Shane Wade would say. “The gel process has definitely begun, some really cool stuff is on the way for this race team, we will be ready to go get them at Lawrenceburg in April to start the Midwest season. I learned a lot, and these guys worked their tails off all weekend to give me a race car I could be comfortable in” said (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)rum.
For information about sponsorship or any interviews, you can contact the team via their Facebook fan page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shane...54160277952709, or via twitter @shanewade or @shane(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)rum14.