Silver Dollar Fair Race Report

The evening started out on a high note with Mike Benson piloting the Benson Racing number 77 through qualifying posting a time good enough to be thirteenth quick out of a stout field of 48 360ci winged sprint cars. Time trials proved to be, after considering the entire evening’s results, the “easiest” thing the Benson Racing team did all night. Perseverance ended up being the theme of the evening when all was said and done.

With such a good qualifying time Benson faced an inside second row starting position in the first heat race. The first heat race had some pretty heavy hitters in it including previous night’s main event winner Willy Croft and fast qualifier of the evening Kyle Larson. Both Larson and Croft were on a mission to transfer out of the heat race which both were able to accomplish by establishing themselves solidly in the top three. With Benson holding down the fourth and final transfer position to the feature in the late stages of the race Kyle Hirst was able to slip by forcing the team to settle for a fifth place finish.

While having to compete in the Semi-Main event is viewed by many as a setback there are others who view it as an opportunity to get a closer read on what the track conditions are right before the Main event. The team actually had three heat races and the C-Main to gather knowledge about what direction the track conditions were going in. After the twelve lap semi main Benson had secured a third place finish which secured a transfer to the evening’s 30 lap finale.

With twelve laps of knowledge about the track conditions the Main Event field faced and enough time to make the relevant changes to the car the team lined up for 30 laps of battle outside the sixth row. The main event was a marathon with many cautions slowing the pace and one red flag period with eight laps left in the race. Some times race officials make the decision to have an “open” red flag period which allows the crews to make adjustments to the cars. In this case officials made the decision to keep the work area closed. After 30 laps of competition the setup of the car and “never give up” attitude of the entire team was good for an eighth place finish.

An additional positive on the evening was a five position improvement in the team’s position in the 2008 Civil War Championship point series standings. Benson racing entered the evening in fifteenth position but their perseverance paid off by allowing them to enter the top 10 in the ultra competitive series. With just four races in the books out of the scheduled fifteen the team hopes to continue to improve their place in the standings.

The 410 is Back!:
After receiving the parts back from the engine shop and putting everything back together the team is ready to compete again in the top California series for 410ci winged sprint cars which is the Golden State Challenge Series. The GSC is making a stop at Placerville Speedway this weekend May 31st which was the scene two weeks ago of the team’s best run so far of the 2008 season. Hopes are high to use this event as a positive start to a solid 410ci program to compete in upcoming events scheduled for the division this season.