The store will not work correctly when cookies are disabled.
We use cookies to make your experience better.To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. Learn more.
With his first feature win of the year, Morseman takes over the points lead for the first time this season.
Russ Morseman is working on his dream one step and one race at a time and things are coming together just fine for the up-and-comer from Addison, New York. His targets include winning track championships at both Woodhull Raceway and Blackrock Speedway in the same year, and then to pursue a professional racing career in NASCAR or other series. With his first feature victory of 2010 Morseman took one more step towards the fruition of that dream.
Morseman is the defending Woodhull Raceway Street Stock Track Champion and he’s looking strong to repeat.
He had two races recently at Woodhull Raceway in Woodhull, New York, one on Saturday and one on Monday. Saturday he won his heat, giving him six heat wins total for the season. Morseman started twelfth in the feature and nabbed the lead on lap five. Then drove away and won by over a straightaway.
In Monday's race he started last in the heat and drove up through the field finishing third. Then in the feature he started thirteenth, and without a single caution, he drove up through and finished fourth. "We just ran out of time," remarked Morseman. "It was a good weekend though."
"Yes, it was a very busy weekend," added Morseman. "The car was a rocket, but I feel that I drove the best I have ever driven - focused and determined. First I focused on getting to the front, and then after I got into the lead, I just focused on hitting my marks lap after lap. Next thing I knew I was a straightaway ahead."
Morseman is the 2009 Woodhull Raceway Street Stock Track Champion and with this recent stellar performance he has taken over the points lead for the first time this season. Clearly he's looking strong to defend his title. Morseman attributes his success this year to the experience he gained last year and to a car he says is tuned to its maximum potential week-in-and-week-out.
"Plus, my father and I never stop trying to make the car go faster, even if we dominate one week," says Morseman. The track conditions change each week and the team that adjusts best to them will win."
According to Morseman, it also helps to have support from sponsors like K&N. "K&N is great, they are very friendly and when you call them they help you out the best they can. I hope that K&N can stay with me throughout my career, and be with me as I step into bigger and better things. I use just about every product they make; oil filters, air filters, air filter flow control system and valve cover breathers. I trust them 100 percent. They perform flawless every week."
After this season Morseman says he will be moving to dirt modified - it's the highest class at Woodhull Raceway and in his general area.
"I plan to run that for a couple of years then my goal is to get on some asphalt. I want to run in the K&N Pro Series East too. We will continue to take it one step at a time. So far everything is working according to plan."
Brett Moffitt wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at Martinsville Speedway
NASCAR K&N Pro Series rookie Brett Moffitt won his first race of the year and Ryan Truex took over the lead in the East Series standings at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at Martinsville Speedway
Moffitt, a 17-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing development driver, won the rain-shortened UNOH Performance 200, taking the lead from Truex on lap 161 and staying out front for the final 14 laps of the race.
"The guys have been working really hard all season," Moffitt said after the race. "The last three races, we've been running either first or second, and have been taken out by the car behind us. That made this win even more sweet -- knowing that all our hard work paid off."
Moffitt led a race-high 36 laps in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Phoenix International Raceway in April, but finished 11th. He led for 54 laps at the NASCAR K&N Pro Series race at Iowa Speedway, but ended up 17th after getting collected in a four-car crash.
He stayed out of trouble at Martinsville and won his first race of the season. It was the third East Series win of his career.
Truex, the reigning East Series champion, finished second and took over the lead in the East Series standings. He is eight points ahead of Darrell Wallace Jr. It was the third top-five finish in four races for Truex.
"It was a great points day," said Truex, who has yet to win an East Series race this year, "but I'd rather have the win."
He had to work his way through the field after he was relegated to the back of the pack to start the race. He missed driver introductions and had to start the race in the rear.
"That was my fault," said Truex of the penalty that dropped him back from his fourth-place qualifying spot to the rear of the field. "We had our work cut out for us. We were fast. Man, I followed Darrell up through there. Pretty much, he'd move them out of the way or get under them and I'd follow him through there. I just kept the fenders on it.
Wallace finished third after leading for 15 laps midway through the race. It was his third top-five finish of the season.
"It was a fun race," said Wallace, who earned the Sunoco Rookie of the Race Award. "You just had to use a lot of patience. I had to work my way up through there."
Truex led a good chunk of the race, from laps 137 to 160, but Moffitt got by him on lap 161.
"I knew I was going to have to get around him," Moffitt said. "I was just hoping he'd spin his tires or I'd be able to get a little bit of an advantage. Being able to get ahead of him there was what helped us win the race."
Rookie Ryan Gifford won the pole and led the first 99 laps of the race. He battled with a faulty battery and pulled off the pace to finish 12th.
Max Gresham entered the race as the leader in the East Series standings and winner of the previous two East Series races. He had tire troubles and finished 17th at Martinsville. He dropped from first to fourth in the East Series standings.
The next NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race is at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 25.
Eric Holmes wins Toyota/NAPA Auto Parts Bonus Challenge 150 at Douglas County Speedway
Eric Holmes is slowly climbing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West standings. After winning the Toyota/NAPA Auto Parts Bonus Challenge 150 at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Ore., on Saturday night, Holmes nearly cut the lead of David Mayhew in half.
Eric Holmes is Second in NASCAR K&N Pro Series West points
Holmes and Mayhew battled throughout the race at Roseburg. Mayhew won the pole and led the first 52 laps of the race. Holmes squeezed past Mayhew on lap 53 and led the rest of the way.
The race ended with a 15-lap shootout that bunched up the field after a red flag. Mike Self's car, which was running in fourth place at the time, blew its engine and dumped oil around the track during a yellow caution period. The race was stopped as track safety crews cleaned up the oil. When the race resumed, Holmes was in the lead, but Mayhew was right next to him. Holmes nudged out in front and slowly pulled away in the closing laps of the race.
"That was tough," Holmes said. "There was dry sweep all around the track. The track was already slick. Going into turn 3, I didn't know what to expect. David and I got together a little bit. I just had to patient and hold my line, run my line, run my line and not make a mistake. That's all I did the last 15 laps: Be patient and not make a mistake."
The real action took place behind Mayhew and Holmes. Blake Koch weaved his way past Paulie Harraka for third place after the final restart.
"We knew we had one last chance to gain a position," said Koch, who posted his career-best finish in the West Series. "We qualified fourth and we lined up fourth with about 15 to go and Paulie's a tough racer. I knew I had to take advantage of any little thing I could. I was following the 17 of David Mayhew and he got a good restart. I sucked up to his bumper and we got him there on the restart. He ran me clean. I'm very happy that he did that and I appreciate it."
Moses Smith managed a late surge and passed Harraka on the final lap to take away fourth place.
Harraka crossed the finish line in fifth. He was followed by Greg Pursley, rookies Todd Souza, Troy Ermish and Justin Funkhouser. Jonathon Gomez rounded out the top 10.
For Holmes, it was his third West Series win in a row at Douglas County Speedway. It was also his second win of the season. He won the race at Phoenix International Raceway in April.
"It's a track that fits my driving style," Holmes said about the Douglas County Speedway .375-mile oval. "You have to be patient and aggressive at the same time. Use your head the whole race and it just fits into my driving style. Definitely tonight was the toughest one. Mayhew gave me a run for my money and the crew did a great job preparing the car. We had a great car the whole race."
Bill McAnally Racing has won seven of the past nine West Series races at Douglas County Speedway, including the most recent on Saturday night.
"The boss, Bill McAnally, this is the first race he ever promoted," Holmes said. "The first time I ever drove for him was in this race. I've always had incentive to come out and win this race. We have NAPA and Toyota and all our sponsors support this race. We supposed to win it. There's a little added pressure to come here and win."
Mayhew has four top-five finishes in four West Series race this year. He leads the West Series standings by 42 points over Holmes, a two-time West Series champion.
"The points lead is important to us," Mayhew said. "It's real early in the season. These short tracks, we know Eric's going to be tough. We feel like we have a little bit better program on the road course stuff. All the others are kind of a toss up. We really just need to put our heads down and if we can't win the thing, finishing second's the next best thing. As long as we can keep doing that and reel off some wins on a couple road course races, we'll see what happens."
Pursley is third in the West Series standings, 103 points out of first.
Gomez is fourth in the West Series standings followed by rookie Josh Combs in fifth.
The next West Series race is at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., on June 19.
Bud Kaeding has already won six Sprint Car races in 2010. He won two in Australia, three in California and one in New Mexico. While the wins have been nice, Kaeding has yet to win a race in the series that matters most to him.
Bud Kaeding has three USAC K&N Silver Crown Series podium finishes.
Kaeding wants to win as many USAC K&N Silver Crown Series races as he can this year. So far, he's 0-for-3. But he leads the USAC K&N Silver Crown Series standings after three races.
"We won three championships with the car already," said Keading, a 30-year-old driver from Campbell, Calif. "Our goal this year, obviously, is we want to win another championship. But we want to win more races. Winning one or two races a year isn't what we want to do. This is only an 11-race series; it's a tough series. It's tough to win multiple races."
Keading won the Silver Crown championship in 2006, 2007 and 2009. He started the 2010 Silver Crown season with a runner-up finish at USA Raceway in Tucson, Ariz. He qualified eighth and moved his way up to the lead, but he lost it on the last lap of the race and finished second.
He followed the Tucson race with a third-place finish at Iowa Speedway on May 22.
"We started 10th in Iowa and got to second real early in the race," Kaeding said. "We had a restart on lap 12, running second. On the restart, our engine didn't take off. We fell back to like 11th. Throughout the race, just kind of picked cars off. I think I used up my car too early, used my tires up way too early. The last few laps of the race we were running second. We got a yellow with like eight laps to go. On the restart, we just really didn't have enough left for the leader. On the restart, we lost second place and we ended up third there."
At the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Kaeding finished second to Shane Hmiel on May 28. It was his third podium finish in a row and gave him an 18-point cushion over Jerry Coons Jr. in the Silver Crown standings. The next Silver Crown race is July 8 at Illiana Motor Speedway in Indiana.
Kaeding traveled to Australia in January to race at Brisbane International Speedway. He won two races there and said he had little competition in the second win.
"We killed them that race," Kaeding said. "We won by nine seconds. It was a pretty exciting race for us. We started fourth and got the lead on like lap eight. From there on, we checked out. It was one of the best cars that I've had in a long time."
When he returned to the United States, he won a race in Las Cruces, N.M., and followed with a win in Tulare, Calif., at Thunderbowl Raceway. He agreed to race in New Mexico as a favor for a friend.
"A buddy of mine's got a Sprint car out there," Kaeding said. "He hadn't raced it in a couple of years and wanted me to come out and shake it down for him. We got it going pretty good and picked up a win out there."
"In that race, we started sixth and we had a yellow flag with four or five laps to go. On the restart we just kind of squeaked by the guys leading the race. They have double file restarts. That put us right in the second row. Our car was real good in clean air. Once we got out in the lead, we kind of checked out in that race again."
Kaeding won back-to-back races at his home track, Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., in April. In his most recent win, Kaeding said he was able to pass the leader through lapped traffic late in the race. He took over the lead with about 10 laps to go and pulled away from the leaders. Kaeding said it was a case of experience over youth.
"If we're not winning the races, we're right there to win them," Kaeding said. "That's what it takes to become a consistent winner is learning how be up there. Once you start winning a race or two, that's when they start clicking off. There's a lot of momentum going with our team right now. Running up front it keeps everyone excited and enthused. That's what we need."
Bud Kaeding Racing and K&N have been working together for about six years, Kaeding said.
"It's been really good," Kaeding said. "The people are really easy to work with there. There's never really much of a hassle. Our engine builders love their stuff. The product's proven. We're a team that likes to run in the front and likes to win. That's what K&N expects of us."
"Ever since the K&N Spring Fling 20's race that we put on I have really gotten the itch to race," remarked Peter Biondo the Clarksburg, New Jersey racer.
Peter Biondo Dragster
The bread-butter part of Biondo racing season is still approaching and he's jonesing a tad, so to tune himself up some, and have little fun in the process, he headed up to Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Maryland, for a little bracket racing. When the smoke settled and the last two dragster parachutes deployed, Biondo not only hoisted the trophy, but he also finally held the answer to his long running K&N air filter theory.
"I have been telling a few friends of mine to run the K&N filter for a while now, because it's not only better for you motor, but it also gives your carb a cleaner air signal, which equates to more consistent and quicker elapsed times. I finally proved it to be right," explained Biondo.
"My K&N filters equipped dragster was deadly consistent all day long. To fill my own curiosity I made the first run without the air filter on and ran a 7.39. On the second run I put my K&N air filter on and the car ran a 7.36. It was nice to prove my theory."
We wondered if that sort of relaxed, experimental approach to entering the race at Cecil County Dragway had anything to do with is victory?
"That's a good question, and yes I do. Anytime you go to a race and have the nothing to lose attitude, you always drive better and more aggressive. The combination of those two things gives you a great chance of doing well. I held a driving school two months ago, and I told the students that if they can adopt that attitude all the time, even when the big money is on the table, they will win many more rounds."
"My racing season is going to really start to heat up," said Biondo. "My schedule is filled up with NHRA National Events and Big Money Bracket Races. My goals are to drive every round with that 'I have nothing to lose' attitude, and if I do, I am sure it will lead to a few victories."
For the next three consecutive weeks Biondo will be racing in national events in Chicago, Englishtown, New Jersey and Norwalk, Ohio.
