Austin Kirkpatrick

Video

ULMSC Qualifying Run

Desoto Speedway - August 9, 2008



     Austin and the crew came to Desoto Super Speedway with high hopes. During the first practice, Austin ran some decent lap times but his car was tight in the center of the corner. After the crew made some adjustments, Austin went out for the second practice. He soon realized that something was wrong, and pulled in. The crew noticed the chassis was "bottoming out," causing the car to have a severe push. More adjustments were made to the car in order to fix these problems. In practice number three, the bottoming out issues were fixed, but the car was still lacking front grip. For qualifying, Austin qualified .5 seconds off of the pole. He still complained that the car was too tight. The crew began to wonder if there was something wrong with the car. They thought they found the problem when they checked the "brake bias" which was stopping the front tires a lot harder than the rear tires, which would make it push. During the race, it would become apparent that the brake bias was over-adjusted which caused the rear brakes to rub. By lap 30 the rear brakes had completely burned out, and the crew told Austin to go ahead and make the hard left turn into the garage. There was no reason to stay out there and risk getting involved in a crash while limping the car around the track. Hopefully, Austin and the crew will work the bugs out of the new front end and fix the brakes, so that they can challenge for the win at the next race.



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Schedule

  • 6/4Bubba Raceway Park
  • 6/18Bubba Raceway Park
  • 6/24Oglethorpe Speedway
  • 6/25Volusia Speedway Park
  • 7/2Albany Speedway
  • 7/3Dixie Land Speedway
  • 7/16Bubba Raceway Park
  • 7/23Waycross Speedway
  • 7/30Bubba Raceway Park
Schedule

Results

  • 4/2 - North Florida Speedway
    Finished: 18th

  • 4/8 - Bubba Raceway Park
    Finished: 4th

  • 4/9 - Dixie Land Speedway
    Finished: 2nd

  • 4/16 - Waycross Speedway
    Finished: 6th

  • 4/29 - Oglethorpe Speedway
    Finished: 4th

  • 4/30 - Screven Speedway
    Finished: DNF

  • 5/13 - Bubba Raceway Park
    Finished: 7th