Ryan Blaney Leaves Motor Mile with a 17th-Place Finish
Mid-Race Wreck Hurts Chances for Better Run
Ryan Blaney entered Saturday’s PASS South Super Late Model Series event at Motor Mile Speedway in Virginia looking for a victory and hopes of extending his reign at the top of the PASS standings. For the first half of Saturday’s race, Blaney seemed to be on track to accomplish both goals, but mid-race contact damaged the #10 machine and Blaney could do no better than 17th on the final rundown.
Part of the problem for Blaney and team began in qualifying, when they turned in a lap that left them in the middle of the pack. When the green flag dropped, Blaney made quick work through the field but, as the old racing adage goes, ‘trouble always seems to find you near the back of the pack.’ This time, trouble found Blaney in a mid-race battle with another competitor that quickly got hot and heavy.
“We got together a little bit off of four,” Blaney said of his battle with Jeff Choquette. “Then he let me go in one and two, I guess just to punt me going into three. Then we made a lot more contact off of four and that broke our right-rear trailing arm. We had to come in and it took too long to change and I think we went eight laps down.
May 31, 2011
“It would’ve been a great night for us. We were coming up through there nice at the beginning and just trying to set ourselves up for the end. I was just trying to stay up in the top-five all night. We were still coming at the end even with the rear-end all messed up.”
With the new suspension piece, Blaney’s car was fast again, but the hole was simply too much for the team to overcome. Blaney finished 17th, eight laps off the pace. Blaney now finds himself second in the points battle, just 16 back from series veteran Jay Fogleman and the top spot.
Ryan Blaney will be back in action this Saturday night in the PASS South event at Orange County Speedway, where he will try to become the first PASS driver to win twice in 2011.
“We’ve always been good at Orange County. We tested there last week and I really liked the car. I’m looking forward to going there.”
Ryan Blaney managed to finish after a rough day at Motor Mile. (51 Photo)
