Photo taken by: Steves Racing Photos
Bishop Concludes Sophomore Season With Civil War, 4TH
in Points
After a
disappointing double header weekend that saw the California Sprint Car Civil
War Series compete at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway on Friday and Placerville
Speedway on Saturday, Myles Bishop and the Velocity Motorsports team settle for
Fourth in points and look forward to the Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals in Chico.
Friday
Night 9/25/ 09, The orange and black number 7, CV Fabricators, Charlie Fischer
powered Maxim rolled onto the nicely prepared surface of Ocean speedway for
qualifying. With track conditions still improving due to the early pill draw
number Myles pulled earlier in the day the team knew going out that an
excellent lap would need to be driven for the Velocity Motorsports, Mac Lac
paints sponsored car to start out a good night. Myles would knock off a time of
11.968 placing him 16th in the rundown just 3 tenths off of Mike
Henrys 11.652 fast time.
Lining
up on the inside of row two, in the fourth heat race, behind veteran driver
Jason Statler, Myles only needed to finish where he started to secure a
starting spot into the nights A main event. As the sun went down and the temperature
started to drop the green flag flew to start the 4th and final heat
race of the night. Wasting no time, Myles would shoot off the bottom of turn
four following the 00 of Statler to the front. “Once we got out of turn two and
all I had was Jason in front of me, I knew I could settle into a groove and
click off ten solid laps,” Bishop, commented after crossing the stripe in
second, “the great thing though, was I got to follow Jason’s line and learn a
few things”
After
qualifying 16th, and finishing second in his heat race, Myles
Advanced as the ninth fastest transfer car. But, with the un-favored zero pill
being drawn for the invert, it would set Myles to line up 13th on
the starting grid. And, after a long troublesome race that saw Bishop Struggle
to find a groove the team would load up with a 16thplace finish and head to Placerville.
Saturday
9/26/09, after an early morning of washing and prepping the car for the nights
race, which also happened to be the final round for the Touring California
Sprint Car Civil War Series. Myles and the Velocity Motorsports team comprised
of Crew Chief Vinny Latner, Owner Steve Bishop, Tire Man Kurt Maddox, and Truck
Driver Jerry, had high hopes for a good finish. As the Red Sticky Placerville
clay continued to set up, Bishop would pea pick number 6, sending him onto the
speedway first for qualifying. After the 29 cars on hand took their two
respective laps Myles would fall in tenth with a time of 10.809, four tenths
behind Mason Moore’s quick time of 10.498.
Starting
fourth in the second heat race of the night Myles would Line up outside the 20
car of Nicole Miller, while front row starters Camron Mendes, and Brett Rollag brought
the field down to the green flag. Stomping the throttle and railing the middle
Bishop would pass Miller on the outside in the first corner for third, where he
would finish the race. But to the teams dismay that would be the last of the
good fortune for the night.
With
the zero inversion pill being drawn again Myles would take his mount and line up
9th for the main event. After a couple cautions for the x1 of Mason
Moore and the 20j of James Sweeney, the race would finally get underway with
Kyle Hirst taking the lead. Just as Bishop seemed to find a line around the
Placerville high banked oval, disaster struck on the third circuit racing Kenny
Allan for Position. Contact with the 7k of Allan ensued down the front stretch,
which inherently turned the Velocity Motorsports mount hard left and into a
slow-mo barrel roll. Much to the crowds pleasure Myles emerged from the newly
revamped wingless car un-scathed, but would not return to finish the race.
Myles stated, “I’m pretty frustrated with how this weekend has turned out, I’m
not too sure what happened in the main tonight but were just going to move past
it and look forward to Fall Nationals in Chico next weekend.”
Myles Bishop and Velocity Motorsports would like to thank
our gracious sponsors for all there dedication and donations throughout the
season: CV Fabricators, Stud Welding Products, Mac Lac Paints, Escalon Body and
Frame, Charlie Fischer racing engines, Kaeding Performance, Yak Graphics, and
Maxim Chassis.
Myles would also like to especially thank Mom and Dad, Vinny,
Kurt and Jerry for all their hard work and help through the season without them
this car would have never seen the track let alone left the garage.
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