This message was edited on
March 14, 2011 at
04:43:27 PM by HeavyMetalRacing
Sebastopol's Geoff Ensign had a mixed bag of results and really didn't know
how to feel after making his 2011 season debut at Chico's Silver Dollar
Speedway with the USAC Western Classic Sprint Car Series. Ultimately, he
turned the page and awaits next week's Civil War 360 Shootout and his second
debut of the year, this time under a wing, in Dave Vertullo's Starr Property
Management/North County Plastering #83v.
Ensign's night started slowly in Ted Finkenbinder's #3f when three spins by
other drivers limited his hot lap session to a little over two badly needed
laps to shake the rust off of a complete offseason. His first qualifying
lap was horrific under the clock, as Ensign would later say he drove like the
track was going to stay the same as hot laps, dusty and dry. However, the
Chico surface pumped some moisture to the top and was tacky upon Ensign hitting
the 1/4 mile and after qualifying, he sat 13th out of 27 qualifiers.
"I screwed it up. I got to staging a little earlier than I usually
do and didn't see the track change. It caught me off guard."
USAC lineups put Ensign in the second row of his heat race, and upon the
drop of the green flag, Ensign quickly went by the top two and into the lead,
which expanded to nearly a full turn after three laps. On lap 4, fate had
other ideas for the 21 year old when the throttle linkage disconnected, ending
Ensign's heat race. All of this added up to a 24th starting spot when
USAC officials decided to run all 27 cars in the pits in the A Main.
When the A started, Ensign got his elbows up, and he along with fellow
"way back there" starter Kyle Hirst, who would eventually wind up
second, started knifing through the field, picking off cars in tandem from the
back.
The Human Highlight Reel was on the charge.
With early yellows and a red mixed in, the duo found themselves in the top
ten within ten laps. "The car was fast. I could put it
anywhere." Ensign said later.
Fate again intervened when Ensign went into turn 3, jumped the cushion and
ended up losing precious spots, coming back onto the track not only not in the
top 10, but out of the top 15. "I went into three and the car inside
me...it was no one's fault. I got pinched a little and to avoid contact,
I moved up and lost it over the top." When Ensign rejoined the fray,
he felt his steering starting to loosen up, a victim of a slipped stop on the
front end. Soon, the steering was virtually non-existent and Ensign
settled for his second DNF of the night, pulling into the pits on lap
13.
The final results show Ensign finishing out of the top 15, but this is a
case where the results could and would have been much much better had fate smiled instead of frowned upon him. In other words, racing happens. "We had a top 5 car. That thing was
fast." Ensign said.
Ensign’s next race is scheduled for March 19th, the first race of
the Hoosier Tire 360 California Civil War Series at Placerville Speedway.
To contact Geoff Ensign, search Geoff Ensign or Geoff Ensign Motorsports on Facebook, or
contact him at [email protected].
Photo courtesy clevelanddigitalimaging.webs.com
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