This message was edited on
September 06, 2010 at
02:49:46 PM by HeavyMetalRacing
September 3, 2010
Petaluma Speedway
Geoff Ensign was back at home at the controls of his own
Heavy Metal Racing, Able Maintenance, Nor Cal Transmission, VSR #5 this weekend
as the wallet finally allowed the parts to be purchased which were damaged from
the crash at Calistoga that took his run to the Rookie of the Year at Petaluma
Speedway for the 2010 season out of the equation. To Ensign’s credit, he has always said it
didn’t really matter, since he just wants to race. In the downtime, he won two main events while
driving a wingless sprint car at two different tracks and nearly won a third
when he ran second in a close photo finish.
This night was the annual “Run What Ya Brung 360 Wingless Shootout” at Petaluma Speedway. Ensign, feeling right at home without the
wing, put his car into the show with a 6th place qualifying effort
out of the 24 who qualified, his worst qualifying effort of the weekend as it
would turn out. The effort put him
inside of the third row in his heat race, in which Ensign then drove up to a 2nd
place finish at the checkers. The all
important inversion draw was a zero, which meant Ensign would start the main event
inside of the second row.
At the green, the pole car broke a rear end and Ensign was
forced to hit the brakes and by the time he sorted himself out, the third
starting position had turned into a fifth place position by the exit of turn
two:
“We got caught up behind the pole car when he didn’t take
off. We had to hit the brakes and ended
up fifth.” Ensign would say later.
Ensign then settled down and started passing cars and
chasing after the leader.Ensign was up
to third when eventual winner Andy Forsberg, who had taken the Run What Ya
Brung tag literally and showed up with side panels both on the car and a side
panel from a wing above the car making it look more UFO than sprint car flashed by him, relegating him to fourth. Ensign then followed Forsberg through the
field and ended up second at the checkers after passing two more cars. Forsberg, with the aerodynamic advantage, won
the race easily, and Ensign would be considered the top finishing “traditional”
wingless car, or the one without the extra help of the side panels for
handling. After the race, Ensign was
disappointed to finish second, but admitted he was second fastest of the night.“That car was fast. I’d rather be getting the $2500 to win, but I’ll
take it.” Ensign was the only other car to break the 14 second lap time mark in the main event besides Forsberg.
With that, the Heavy Metal Racing team packed up and headed
for the Louie Vermeil Classic at the Calistoga Half Mile to face the best
wingless 410 drivers in the state, the USAC Sprint Cars….in a 360.
Geoff Ensign can be reached on his Facebook page (search Geoff Ensign) or at [email protected]
Ron Lingron - Heavy Metal Racing

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