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A couple of months ago, Geoff Ensign was without a ride.
What a difference two months can make.
On Saturday night at Petaluma Speedway, Ensign found himself
in the enviable position of having two cars to drive in two different divisions.The 21 year old Sebastopol resident wheeled
both the Johnson Mechanical #32 owned by Dave Johnson in Wingless Sprint action
and his family owned Able Maintenance, Nor Cal Transmission, Van Lare Steering
Repair #5 in Winged 360 competition at the Petaluma 3/8ths.
As anyone can tell you, it’s hard enough to run one car all
night long, with adjustments to be made both on the car and on the track.These are two very different animals.The Wingless Sprint Car takes the finesse of
a surgeon with the car needing to be put in the right spot at the right time,
whereas the 360 takes the guts of a…well...sprint car driver to keep the hammer
down even when your mind is screaming for you to lift.Ensign has both of these qualities in
abundance however, and he met the challenge head on.
First up was 360 qualifying and Ensign blistered the track
to a second fast qualifying effort starting him 6th on the grid of
his heat race after the inversion.
Ensign then jumped out of his 360 and jumped into the
Wingless Sprint Car where he started fourth in his heat race and finished
there:“The track was greasy.Pretty much no one was going anywhere.” Ensign would say later.
360 Heat racing was up next, so out of the 32 and into the 5
“The Human Highlight Reel” went.Ensign
started 6th and finished4th
with the second fastest lap of the heat race behind runaway front row starter
and 2010 Petaluma 360 Champion Bradley Terrell.The inversion draw was a 4, meaning Ensign would start 3rd on
the grid for the A Main.
The fourth place finish in Wingless heat racing was not as
kind to Ensign as that finish mired the 32 way towards the back of the 18 car
field, 12th overall.
As main event racing started, Wingless Sprint Cars were up
first so again, Ensign switched cars and started the main event outside of row
6.Within 4 laps, he was 8th
and on the prowl for more when he got mired behind a slower car, yet ahead of
Ensign on the leaderboard.Ensign would
take multiple shots at his rival, but could never make the pass for position
and ended up 6th at the checkers.Ensign was almost apologetic afterwards: “the car was fast, we just waited too long.I had trouble with the car in front of me and
the laps ran out to make a run.”
Not to be deterred, Ensign then made yet another switch to
his winged 360 and started 3rd on the grid.At the green, Ensign went into turn 1 and
found his car was too tight for the conditions and bicycled up onto two, then
one wheel, almost turning the 5 over, but coming down on all fours and back on
the loud pedal he went, chasing the leaders.As the two leaders took each other out of competition, Ensign found
himself in 4th spot, battling a tight car, a two time Petaluma
Speedway champion now leading, and another problem…no power steering.It seems something happened to the power
steering setup as the car biked and the ensuing impact came, so here Ensign
was, in second and fighting a car that didn’t want to turn, even with power
steering.“Around lap 15, my power
steering went.We were still fast in 1
and 2, but Alissa had us covered in 3 and 4.We had nothing for her tonight.”Ensign had to settle for 2nd place in his 360, but the night has
to be considered a success overall for the 21 year old.In the end, Ensign turned about 75 laps,
changed in and out of two different cars 6 times on Saturday and came away with
a 6th place finish in Wingless competition and a 2nd place
in 360 action in two races.For a guy
without a ride two months ago, he’ll take it.
Ensign has his oars in the water looking for a ride for the Oval
Nationals at Perris Speedway later this year as he says he’s not ready to call
it a 2010 season just yet, so we’ll have to stay tuned to see where the Human
Highlight Reel will show up next.
Ron Lingron – Heavy Metal Racing
To contact Geoff Ensign, you can find him on his Facebook
page (search Geoff Ensign), or email him at [email protected].
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