After last week's frustrating incident, there was a lot of work to do to get the #20 back in racing form. The fiberglass looked ok, but the left front suspension needed a lot of work. Jeff Littlefield, the driver of the #88 car, graciously offered to help set up the car and spent a lot of time showing Team SAR the ropes of getting a car properly set up from scratch.
When Team SAR unloaded the #20, we really didn't know what to expect. We changed so many things from the previous baseline setup that it was any body's guess how it would run. We had a plan for changes to make wether it was loose or tight, and we were ready make changes quickly.
The car was surprisingly good, from the start. It was a little bit tight on the first practice, so we dropped the right front and left rear a little, which freed it up a bit. It wasn't any faster after that adjustment, but it stuck where ever Mark drove it, so that's the way we kept it for the feature.
It was a double feature with no heat races, so the cars were lined up by points. The first was was pretty clean. Bumping was mild, racing was tight, the competition was close, and despite a couple driving errors, Mark held on for a solid 11th place finish.
For the second feature, Mark did a great job holding off several challenges early on, and closed in on the rear bumper of the #33 car with about 12 laps to go. Mark raced him clean, and although the #20 was a tick faster, Mark waited for the right moment to make his move. With 2 laps to go, the #33 slid up coming off turn 4, and Mark put the nose of the #20 underneath. The #33 saw the #20 had the position going into turn 1, and Mark drove by to finish 9th.
At post race inspection, the race director was suspecting something wasn't right in one of the top five cars, so all of them were required the go through inspection. The #32 didn't pass because one of the engine seals were missing, so he was disqualified from both races, giving Team SAR 10th and 8th place finishes in the first and second features, respectively.
Considering the events the previous week, Team SAR was pretty excited to come back and have their best finishes of the season. A lot thanks goes to Jeff and Kathy from the #88 team. With their help we turned lemons into lemonade!