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Heat #1 Finish: 1st
Heat #2 Finish: 2nd
Feature Start: 2nd
Feature Finish: 3rd
Number Of Karts: 3
Practice recap:
Again the combination of all classes led to some to question the move. "I understand why, but I would hate to see a situation when racing someone not in your class would hurt me out there," said Michael Metzger. Practice was uneventfull for the MMR team, and a good tune up for the heats.
Heat recap:
Starting third in the heavy class, which in reality was seventh overall, Michael made a few moves at the start. "I'm not sure, it looked like everyone else didn't go, so I just went to the outside and hoped it stuck and it did. Michale then settled behind heavy points leader Eric Zwirlein for the remained of the race. But with one lap to go, Michael began formulating a plan to pass. Running too hot into turn one, Michael lost some ground, but made it up going through turns two and three. Then a good run going into turn four allowed Michael to get along side Eric for turn five. "I've learn somethings about turn five, and today's lesson was keep it on the bottom, who cares if they hit you in the back, gotta protect," said Michael after the race. Michael drove it down, made it stick and collected his fifth heat victory for the year. "That beats what we did in 2004, but they still don't add anything to the points, so it's a bittersweet moment to learn that," said Michael. "He did it again on the last lap, he's getting good at that," quipped a disapointed Eric after the race.
For the second heat Michael was put first in the heavys and fifth overall. Another jam up on the first turn allowed Michael to get a comfortable lead on Eric, but Eric slowly reeled Michael in, made the pass and cruised the victory. "He got out ahead of me, I tried too hard and was loosing time, so I just tried to keep second atleast out there," said Michael after the race.
Feature recap:
A vote was done to how many laps the feature should be run, with most drivers siding with the normal 15 laps. A good choice since some drivers were feeling warn out from all this racing action that came in almost rapid fire without many classes to break up the races. Eric and Michael were able to clear the two medium division drivers and settle in for what seemed to be another classic duel. Following nose to tail for many laps, Michael finally made the move around Eric and got him, but this might have been a mistake. "I saw the flagman when I was going through the backstrech fiddling with the flags, not paying attention to how many we ran I assumed he was going to signal two to go, so I made the move. In retrospect I should have waited until seeing the signal for two to go before acting," explained Michael. Now in front of the pack, Michael tried to hold on, but passing Eric allowed a medium driver to catch up to them and he then passed Michael. Battling with the medium driver opened the door for Joe Milazzo to then pass Michael. "It happened, I can't say I could have held off Joe the entire time, but I lost a lot of time messing with that medium driver," said Michael after the race. From there Michael tried unsuccessfully to hold onto atleast second, as Eric nipped Michael at the line when the checkered fell. "Unbelievable, to go from first to third in about five laps. If I could win tonight, I don't think I'll win at all," a dejected Michael said. "Wow! I don't know how I did it, but it feels so good win!" said an excited Joe after the race. "All streaks have to end, sucks that it did but we'll be back next week," said Eric who had won the first seven races in a row.