SCR News 7/03/2004

With the handicap system at Whip City Speedway, the highest Sam could start in the feature was 12th due to his win June 26. Sure enough, Sam started 12th, but got off with a rough start after 8th place starter Branden Igo almost ended up in the wall right in front of him. Despite his slow start, Sam slowly picked off 3 cars over the course of the race, ending up 9th. Aaron Wall, John Agor, Chase Bennett, Mark Irving and Bryan Russo rounded out the top 5.

"I got stuck behind Igo at the beginning of the race with no where to go. Luckily, I didn't fall too far behind from the rest of the field. The car was very fast tonight, but anyone could've won the race. You needed to be that much faster than the car ahead of you in order to pull up beside them and pass," Sam said after the race.

After looking over the car, crew chief Michael Christie also discovered that his front axle was bent. "Sam was banged around a little tonight, but still ended up in one piece. The car was still fast with a bent axle at the end of the race. The axle must've been bent when Sam was trying to make it three wide and was slammed by the car in the middle," stated Michael after the race. Sam also said that after the race the car wasn't getting into the corner as well and that the bent axle could be the reason.

Whip City Speedway 7/03/2004
With the handicap system at Whip City Speedway, the highest Sam could start in the feature was 12th due to his win June 26. Sure enough, Sam started 12th, but got off with a rough start after 8th place starter Branden Igo almost ended up in the wall right in front of him. Despite his slow start, Sam slowly picked off 3 cars over the course of the race, ending up 9th. Aaron Wall, John Agor, Chase Bennett, Mark Irving and Bryan Russo rounded out the top 5. "I got stuck behind Igo at the beginning of the race with no where to go. Luckily, I didn't fall too far behind from the rest of the field. The car was very fast tonight, but anyone could've won the race. You needed to be that much faster than the car ahead of you in order to pull up beside them and pass," Sam said after the race. After looking over the car, crew chief Michael Christie also discovered that his front axle was bent. "Sam was banged around a little tonight, but still ended up in one piece. The car was still fast with a bent axle at the end of the race. The axle must've been bent when Sam was trying to make it three wide and was slammed by the car in the middle," stated Michael after the race. Sam also said that after the race the car wasn't getting into the corner as well and that the bent axle could be the reason.

270cc 1 8 Aaron Wall 2 11 John Agor 3 77 Chase Bennett 4 21 Mark Irving 5 0 Bryan Russo 6 15 Wade Mattesen 7 07 Lex Burritt 8 9 Brooks Bennett 9 44 Sam Christie 10 45 Brandon Igo 11 7 Richard Crooker 12 99 Joseph Welch 13 24 James Colella