June 11 - Jacob takes a fourth place finish tonight.  The track was very tacky, and that car has never run well on a tacky track.  And Jacob corrected me that it was actually muddy in the turns.  It was a one-groove track all night and you didn't see much passing in any of the races.  Afterward, all the drivers were talking about it.  Matthew and Jacob discussed air pressures a little bit, but even with those changes it would not have really helped Jacob that much.  There was definitely some excitement during the race coming off of turn 2 - three wide with Jacob in the middle.  He was a sandwich.  We teased him and he said he closed his eyes and floored it.  I think he was teasing about closing his eyes, but then with Jacob, I am never sure!

June 12 - Matthew finishes 9th in Hays.  He isn't very happy with the car and didn't feel like he had much power.  Later, they did find some problems that they fixed.  While it wasn't the finish he was looking for, it was still a top ten and he drove it hard making some great passes. 

June 13 - Matthew takes the checkered flag in the feature at Goodland!  First lap he got a great start driving from 6th to the front immediately when a caution came out.  They restarted the race and he did it again driving to the front immediately.  Every lap, he pulled away until he was a half a lap ahead. 

Of course, that is when you don't want a caution flag and of course, there was one.  And another.  And another.  Each restart was a bit harder to watch than the last as I hoped he could hang on and stay in front of the other strong cars that had made their way to the front.  In what felt like the longest Hobby Stock Race in history, it finally ended with Matthew taking his first win of the season! 

A friend from England, Andy, joined us for the weekend.  Jacob teased him about being a good luck charm and that he needed to come to every race.  The weather finally hit just as the races were ending, so there were no interviews.  Matthew got his trophy and rushed to load the car in the rain and lightening storm.  Andy said it always storms here.  The last time he was here was during the Greensburg tornado which he barely missed seeing in person.

The rain caused Colby to cancel on Sunday.  I am working on getting pictures updated and a video up of Matthew's race win.  Check out www.crowellracing.com as I will post the link to the video there when I get it done.  I might take a nap instead though.  Racing is hard work ... even for Mom! 

~CBR Mom