Tim Russell didn’t have anything to complain about during the 2006 racing season. He was able to bring home a win in one of the largest Florida Super Late Model events, the Clyde Hart Memorial, and he made his first ARCA RE/MAX Series starts with one top-10 and two top-20 finishes coming in his first three starts. There’s not too much more that the young hot shoe could have asked for.
Now Russell plans to make the 2007 season even better. And he is going to get started on that quest next week as the Third Annual Speedfest Super Late Model race will get underway at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida.
“It is going to be a pretty big year for us,” said Russell. “We are planning to run a pretty intense Super Late Model Schedule and some select ARCA races. It is going to be a really busy year, but hopefully it will be a really good year and we can have a solid outcome of things here.
“This is going to be my first time running Speedfest, and I am pretty excited about it. We weren’t able to go to it last year because we were busy getting our ARCA team ready for the Daytona race and that took a lot of our
resources. This year it is a little bit easier because all my guys here can work on the Super Late Models here and then we can head over to Daytona and go run the ARCA race for Matt Hagans and his team.”
While it will be his first time at Speedfest, this won’t be Russell’s first time around Lakeland. He has scored numerous top-10 and top-five finishes there, and even bringing home a win at the track during the 2005 racing season.
“I have run at Lakeland quite a few times, and we have won there before in a Late Model. I think that we should be pretty good heading back this time with the Super Late Model. We finished fifth in the Super Late Model last year there. Hopefully we will be able to better it this time with the win.”
Lakeland is going to be a pretty frequent stop on Russell’s schedule this year. In addition to the Speedfest event, Russell will be competing in the ARCA RE/MAX Series event at the track and running there several times throughout the 2007 season as he competes for the 2007 Sunbelt Super Late Model Series Championship.
“We will be heading back there in about a month in the ARCA car, but the cars are just completely different and I think that both races will be a different experience. The ARCA car is going to be more like the ASA cars that we used to run there, with a lot more horsepower. It is just a different experience with the short tracks.
“I think that we should be alright though, we will just see what we got and try get the best finish we can, and who knows maybe we will be able to win at Lakeland twice this year, once in the Super Late Model and then in the ARCA car.”
Speedfest at USA International Speedway will get underway January 25th and wrap up on January 27th
If you would like more information on Tim Russell and his future racing plans, contact Amy Hayes at (704) 455-2051 and check out TimRussellonline.com for all the latest Tim Russell racing news.
