What did Friday night’s Sunbelt Series Super Late Model race at Orlando Speedworld and Saturday’s ARCA RE/MAX Series race at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida have in common for Tim Russell? Well, the young driver competed in both events and came away from each race with a solid top 10 finish.
Russell faced two different types of racecars, over two days, at two tracks, with two separate teams. But it was all in a weekend’s work for the young Florida driver.
“All in all, it was a good weekend,” said Russell. “The whole Rinnai team worked hard. We went to Orlando on Friday night, got there after practice and qualified second. Through the luck of the draw, we started sixth and got stuck up on the outside in the race. Still, we ended up finishing a nice, solid third, so we’ll take that and move up.”
Then came a night’s worth of sleep and a 45-minute drive to Lakeland, Florida for Saturday’s ARCA event.
“We went over to Lakeland for the next day of racing. We were in the top five for practice, but got an early draw and qualified 14th. We had a nice solid run going for most of the race and we got up to second with 60 to 70 laps to go. If the race had gone green for the rest of the way, we might have had a chance at finishing there, but we just ran out of tires at the end. The whole Hagans Racing team did a great job and it showed with our finish.”
For many drivers, bouncing between the two different situations would be unmanageable, but Russell is an exceptional young driver who knows how to quickly adapt. Still, he’s modest about his efforts – even crediting the crew members around him for his on-track success.
“It wasn’t too bad,” Russell said. “I adjusted pretty quickly going back and forth. I just remembered that both cars drove totally different. Both teams that I run for are awesome and they had the cars prepared right. That made my job easier.”
Russell will back on track during his busy 2007 season this coming weekend for the All American Challenge Series at Desoto Super Speedway in Desoto, Florida. Russell finished sixth in the first All American Challenge Series event at Desoto earlier in the year.
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.
