Every racer knows that sometimes, there are some things that are just as out of his control, but what makes a true champion is being able to rise above those obstacles that are thrown at you. That is exactly what makes Tim Russell the winner that he is. While his weekend at New Smyrna didn’t go exactly as he planned it, he was able to rise above all the obstacles and bring home an impressive sixth place finish.
“The weekend started off really good for us,” said Russell. “We were able to put our car on the pole during qualifying, and we drew a five for the draw which didn’t seem too bad.
“We were able to work our way up to second, but as we worked our way up through the field our car become way too tight. We didn’t have anything for the leader right then, so I started biding my time riding in second, hoping that he would get as tight as we were and that we could have a shot at him on the restart.”
After Russell had put himself into a position where he could go for the win that is when the challenges for he and his Rinnai team started to come up. But teamwork combined with a talented driver put the Rinnai Machine and Russell back into the top-10.
“With about 25 to go, another car got loose on the track and got into us and spun us around. It flat spotted our tires so we had to come in to change them, and on the restart we were able to work our way back up to sixth.”
“Sixth isn’t too bad, but I was really wanting to bring home another win for the Rinnai team. We just have to keep our momentum going this weekend at Lakeland. I am excited to race in the new ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour. It’s always fun to race against new competition, and Lakeland is a great place to run at. It should be a fun weekend and hopefully we will be back in victory lane.”
