Battles at Blanket Hill Speedway: A Night of Infield Tire Chaos

After another week of late nights in the shop, diagnosing the lingering issues with our #30s 600cc Micro Sprint, we rolled into Blanket Hill Speedway in Kittanning, PA, hoping our past 2 weeks of complications were behind us. We replaced parts and made setup adjustments we believed would finally get the car dialed in for a strong run.

Hot Laps: Signs of Speed

After the pill draw closed Dominic Slesinski was locked into P3 for the first heat race. Rolling out for hot laps, our focus was making sure the week’s hard work in the garage paid off. Thankfully, everything checked out, no mechanical issues, no surprises. The #30s felt racy, and spirits were high.

Heat Race: Holding Strong Under Pressure

When the green flag waved, Dominic fought hard to maintain his P3 starting spot. After some intense side-by-side action, he eventually slipped back to P4. Two separate on-track incidents brought out the caution flags, but Dominic kept his cool and held on to finish the heat in fourth place, which set us up to start P7 in the feature.

Feature Event: Quick Moves, Tough Breaks

Before the feature, we made a few more tweaks to improve handling. At the drop of the green, Dominic wasted no time making bold moves, climbing into P5 within the first few laps. A brief shuffle in the pack dropped him to P6 before the first caution, this one for a car making contact with an infield tire.

On the restart, Dominic surged back into P5, but the battle in the middle of the field was fierce. Another position loss put him back to P6, where it looked like we’d finish, until chaos struck again.

In a freak incident, another car clipped an infield tire launching it onto the race surface, triggering a multi-car pileup. With nowhere to go, Dominic made unavoidable contact with another car, damaging the left front of the #30s. Our night ended early with a P13 DNF.

Trackside Takeaways

Setup gains are real. Despite the DNF, the #30s mechanical issues were better than they have been in weeks.
Infield tires are no joke. Two separate incidents caused major race shakeups.
We’re building momentum. The early laps showed we can race inside the top five, now we just need to close it out.

Appreciation Lap

Sometimes the race isn’t over when the checkered flag waves. It’s over when the car’s back on the trailer. After the damage this week, getting the #30s loaded wasn’t exactly easy.

Huge thank you to Hunter Hite, who jumped in to lend a hand getting us back in the trailer.

It’s moments like these that remind us how lucky we are to have such an incredible racing family. Whether it’s turning wrenches, sharing advice, or just cheering from the stands, your support keeps this team rolling.

We’ll be back in the shop this week, wrenching hard to get the car repaired and ready for another run at Blanket Hill Speedway this weekend for Fan Appreciation week!

See you at the next one!