Stephen Kneer First Limited Sportsman Win! June 15, 2018
Full 8 Sports Marketing, Albany-Saratoga Speedway - With the school year and exams behind him, Stephen rolled into the pits at Albany-Saratoga Speedway ready for summer vacation. The sun was shining and the although warm, the night held promise of good racing at The Great Race Place and it certainly delivered!
Warm ups did not see the best results for Stephen as he timed towards the bottom of the sportsman class posting a 17.452. Keeping up with the track conditions proved to be hard as the team made a few changes in preparation for the heat race. Stephen would start in the 3rd position for the heat. While the car had good speed was handling well, the first three cars played follow the leader while the rear of the pack battled for spots. Stephen would finish in 3rd, giving him the 6th starting spot for the feature.
The start of the race was rough. Several cautions set a stop and go pace that made it hard to judge the cars response and predict how it would change for the duration of the feature. Under what would be the last caution, Stephen took time to read the track and made a decision on where he needed to put the 21K to get the best results. The call was spot on. Stephen was able to jump 4 positions with 2 laps of the restart and it only took him 1 lap to get past the leader. Only 6 laps in, Stephen now had to play defense. He changed his line to find the fasted grove and drove away. Stephen took the checker flag with more than a 2 second lead over best friend, Paolo Pascarella.
“The changes we made to the car worked really well and we had a ton of speed throughout the feature race! I don’t think it could have gone any better! I was very happy with the way I drove! I raced super hard to get to the lead and then paced myself for the rest of the race. I was also very happy with the way I handled lap traffic. I knew that if I was going to make a mistake, it was going to be there.” - Stephen
I would like to thank everyone that made this possible. First off, my family for all they do for me. The Keith Flach Racing team for all the help over the past few years, especially Andrew. Jack Lehner for all of his help. My sponsors and partners Gould Erectors, Sharp Upholstery, Full 8 Sports Marketing, Tom Phibbs Lawn Care, Eric Orozco Racing, Bicknell Racing Products, Fastline Performance, Hico Fabrication, Elmo's Speed and Supply, DKM Fabrication, and R3 graphics.
Next Race: June 22, 2018 at Albany-Saratoga Speedway