Tire Issues Cause Larson Top Five Finish at SGMP
03/28/2009 - Justin Larson and his team traveled to South Georgia Motorsports Park over the weekend for round two of the ASA Late Model Series South Division. Friday night practice was canceled due to inclement weather in the area and the race was rescheduled for Sunday afternoon. The ASA officials tried their best to get the drivers some track time on Saturday but the weather did not cooperate.
Activities finally got under way Sunday morning and the drivers hit the track for the first time all weekend. Teams were given less than 90 minutes of practice before qualifying. At that time, Larson found himself sitting sixth on the speed charts. The 20-year-old from Clearwater, FL would qualify fifth out of twenty six cars at the flat half-mile track. Fast time was set by Stephen Nasse with an 18.452 followed by Drew Brannon, Landon Cassill, and Brandon Johnson. The top three drivers all broke the previous track record.
Larson would start fourth for the Short Track National Georgia 100. Justin would get stuck on the outside for a few laps on the start and would settle in in the sixth position. At the halfway point in the race, the #88 was still riding comfortably in sixth. At lap 67, the battle would start to heat up in front of him and Larson started to make his way through the field. Just as he was charging towards the front, Larson started to experience an ill-handling car. The caution would come out at Lap 74 giving the Justin Larson Racing, Inc. team a chance to come in the pits to check over the car. It was determined that Larson had a right rear tire going flat. The crew replaced it and Justin would restart in 13th.
With little time left, Justin knew it was time to go if he had any chance at a top-ten finish. By lap 80, Larson already found himself running in 9th. Throughout the long green flag run, Justin again began experiencing an ill-handling car. Luckily the caution would come out at Lap 95 and #88 crew found themselves at work once again. Unfortunately this time, Larson would have a flat right front tire. Justin would finish a disappointing 11th in the Short Track National 100. “This is just really disappointing. I felt we had a top three car all day. Getting two flat tires in 100 laps is almost unheard of,” explained Justin. “We had a good start to the season in Punta Gorda and I thought maybe all of our bad luck was finally out of the way. I guess we just have to go back to the shop and regroup. Hopefully we will have a little better result next weekend.”
The Justin Larson Racing, Inc. team will be at New Senoia Raceway in Senoia, GA on April 4th for the third race of the ASA Late Model Series South Division.