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LATEMODELRACER >> DRIVER PRESS RELEASES >> Matt Long Racing Has Up and Down Return to the Track
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Message started by LMR on 09/07/11 at 5:25pm

Title: Matt Long Racing Has Up and Down Return to the Track
Post by LMR on 09/07/11 at 5:25pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 7, 2011
________________________________________

Matt Long Racing Has Up and Down Return to the Track

Concord, North Carolina – After being sidelined by a hand injury for over a month Matt Long returned to the seat of his Rocket racecar in August. Long’s return was met with mixed results as he attempted to get his racing program back up to full song. With several larger purse events and points titles looming on the horizon, Long seems to be coming back to full speed just in time. “We had a lot going on these past few weeks. I got married and went on my honeymoon and then got hurt all right there together. The injury really broke our stride for a little bit. We had built a lot of confidence with our program and felt like we would be one of the top contenders for the NDRA Road Show. We were 2nd in points headed into that next event but the injury to my hand took us out of the hunt when we missed that race. But the hand is all healed up now and we are back to 100%. So now we are going to go after the NDRA Dirt Wars and the FASTRAK Grand Nationals.” said Long.

Long had a stellar run this past weekend at Wythe Raceway in what was to have been the first of a two night FASTRAK Racing Series event. Night #1 of the Dirt Late Model Super Nationals (formerly known as the Pro Nationals) saw Long rally from his 7th starting position to finish 4th in an event that he won in 2010. “Wythe is by far my favorite racetrack. We always seem to run well there. We had hoped that we could improve on the 4th place run and maybe get another win on Saturday night but Mother Nature had other plans.” Long said. Mother Nature did indeed intervene on the event deluging the ½ mile surface for nearly 2 hours. The event has yet to be rescheduled but Long expects it to be. “I’m sure Fred (Brown – owner of Wythe Raceway) and Stan (Lester – FASTRAK President) will come up with a make-up date and we can get back up there and try to get that win.” Long added.

Long returned to the seat in mid-August traveling to West Virginia’s Thunder Mountain Speedway for a FASTRAK SE Touring doubleheader. “Thunder Mountain was a really neat place. We enjoyed the trip up there. It had a really cool atmosphere with a big crowd to watch us run. It had tight corners but it was still pretty racy. We had a rough night on Friday. The car just wasn’t very good and then it got worse when lost the brakes. Thunder Mountain is impossible without brakes so we parked and worked on it.” Long lamented. On Saturday however Long was able to get a better feel for the track and felt like he had a shot at a top 5 finish. “We made lots of changes for Saturday and had the car pretty good. We qualified 9th and the car was much better in the feature. We made it up to 6th and had a flat tire. I know we had at least a 4th place car but we just had some bad luck.” Long said.

“We have had kind of an up and down few weeks but I believe we are hitting our stride just at the right time. There a lot of big shows coming up and I want to capitalize on the momentum that we have built with the last couple of races.” Long added. Long will return to action at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, North Carolina this Friday for night #1 of NDRA Dirt Wars. Long is optimistic about his chances at Carolina. “We ended up finishing 3rd at Carolina in the final NDRA Road Show a couple of weeks ago so I feel like we definitely have a good shot at the win.” Long will then move south to the ½ mile Lancaster Speedway in Lancaster, South Carolina for night #2 of Dirt Wars. Long picked up his first win of 2011 at Lancaster back in June. Long also plans to be at Cleveland County Speedway on Friday night, September 16th for the Inaugural Bill Hendren Memorial which will be a FASTRAK SE* Touring event.

Matt would like to thank the following for their continued support of his Circle K Race Team : Circle K Convenience Stores, Heintz Performance, VP Racing Fuel, Integra Shocks and Springs, Port City Racing, FK Rod Ends, Kooks Custom Headers, Raceceiver, JM Adams Oil, Q Racing Oil, Franklin Racing, Dirtwrap, Jim Cook Transmissions, K&N Filters, Stock Car Steel, SRI Supplies, ButlerBuilt, City Chevrolet, , Valken Racing Wheels, MD3 Noses, Team Clay, KELCAR Motorsports Media, J&J Race Cars, Brembo Brakes, Fragola, and Simpson.

Race fans can keep up with Matt Long and his Circle K Racing Team in several ways. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattLongRacing or you can “friend” Matt Long Racing on Facebook or you can simply point youir web browsers to the all-new www.mattlongracing.com . There you will find a fully up-to-date schedule as well as information about the team and their sponsors. The latest Circle K Team apparel will also soon be available via the site or at the Circle K Team Hauler at the track.

For more information including store locations visit the Circle K Company website at www.circlek.com

Matt would like to also have his fans and supporters check out the Circle K Southeast Chevrolet Camaro give-away going on now. Visit http://www.facebook.com/CircleKSoutheast?sk=app_210624788971449 and register for a chance to win 1 of 2 ThirstBuster Chevrolet Camaros from Circle K Southeast.