|
Mike Knight Racing
RIPLEY, N.Y. (April 21) - Better days are ahead for Mike Knight.
The rising dirt Late Model star from Ripley, N.Y., is looking at the bright side after experiencing one of the most frustrating weekends of his young career.
In a case of promising outings going bad, Knight rolled his car in Friday night's Independent Racing Series (IRS) season opener at Hilltop Speedway in Millersburg, Ohio, and suffered a broken engine in Saturday night's 2008 lidlifter at Stateline Speedway in Busti, N.Y.
"It was just a rough weekend for us," said Knight, a 21-year-old talent in his third season behind the wheel of a dirt Late Model. "It's disappointing to run good and then have bad luck, but we'll just keep working hard and try to turn our luck around."
On Friday night (April 18) in his first-ever start at Hilltop Speedway, Knight appeared primed for a strong finish to kick off his pursuit of the 2008 IRS Rookie of the Year award. He was sixth-fastest in time trials, finished second in a heat race and moved from the eighth starting spot to third place in the 'Deadline 50' headliner.
But disaster struck on lap 36 of the 50-lap A-Main. As Knight was running strong in third he caught the wall between turns one and two and rolled over once in his Craiger-powered Rocket No. 9K, which carries sponsorship from Arrowhead Wine Cellars, Mobilia Fruit Farm, Ottawaya's Auto Body, Knight Farms, RJB Construction, Chessa' Pizza, NYPenn Surveying, TeCulver Contracting, Genesis Shocks, Lehman Motorsports, Slavic Custom Racing Shirts and American Racing Tires.
With his vision compromised by a crinkled hood that was damaged a few laps earlier from contact with Tim Dohm as well as dust flying off the cars around him, Knight missed his marks just slightly entering turn one on the 36th lap and saw his race end as a result.
"I just got a little too high and brushed the wall in one and two," said Knight, who was credited with a 17th-place finish. "My left-front bumper was dragging a little from the deal with Dohm and when I came off the wall it just dug in the track and flipped me over."
Knight wasn't injured in the wreck, which destroyed his car's body and broke some front-end parts but didn't appear to cause any frame damage. It was the first time in his racing career that he had gotten upside down.
On Saturday night Knight brought out his new Rocket car for duty close to home at Stateline Speedway, but his outing was short. After winning a heat race and starting sixth in the 25-lap feature, he retired just a half-dozen laps into the race due to terminal engine problems.
"We never even got a chance to really see what we had," Knight said of his Stateline effort. "I feel like we had a fast car and could've gotten a good finish."
Knight plans to return to action this weekend on Sat., April 26, at Stateline Speedway and Sun., April 27, at Challenger Raceway in Indiana, Pa.
An up-and-coming dirt Late Model driver whose breakout 2007 season was highlighted by a points title at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa., Knight has an ambitious schedule of 70-plus races across the region planned with his family-owned team in 2008.
For more information on Mike Knight, visit www.mikeknight9k.com.
.
|
