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Mike Knight Racing
RIPLEY, N.Y. (June 2) - Mike Knight stopped the bleeding. In dire need of some uplifting outings to get his 2008 season back on track, the rising young dirt Late Model star from Ripley, N.Y., got them last weekend.
Knight, 21, made three starts - and all three resulted in a top-10 finish. He finished seventh in last Friday night's 50-lap Independent Racing Series (IRS) feature at Skyline Speedway in Stewart, Ohio; place fourth in Saturday night's 50-lap IRS event at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio; and scored a fifth-place finish in Sunday night's regular 25-lapper at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa.
What a relief the strong weekend was for Knight, who has been struggling to shake the string of bad luck that has plagued his most ambitious season ever.
"We needed a weekend like this," said Knight. "We've been struggling and we're down to our last motor, so it feels good to finish some races."
Knight's best evening came on Saturday at the three-eighths-mile Sharon oval, where he proved to be a serious contender. After winning his heat race by a commanding margin, Knight marched forward from the ninth starting spot to take fourth in his Rocket No. 9K - his best finish on the season on the IRS tour.
"I was running around the bottom for awhile and not going anywhere, so I went to the top side and I was like, 'Wow, here we go!'" said Knight. "We also tired hard (ran a harder compound), so my car just started coming on like gangbusters. The longer we went green, the better I got.
"I think if a caution didn't come out with about 10 to go, we might have had a chance to win the race. It took me a little too long to fire on the restart."
Knight had begun his weekend with a solid, if unspectacular, seventh-place finish in IRS action at Skyline. He had high hopes for the feature after setting second-fastest time and winning a heat, but he made no headway from the fifth starting spot.
"We just missed on the setup and the tires," said Knight. "(Steve) Shaver and (Dave) Hess were the only guys who got by me, but we weren't very good. I'll take it, though, because we needed a finish."
Knight capped his tripleheader with another top-five finish at Eriez, the one-third-mile oval that happens to be his hometrack. He moved forward from the ninth starting spot but was unable to challenge for the win because he went too soft with his tire choice.
The driver known as 'Hollywood' ended his two-race IRS swing sitting seventh in the tour's points standings and third in the Rookie of the Year battle.
Knight is planning two starts close to home this weekend, running regular events at Stateline Speedway in Busti, N.Y., on Saturday night (June 7) and Eriez on Sunday night (June 8).
An up-and-coming dirt Late Model driver whose breakout 2007 season was highlighted by a points title at Eriez Speedway, Knight has an ambitious schedule of 70-plus races across the region planned with his family-owned team in 2008. His operation 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.
For more information on Mike Knight, visit www.mikeknight9k.com.
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