Bryan races at SFCR (SFCR Photo)
(Bill W) April 11, 2016 – The Matt Wood Racing #17w team and driver Bryan Clauson posted two strong second place finishes last weekend in both 360 and 410 action. The ASCS Red River region battled at Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, Oklahoma on Friday, and the team towed from there across Missouri for weekly action Saturday at the St. Francois County Raceway near Farmington. This weekend will find the Noblesville, Indiana driver competing in the MOWA lid lifter at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois Friday and the opener at the Knoxville Raceway in Iowa on Saturday.
Friday at Creek County, Bryan started outside row one in the heat race. “We were able to win that, which you need to do with passing points starting on the front,” he says. “That got us in the redraw and we drew the pole for the feature.”
He would start alongside ASCS National tour regular Seth Bergman. “We won the first couple of starts, but when we finally got one in, we fell into second,” says Bryan. “The track got to where the curb was up on the fence. The bottom kind of went away early. We rode behind Seth, but we were hanging right there with him.”
A number of cautions plagued the event, and Bryan would run second. “We never really got the chance to get into heavy traffic,” he says of a chance to pass the leader. “The top was just a little too fast to do anything in clean air and Seth was running well.”
On Saturday, Bryan would charge from sixth to second in his heat at SFCR. “We definitely did what we needed to do to get in the Dash draw,” he says. “We redrew the eight in the Dash, which left us some work to do. We ran fifth there. We needed to be a little better. We wasted a little opportunity there, but we gained a couple rows.”
Starting inside row three, he wasted little time charging towards the front. “We kind of picked our way forward there,” says Bryan. “We got to second late in the going. We had a run long enough to get in some traffic there at the end. We put a slider on (leader) Brad (Loyet) there in turn four amongst a gaggle of cars. It was hard to completely shut the door. He did a good job of getting back around us and beating us down the front straightaway.”
Two second place finishes meant a good weekend, but the team wishes they could have climbed the ladder one more spot. “Twenty-five laps just wasn’t quite enough for us this weekend,” says Bryan. “But it was another solid weekend and we’ll take that into Granite City and Knoxville this weekend.”
Matt Wood Racing would like to thank: Elk Grove Ford, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality and Restaurant Group, America’s Best Value Inn, Quick Lane and Impact Signs, Awnings & Wraps!
Photo: Bryan in action on the bullring in Farmington (SFCR Photo)
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