@Sunset_Speedway • INNISFIL, Ontario (July 22, 2015)- This past weekend at Sunset Speedway, Jade Franklin would have a pair of great days behind the wheel, scoring a pair of victories.
Franklin started off the weekend on Saturday evening by posting a sixth place finish in his heat. As a result, he would have to run the b-main to qualify for the feature later that night. He would have a great run, leading all the laps en route to picking up his first career Sunset Speedway checkered flag.
Starting fourth in the feature, he would drop back to sixth in the early laps, but was able to maintain his ground within the top contenders in the St. Onge Recreation Super Stock division. Battling hard and racing against the best of the division, the rookie would fade back to the eighth spot by the seventh lap. He would continue to run solidly there, though faded a little more to run 12th with 10 laps to go.
On the late race restart, he would continue to battle hard, trying to maintain his track position. However, ahead of him, a car would get spun, spinning in the middle of the frontstretch. The result would be everybody piling together on the front stretch, with Franklin catching a piece of the wreck, cutting down both left side tires. He would then head down pit road to the attention of his pit crew, getting both tires changed.
Returning back to the track, Franklin discovered that he had a broken shock, but continued to soldier on to the checkered flag, crossing the finish line in 20th.
The crew would fix the shock over night, with Franklin set to return to the track on Sunday with success. He started off the day strong, scoring the victory in his heat qualifier to automatically qualify for the 30-lap feature.
He would start 11th in the feature, and began to make his way to the front, running seventh as of the third lap. He would then make his way around Dwight Bell to move in to the sixth spot at lap seven. He would consistently run in seventh throughout the middle of the feature, escaping an incident between a fellow competitor and a lap car to move up to sixth at lap 18. On the restart, one of his competitors sustained a flat tire, allowing Franklin to crack the top-five.
After the restart, he would fall back to the sixth spot, but was determined to keep his track position and quite possibly score the best finish of this season thus far. However, it wasn't meant to be as the hood and front sheet metal would come loose flapping in the breeze with four laps to go, resulting in the mechanical black flag for Franklin and forcing him down pit road.
Special thanks to Destination RV, Alco Tire, Nitro Industrial Sales, Elite Graphics & Marketing, and King's Marine for their continued support.
Franklin will look for success this weekend at Sunset Speedway, hoping to bounce back from the bad luck and pick up some more wins. Details and tickets can be purchased via http://www.sunsetspeedway.ca.
Press Release by Ashley McCubbin
{fcomment}