Riker Racing #00

Last weekend we raced at Greenwood Valley Action Tracks. I pulled a #13 when I signed in and that got me a 4th starting place. We went out for rookie practice but only got 2 laps so I went back out to practice with the regulars and got some more laps in to figure out how the car felt. It was running pretty good as always but could definitely be better so we made some small adjustments and went out for the heat. In the heat I started 4th out of 9 starters. I had a pretty good start and got up to 2nd but eventually dropped back to 4th after a couple laps to cars who were faster than I was. At the end of the heat I ended up finishing in 4th place just where I started. The car still did not feel right so we changed gears and the shocks and went back out for the feature. In the feature I started in 4th place and on the start, I got a good jump on the 2nd place car who was in front of me on the double file start. I went to pass him on the outside but started to slide down the track and ended up running his right rear tire with my left front tire. This made the car jump up a couple feet in the air and I was riding my back tires. This slowed me down a ton and I dropped back to 9th place which was last place. I didnt stop the car to bring out the caution like other people may have, I just kept going because I felt that I could keep it going and Im glad that I did. So I had to race back up to catch the 8th place car and I did within 2 or 3 laps. I ended up passing them back and getting all the way up to 5th place and was right with 4th place. With two laps to go, I had a really great corner and the 4th place did not. I got under his left rear tire in turn 1 but was once again too low and ended up hitting a tire that edges the infield and again riding my back tires. This slowed me down and I wasnt able to catch back up to 4th place so I ended up placing in 5th out of 9. The car was much better than it was in the heat, which shows that were making the right moves to having a consistently fast and competitive car. Definitely not the finish or race I was hoping for, but hopefully next time we will come out strong from the beginning to bring home a better finish!