Story By: A2DPR / KEEN MOTORSPORTS – ABBOTTSTOWN, PA – Kyle Keen has had good speed so far this season. Most weeks he has been in a good position with an opportunity to take his night down a path toward a positive result. A driver can’t ask for much more than that.
Mechanical issues and mistakes, two things all drivers want a chance to go back and do differently, are a just a part of the sport. Keen has certainly experienced both. Those are the things that take your night down the wrong path, away from opportunity. Those are the things teams work so hard to minimize.
The only way to get better at both is to race. Rather than sit at home over the weekend and not get better, Kyle Keen and his team decided they would load up and haul to Bedford Speedway Friday night to compete with the URC.
Keen and his Fine Line Auto Body, Keen Parts/CorvetteParts.net, Doubling Gap Ranch, Shetron, Auction & Equipment, LLC., Wicked Dog Grille, Heishman Racing Fuels, Wicked Cushion, DL Lehman Construction, Gearhead Coffee, Jeremy Zarfos Photography, Coyle’s Lawn Maintenance, 2B Wrapped, 4 Leaf Clover Farms, Turn 2 Terribles Podcast & Media, Kyle Keen Motorsports No.17 started inside row number two for his heat race by virtue of his pill draw.
Although every driver wants to win every race they enter, with all cars transferring from both heats due to the short field, Keen was under no pressure in the heat race. The laps were all about learning what the car needed for the feature later in the evening. The Carlisle, PA native finished 3rd but was clearly using his track time to his advantage. He turned his fastest lap of the event on the final circuit.
Keen started 4th in the 25-lap A-main but slipped to 5th in the early going. For a handful of laps, he slipped back to 6th but around lap twelve the car came to life using the high side of the speedway.
Keen climbed back into 5th on lap twelve and began to run down the 4th place car despite noticing the brakes fading a bit on his No.17. Unfortunately, that’s when he got an unexpected surprise. For some reason, the car jumped out of gear. As he tried to bring the car to a stop, Kyle discovered the brakes were completely gone. That sequence of events brought an end to his night. He officially finished 11th.
“Well, tonight was another night of having a fast race car but not really having anything to show for it at the end of the night.“, Keen commented. “We learned a lot about the new tire and we had a fast car, so there are definitely positives to take away from tonight.”
“If we keep doing what we are doing and putting in the work to eliminate the little issues and mistakes, it will come together for us one of these nights!”, a positive Keen concluded.
Kyle Keen returns to Williams Grove Speedway this Friday, May 19th.