Story By: A2DPR / KYLE KEEN MOTORSPORTS – ABBOTTSTOWN, PA – Kyle Keen and his team put in some long hours and a lot of hard work over the past week to get back to the track Saturday night at Lincoln Speedway. They had to build a car from scratch starting with their 2022 frame and concluding with dropping in a borrowed power plant.
Their two night, three feature weekend that kicked off August 18th had not even seen a green flag yet when a part broke and caused Keen to crash hard into the outside guardrail exiting turn four at Williams Grove Speedway as he accelerated to line up for a makeup feature event.
Keen was ok but his car was destroyed in the fluke accident. After a busy week rebuilding, it was time to put the car to the test and hope for a little better outcome.
Keen was among a field of thirty teams signed in to do battle Saturday night at Lincoln Speedway in Pennsylvania.
For the fifth consecutive time at the Abbottstown oval, Keen had to start outside the top three rows in his heat race. This time he occupied the 7th spot when the green flag waived. He made his move early, surging into 5th on the opening lap.
Keen continued the heat race charge, reaching 3rd on lap three in 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.
Keen finished 3rd, locking himself into the handicap. The effort paid off by handing him the pole position for the 20-lap feature. He led the first two circuits before slipping to 3rd.
Keen’s setup was off a little for the slick surface but he continued to manage it the best he could, holding down the 4th spot at the halfway point of the race. In the closing stages he dropped one more spot but was able to hang on and bring home a 5th place finish.
“I’m pretty happy with a top five after last weekend’s crash. This was a different frame, brake system and motor. A good night for us. We had some really good speed. It’s something we can build on.“, Keen said. “Huge thank you to Jake Raudabaugh of Fine Line Auto Body for allowing us to borrow his Don Ott Racing Engines power plant for this weekend.“
“It was nice to have a good run with our friend and sponsor, Tom Keen of Keen Parts, with us for the evening. Glad we got him a little dirty for once.“, Keen said with a grin.
“We truly appreciate everyone’s support. Hopefully we can start knocking down these top fives more consistently.“
Kyle and the team will look to build some momentum from their top five finish when they head to Williams Grove Speedway Friday, September 1st and Lincoln Speedway the following night.