Story By: EMILY WINSLOW – A2DPR / ASHLEY CAPPETTA RACING – ABBOTTSTOWN, PA – After over a year of planning by Ashley Cappetta, Pat Sterner, presenting sponsor Chuck Reinert from Chuck’s Auto Parts Solutions and the team at Lincoln Speedway, the 20th annual Weldon Sterner Memorial finally came to fruition on Saturday night.
The pill draw monkey on Cappetta’s back finally took a night off when Chuck Reinert pulled the number 1 pill at pill draw, putting Ashley on the pole of her heat, “To have Chuck draw the 1 was impressive. It’s crazy to start on the pole, I haven’t started on the pole of a heat race in a long time.”
Before the heat race though, Cappetta hit the track for hot laps, “I didn’t get a good reading in hot laps after I got stuck behind someone that had never been there before. Even once I got around them, I didn’t get a good feel for the car, but I knew we’d have to change the set up anyway as the track was going to change quite a bit with time trials and the 410 heats running first.”
The initial start of the heat race saw a caution when a car spun, “I felt that Chad had a better start the first time and the restart definitely helped me since I got a better start the second time around.” Ashley was leading the heat race when the yellow came out again. On the restart, veteran driver, Frankie Herr was lined up in second. Cappetta held the lead on the restart with Herr not far behind, “I ran my heart out, yeah it was only a heat race, but it makes a difference.” Cappetta and Herr battled hard for the lead, with Herr taking the win, “I was happy with second. It put us in the redraw for the feature.”
Cappetta lined up eighth for the start of the 20-lap feature and felt progressively better as the race went on, “It was hard to pass, but after the caution I felt better.” One of the benefits of streaming is that the drivers can go back and watch their races, “When I watched the replay I saw I made a couple of mistakes and could have done a few things better.”
Overall Ashley was happy with how the night went on the track, “I feel like we’re making progress. The things we learned at the end of last season are helping us now. To make the show with 41 cars was an accomplishment in itself and to finish seventh was a blessing.”
Weldon Sterner Memorial Promotion
In addition to the great night on the track, Cappetta played an integral role in the promotion of the event, including the off-track activities on Saturday night, “It was nice to see everything come together and and everyone working together.”
The night started out with the Fan Zone, which gave the fans an hour to go into the pits and meet their favorite drivers, “I’m very happy with the Fan Zone and the great support we received from both the drivers and the fans.”
One of the things that made both the Fan Zone and the entire night a hit was the turnout of race teams. In total 73 cars showed up to support the 20th Weldon Sterner Memorial, 32 410 sprints and 41 358 sprints, “The 358 turnout was great and the field of 410 sprints was strong.”
“Having people, and unexpected people at that, come up to say I did a good job made me feel really good.” Ashley would like to potentially get involved in the promotion of more events in the future, “People have no idea all of the work that goes into promoting a race. There’s a lot that goes into putting something together this big.”
Cappetta, Pat Sterner and the team at Lincoln are already looking forward to the 21st Weldon Sterner Memorial on September 28.