Story By: EMILY WINSLOW A2DPR / ASHLEY CAPPETTA RACING – ABBOTTSTOWN, PA – The night started with a decent pill draw for Cappetta, putting her on the front row for the start of her heat race, “In the heat race felt good. It didn’t make much of a difference if I won versus finishing second, I’m just glad we could stay up front.”
Cappetta lined up on the outside of the front row for the feature on Saturday night, her best starting position of the season. There was a caution on the initial start, which meant the field lined up for a complete restart, “I was grateful for the second start because the first one was worse, but the motor stumbled on both starts.” Saturday was a scorcher and the heat and high temperatures played a big factor in the fuel system which is likely what caused the motor to act up. Despite the solid starting spot the feature was a frustrating one for Cappetta, “I couldn’t keep the car under me. If I would try to hit the bottom the car would skate up the track and I had my wing in the trunk by lap three.” Another piece of the puzzle that did not help things is the inconsistency of the tires, “it doesn’t allow for the right stagger for setups.”
“It sucks starting on the front row and then going backward like that. Every restart killed me because of the motor stumble and when I would try to slow the car down the motor stumble would kick in.” After 20 laps Cappetta crossed the line eighth, “If we would have stayed green I feel like we could have put together a top-five run. It just wasn’t our night, but I have to remind myself that we are still having a really good season compared to the last two.”
Another thing to factor into Saturday is that Cappetta and the entire race team worked all day, from 5:30 am to getting the car back to the stop after the car wash, “The team worked through the heat and we were all tired at the end of the night, but I couldn’t do it without them.”
Up Next
Lincoln Speedway, Saturday, June 13 at 7 PM
Season Stats
5 races, 0 wins, 0 top 5s, 3 top 10s, 1 top 15s