Story By: A2DPR / KYLE KEEN MOTORSPORTS – PORT ROYAL, PA – Kyle Keen has been grinding through the first half of his first full 410 sprint car season, racing as often as possible to gain experience and shorten the learning curve.
Central PA is not the shallow end of the pool when it comes to sprint car racing, so the journey has required a lot of patience and the ability to recognize progress isn’t measured by finishing position.
The upcoming Pennsylvania Speedweek will be another opportunity and test for the 410 rookie.
WEEKEND RECAP
Before we get to Keen’s Speedweek plans, let’s take a quick look back at the recent weekend.
As he has been almost every weekend this season, Keen signed in at Williams Grove Speedway Friday night and Port Royal Speedway Saturday night.
While the finishes may not draw headlines, Keen has been getting more and more comfortable in the Fine Line Auto Body, Hess Bid / Hess Auctioneers, Keen Parts / CorvetteParts.net, Shetron Trailers, Heishman Racing Fuels, DL Lehman Construction, Fuel Ox No.17k.
Friday night at ‘The Grove’, Keen made his 6th consecutive A-main and 10th in his first 14 attempts.
Saturday night at ‘The Speed Palace’, Keen qualified 14th in the field of 28, timing better than several veteran teams. He then went on to navigate a tough A-main and survive for a 16th-place finish.
The key takeaway is this: along the way, Keen is making shows and giving himself the chance to make as many laps as possible. Every lap is valuable seat time that provides experience. This is the year to learn and build a notebook for the future.
“I think the season so far has gone as expected. We’ve been getting humbled every week, but every week we keep on getting just a tick better. Last week was a big step for us as we qualified what we felt like was pretty well with the competition that is at port Royal right now. We out-qualified some veteran guys and I think that says a lot about how far we’ve come with the car, but as you look ahead you see how far we still have to go to be in the top 5.”, Keen shared.
“Nothing we have done on the track has been super sexy like you get with some of the younger kids that show up and jump in and go race. We’ve had to start from scratch with me as a driver and with a completely new 410 program and it’s taking time to learn the ropes of this deal. But, I wouldn’t have it any other way. We keep on grinding every week, and every week we find something we could have been better at and get just that little bit much better. I’m excited for the future of this program. Do I think it’s going to take time? Absolutely. Will it be worth it? Without a doubt.”
The upcoming Pennsylvania Speedweek will be the toughest series of races Keen has tackled in a 410 sprint car yet. He sees it as another opportunity to learn and he’s ready for the challenge.
“Right now the priority is figuring out how to race well. We are piecing together the night on the front end, but right now we are struggling with the features. These guys are on it from the time they roll the car out of the trailer. I’m excited for when we get to that point. I really want to grow this team into a professional-looking operation with results to match. I’m excited to get there and can’t thank all of our partners who help us get to where we need to be.”, Keen said with a clear tone of determination and anticipation in his voice.
UP NEXT
Keen will tackle five nights of the upcoming Speedweek. He will kick it off this Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway’s $10,000-to-win Speedweek opener.
Below is Kyle Keen Motorsports’ planned Speedweek schedule.
Fri 6/28 – Williams Grove Speedway
Sun 6/30 – BAPS Motor Speedway
Wed 7/3 – Port Royal Speedway
Fri 7/5 – Williams Grove Speedway
Sat 7/6 – Port Royal Speedway