CORR: Team Feerico Topeka summary

TEAM FEDERICO HANG TOUGH IN THE LAND OF DOROTHY

Topeka is to Championship Off-Road Racing as Bristol is to NASCAR. Two night races made history last weekend at Heartland Park Raceway in Topeka, Kansas. Championship races were held Friday night and Saturday night for the first time and the fans showed up in droves to see the tight racetrack Heartland put together. "We wanted to see tight side-by-side racing where, in order for competitors to make a pass, some contact would be needed... We call our track the 'Bristol of Championship Off-Road Racing'", said Jamie Overocker, Marketing Director of Heartland Park Raceway . Team Federico arrived in the state of Kansas one day early in order to promote the race and our sponsors via radio. We did six radio shows in all, one on Thursday, four on Friday and one on Saturday. Locations ranged from Lawrence to Topeka to Kansas City, 50-kilowatt to 150-kilowatt stations with individual airtime interviews of four minutes all the way up to ninety.

FRIDAY NIGHT'S RACE, ROUND #7

Tied for 2nd in championship points, with Art Schmitt finishing ahead of Team Federico, gave Steven the sixth starting position in Round #7. The start is two-by-two in front of the fans going over a big jump and then a huge jump off of the oval that funneled the competitors into the first turn.

Getting a good start and not making any mistakes thru the first turn is crucial. Our idea was to take the turn tight, expecting the trucks on the outside to 'push' and hoping the trucks in front of us would make it through so as to pick up as many positions as possible right from the get-go. We came through the first turn in fifth position then Steven made a great move through the 'mogul' section picking off two more competitors for third. LeDuc, Schmitt, Federico and Kincaid all diced it up pulling away from the rest of the field. Eventually the leaders caught up to the tail of the field and things began to get interesting. LeDuc and Schmitt made it by the first of the 'lappers' but Federico and Kincaid had a little more difficulty getting by. With three laps left Federico made his move to the outside of a lapper, got out of shape and Kincaid hooked the inside and made the pass on Federico and the lapper. Federico Finished 4th over all and is now third in the points champio! nship.

SATURDAY NIGHT'S RACE, ROUND #

Tied for 2nd in championship points, with Art Schmitt finishing ahead of Team Federico, gave Steven the sixth starting position in Round #7. The start is two-by-two in front of the fans going over a big jump and then a huge jump off of the oval that funneled the competitors into the first turnWith such a tight racetrack the competitors, especially the leaders, found themselves battling lapped traffic a lot. "It's fun some of the time", said Federico, "but other times you wish they would just give up the race line and let you battle the leaders." Federico got a decent start, settling into sixth position, and began chasing Art Schmitt for quite a few laps. Coming through the rhythm section that exhausts into the oval there were two distinct racing lines. Art kept taking the high line with Steven trying the lower line time and time again. "I could see Art's line. He would go high in order to hit the cushion to hook up his Goodyears." Art was on ATSs and Federico was on Goodyear! MTRs. "As Art would hit the cushion he would come down and I could try to carry more speed to the outside. 'Switchback' is what racers call it." Federico tried it and made it stick, finishing 5th over all and second in championship points.

EPILOGUE

We've got the tightest championship points race in years with Hord at 108, Federico at 102, Schmidt at 101, Kincaid at 100 and LeDuc, with two wins in Topeka, at 84.

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