(Image Credit: Roger Seymour Photography) – 26 Promotions – Bakersfield, CA – (February 14th, 2017) – Dylan Cappello was looking forward to getting The Lucas Oil Modified Series Presented by Ram Mounts underway Friday night, but persistent rain caused the cancellation of all racing action at Kern County Raceway and pushed the start of the season back a day to Saturday.
Saturday kicked off with an hour long Modified practice, Cappello would wait until the last 20 minutes or so of the session to hit the track and with his 4th lap he would go to the top of the speed charts with a lap of 18.612. Dylan would finish off the practice session running 5 more laps and would finish the session with the fastest lap.
An hour long break between practice 1 and the final practice session allowed the team to make adjustments. The Hitman wasted no time in finding the top of the speed charts in the final session laying down a lap of 18.466 on lap 2. That time was good enough to stay atop the 30-minute session speed charts.
Following the practice session and a 3-and-a-half-hour break, Dylan was ready to hit the track for qualifying. Dylan would go out 20th and put down a fast lap of 18.425 which was good enough for 3rd quick.
“I left a little on the table” said Cappello about his qualifying attempt. “We gained a couple hundredths from our final practice session, but a few competitors just found a little more speed than us.”
With the seven-car invert, Dylan would start 5th for the 50 Lap Spray Nine Race of Champions. Things didn’t get off to a great start for Cappello. “Almost as soon as I hit the track, I lost radio communication” he said.
Once the green flagged dropped it was side by side racing behind the leader for the first lap. Dylan would cross the line in 6th the first two times around Kern County Raceway, but would move back into 5th on lap 3 as the field would then begin to form single file. The caution flag would fly on lap five as the 54 of Cameron Morga and the 3 of Michael Womack would get together in the middle of turns 3 and 4. The red flag would be displayed as the cars had to be pulled apart and removed from the track.
“Under red, I was able to get the radio to work and let my guys know I needed a new radio” said Cappello. “They threw me a new radio but it landed on the hood deck and I couldn’t reach it. I tried hitting the gas and break to move it closer as we were under yellow and then saw the one to go and ended up restarting 7th”
Dylan would move up to 6th after the restart and would remain there for the next 27 laps as he tried to save his tires in hopes of a late race caution.
But, at around lap 30, Dylan noticed something wasn’t right with the car.
“The carb started sounding off” said Cappello. “I tried everything I could in the car to clear it out, but we were running half throttle and I decided to pull it in about 4 or 5 laps later.”
Cappello was credited with a 17th place finish.
“Definitely not the start we wanted, but we’ll regroup for our first points race at Havasu 95 Speedway in March” Cappello said.
Results:
Practice 1 – Fast Time 18.612
Practice 2 – Fast Time 18.466
Qualifying – 3rd Quick 18.425
Feature – 5th -> 17th (DNF)
Featured Partner – RAM MOUNTS
“We’re proud to have Ram Mounts on board this year, it wasn’t the debut we were looking for, but we’ll do everything we can to get them in victory lane this season” said Cappello.
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Article Credit: 26 Promotions