(Image Credit: Howard Twaddell) – 26 Promotions – Lake Havasu City, AZ – (March 14th, 2017) – Dylan Cappello and the Lucas Oil Modified Series presented by Ram Mounts kicked off their 2017 championship season on Saturday night at Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. After two practice sessions on Friday Cappello went into Saturday excited about his chances.
“I knew we had the best racecar yet,” said Cappello. “Right out of the trailer we were fast on old tires. When we were comfortable with the car we bolted on new tires and did a couple mock qualifying runs. With those new tires, we simulated starting the race and ran about 50 laps, the car stayed with me and we had minimal falloff in lap times which is crucial in Havasu.”
Having a great feel for the car along with high temperatures during an afternoon for a race that would start after sun down, Cappello and team decided to make one mock qualifying run during Saturday’s practice session.
Cappello would go on to qualify 5th with a fast lap of 15.505.
“I think we had a little bit more,” he said. “But I was happy with a top 5 qualifying effort. The car was dialed in all weekend so it allowed me to get up to speed and try new things on a track that I tend to struggle on.”
With only a 3-car invert, Cappello would start 5th for the 100 lap Feature. Only one lap would be completed before the first caution of the night for a 3-car wreck involving Jason Irwin, Doug Hamm, and Scott Winters. On the following restart, Cappello would get held up on the outside and fall back to 6th. The field would be bunched back up again as the yellow would fly again, this time for a spin off turn 4. The ensuing restart would fare better for Cappello as he would cross the line in 3rd. Cappello would remain in 3rd for much of race.
“I was doing my best to save the car for the end,” said Cappello. “Lapped cars played a huge role and the leader was able to stretch out the lead and get a good amount of lapped cars between us.”
By the time the next caution would come out, for a spin in turn 2, there were only 4 cars on the lead lap. With lap cars restarting in their position behind the leader as the caution flew, Cappello who was running in 3rd would restart 13th. While working through the lapped cars, Cappello would get held up and passed for the position falling back to and finishing in 4th place, picking up his first top 5 finish of the year.
Dylan will be back in action on April 8th in Tucson, Arizona as the Lucas Oil Modified Series presented by Ram Mounts heads to Tucson Speedway for the second race of the 2017 championship season.
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“I have to thank my dad and his company for supporting me and helping me get to this point in my career,” said Cappello.
Cappello would also like to thank Ram Mounts, Spray Nine, Driven Motorsport, Team RBK, Pro Power Racing Engines, Total Power Batteries, Roger Seymour Photography and Bilstein Shocks for their support.
Results:
Friday Practice: 5th 15.494
Saturday Practice: 6th 15.638
Qualifying: 5th 15.505
Feature: 5th -> 4th
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CappelloRacing
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dylancappello11
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dylancappello11/
Website: http://www.dylancappello.com/
Article Credit: 26 Promotions