(Image: Ben Thrasher)
26 Promotions – Casa Grande, AZ – November 21, 2018 – Dale Eliason Jr entered Friday, and Saturday’s Micro Sprint portion of the Desert Thunder Nationals with what ended up being an insurmountable lead, leaving with his first Micro Sprint Championship in his third season.
“The goal going into this weekend races, even though we had a sizeable points lead, was the same as we have had all year long. Have fun and win,” he explained. “The track was in a different condition than it had been all year long as they didn’t let us roll the track in for mud packing but just sent us out for hot laps.”
Pulling a 34 during pill draw lined Eliason Jr up third for the start of heat one.
“The track was already slicked off a bit from hot laps,” he said. “On the second lap, I went to pass the guy in second and had the spot, but he came down on me knocking out the front end. We fell back to fourth and were stuck there for the remainder of the heat race.”
Following the heat race, the Eliason Motorsports team went to work repairing the car for the feature event.
“We evaluated the damage to the front end after the heat race and found the tie rod bent like a horseshoe, and the right side of the front axle bent back a little bit but decided to leave it alone. We replaced the tie rod and set the toe,” explained Eliason Jr. “Knowing we were starting near the back in the main my dad made a few adjustments to the car to make sure I could move forward.”
Eliason Jr’s fourth-place finish wouldn’t be enough to make the invert, placing him eighth on the grid for the 20-lap feature event.
“The track was one groove on the bottom and slick as glass during the feature,” said Eliason Jr. “The car was a bit too loose, but I made my way up to a sixth-place finish.”
Unable to lock up the championship on Friday, Eliason Jr and the Eliason Motorsports team just needed to make it to the feature to secure the 2018 championship.
“Saturday morning my Dad and I replaced the bent front axle on the car from Friday night’s heat race incident. We did our normal maintenance, and my dad decided to change the setup on the car back to what we were running earlier in the year that garnered six of our wins on the season,” he said. “I pulled the 43 during pill draw which put us starting fifth in heat two. The track was already slicked off during the heat, but I was able to work my way up to third with two to go, and we didn’t have enough time to catch the leaders.”
Eliason Jr ended up fifth in passing points, making the six-car invert and earning himself an outside front row starting position for the final feature event of the year.
“My plan was to stay as close to the bottom as possible,” he explained. “I slid up the track during a restart with about five laps to go losing second and finishing third.”
The result was more than enough for Eliason Jr to secure the 2018 Power 600 Series Championship.
The Iceman finishes 2018 with six wins, 12 top five and 14 top-ten finishes in 15 events.
“Overall we had a great season,” said Eliason Jr. “I can’t thank my family and sponsors enough for all their support.”
Dale Eliason Jr would like to thank Affordable Powder Coatings & Affordable Extreme Coatings, Custom Caretaking Plus INC, Guhl Motors, Industrial Machinery Services, PMP Chassis, Hamblin Motorsports, Radical Race Gear, and T & K Repair for their support this season. He would also like to thank Steffey Excavating, MPe Environmental Services, and Industrial Machinery Services for making the championship weekend an extra special event.
Friday’s Results
Heat: 3rd -> 4th
Feature: 8th -> 6th
Saturday’s Results
Heat: 5th -> 3rd
Feature: 2nd -> 3rd
Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaleEliasonJr
Website: https://www.DaleEliasonJr.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d.e.j.04j/