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From Test to Top 5 Finish for Piekarski The day started with a trip north to the 1/3-mile
Canaan Fair Speedway. The team arrived at 9:30 am to turn laps just to
shake down the Howe Chassis and Butler & McMaster crate engine. The car
handled very well with the set-up provided by veteran short track
competitor Wayne Helliwell Sr. After Piekarski completed a two-hour
session and minor adjustments were made, the team loaded up the hauler and
headed south to Lee USA Speedway. After purchasing the track tire, BJ went out for
practice and was very happy with the competitive lap times and handling of
the car. Before qualifying, tire pressures were adjusted, but the chassis
set-up remained the same. BJ started fifth in a field of nine cars for the
qualifying heat. Caution flew on lap 2 after BJ spun the car coming off
turn four. After regrouping and receiving a bit of advice from Helliwell
as to what the preferred line is around Lee, BJ bounced back and turned in
a solid second place finish. His qualifying effort landed him 14th
on the feature starting line-up. With just a few practice laps and a heat race under
his belt at Lee, Piekarski made the decision to start from the tail of the
field to gain valuable seat time. A 19-car field took the initial green
flag and BJ kept pace moving up through the pack steadily. On lap eleven,
the caution flew and tightened the field back up. By lap 20, BJ worked his
way to the eighth position and was patient to take positions as openings
occurred. With just under ten laps to go, BJ had charged to fifth place
when the caution flew again for a spinning car. It was a shootout to the
checkers with Piekarski trying to grab one more spot from Scott Bonney who
had won a week prior. Bonney held tight and BJ came away with a top five
finish for the Dupont Performance Finishes/ Spies Hecker, Lovering Volvo,
Collision Centers of NH, and Enterprise Rent-a-Car sponsored Late Model
team. Special thanks must be extended to Wayne Helliwell
Sr. for his spotting and crew chief duties for the night. The team also
would like to extend their appreciation to all Collision Center of NH
employees for the crewing and support efforts in what turned out to be a
very successful evening of racing. Next on the calendar is a return to NASCAR’s Lee USA
Speedway in Lee, New Hampshire. Friday, May 16th. For more
information about PBJ Motorsports, log on to [ Previous Page ] |
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