Saint John, NB Canada 10/27/09- The 2009 racing season has finally come to a close for the Lonnie Sommerville Racing team. While a majority of his fellow Canadian competitors called it quits almost a month ago, Sommerville had a few PASS South events still left on his calendar. In the two events, Sommerville notched a pair of eleventh place finishes leaving the team a bit disappointed with their results yet satisfied knowing what departments of their race team they need to look at improving on.
“We had a real good car at both races, so that alone gets you pretty excited when you are down here racing against some of the best super late model racers in the country. Even though our finishes weren’t what we wanted it was still a good trip for us. We really learned some stuff that I know will make us a better race team come next season and at the end of the day that’s what its all about, improving to be the best,” stated Sommerville.
The first event of the team’s southern swing was the Mason Dixon 250 at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway, the same track that both Ward and Jeff Burton grew up racing at. A sixteenth place starting position would be where Lonnie would take the green flag from after winning the qualifying heat race for those who did not time trial inside the top fifteen. After methodically making his way up to the second position, Sommerville was hoping his team would catch a caution in the closing laps allowing his crate motor powered Chevy Impala to bolt on fresh rubber. However; the cautions didn’t fall as hoped putting Sommerville a lap down and out of contention for the win.
With the South Boston event in the books the Lonnie Sommerville Racing team knew that they would have their work cut out for them racing with a crate powered #23 A.E. McKay Builders Chevy machine around the half mile that makes up the Greenville-Pickens Speedway. As anticipated, a qualifying effort toward the middle of the pack would add to the team’s work load to get to the front. Time after time Sommerville would have to drive twice as hard to pass the higher horse powered machines. In the end, with only two cautions to slow the event, Sommerville made it to the eleventh place position to cap off the season.
“This wasn’t exactly how we wanted to finish out the year but overall in the grand scheme of things we had a great year. To win two of the three biggest short track races in the Maritimes this year was just awesome. My team worked hard all year long and put countless hours in this program all for the love of the sport and for me to say thank you would never be enough. My sponsor Andrew McKay and his A.E. McKay Builders company has done so much for this race team and really taken us to an elite level race team, not just here in Canada but throughout the states as well. Another aspect of this team this year has been the fans, I think sometimes in short track racing they get overlooked but for me they are a huge part of our team,” added Lonnie.
From Tex Motorsports Marketing // www.texmotorsports.com // Contact: Chris Ragle
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